School children will face Jobcentre harassment from the age of 15 whilst claimants thought to have drug and alcohol problems will be paid benefits on smart cards if the Tories win the next election said Iain Duncan Smith in his speech to the party’s conference today.
18-21 year old who cannot find a job are to be placed on permanent workfare, whilst further caps on Housing Benefits will see yet more cities become unaffordable for anyone currently unable to work – whether this is through sickness, disability, high unemployment or having young children to care for. And if this wasn’t enough then benefits are to be frozen for two years, meaning a real term cut in the incomes of the UK’s poorest people, whether they are in or out of work.
The smart cards will be for people Iain Duncan Smith thinks have fallen into a “damaging spiral” and are spending all their money on drugs, alcohol and gambling. Whilst details so far are scant, it seems likely to be similar to the Australian Basics Card which aims to control how benefit recipients spend their money. The scheme has already proved hugely expensive and has led to people unable to shop at cheaper stores such as Aldi, who government officials say do not meet the “set criteria”. Predictably Basics Cards have not prevented claimants buying drugs, alcohol or tobacco. In the UK it is likely to stop people who have genuine problems with drugs or alcohol from seeking treatment in case the Jobcentre find out. It is a stupid idea, as unworkable as it is callous. You can see why it would appeal to a nasty fucking idiot like Iain Duncan Smith.
Permanent workfare for 18-21 year old is equally draconian, and equally unworkable – so unworkable that it was actually first announced in George Osborne’s Autumn Statement last year and then never implemented. Already there isn’t enough workfare to go round, and with resistance to workfare showing no signs of dying down, there will be few community organisatins willing to take part in such an explitative programme. Meanwhile sending Jobcentre busybodies to harass schoolchildren when they should be studying for their GCSE’s and aren’t likely to be looking for a job or eligible for benefits for two or three years seems little more than a waste of everybody’s time.
With Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms unravelling in all directions and poverty not seen in generations returning to haunt the UK, there was nothing in his conference speech to suggest he has learnt anything from his failure. The scary thing is, he thinks he is doing a wonderful job – even still pretending that Universal Credit will eventually be rolled out across the country. Yet across the UK millions of people are facing a Winter where they will face the bleak choice between heating or eating and many will not be able to afford either.
It is horrifying that the Tories seem to think they can win an election by making poor people poorer. Perhaps more frightening is that the Labour Party have eagerly embraced this vile competion to attack and scapegoat those with nothing. Whoever wins the next election it will be down to us – unemployed claimants, disabled people, parents and low waged precarious workers – to fight these bastards. It will be the struggle that defines the neo-liberal age as capitalism run rampant drives people into the the ground in the name of making more profit for the rich. We must continue to fight, and we must win.
Crash the Tory Party Conference Twittersphere with DPAC!! (@Dis_ppl_protest). Use Hashtag: #CPC14 to send your own messages or tweet DPAC’s!
Then join the week of action against workfare next week and support the Focus E15 mums fighting for decent housing for all of us – for more details follow them @E15OpenHouse or on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Focus-E15-Mothers/602860129757343
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the void 
We must. But who has the time?
(Which is, of course, the point of giving all of us the rat-in-a-maze treatment.)
“LYING DWP BASTARDS”
DATE 30 April 2013
Annex A
Dear Geoffrey Reynolds,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received 23 April. You asked;
You state that your department does not issue food vouchers and yet, in another of my FOIs
you state that there are no plans to introduce them. State clearly if the food voucher idea has
been terminated or not?
DWP does not issue food vouchers, and has no plans to do so.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/1972249_824079797613995_5913646083183041525_n.jpg?oh=f25e8009480e710cd6453ade7d842d27&oe=54C63BBF&__gda__=1417984495_89cacd96c4f3bc71500138306ad45d9e
…………interesting question to the people killers;
From: T.kay
29 September 2014
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
You will be aware that certain things cannot be paid for using a
pre-payment benefit card such as paying fares on public transport
or buying gas and electricity to top up pre-payment meters.
These have to be paid for using cash upfront.
Please state what provisions the DWP will have in place to ensure
that vulnerable people who will receive these pre-payment benefit
cards are not inconvenienced were this is concerned.
Yours faithfully,
Mr Kay
Link to this
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/pre_payment_benefit_card_provisi#incoming-566826
unfortunately for the brainwashed out there they will think this is a good idea.. the PR or the tories will go into over drive, (labour is just as bad).. I already suffer from depression and anxiety caused by the dwp.. Violence should be used as a last resort.. but unfortunately we are being pushed to that.. where is labour, no where to be seen.. perhaps they will connect the benefits card with calorific counts..just waiting for them to do it to stop “obesity”,
The right are always going on about the nanny state but they will be one hundred percent behind this. Fucking hypocrites.
well seing as they have no chance of winning the next election thats not to much of a problem.
Don’t be too sure – and even if Labour win it things will be just as bad, The present state of UK politics is such that the next election result is probably wide open.
the fracker can dream
rtu ids this man is he the devils helper jeff3
Right, IDS- all your expenses will now be pre-paid onto a card. No more £39 breakfasts or fancy underpants for you!
Iain Duncan Smith is the most vile and twisted man on earth, but fortunately his smart card scheme will probably be about as successful as his rollout ofUniversal Credit, it aint gonna work. It’s obviously not about saving money as the cards will probably cost more than he’s likely to save its about degrading and humiliating people.
If the tories lose, may I be allowed to flay one or two of the current front bench over a year or so, prior to Their disembowelment?
Oi! There’s a queue ‘ere, mate!
A long queue..bring your sleeping bag…
you will find the victorian class system will come back into being where girls of aged 10 ( ish) were sent to the big houses to work in “service” young boys went up chimneys and the poor scrabbled for every morsal of food they had ….
oh yes i cant waite.
cinder
the work house is nearer than you think if this nasty piece of legislation becomes law… https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140923/08142528606/is-uk-government-trying-to-sneak-through-its-own-corporate-sovereignty-rules.shtml
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2014/07/tory-councillor-laments-demise-of-workhouses-for-mentally-ill/
We’re all smokeless now. Not even the relative security of the sooty chimney awaits tomorrow’s children.
Orwell’s vision is unfolding as we speak – the masses kept pointlessly busy and distracted by shiny things, the middle management beset by permanent insecurity into a perpetual cry of “Do it to Julia!” and the tiny minority who have real power ensuring that they are never, ever challenged again.
Why? Well, at some point very soon, peak oil, population growth, food shortages, financial instability and climate change are all going to coalesce, and Western society – possibly human survival at large – will collapse. The 1% (actually, more like the 0.01%, but they do like their hangers-on and yesmen) have evidently decided that they represent the most deserving of humanity, and must therefore preserve their own power, and thus chances of survival, at any cost. And they know, like all good psychopaths, exactly how to manipulate “the little people” into giving them whatever they want, whenever they want it.
We’re excess baggage. The second it looks like it’s them or us, they’ll fire up the incinerators and lay on the special trains. When Bill Hicks said “the problem with Hitler was he didn’t think big enough” – clearly someone heard him.
We don’t have to go as far back as the Victorians to see the “service” tradition. In the 1930s, my Dad’s eldest sister was sent at the age of 13 into service to some rich industrialist family near Birmingham, to skivvy and slave away for them in return for a mattress in the attic and pennies per week (with reductions for food) One Sunday off per month. She was born with a deformed lower leg and at the age of 14 contracted Tuberculosis in the bone. She continued working, in increasing agony until the age of 19 when the leg was amputated. For the first time in her life, she was free of pain. Then, she was immediately sacked (the family sent another kitchen servant to deliver her dismissal letter to her in hospital) The letter told her that the family did not wish to have a “one legged cripple” in their home as it would upset their own children.
This kind of brutality hasn’t ever really gone away.
You got to give the man credit (Not the universal type) for the best porky pie telling of the year. He only missed out in the best in breed because he forgot to start his speech with ” Once upon a time” and end it with “They all lived happily ever after”
Tommaz Jay
Hopefully the Tory bastards won’t get in again and this bullshit won’t happen. We can’t be certain though, so best for all concerned if an Asteroid lands on London.
If everyone votes against this government who has been caught in the line of fire, then this shambles of a Government shouldn’t get in, But who do you vote for? Don’t say UKIP they have no polices,what are they going to do about social security? what i understand they will be just as bad as every other major party. You could vote for Left unity if enough people stand but you need to elect a major party or this government will get back in … Now is the time we all need to be asking questions of the other party’s!
I’ve been questioning Labour for quite some time as to whether they will pledge to abolish Benefit Sanctions and increase JSA to legal amount but they obviously don’t want to answer so fuck ’em, Green it is.
Me too. I even joined. Citizen’s Income is what does it for me.
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it they do permanent workfare then they will have to have holidays and minimum wage. they will also not have time to look for work and if they were harassed into it they would break their own law for how long a person should work a week. The taxpayer won’t be pleased they have to pay a wage to someone when the company who is profiting from it does not have to pay.
First up against the wall etc.
Did the years of political correctness particularly the emphasis on a uniform emotional surface – sociopolitical suppression make the UK citizenry averse to political agitation on the streets.
Historically the peoples of the British Isles have not stood patiently in political queues, what changed that?
The loss of hope engendered by having everything we’d gained since the turn of the century reversed in a couple of decades might have something to do with it.
But you carry on believing that the working classes lose their (Norse?) fire when they abandon bigotry, do. Not like anything’s going to change your mind, after all. You’ve got an agenda here, and you’re damn well gonna stick to it…
Your obsessed by race and bigotry that is all you want to see in the alternative opinions to yours, you create the other in your own narrow authoritarian mind.
There is no reference to race or religion in the comment you dimwit, the question was why did the citizenry become averse to political agitation.
Maybe you have answered that in that anyone who opened their fat mouth to express an opinion was slandered by a race and bigotry obsessed idiot.
Way to prove my point. Please, reread the comment to which you’ve replied. See how unintentionally revealing your reply is?
From: GEOFFREY REYNOLDS (Account suspended)
29 March 2013
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
My questions relate to the proposed food vouchers that will be
made available instead of cash.
1/ Will the food voucher entitle the holder to a two course or
three course meal?
2/ Should a tuxedo or formal evening attire be used?
3/ Will the soup or gruel be of a consistency to be placed in a
begging bowl?
4/ Will the voucher entitle the bearer to a varied diet, ie;
is the menu changed regularly?
5/ Could a poor family share one voucher and save the remaining
vouchers as a treat for a weekend feast?
6/ Are knives and forks necessary or could the contents be decanted
into one bowl?
7/ Have the food vouchers been trialled at Westminster in any of
the taxpayer subsidised restaurants?
8/ Will the food vouchers be redeemable at participating
restaurants in either the commons or lords?
9/ Have ATOS HCPs tested the food available from the vouchers to
see if it is worthy of sustaining life?
10/ Are the vouchers edible, in the unforseen event food is not
available?
11/ Would sanctions be used against any poor person who turns to
cannibalism in the event the scheme fails?
12/ Does the DWP intend to keep a league table of satisfied
customers or will they just die, as they do at present?
13/ Will the holder of any unredeemed food vouchers be able to
convert them to cash after this policy of demonising the poor
collapses?
Yours faithfully, GEOFFREY REYNOLDS
Link to this
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/food_vouchers_for_those_not_wort
About sums it up
http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/9/25/6843509/income-distribution-recoveries-pavlina-tcherneva
They want it ALL.
Amazing, it has always been implied, but here we have it, actually being singled as low life no good scum before school even ends. An classist attack in its utmost purity. I’m sure the nice morally upstanding middle class kids will not stoop as low as bullying their scrounging “lessers”.
George Smith’s rantings are no longer worthy of serious attention.A column or two in a poor jokes section maybe. His history of throwing staggering sums of money down the throats of outsource chums with no public gain make any project he suggests an instant white elephant. He is all washed up.I am thankful to say.
George Smith (executioner) (1805–1874), English executioner also known as Throttler Smith, George Joseph Smith (1872–1915), British “Brides in the Bath” murderer
Georgies fan club;’ throwing staggering sums of money’ up his nose more like!!!
Tories out!! Nothing but a group of toffs that are legally murdering people on benefits! They support pedophiles and the companies that hide them! Cameron and his minions need a bullet to the head! Cant wait for 2015 for the Tory twats to be ousted out!!!
yesterday gideon announced “milliband is unelectable so the future is trie”,sadly the greedy purile nausiating little shit could well be right unless milliband has a personality transplant today
totally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zji4dTx-j8w personality transplant?
the voter who asked a question!
Pingback: Permanent Workfare, Housing Benefit Cuts, Food ...
If I vote for the party I want (TUSC) my vote will be wasted.
Permanent workfare, housing benefit cuts, smart cards for benefit payments, and lazy, good-for-nothing chav school-kids to be given a bloody good kick up the arse: Jolly good ideas and about bloody time too!
Fuck off and die Tory cunt.
Thing is, the Tories of old wouldn’t have stood for any of this shit. Too authoritarian, and FAR too mean-spirited. Unfortunately they all moved to Labour after Thatcher, and the fascist-posing-as-libertarian entryists have taken over.
Reichsführer-SS Smith
IDS needs very seriously to be charged with misappropriating state funds and made to be accountable for his spending. He has wasted it due to incompetence and pursuing vicious policies rather than wanting to help alleviate poverty or even to save money. This scheme is yet another that will waste much more money than it saves, hence you can see that his meaning and purpose in life is not to save money, or help the low paid (as he has said) but rather to make them suffer indignities and further poverty when they are living in the world of politicians making. He is deeply flawed as an individual.
the day he is charged with misappropriating state funds and made to be accountable for his spending is they day i will give evey single member of this site the winning numbers for the lottery and the pin numbers for my bank cards. he is david camerons chum and he is not going to go away any time soon
If smart cards are handed out so peope can’t buy alcohol, tobacco or gamble, does that mean we won’t have to do any workfare for companies that offer those products as it could be thought of as a temptation we should avoid.
They allow criminals to buy tobacco in prisons so I guess it’s one law for criminals and another for the decent unemployed with no criminal convictons. We already are being told we may have to do twice as much community work as criminals are allowed to do.
UKIP are the extreme right wing tories who might split the tory vote and hopefully they will destroy each other. Labour are going to be hard on the poor but it might be possible to reason with them rather than the right wingers who really want to see the poor suffer. When Osborne mentioned that he was freezing the benefits for the unemployed a small minority clapped. Making the poor even poorer isn’t the right time to clap but it shows how nasty some of them are.
“sending Jobcentre busybodies to harass schoolchildren …”
That wont get very far, they will all need CRB checks and who’s going to pay for that?
those people have already had enhanced checks done. but dont worry if a fee needs paying you can sleep easy at night knowing that the taxes you pay will fund the checks for the “busyboddys”
crb’s only work if someone has been caught at a crime, if they havent been caught then
How’s about that, then? 😀
Of course this wont stop people “buying” food and selling it for tobacco, or alcohol.. would just mean more crimes, theft of these payment cards. then you get with loan sharks taking the cards til you can pay off the loan you need because you have no money.. then of course they will bring you cant buy anything that’s a luxury or fattening .. cant have people being fat, so government gruel, then force them to work for free in the very companies that refuse to hire them.. so making profits, no doubt the donators to the political parties will be the ones running the cards, and the supermarkets..
Oh, it’ll be worse than “no luxuries”. Think rationing. You get your 50g of cheese, 50g of meat, etc etc per day; so if you buy a 400g block of cheese, you can’t buy any more for 8 days. That’s the endgame – total, finegrained control of people’s lives. The very antithesis of what conservatism is supposed to be about, but the acme of authoritarianism.
exactly i meant to put luxury in quotes.. but nothing but government gruel, and government clothing
nice artical mr VOID but what excatly are we suposd to do about it?
electing some one else will not solve the issue and voting green is about as usefull as voting for ukip.
more and more i am convinced total revolution will be the only option.. get rid of ALL parties as they are all the same now..and start again with people held responsible for their actions
but the world has never worked that way in the past, look at history and you will see the same things happening again and again.
its all about money / oil / power only the eliet will be in power. the small guy will never have that chance.
true, but at least we would have a few years before the system fucks up.
What are you prepared to risk to see things get better?
That, by the way, is a question we should all be asking ourselves. What ARE we prepared to risk to set things back on track?
i am prepared to risk my life, my freedom, to bring decency back to the uk government. I have spoken to a lot of people, used whatever influence i can get..
I don’t know who to vote for but it sure won’t be this crowd ,or they seem to wont is putting the working class down,and the disable and our young ones ,what will be next the work house
these fuking torys need smashing but they will probably do it them selfs,, they dont play nice together,,,
Reblogged this on sideshowtog and commented:
We have to stop these people ‘by any means necessary’…..
The Chancellor’s hidden blow to disabled people.
The Chancellor’s Conference speech contained a statement about disabled people and benefits which was misleading, but went largely unchallenged by the mainstream media. Mr Osborne promised a two year freeze on working age benefits if the Conservatives are re-elected but made a point of saying, “disability benefits will be excluded”. Is that true?
Well, it all depends on what you consider to be a disability benefit. Included in the proposed freeze are people who receive Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and are part of the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG). These are people who the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have decided are not fit for work at the moment, but are required to undertake work related activity, with a view to returning to work in future.
The public would probably assume that this group was for people who had had an accident or injury from which they would soon recover, or an illness which was expected to get better. No doubt that’s what most of the audience in the conference hall who applauded the Chancellor’s speech would think, if they thought about it at all.
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What happens if a pipe bursts and you have to call a plumber?
They already control our shopping, when the big 4 supermarkets where told to store everyones data who do you think would benefit from that data???
let me know when they’re sanctioning you for a pouch of backy, and telling you “No you didn’t go to town looking for work because your mobile phone didn’t move all day
Hi I want to bring this to your attention!
On saints and scroungers a family where tracked through the trafford center(I mean proper tacked by CCTV) from the moment they left their car!
And Matt alright said that it was a coincidence, how did they know they were there, data communications, they can’t use them in court but as long as the camera gets pointed judge don’t know, they are in everything FB TWITTER GOOGLE ISPS MSPS,
Who wants to be the next Snowdon come on dwp staff their going to sack you anyway?
Anyone that Votes Tory at the Next Election has got to be Devoid of
Morality or Conscience or even Common Sense the Gormless Nazi
Fascist Bastards
It is Important as People had to Struggle ( Men and Women ) For
the Right to Vote that People get their Heads out of the Sand and
Vote to Get the Fiendish Tories Out of Office
It is Important that Decent People are Vocal in Opposing the Nasty
Suffering Inflicted upon the Poor by these Bastards and Say No
to Tyranny Oppression and the Greed and Selfishness of the Vain
Rich
Landless Peasant | September 29, 2014 at 8:16 pm | Reply Hopefully the Tory bastards won’t get in again and this bullshit won’t happen. We can’t be certain though, so best for all concerned if an Asteroid lands on London.
Forced Labour is Slavery and to be Honest the Simularities in
Nastiness and Oppression between the Nazi Bastards of Adolf
Hitler’s Evil Regime and the Con Dem Bastards of the Obnoxious
Con Dem Regime are Shocking
Men was Born Free and Need to be Able to Live Free of Degrading
Destitution Victimisation by Fascists and Nazis and Slave Labour
Oppression
Down with Slavery and Slavery Collaborators
Yes to Peaceful Socialist Political Revolution
We already have a peaceful revolution every few years. It’s called an election. And we can all see how much good it does.
Real change has a price that must be paid in blood. I hate that this is the case, but it is.
Peace is good, but sometimes WAR is whats needed. i agree justpassing. its seems that the only option is violence
The Brainwashed out There are Scum and should be Condemned as
Such
What is Needed is Socialist Campaigning in Support of the Welfare
State and Increasing Welfare Benefits Pointing Out that the Real
Scroungers are Greedy Westminster Politicians on the Expenses
Gravy Train and also to Point Out the Real Outrage in the Rich
Wasting Millions on Flash Cars Rubbish called ” Art Pictures ”
and Designer Clothes
Down with Selfish Extreme Individualism and Yes to a Caring
Socialist Community Governed by a Socialist State
Eric Greenwood (4727) | September 29, 2014 at 6:45 pm | Reply unfortunately for the brainwashed out there they will think this is a good idea.. the PR or the tories will go into over drive, (labour is just as bad).. I already suffer from depression and anxiety caused by the dwp.. Violence should be used as a last resort.. but unfortunately we are being pushed to that.. where is labour, no where to be seen.. perhaps they will connect the benefits card with calorific counts..just waiting for them to do it to stop “obesity”,
How much more can this man do.He has wasted milliions of pounds and yet he still has the cheek to take what little we have away from us.we are all ready for the next election.the problem is,this tosser will walk away with a golden handshake.he wont give anything that he has done a second thought.
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Not everybody on benefits is a drug addict/alcoholic, and not all addicts are on benefits. What an insulting stereotype. IDS really does want to take us all back to Victorian times doesn’t he.
If this ridiculous policy is made law, all that will happen is that: (1) people who really do have problems with drink and drugs won’t care as they’ll find a way to get their hands on their fix anyway. That’s why it’s called an addiction. It’s an illness and it’s not as simple as saying “Just don’t drink.” They need to be offered help, not condemned. And to be perfectly frank, if I was an alcoholic or drug addict, something like this would only put me off seeking help in case it was used against me in future. (Although that’s another point. Why would the DWP have to know anyway? I’m sure treatment programmes are funded by the NHS. Wouldn’t it go against medical confidentiality for staff at these places to divulge information to DWP about claimants?)
2) Non-addicted claimants will be punished and inconvenienced because we can’t pay for vitals like our standing orders (how my rent is paid), direct debits (water bills), PAYG electricity meters (my stove is powered by electricity and I need that to cook with) and public transport to travel to job interviews. Especially public transport. Which is proof to me that I’m-a-Drunken-Sadist doesn’t actually give a damn if we find work or not. If he really cared about that, he wouldn’t try and take away the things that can help with that. He just wants to punish anyone who’s not rich like him. The man is pure evil.
Why can’t some people accept that there is no foolproof way of weeding out the minority of “piss-takers” without punishing the genuine claimants. The Tories have probably spent more on their so-called “reforms” than has ever been lost to benefit fraud. Whether we like it or not, that’s just a small price for living in a compassionate society. But I’ve seen quite a few comments elsewhere on the Internet saying “About time too!” and when someone explains what I did above about other essentials we’d still need cash for, the response is “Well get a job then!” Makes you want to scream “I AM LOOKING FOR A JOB BUT NO FUCKER IS HIRING AT THE MOMENT!” Do they really think if “just getting a job” was that simple, this would even be an issue to be discussed? Ignorant people make me angry.
Oh yeah, and IDS, if you do bring this in, crime rates WILL go up. I hope your house is the first one burgled by an addict deprived of his fix!
Which is Why they are Not Right in a Meaningful Sense such as Actually being Right and we are Better Off with Peaceful Socialist Political Revolution
profreedan | September 29, 2014 at 6:50 pm | Reply The right are always going on about the nanny state but they will be one hundred percent behind this. Fucking hypocrites.
Here’s a petition for anyone who wants to sign. I have also written to my MP hoping to get her signature, and I’d urge as many people as possible to do the same. We just need 228 more signatures!
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/re-think-pre-paid-benefit-cards
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog.
Reblogged this on HAPLOGROUP – bit that makes us human..