What the Institure for Fiscal Studies thought about scrapping statistics on benefit uptake rates
The DWP are trying to hide the truth about the collosal sums of benefits that go unclaimed by using endless statistical meddling as an excuse for no longer revealing this vital information.
Back in the days before the current government weren’t elected the DWP used to publish statistics on an annual basis showing the number of people who were eligible for a particular benefit but didn’t claim it.
The numbers were often used to embarrass the government by showing that far more people do not claim the benefits they are entitled to than falsely receive payments. They showed for example, that in 2009/10 that the amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance that went unclaimed was between £1.28 billion and £1.95 billion. Housing Benefits were under-claimed by between £1.85 billion and £3.10 billion, whilst out of work sickness and disability benefits were under-claimed by anything from £0.75 billion up to £2.04 billion.
Unfortunately, these figures – which were published by the Tory administration but cover Labour’s last year in office – are the last we have. In 2012, Iain Duncan Smith published a consultation on scrapping these statistics on the grounds that it would save some money and that no-one really cared anyway. The response to the consultation was clear – some organisations cared very much indeed. A host of think tanks, charities and academics condemned the plans and the DWP relented and agreed to continue publishing this information. Or at least that’s what they said they would do.
Initially the department said they would publish the figures for 2010/11 and 2011/12 in February 2014 and then didn’t. After four years of pretending to tinker with the statistical methods they were expected to finally publish the information this month. But they aren’t doing that now either. The latest news is that the statistics are “provisionally due to be published in May or June 2015”. Which conveniently is after the general election.
So after five years of welfare reforms we will not know whether the brutal cuts have made any difference to the number of people who take up benefits. We won’t find out whether sanctions and increased conditionality are driving people away from claiming unemployment benefits, or whether the vicious assessments for sickness and disability benefits are putting people off accessing the help they need when they are too ill to work. We won’t know what the impact of Universal Credit has been, or the changes to Housing and Council Tax benefits. We won’t know much very much at all, which is exactly what Iain Duncan Smith wants. Anyone would think they’ve got something to hide.
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the void 
@Johnny went to access that link to pdf and it went offline with the usual “maybe site dont exist or its been moved ”
Ive been getting a lot of sites not been able to access for some reason
Maybe TPTB dont like me ..wonder why
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2818222/Almost-12-000-deemed-fat-work-given-54m-benefits-Number-claimants-obesity-related-illnesses-doubles-five-years.html
Oh yes disabled claimants are just fat and lazy arent they ?
Obviously no one in Britain ever becomes unwell do they ..its all ‘ lifestyle choices ‘
Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘Successive governments have made life too easy for too many obese people.
‘If the obese have a legitimate cause for their fatness – and there may be medical or genetic reasons – benefits should not be denied to them. But getting long-term benefits simply for over-eating is an insult to society.’
Who needs enemies with charitable friends like the NOF.
Every precaution is taken by the NOF to ensure that the content of this site is accurate and legally and morally correct.
Morally correct gives the clue to the Third Force mind set, form political correctness to moral correctness.
“Morals” and thats from them and it being published in a moral free publication too
Tam Fry, who personally scrounged £50,000 from Coca Cola for the NOF. What the fuck is the National Obesity Forum, what authority does it have, how is it funded and what is it for other than a nice little earner for Fry?
It’s like the “National Viewers and Listeners Association” (Mary Whitehouse and a couple of others), or the “Taxpayer Alliance” (ditto, a few self-interested lobbyists). These organisations are thoroughly suspect, and by giving themselves these pompous titles, especially with the use of “National” give the impression of being big and influential. They are loved by daytime rolling news, as they always have a rent-a-gob available to spew forth. This ensures they become self-perpetuating.
mr r
sounds like wants to trigger people and then tell them how bad they are…
curiouser and curiouser said the thelovelywibblywobblyoldlady
Reblogged this on glynismillward189.
Reblogged this on sdbast.
Reblogged this on Citizens, not serfs.
I have heard it all now – lets have a go at obese people – will the next target group be people with brown/blue/green eyes? Lets get rid of this government at the next election and hopefully elect people who know what they are doing instead of people, who, in my opinion, would be incapable of holding down a job in Poundland.
@Donna IDS put it this way about shelf
stackers was that they did an important job as people need know where things are…
Check it out in this video of one guys experience of MWA and how they stitch up benefit claimants in order to sanction people. Not only must you turn up for MWA. You must do so with a big smile on your face and be very very happy!
raining
yep, the guy in the vid is spot on…
OBD: Noted in the video the guy said there were another couple of older guys there along with him and he said they just looked beaten down and defeated and at their lowest ebb with the whole thing. A dreadful, horrible thing to try to inflict on anyone. To threaten someone into slavery, with the threat of sanctions leading to penury if you don’t comply is criminal in my opinion.
It makes me sick to see the depths of depravity now being plumbed in this country as their neo-liberal globalisation dream subdues ordinary people as the money men walk away laughing at how we’re being shafted.
raining
bullying is criminal, plain and simple…feeling make word….
Failed to participate in one’s own enslavement how can that be an offence.
Failure to participate is not the simple mechanism of being at X place at a certain time it is also the coercive psychological control of a person on CWP/MWA. A legalised implement that not only physically restrains a person but attempts to destroy dignity and enforce a state of submission on the character.
done the same thing to me and same provider and won the sanction doubt, got paid 10 quid to leave as well haha 😉
Meanwhile, the circumstances of the UK’s poorer people is the focus of other papers. The i reports that unemployed people might have to sign on twice as often – every week – after government research suggested trials of the practice helped the jobless back into work more quickly.
This was reported in the I
The claim is that signing on twice a week every week helps you get a job
So when you go for that job interview and miss signing on and get sanctioned just remember that its all in your best interest
Conversely you could skip the job interview because you had to sign on yet again thus keeping you unemployed .but at least you have a choice and thats what is important
UK hang your head in shame. Benefit Denial Service in full flight.
EAT THE RICH!!!!
…. with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
Trouble is they told so many porkies bent the truth so if it does come out it will sound like a piece of fiction would the general public beleive it
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
Mr Void here shows how the government appears to be trying to hide the statistics on unclaimed benefit as these put the lie to all the scaremongering about benefit fraud. Far more benefit goes unclaimed than is lost through fraud, but obviously this government cannot admit to that, as it would severely contradict all the measures taken to make jobseekers and other benefit claimants jump through hoops to make sure they were genuine.
Iain Duncan Smith’s reluctance to publish any statistics suggesting that his policies are not a glowing success is notorious. As Mike over at Vox Political and others have found out, he has done everything he could to avoid publishing the figure for the numbers of people dying after being found fit for work by Atos. And anyone, who asks for these figures is immediately refused them on the grounds that such a request is vexatious. And Mr Void also pointed out in his own blog how the government flatly refused to give the names of the companies signing up to workfare programme. They frankly admitted that they weren’t going to give them, because if they did, the companies would suffer such a backlash that the programme would fail. You can bet that similar fears underlie their refusal to give these statistics too.
Of course, when considering under-claimed amounts compared with benefit fraud (around half of the figures are DWP’s error rather than someone claiming what they aren’t entitled to, illegally) lets not forget tax evasion by the rich and their corporations.
Then consider how many staff the DWP have to tackle benefit fraud and the staff HMRC has to tackle tax evasion. If HMRC doesn’t want to employ hundreds of people to do this then allow agencies to do it on their behalf in return for a commission. But we all know why the real reason for this is.
“From July 1 (2015), the Department Work and Pensions (DWP) will investigate housing and council tax benefit fraud through the new Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS).”
Work and Pensions Committee.
9:30am Wednesday February 4th 2015.
Benefit sanctions policy beyond the Oakley Review.
Witness(es): Rt Hon Esther Mcvey, Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions and Chris Hayes, Director, Labour Market and International Affairs.
Location:
The Wilson Room, Portcullis House.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/
They might as well host the Tellytubbies Christmas party Obi, because nothing will be forthcoming…………
Just another ruse to pretend they are addressing public concerns over sanctioning, which, as we all know already, is a violation of our Human Rights.
Its nothing new with the DWP coming out with the same old crap, day in day out…………….
“WE INTEND TO PUBLISH AT A LATER DATE”, HAS BEEN THEIR THEME SINCE THE CORPSES STARTED TO STACK UP IN THEIR BACK YARD”
Nobody is fooled by the delaying tactics, for it is they who are deluded, trying to hold back the carnage from the electorates eyes before the election in may.
They have a new best friend, in the Freedom of Information Commissioner, undeniably the biggest lump of lard ever recruited……………
Christopher Graham became Information Commissioner in June 2009. The Information Commissioner is appointed by HM The Queen and has independent status, reporting directly to Parliament, with a range of responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998 and related laws. The functions of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) include promoting good practice, ruling on complaints and taking regulatory action.
Christopher’s career began at the BBC as a radio and TV journalist. Most recently he has been:
Director General of the Advertising Standards Authority;
Chairman of the European Advertising Standards Alliance; and
Secretary of the BBC.
The freedom of information authority is elected by the crown, so their so called independence goes straight out of the window instantly.
The FOI has links to the Ministry of Justice and the old bill, hence the concerted cover up of prime documentation.
Furthermore, anyone with links to the BBC, must be a government patsy in a wedding dress……………
If only 0.7% of benefits are classed as fraudulent, that makes them 99.3% perfect……………..
Of that 0.7%, some are due to clerical error or inside fiddling, so who is to take resposibility for all the deaths when they inevitably surface?
It won’t be the shirkers, the poor or disabled, but one things for certain………
“THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSIONER, CHRISTOPHER GRAHAM, PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE IN TRYING TO COVER IT ALL UP”
……………………..which, in turn, makes him as guilty as those pulling the trigger.
“CHRISTOPHER GRAHAM 2013”
The Information Commissioner Christopher Graham
The Information Commissioner Christopher Graham will come under huge pressure from MPs today to release the list
The Information Commissioner will come under huge pressure from MPs today to allow the release of an explosive list of blue-chip companies who hired corrupt private detectives.
Christopher Graham is demanding the Home Affairs select committee withhold the list while he conducts a criminal investigation over potential breaches of data protection laws
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2416502/Information-Commissioner-Christopher-Graham-pressure-MPs-grill-data-watchdog-rogue-detectives.html
…………………………….paid to hide the governments dirty little secrets
The ICO just protects private businesses to the detriment if the public. This organisation has absolutely no idea if what a ‘public interest’ is as it doesn’t work for the public, which pays for it to exist.
“The numbers were often used to embarrass the government …” That sums it up really why loads of these statistics are not being published, or worse now ***not even being collected***.
Investigations by journalists recently highlighted the fact that the government has stopped collecting statistics on what happens to people who leave benefits!
Listen again to programme “Benefit Sanctions”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04yk7h6
Towards the end of the programme an MP, can’t remember which one, told about how he’s questioned Esther McVey in the Commons about what happens to people. She was like “duh, nothing to do with me, I know nothing” false innocence.
As you say, Johnny, what have they got to hide???
This statistics issue is a very weak point, imo, and needs pushing on hard.
A lot more questions to be asked and answers DEMANDED!
But what we do know is this crap government wasn’t elected – we know that cameron is a liar – we know that duncan shit is a murderer – we know that the tory boys are nazis and have stolen our country from us – we know the for what they are
UC is woefully underfunded, and will lose more money in the future due to IT failures and other administration failures.
Someone has to pay for a project in tatters.
Millions of pounds taken from claimants, in the form of sanctions, loss of other benefits.
Claimants have funded their own digital workhouse, in the form of UC.
It would not surprise me that all the unclaimed benefits, all the sanctions have been swallowed up funding UC, and other vanity benefit reforms, including work providers.
That’s why IDS lies through his ass to government .”Yes sir we have the money, we sanction claimants to pay for it”.
The more money he throws down the drain, and hides it.
The more people get sanctioned, or get denied other benefits.
I just get the feeling that something will happen – someone will sanction the wrong person and all hell will break loose. There is no hiding place for these corrupt people due to ordinary people sharing information over the internet. Cannot wait for the result of the investigation into the matter of Human Rights and the deaths of all those people who have died through benefit sanctions. Documents handed in at Kew from Margaret Thatcher’s days of Prime Minister show that she knew Sir Peter H was being investigated for sexual depravity – he should have stripped of his title.and arrested. Apparently he left a file on a bus – and he worked in central intelligence?
Yes indeed, Donna, THEY will hunt us down and THEY will KILL us!
lol at my jc we have a mickey and minnie mouse (dunno, maybe they are married or summat), and the manager is called Goofy lol
Yes indeed, Donna, THEY will hunt us down and THEY will KILL us!!
… but 👿 THEY 👿 stopped our benefits….
@Donna Smith we know all about Peter H and the ppl he was with who fantasised about killing kids and the attorney general who failed to prosecute because he was an offender too
Peter H? Hain!? Or are you talking about another Peter? Can’t think of another Peter lol Thought it was a Philip or is that someone else? And who is the Attorney General you are talking about?
@nooli Peter Hayman or Sir Peter Hayman the attorney general nonce was michael havers brother to dame butler sloss who resigned from HCSA enquiry due to conflict of interest and was replaced by fiona woolf who also resignded from HCSA enquiry due to conflict of interest as she was friends of leon brittan amongst other
things and at that time was likely to have been called to testify at HCSA enquiry but now he wont because he is a dead nonce…its all going well isnt it?
Cruel to be Kind: I might be wrong here. Correct me. Has anyone thought of campaigning for the Death Penalty to be restored!! A law could be brought in. Something along the lines of those earning above and beyond £100,000(including expenses)wherein that individual or individuals successfully indicted for making improper and inhumane judgements against the states peoples wherein their mental or physical health can be proved to have resulted …in leading to 10 or more of the states citizens to lose their lives…could be found to be guilty…subsequently tried,convicted,then publicly executed(if found guilty of transgressing State Law)
Beating someone over the head with a hammer: 10 years in the slammer.
Stabbing two people with knife: 20 years.
Enforcing statutory law with effect it is seen to kill 10 innocent people or more: Guillotine.
This law would be better written than that outlined above,of course. But it would make those in power less likely to rig improper practices.
Just a thought
Those with pens and legislature are killing thousands x10. Killing with bullets and bombs are only killing 100s!!!
Cruel to be Kind: DWP/JCP sanctions are the restoration of the Death Penalty.
@stitchedupandbroken…………..sort of Nuremburg II?
Reblogged this on UNEMPLOYED IN TYNE & WEAR.
Hate all that poltical/moral correctness Third Sector speech – “Service User” – the subtle language of dehumanisation.
“WHY THE FUCK IS BILL GUNNYEON, FORMER DWP CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, IN A JOB AT MAXIMUS, WHEN HE LOBBIED FOR THE MAXIMUS CONTRACT, WHILST AT THE DWP?”
NOT SO MUCH A CONFLICT OF INTEREST, JUST CORRUPTION IN HIGH OFFICE………………….
“MCDOWELL HAD TO RESIGN FROM HIS JOB AT THE PROBATION WHEN THE PUBLIC BECAME AWARE THAT HIS WIFE HAD LANDED A IOP ROLE AT SODEXO, THE CHOSEN CONTRACT WINNER.
BILL GUNNYEON OF THE DWP CANVASSED FOR THE MAXIMUS CONTRACT, WHEN HE WORKED AT DWP, ONLY TO SECURE A MAJOR ROLE AT MAXIMUS………………..
THE GOVERNMENT ARE TRYING TO KEEP THE INCIDENT UNDER WRAPS, PROMISING A FULL INVESTIGATION, TRYING TO PLAY DOWN GUNNYEONS ROLE WITHIN THE SELECTION PROCESS
Paul McDowell resigns as probation inspector over wife’s role at contract winner Sodexo
Paul McDowell has resigned from his position as the chief inspector of probation after a political row broke out when it emerged his wife worked for contract winner Sodexo Justice Services.
McDowell resigned the post after being appointed by justice secretary Chris Grayling in 2012.
He came under fire after it emerged that his wife was deputy manager at Sodexo, which won six of 21 regional probation contracts to supervise more than 200,000 offenders in England and Wales.
In a statement, Grayling said “an issue arose” about a potential perceived conflict of interest for McDowell given his wife’s employment with Sodexo
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
An MP is to ask ministers why a former senior civil servant had to wait just six months before working for a private sector company on two disability contracts he led on at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Disability News Service (DNS) revealed last week that Bill Gunnyeon had been given permission by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to work for US outsourcing giant Maximus on both its work capability assessment (WCA) and Fit for Work contracts, from the beginning of March.
The much-criticised WCA assesses eligibility for out-of-work disability benefits, while the new Fit for Work service provides an occupational health assessment and health and work advice to employees, employers and GPs, in a bid to help people return to or stay in work after an illness.
Gunnyeon left his post as DWP’s chief medical adviser and director for health and well-being – where he had overall responsibility for WCA policy – only last August, but has since been handed lucrative consultancy work with Maximus
……………………….GUNNYEON BETRAYED THE DISABLED TO LAND HIMSELF A POSITION IN MAXIMUS, ABSOLUTE SCANDAL
http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2015/01/mp-quiz-ministers-gunnyeons-maximus-wca-role/
…………….jobs for the boys to the detriment of the whole of the UK disabled population.
This DWP scumbag sold you all down the river………………
Why not google Gunnyeons links to the private health insurance companies, the numerous links will astound you………..
Wonder how much Maximus will fleece from the UK Government – would you buy a second hand car from them – no, I wouldn’t – I would not touch them with a barge pole. Are all people in Government thick or something?
Gov dodged scrutiny of Universal Credit
Computer Weekly – February 3, 2015 10:09 AM
The damage coalition cuts and bodge have done to Universal Credit was omitted from the National Audit Office assessment of the scheme in November.
The full story emerged a week after the auditor published its report. Had the NAO been able to put all the cards on the table, it may have discredited the coalition as the country entered its few months of mudslinging before the general election in May.
The ambitious Universal Credit welfare scheme was in a worse state than the Department for Work and Pensions had admitted when the auditor did its assessment. But this may have been caused more by government cuts in welfare to people in low paid jobs than its well-publicised IT problems.
Read More:
http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/public-sector/2015/02/gov-dodged-scrutiny-of-univers.html
“”””More damage
Yet it will cause alarm when Universal Credit’s further IT-related delays emerge officially, as they will undoubtedly continue to do after the election when the almighty bodge the coalition made of its development bears fruit. Politicians of any creed would exploit this to damage their opponents at the expense of the programme. Even the Conservatives who conceived the scheme would benefit from its collapse, and the damage it would do to big government and welfare, both of which they have vowed to diminish. The purpose of the venture, then long-forgotten, would sink under the waves with the system itself, and probably its captain.””””
Dear Liam Gallagher,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FoI) request received on 26 January 2015. You
asked:
Can you tell me How many First Tier Tribunal cases have the DWP lost in the whole of the UK
since 2012 till the present day?
The information can be found in the link below.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-
quarterly-july-to-september-2014
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Strategy FoI Team
Link Page = Result Gov Page Not Found – Is that meant to mean something !!!!
The line under the url should be part of it.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2014
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/dwp?latest_status%5B%5D=awaiting&page=1
“AND STILL THE DWP ARE STRUGGLING TO ANSWER, HOW MUCH THE LAW STATES YOU NEED TO LIVE ON”
PROBABLY THE FIRST BASIC THING THAT A WELFARE PROVIDER SHOULD KNOW
…………………….mind you, we are dealing with the DWP, WHO ARE AFRAID TO SPECIFY ANY AMOUNT, FOR FEAR OF BEING INUNDATED BY CLAIMS FROM THOSE LEFT SHORT, ON THE STREETS OR STARVING…………………….
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/the_law_says_you_need_to_live_on#incoming-612646
“FROM THE DWP DECISION MAKERS HANDBOOK”
.
1 Case 322/88, Grimaldi
Supremacy of European Community law
01239 EC law is supreme
1
. This means that where there is a conflict between the
provisions of EC law and that of any EEA national law
1.
EC law must be applied
and
2.
the national law must be set aside
……………which is strange as the UK judiciary are instructed to ignore EU law and replace it with DWP generated bullshit………….
Look, the Welfare State, in its current state is not feasible. There just isn’t enough money to go around. Let’s face it, a helluva lot of people are swinging the lead. I’ll give you an example. Take the 1930’s, obesity was unheard of, there was very little mental illness, and disability was rare, despite the fact that The Great War had only ended fifteen years before. Contrast that with now, and life in contemporary Britain, with its gargantuan welfare state and abloated NHS. Where the fuck did it all go wrong? I personally would say that it all went wrong in the late 80’s.
There just isn’t enough money to go around.
Money isn’t “a physical stuff” it’s just an idea, you can’t run out of it.
When money gets spent, anywhere, the money/numbers don’t just vanish, they just get transfered to someone else. So who’ve they been transfered to and why?
Money is an abstract concept. What we are talking about is the distribution of resources. And planet Earth provides ample resources for all of its population. Just look at the amount of food that is deliberately destroyed just to keep the (money) price up!
………….SO DWP DECISION MAKERS ARE WORKING IN THE DARK WHEN APPLYING THE LAW ?
Judgments of the European Court of Justice
01250 Judgments of the ECJ are not generally available to DMs. The DM should contact
DMA Leeds for information about these decisions.
“HIDING THE LAW FROM CLAIMANTS”
…………………WHAT THIS IS SAYING IS THAT THE DWP CAN WITHHOLD THE LAW FROM A CLAIMANT, WITHHOLD IT FROM THEIR REPRESENTATIVE, THEN WITHHOLD IT FROM A PERSON USING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACCESS BY CITING PUBLIC INTEREST.
Advice on the law
01460 Advice on the interpretation and application
of law in an individual case, for example
from DWP Legal Services or DMA Leeds, should not be disclosed to the claimant,
the claimant’s representative or the FtT. This type of information is covered by legal
professional privilege, and as such there is
no obligation to disclose it in legal
proceedings. There is no obligation to supply the advice where there is a request to
disclose it under the Data Protection Act 1998
1
. However, if a request to disclose is
made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
2
the information may be
disclosable if it is in the public interest to do so.
Click to access dmgch01.pdf
FROM THE DWP DECISION MAKERS HANDBOOK
……………WHICH IN TURN, MEANS THEY BEND THE LAW TO SUIT THEIR OWN ENDS.
NOT THAT WE ARE NOT AWARE OF THIS………….
Because it was in the late 80’s and early 90’s that job center staff persuaded able bodied and mentally well claimants to go on Incapacity Benefit so that the Conservative government of the day could massage the unemployment figures. And that is the only reason why we have the benefit crisis today. You see, the current government have looked at countries like the U.S, and Latin America nations such as Brazil, where there is next to no welfare state, and they have had an epithany. They have realised that those nations, where there is almost no safety net, haven’t collapsed into utter chaos with anarchy etc, so they understand that the UK won’t, either. They’ve simply come to the logical conclusion that they don’t have to bribe us anymore to massage the unemployment figures, they can just kick us off ESA, sanction us to death when we’re on JSA, and let us little fish slip through the net. Off of benefits, off the unemployment statistics, surviving off our wits and literally being non citizens, and the government don’t give a shit because they understand that society won’t fall apart
roger
you’ve mixed it all up man….MINERS, SHIPBUILDERS, STEEL WORKERS, ET AL hint, hint…i’m not going to bother deciphering and correcting your posts… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz5dl9fhj7o
… British society will simply become like the US of A.
“YET ANOTHER DWP VICTIM?”
L Clarkson left an annotation (29 January 2015)
My son has just had a medical and been found fit for work. He can’t leave the house unless I go with him and as I work full time I have to take time off if he needs to go anywhere. He has been waiting 8 months for counseling. We are going to appeal as there is no way he cam claim jsa as he was told to as he can’t say he is capable of work. The stress o both of us not to mention the financial hardship is awful. The decision maker actually told my son that most people who actually turn up for the medical are found fit for work!!! Outrageous! L Clarkson
Link to this
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/claimants_not_eligible_for_esa_o#comment-57044
Geoff i was told by someone that anyone that turns up for a medical with Atos/Maximus at their offices is automatically passed as fit for work owing to the fact they managed to get to their offices.
So if you manage to travel there they automatically say ‘ah! made it here from their home! Fit for work!’
raining
that’s how they make one feel small by humiliation and minimization of symptoms…coupled to their paper work, they create an uphill struggle to prove need, trial by ordeal…
The way these bastards carry on what do you have to have illness wise to qualify for sickness benefit? Be completely paralyzed and in a body cast and lying horizontal?
It’s a disgrace what’s happening in this place. Benefit denial service that’s what it’s all about.
Someone once said to me when a person gets called to one of those medicals if they see you’ve made the effort to get dressed up and to travel to the destination then they just straight away say you’re capable of ‘doing something.’
raining
yep, there empathy, love, and compassion, is underwhelming…
It is their, raining, not there.
They will not get away with the scam, Raining.
I am more than positive these fraudsters will be brought to justice. Their house of cards is beginning to rock and we, united, will make it tumble.
The why and wherefores of how you arrived were probably used against you, but the whole crux of the matter is that the DWP and ATOS had formulated targets that they had to meet as part of the hidden contract.
Furthermore, HCP’s were given a target of how many claimants they were allowed to admit to either wrag or the support groups, usually limited to one person in the support group per week.
If the HCP allowed more than their quota allowed, they would find themselves under investigation by ATOS and instructed to alter the medical reports to comply.
The reason for the delay in letting the claimant know how they fared, was to allow Atos to adjust the reports. In order to meet targets the HCP had to balance the books, often giving the claimant no marks against the descriptors whatsoever.
In fact i asked for all the medical records the DWP held on me. It costs nothing at all, and came in three large envelopes, over seven inches of reports.
Upon going through my history i found that i had achieved over fifty points on one of my former assessments and three DWP doctors had said my condition would never alter and i was incapable of any work.
Even more strange, an earlier HCP’s report that the DWP had commissioned, stated that my condition was unlikely to get better in the foreseeable future.
“I WOULD IMPLORE ALL AND SUNDRY TO REQUEST ALL INFORMATION THAT THE DWP HOLD UPON THEM”
“JUST SEND THEM A REQUEST, IN WRITING, AND MAKE SURE YOU SEND IT RECORDED AS THEY WILL IMPLY THEY NEVER RECIEVED IT IF CHALLENGED”
THE INFORMATION THEY HOLD BELONGS TO YOU, NEVER FORGET THIS.
THERE WERE COPIES OF MY DOCTORS SICK NOTES, HOSPITAL APPOINTMENTS, PAYMENTS ETC……………
YOU WILL FIND THE AMOUNT OF FILES ABSOLUTELY STAGGERING, AND IT WILL PROVE PRICELESS IN YOUR QUEST FOR JUSTICE
“BE SPECIFIC IN WHAT YOU REQUEST, ASK FOR EVERYTHING, AND I MEAN EVERYTHING”…………………………………
Reblogged this on nearlydead.
Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating.
Reblogged this on Will the real reality please stand up! and commented:
Well they wouldn’t want the public to find out on how tough it is to get the benefits due to them.
“DAME ANN BEGG, CHAIRPERSON, HANSARD, 21 JAN 2013”
Now, we also know from the figures that we have, and your Department has provided, that half a million will get less support, so there are almost a million who do get DLA and would have got DLA up to 2018, who will not get PIP, and, of the ones who will get PIP, there is another half million who will get a lesser award than they would have done had they been put under the DLA criteria. Now that, to me, appears as though almost two in every three of those who are presently receiving DLA will either lose all of their benefit or lose some of their benefit once all these changes are rolled out. That seems a very high proportion: two out of every three who are presently on DLA or were projected to be on DLA by 2018 could lose either some or all of their benefit. Is that a figure you would accept?
Q8 Sheila Gilmore: Could I just ask you about some of the figures you just gave? I may have misheard you, but you seemed to suggest, when you started to talk, about 30% of people getting an enhanced award, but I heard you talk about 70% would not be losing benefit. That comes to 100%; some people will be losing, won’t they?
Esther McVey: I said 75%, and I will clarify: 75% of people will get an award-it might be unchanged; it might be less, as you say. I am agreeing with that, but 30% of those will get a higher award.
Q9 Sheila Gilmore: So 30% is of the 75%.
Esther McVey: It is of the 100%, looking at two separate groups. So 30% of the 100% will get a higher and 75% of people within there will get the same award or will get an award. There are two sets of awards going on.
Think I would be asking for a home visit if zero points are scored because people have managed to turn up for their appointment. Do these people still get paid for doing nothing? Wonder what they would do if no-one could manage to make their appointment
donna
a letter from gp is required…yet the gp has signed one not fit for work and taken travel into a/c in making this decision….so the fact one can travel is irrelevant to being fit for work or not…
If a home visit request was successful I would also ensure that a minimum of six people were present to witness the interview. Put the assessors under pressure on your home territory instead of you being under pressure on theirs. It would cost this company a whole lot more for their expenses in relation to a home visit.. I spoke to a woman recently who failed the assessment for DLA simply because she opened the door to the Assessor who had visited her home for an assessment. Strange but true.
GEOFF REYNOLDS | January 20, 2015 at 10:23 am | Reply
……………………….ALWAYS REMEMBER;
MAXIMUS REQUIRE YOUR GIVEN CONSENT FOR ANY MEDICAL APPRAISAL TO GO AHEAD.
WHEN ASKED TO GIVE CONSENT, JUST SAY NO………………………
NEVER SIGN ANYTHING, THE DWP REQUIRE YOUR SIGNATURE.
NEVER GO TO A MEDICAL ASSESSMENT, LET THEM COME TO YOU.
MAKE A RECORDING OF THE WHOLE ASSESSMENT, VISUAL AND AUDIO, IT WILL COME IN HANDY WHEN YOU TAKE THEM TO COURT.
geoff
they won’t come to you unless the gp writes to them,..so one can be fit to travel, but not fit for work…get the wca recorded…as for the signature i’ve heard the same…as you know they find most people fit for work…then one must appeal, but 1st it’s MR…then after that one must send in gl24 appeal form to FtTribunal… the press button et al and be fit for work, is according to the UtTribunal speculative extrapolation by the sec of state… the wca is for illustrative purposes only..
domestic husbandry must come 1st, this is why one is paid benefits, as one is not fit for work…
If you can open your front door… > then you can operate a keyboard… > FIT TO WORK!!
Children aged two can open doors and some can operate a keyboard ie a piano – are they fit to work?
OBD – symptoms can get worse overnight – someone posted that zero points had been awarded for simply managing to make the journey to their WCA appointment. Well if that is the case then everyone should apply for a home visit and leave their offices empty.
Donna, i was awarded just short of seventeen thousand pounds many years ago at Leeds Drown Court for damage to my hearing, whilst in the employ of a local vehicle manufacturer.
Both ears are damaged, my hearing capacity well down and i suffer from moderate to severe tinnitus in both ears.
I have to wear a hearing aid.
I was awarded zero for my hearing, and zero for each of my other disabilities, despite being told i was disabled for life by a DWP tribunal, some 14 years back for injuries to my spine i sustained in an accident with a bus.
My doctors at my medical adjudication had a vast array of letters after their names, medical qualifications……………..
My ATOS assessor (HCP HUNGRY CASH PARASITE) had but a diploma for a short course, courtesy of the Faculty for Occupational Medicine, of which, BILL GUNNYEON , ex DWP, now MAXIMUS, was president………………
…………………join up the dots
“BENEFIT SANCTIONS POLICY AND THE OAKLEY REVIEW”
LIVE ON BBC POLITICS NOW
“BLIND CHEEK”
David Blunkett MP (from the latest Register of Members’ Interests).
“Adviser on business development to A4e Ltd; global public service reform. (£25,001–£30,000 per financial year) This involves some travel.
Secure Trading Inc. (US), 108 West 13th Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801, USA. This involves some travel.
Advisory post for corporate social responsibility (volunteering and education) for News International, 1 Virginia Street, London E98 1HR.
6-month contract, £25,000 (Registered 22 March 2011)
Contract renewal, 6 month rolling contract. January 2012, £49,500. (Registered 10 January 2012)
Payments from RLF Partnership (51 Causton St, London SW1P 4AT) for seminars on UK and International Relations:
£1,500 received on 4 July 2011. Hours worked: 4 hrs (Registered 12 July 2011)
£1,500 received on 3 October 2011. Hours worked: 2 hrs. (Registered 13 October 2011)
28 November 2011, I received £2,000 from Sysmex Ltd, Sysmex UK Ltd, Sysmex House, Garamonde Drive, Wymbush, Milton Keynes, MK8 8DF for making a speech. Hours: 5 hrs. (Registered 20 December 2011)”
………………..ANOTHER A4E PARASITE
oh dear geoff
‘have you seen the old man’… http://wingsoverscotland.com/panic-on-the-streets-of-london/
Extended version – fuck radio edits – with even more cool guitar riffs 🙂
Watched it on tv as i read your article OBD, the plot thickens day by day, seems Murphy was an ideal choice………………
Like electing Hitler to sell showers.
chuckle chuckle
copied from wings over scotland – thought this was funny.
Hoss Mack says:
4 February, 2015 at 12:40 pm
@lollysmum
I have given up complaining to the BBC – but I now phone them up regularly to compliment them on having Jim Murphy on daily. More Jim please – as much as possible before may 7. It seems to be driving up the SNP vote very nicely and we are trying to get all 59 seats and with the BBC’s help we may be able to do it.
Here is the number – 03700100222 and select option 1
I wonder if he will even survive as branch leader until May. Knives and Ian Davidson’s bayonets will be getting sharpened after these polls. (Watch your back, Jim.)
“JOBCENTRE TREATS VULNERABLE CLAIMANT LIKE SHIT”
Plans for protest after man’s arrest at Jobcentre
A Tayside activist has been charged with threatening behaviour following an alleged incident at a Jobcentre.
Tony Cox, who campaigns for the Scottish Unemployed Workers Network, was arrested in Arbroath in connection with a disturbance that took place at the Chalmer Street branch on Thursday.
The 51-year-old has been charged with threatening behaviour, refusing arrest and refusing to give his name and address.
It is understood the alleged incident unfolded following an disagreement between Cox and staff over the treatment of a vulnerable claimant who had been searching for employment.
A report is to be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
SUWN wants to persuade the Department for Work and Pensions and the police to drop the case, claiming that it is unfair.
http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/news/local/angus/plans-for-protest-after-man-s-arrest-at-jobcentre-1.823188
Scotland is a de facto Police state, Scottish politicians conveniently ignore that fact veiling the abuse of the rule of law as political and moral correctness in the name of good society.
Wonder what wee Nicola (successor to the fat fascist Alex Salmon) is going to do about yet another heavy-handed display of the seemingly limitless powers and shocking abuse of human rights by her thugs known as Police State Scotland…. or is she too busy in the hairdressers… getting beauty therapy lol … or shopping for new outfits…
Note the standard issue triad charges by Police Scotland fire enough public order charges and at least one will hit the mark.
Can Nicola bring municipal Scotland under democratic and just control?
What happened to that stupid cunt MaKaskill and his proposals to give even more powers to thug Police State Scotland by dropping the ‘corroboration’ requirements – the ‘cornerstone’ of the Scottish legal system since time immemorial… or has wee Nicola thrown the fucking bawbag and his Bill into the Forth with a concrete block round his fucking net?
I posted yesterday that I had the feeling that something was going to happen – maybe I should post as Psychic Donna lol.
“His bail conditions forbid him with having any contact with D, who is a witness” – this is important! Obviously D is a PROSECUTION witness. Tony is well and truly fucked!
The very fact that Tony has been charged with these offences and dragged into court will already have done him damage, as he will soon find out if he has to get a criminal record ‘Disclosure’ certificate. The jobcentre have just made his chances of gaining employment infinitesimally small.
All the Procurator Fiscal has to do is to put a few words into the mouth of “D”, and there is the jobcentre staff ‘witnesses’ which will be ‘corroborated, then the cops who attended will say that Tony was acting in an aggressive manner… and that will be the Crown’s bullshit case. Tony’s only hope is that he gets get a decent Sheriff who won’t be “satisfied” that they Crown’s case is proven. In hindsight, Tony should have brought other ‘independent’ witnesses to back him up, and not be reliant on D who has turned Crown witness. Anyway, that is ‘justice’ for you in wee Nicola’s Police (State) Scotland.
Also, Tony will be under massive pressure to “do a deal” – “the PF will drop the the threatening behaviour if he pleads guilty to the other charges”. i.e they over-inflate the charges in the first place with something that most likely isn’t provable, and that is the whole point – to get a “conviction”.
should be ‘provable’ – it’s not like Tony is guilty of anything anyway.
Anyway, if Tony genuinely wasn’t doing anything he would be better to ‘take it to the wire’ – they might drop it at the door of the court. And if it does go to trial it is not him who has to go into the witness box to tell lies – it will be the jobcentre staff who will be shitting themselves that it does go to trial; they will be expecting Tony to plead guilty to a reduced charge, and no doubt the cops will have told that: “I wouldn’t worry, it won’t go to trial; they always plead guilty.” Well fuck ’em. Good luck, Tony! All the best!
Anyway, if Tony genuinely wasn’t doing anything he would be better to ‘take it to the wire’ – they might drop it at the door of the court. And if it does go to trial it is not him who has to go into the witness box to tell lies – it will be the jobcentre staff who will be shitting themselves that it does go to trial; they will be expecting Tony to plead guilty to a reduced charge, and no doubt the cops will have told that: “I wouldn’t worry, it won’t go to trial; they always plead guilty.” Well fuck ’em. Good luck, Tony! ! All the best!!
Mandatory Work Activity “Failure”
Destroyed individuals but that’s another subject.
A demoralised and submissive citizenry that turns a blind eye to the enslavement of its most vulnerable constituency that is the failure.
mr r
according to the state no one has an affective history, only a present which we must give to them…only then do we have a future…
FUCK AUSTERITY!!
oh, what joy i weep… http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/labour-needs-generation-unwind-snp-surge This is what a political earthquake looks like. Until the publication of Lord Ashcroft’s Scottish constituency polls this morning, there were some who doubted whether the SNP could win as many seats as the national polls implied. Even in the post-referendum world, could it really overturn Labour’s elephantine majorities in Glasgow and elsewhere? The answer from Ashcroft is clear: yes, it can.’
Me too – also, why do Labour insert Scottish before their Party name – and do they insert English/Welsh Labour in respective countries? I was under the impression it was named the Labour Party.
donna
it is the uk labour party…there is no autonomous slab party…
Constitutionally a majority SNP vote in the 2015ge would give the call for independence more legitimacy than any Westminster loaned referendum – just ask the unfairly maligned David Starkey.
Scotland declaring UDI – the 60s over again! I can imagine the frontier post across the M6/74 🙂
DEAR MR CHEWIE;
Seems they have chosen the new head of the child abuse inquiry on her merits, nobody from the Mir space station was available perhaps…….
Justice Goddard is past Chair of the Independent Police Conduct Authority and now sits in the Wellington High Court. Officially, she has overseen significant change, as the Authority publicly portrayed itself as a transparent investigative and reviewing agency of serious complaints against the Police. The reality is different. Justice Goddard held up and covered up a number of serious complaints. Perhaps this is not surprising given her history.When deputy Solicitor General, Lowell Goddard refused to release evidence that former judge Michael Lance was guilty of throwing a police prosecution of his son Simon’s business partner, claiming it was not in the public interest to do so. The police inspector at the time sought release of the file. Judge Lance later became Goddard’s deputy judge at the IPCA – demonstrating a level of audacity even rare by New Zealand standards. Lance retired in disgrace shortly afterward when it was reported he was keying cars parked in front of his Takapuna apartment. (Lance was prosecuted in a judge alone trial and let off.)
The IPCA became even a more opaque agency under Justice Goddard, with legal exemptions of disclosure to the Official Information Act and Privacy Act. Much of its work is cloaked by tight secrecy.
Justice Goddard is believed to be the first Maori woman to have served as a High Court Judge. She has also sat as a member of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal.
As a lawyer, Justice Goddard defended and prosecuted in a number of homicide and other serious criminal trials, and acted as counsel assisting tribunals and Commissions of Inquiry, including the Cartwright inquiry into allegations concerning the treatment of cervical cancer at National Women’s Hospital in New Zealand
In 2009, Justice Goddard gave a speech to the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference. An abstract of her speech is provided immediately below this profile.
Lawyers who appear before her generally have little regard for her as a judge willing to conform to law or rule consistent with relevant facts. They are far more impressed with her impeccable dress and makeup.
Deputy Solicitor General – Lowell Goddard covered up misconduct by Judge Lance in a criminal trial he presided over where his son’s law associate was charged with extortion (and Lance acquitted the man and ordered permanent name suppression).
………………………………seems an ideal candidate by all accounts
geoff
i’ve no clear idea what this inquiry is supposed to achieve in any case….
“THE DWP SAYS IT WILL COST MORE THAN £600 TO ANSWER THE STATEMENT”,
“THE AMOUNT THE LAW SAYS YOU NEED TO LIVE”
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/244820/response/613814/attach/html/2/FoI%205409%20reply.pdf.html
I can confirm that the Department may hold information falling within the description specified
in your request. However, we estimate that the cost of complying with your request would
exceed the appropriate limit of £600.
DWP Strategy FoI Team
“WRAG AND MANDATORY WORKFARE”
From: Ms Q L Alexander
3 February 2015
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Can a person claiming ESA and in a Work Related Activity Group be
exempt from mandated work related activity such as work programme
if they get a ‘sicknote’ from their GP.
My understanding is that a person would need to appeal against the
decision to put them in a WRAG group. Can a GP simply ‘sign someone
off , Work related activity even though they are already receiving
a sickness benefit.
Yours faithfully,
Ms Q L Alexander
Link to this
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/can_a_person_on_esa_in_a_wrag_ge#comment-57178
“ONE OF MY FAVOURITES FROM THE DWP”
Dear Meredith Ong,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received 30 July 2013. You asked;
“UNIVERSAL CREDIT”
“How much has been spent on this doomed fiasco?
When will ministers accept that it is not fit for purpose and never will be?
Whose head will roll if it is abandoned?
What happened to the security measures within the software?
How long before it is abandoned, leaving one of the largest bills for a failed project in British
history?”
………………………………………………………………………………………………
We hold no information on a doomed fiasco.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
“CAMERONS KILLING MACHINE”
The failure of the Personal Independence Payment has left 180,000-plus people with no support – one of them is Malcolm White
Malcolm White, a 55-year-old cleaner, spent last winter dragging himself home on the bus from daily chemotherapy sessions.
“I could hardly lift my head or my legs when each session finished,” Malcolm says. “I was shattered, but I had no other way to get home.”
While fighting an aggressive form of lung cancer, Malcolm, from South London, couldn’t afford the short journey by taxi. “I couldn’t afford to eat,” he says.
“I don’t know what would have happened to me without friends who came over and cooked for me.
“The radiotherapy burned my oesophagus and I couldn’t swallow. I ended up in A&E with dehydration. I kept fainting.
“On top of all that, I was getting into rent and council tax arrears.”
Throughout his physical ordeal, Malcolm should have been supported by Iain Duncan Smith’s flagship new Personal Independence Payment – a benefit designed to help people like him.
But PIP – administered by ATOS and Capita – has missed deadline after deadline. Its failure has left many thousands of people – 180,000 at the last count – with no support.
When Labour’s Margaret Hodge MP condemned PIP as a “fiasco”, this was an understatement.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/iain-duncan-smiths-flagship-benefit-5101432#ICID=sharebar_facebook
Geoff why did they ban you from this site? Getting too close to the truth and asking awkward questions eh? They don’t like that! I was just doing what you suggested and googling about private health insurance and i clicked on that site.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/bill_gunnyeon_dwp_chief_medical
http://gu.com/p/45djp/sbl
BROWNIE POINTS FOR DWP CRUELTY ADMIITS WORKER
Illuminating read Bob. When advisers are getting pressured like that to implement such policies why are the PCS union not standing up and doing something?
JCP work coach as exploitative advocate while playing the victim!
We all agree looks like a JCP work coach!
They claimed that annotations, (comments that i made) breached their protocol……………….
The truth is, i used to challenge what they had written in previous answers to other peoples requests, because they began to contradict themselves,…………………and still do………..
I would receive official letters that stated i could not challenge a DWP decision, (not appealable), then i found out that you have the right to appeal any decision, whatever.
hence;
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 06/08/2013. You asked:
Your department often informs claimants that the cannot appeal a decision.
I find this totally misleading, as it is up to the judge at a tribunal to make a decision if whether
an appeal is acceptable, and not you!
You even stated this within a FOI response:
The Department cannot provide a definitive reply to your question. As stated in the previous
reply, the decision on whether or not to accept an appeal is for the Tribunal judge to make.
Why do you therefore persist in telling people that they cannot appeal, knowing full well, it is
not in your remit to do so?
is true that less people are being found fit for work now does anybody know.
The Conservative Party ‘Even Nastier Than Before!’
“DWP DECISION MAKERS SKILL”
…………….REMEMBER THESE PEOPLE MAKE DECISIONS CONCERNING YOUR HEALTH
Dear Ms Baddams,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 20 January
2015. You asked:-
What qualifications do DWP job centre decision makers have ?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
To be helpful we can confirm that there are no specific external qualifications
required for the decision making role. All Decision Makers go through a
training programme that supports the individual in their role. The Decision
Maker consolidates this learning with mentor support.
……………………..NO WONDER THE COFFINS ARE STACKING UP
“TALKING OF COFFINS STACKING UP”
A retired gardener took his own life after a change in the benefits system that left him owing more than £800 to his local council in London, an inquest has heard.
Newham council admitted a failure to deal with Malcolm Burge’s benefit issue because of the backlog of cases after the change.
Burge, 66, who lived in a lodge at the City of London cemetery, wrote to the council telling them he was “depressed, stressed and suicidal”, saying: “I have no savings or assets. I am not trying to live, I am trying to survive.”
Shortly afterwards, he drove to Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, where he killed himself in his car. Speaking after his inquest at Bridgwater, Somerset, his sister, Carol Higdon, said: “He was a very quiet and proud man. We knew nothing about all this until after his death.”
Burge began claiming benefits when he became a carer to his father. He left his job as a gardener at the cemetery and became entitled to housing benefit, council tax benefit and a state and work pension.
Government alterations to welfare policy in January 2013 meant Burge’s weekly housing benefit, paid by Newham borough council, should have been cut from £89.39 to £44.75.
This was not implemented owing to a “backlog” at the authority and Burge continued to receive the higher amount.
The pensioner, who did not realise he should have received less, was horrified when the authority issued a demand for an £809.79 overpayment.
He wrote letters to Newham council begging for help but officers insisted the amount had to be paid and arranged for a deduction to his weekly benefit.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/03/retired-gardener-benefits-malcolm-burge-newham-council-london-government-welfare?CMP=share_btn_fb
“LETTER FROM SAMUEL MILLER”
Benefit claimant ‘stitching-up’ (inappropriate or egregious sanctions) is the elephant in the room that the Work & Pensions Committee inquiry has failed to address or talk about.
On December 21, 2014 I wrote the Committee about this matter and two days ago I wrote a similar letter to journalist Patrick Butler of The Guardian newspaper:
Dear Mr. Butler,
I am currently reviewing the testimony submitted to the Work and Pensions Committee inquiry on benefit sanctions policy and have yet to discover any mention of inappropriate or egregious sanctions.
There is ample evidence, however, that such sanctions are, in fact, being levied on benefit claimants. (See, for instance, http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/stitching-up-claimants-part-job-says-3537051, http://stupidsanctions.tumblr.com/, and other serious allegations: That the Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre sanctioned a claimant on sickness benefits who subsequently died of hypothermia while homeless and living on the streets; and, Eleanor Coulthard, a 19-year-old girl from Ashton-under-Lyne was sanctioned after telling her placement provider, B&Q, that she was 23-weeks pregnant.
Please see:
http://thepoorsideoflife.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/pregnant-and-sanctioned-just-in-time-for-christmas-sanctioned-and-frozen-to-death-the-latest-news-from-ashton-under-lyne-jobcentre/
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.ca/2014/08/protesters-target-ashton-jobcentre-for.html
http://thepoorsideoflife.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/the-low-levels-that-ashton-jobcentre-will-go-to-to-sanction-people
http://thepoorsideoflife.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/our-memorial-service-yesterday-what-a-poignant-day/
http://thepoorsideoflife.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/this-is-why-we-protest/
Not only are Jobcentre staff and DWP decision makers incompetent and medically unqualified, they are under severe pressure to strip claimants of their benefits.
Matthew Oakley’s independent review of JSA sanctions was limited in its remit to improving the way sanctions were communicated to claimants. His recommendations are relatively cosmetic and minor; that’s why the DWP has agreed to implement them.
On the whole, I’ve labelled his review a ‘whitewash’, for it ignores inappropriate sanctions, Jobcentre targets to take away benefits, and serious accusations by a whistle-blower of benefit claimant stitching-up.
In my opinion, Jobcentre staff and managers are knowingly engaging in conduct that involves dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation. I strongly believe this malfeasance is occurring at the behest of the DWP, who are involved in a cover-up of egregious or inappropriate benefit sanctions.
The Work and Pensions Select Committee is prohibited from investigating individual cases but, in my opinion, should refer serious allegations of benefit claimant ‘stitching-up’ to law enforcement.
Benefit claimant ‘stitching-up’ needs to recognized as a criminally indictable offense and I will advocate for this matter to be referred to law enforcement. Not only are Jobcentre staff and managers criminally culpable for this malfeasance, but so are the DWP ministers because it’s being done at their behest.
I’m therefore not at all surprised that employment minister Esther McVey is blaming Jobcentre staff for some cases of inappropriate benefit sanctioning, instead of taking responsibility for “the culture that she has created.”
Full disclosure: Since January 2012, I have been reporting voluntarily to the UN’s human rights office, in Geneva, on the welfare crisis for Britain’s sick and disabled.
I look forward to your e-mail reply.
Best wishes.
Samuel Miller.
McVILE, THE TWISTED BITCH
………………..giving evidence today to the work and pensions committee
Benefit sanctions are effective, employment minister says
Esther McVey says international evidence points to effectiveness of sanctions but concedes ‘no system is perfect’
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/04/benefit-sanctions-work-jobs-effective-employment-esther-mcvey?CMP=share_btn_fb
geoff
”When asked whether she thought a good welfare system necessarily required sanctions, McVey said: “It’s not just me saying that. It’s been said since time began and all the international evidence is saying that.” ‘it’s been said since time began’, was she there then? and all the international evidence says ‘it’s been said since time began’, so there!!…
Ms McVey will spend her old age being a childless bitter old spinster, she will never know what it will be like to have a family of her own.
McVey is a very emotional woman.
It will be her downfall.
Im not to bothered about her, and neither should anyone else. Her toxic personality WILL destroy her and after todays performance, the only way for her will be down.
Shame really, she is a good looking lady, but with a dark soul.
Mark Serwotka – What is our social security system for?
The socioeconomic engineering of a non-subsidised disposable and transient underclass and a precarious subsidised striving class – the non-subsidised disposable and transient underclass will be used to frighten the precarious subsidised striving class into dependency and subservience.
A system that has nothing to do with the social security of the British peoples, ultimately a system that exploits, enslaves and destroys the social security of a large proportion of the British peoples.
Guys have you seen this doing the rounds on Facebook ? ‘Christian’ organisation using workfare slaves, in a dangerous building, making them sign to commit to attend prayer sessions ? What happened to ‘the labourer is worthy of his hire ? ‘ (luke 10;7) ; ‘the labourer is worthy of his wages’ (luke 10:3) These people – just as the Salvation Army & Ian Dumbc**t smith – label themselves Christians for an illusion of goodness when really they are doing the devil’s work.
Jesus healed the sick & disabled, and protected the poor & vulnerable he didn’t persecute them which is what IDS and his evil cohorts are doing. Christians my a**e – they will burn in hell for what they do.
“Loaves ‘n’ Fishes is a Christian charity, based in Sandwell in the West Midlands. It is designed to demonstrate the unconditional love and compassion of Jesus Christ.” … just when did Jesus sanction human beings into destitution!? – CUNTS!!
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I think we should stop using the term unemployed and use the term job shortages instead. Unemployed implies there are jobs to go to and it is therefore the unemployed persons fault. Job shortage describes the situation more accurately and points the finger of blame at the government – the people actually responsible.
Anybody listen to head cunt Eamon Holmes on news this morning? His view on the depression of exfooty player Clark Carlisle is that he’s a coward for wanting to jump under a train – because he doesn’t think of the other people – what a cunt Holmes is. Bet he keeps his job though keeps Sky in the forefront of discriminatory tactics against the disabled
prayerwarriorpsychicnot,
Fundamentally the issues are not about jobs it is about the social security of both the employed and unemployed it was the Labour Party’s welfare reforms that pushed social security into the starving or striving class jobseeking market place. What they do not declare is the engineering of a starving class is encompassed in their socialist ideology hence the Labour Party’s authoring of the welfare reforms and the mealy-mouthed opposition to those reforms.
Labour party are total bastards. For a start the role played by Brown and Darling during the run up to the referendum persuading people to piss away our chance of independence and freedom from the Westminster yolk of corruption. Add that in to the already stewing pot of them signing up to all the Tory austerity measures and benefit cuts shows them as they truly are, the ‘red tories.’
So the dilemma up here is: hold your nose and try to stop vomiting as you vote Labour in order to get rid of Cameron, IDS, McVile, Lansley, Hague, Pickles, Osborne, Mitchell, May, Fallon et al. Or vote SNP and get a much stronger representation in HOC to push for more powers for Scotland but end up taking a lot of Labour seats from them and leaving Cameron and his gloating buddies in power to wreak havoc for another parliament.
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
raining
not true…if lab don’t win r.uk they don’t win anywhere and as their share of vote throughout uk is shrinking they don’t stand a chance of forming a govt in any case…
http://wingsoverscotland.com/a-thousand-miles-of-stupid/ might even be a lab tory coalition…
It’s definitely true that a massive swing to SNP and a major loss of seats in Scotland could lose them the election. That’s undeniable. That would then leave us with the Tories or some kind of coalition. Labour would never work with the Tories or vice versa. SNP will also not work with the Tories as they have stated previously.
raining
see this analysis what ever happens we will get the tories and partners…
http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-rainbow-election/
‘Nobody with the tiniest grip on their senses believes either Labour or the Tories will get an absolute majority in May, so the actual result WILL be somewhere within the wide range we’ve detailed above. And what that range of outcomes reveals is that right across the board, there’s no situation where voting SNP lets the Tories in. In every case, a win in Scotland makes no practical difference to Labour, but leaves Scottish voters out in the cold with nobody standing up for their interests.
Demonstrably and measurably, Scotland is better served by voting for the Nats.’
lab have never won a uk election without r.uk… scotllab seats have never mattered…the next gov will be tory with others, they are the incumbent party..lab and tory fought together against indyscot so they do work together as they share common interests…themselves….
so what are we going to do about it come voting day, are we going to kick the twats out or just keep moaning about how fucking stupid they are?
No Decent Person can Vote Tory or Liberal Democrat
It is Important a Mass Turn Out at the General Election
It Makes my Blood Boil the Fools Trance of Blindness Too Many
Around Us are in
The Quality of Life is More Important than Hair Extensions and
Designer Clothes