Apologies for the lack of posts recently. Back very soon, in the meantime this is from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and gives details of the upcoming week of action to coincide with the Paralympic Games. Please spread the word and get involved if you can.
DPAC Week of Action- September 4th-10th
Sunday September 4th pop-up art action – if anyone wants to take part in this please email us at mail@dpac.uk.net as further information will not be made public. This will go live on-line at 2pm
Monday September 5th Independent Living Day. Lobby and report in parliament following the horrendous cuts to care and support funding for personal assistance following the closure of the Independent Living Fund in 2015. Committee Room 21 from 2-4pm. Please allow about 20- 30 minutes to get through security
Afterwards 5pm at College Green opposite parliament for fun and festivities DPAC-style.
Tuesday September 6th National Day of Action against cumulative cuts faced by disabled people. Around the country. Please send us details of anything you’re organising. See this page for more information, including a list of locations where protests are being held.
Wednesday September 7th meet for noon opposite Downing Street for ‘No More Claimant Deaths’ protest.
Thursday September 8th An online day of action for all. More details will be published on website nearer the time.
Saturday September 10th International Conference, Resistance:Beyond Borders from 10.30am-4.30 pm at Resource for London, 356 Holloway Rd, London N7 6PA.
Speakers from Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Greece, Ireland and Germany.
See Conference 10th Sept Disabled Peoples’ Resistance: building beyond borders
To book a place please email us at mail@dpac.uk.net and give details of any access and dietary needs. Limited places available.
Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid
the void 
Reblogged this on disabledsingleparent.
JV
Nice to see you’re still around – was getting a bit worried.
Take care
Good to hear from you again JV. As a disabled person I know exactly how this cruel government has systematically tried to rob
me of what I’m entitled to from the state.
I used to get really angry about it, but now I’ve learned to get even. If more people took direct action against this shithouse government then they would be unable to govern the masses. This is really what we should be aiming for – anarchy and peace.
Good to see YOU back too, SHY!
Anarchy and peace for all 🙂
This will be my fourth year of living on just £33.60 per week. Not bad for someone designated as having a “LIFETIME DISABILITY”………..
My ATOS nurse, Emma Brodrick, and John Culley, DWP Decision Maker, may they both rot in hell for their part in the most heinous crimes against the disabled.
Scum, like these two should be eradicated along with the bent judiciary who gain from the pains of those they toss to the dogs.
………..Quite strange really?
Awarded a “LIFETIME DISABILITY AWARD”, by real doctors with letters after their names……….
Only to be robbed by an ex bed pan washer working for ATOS who completed a minimal entrance examination.
Even the accuracy of her tainted report has been questioned many times…….
I was seen to sit in a chair and get up unaided?
Was seen to get onto a couch without using a step?
……………then, lo and behold,
………….was witnessed to stand in one position, holding my walking stick for the whole duration of the examination!
The corruption of this government has no boundaries. Human life is cheap outside of the gates of Westminster.
……….and any government that permits alterations to welfare without first conducting in depth studies into the effects and risk assessment, is nothing short of a cold blooded killer.
Pen pushing, knob jockey’s like JOHN CULLEY of the DWP, may carry the title of Decision Maker, yet they have not one medical qualification.
Probably not even an established first aid certificate holder…………
Yet, every day they are called upon to make a decision if somebody should live or die.
Many have died because of decisions that have been made in order to satisfy the demands for office statistics to be met.
John is not a killer by choice, rather by a system that punishes him for not obeying a graph sheet.
…………..but how many deaths bear the hallmarks of his ignorance to kowtow to the bullies that direct him?
It’s a well proven fact that the majority of the general public will carry out the most evil crimes if given permission or told to by the state. This is why the crimes of most right wing and left wing dictatorships in the world find it so easy to recruit such people in the first place. If you think about this carefully you will realise that if in the future an attempt is made to have a Tory Minister prosecuted for what has been happening over the past few years, the blame will be past down the line to the idiot minions that allowed themselves to be used to do the killing of the disabled, and the minister will walk free. It always happens and always will. The buck never stops at the top only the proles suffer for the crimes of the elite.
True, the State never have any problems recruiting cunts:
“Universal Jobmatch
Job ID: 666
Location: Nationwide
Salary: £50,000 + expenses + car
We are currently recruiting for hangwo/men to carry out executions throughout the UK. In return you will receive a generous salary + 8 weeks holiday entitlement and employer-based pension scheme. A full current Driving Licence is essential for this post. Experience preferred but not essential. To apply for this vacancy please ask your Work Coach quoting the above Job ID number.
The Department for Justice is an Equal Opportunist employer.”
How many people would going: “Wow, sounds good. Money for old rope lol Think I will go for it.”
I don’t have a driving licence so I can’t apply for this 😦 Fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck!
Yep. Anybody interested in psychological experiments proving this should look up the names of Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo, both of which carried out studies which prove categorically that nice normal people are commonly easy to persuade into doing awful things if they believe they won’t be blamed for their actions and have been told to act in certain ways by figures of authority. Kind of frightening really but does explain why too many at the DWP have gone over to the dark side so quickly and easily.
Yep! The DWP/JCP is one great big Stanford Prison experiment 🙂
Exactly! It would be interesting 🙂 to find out exactly how long the DWP/JCP would “crank up” a sanction for? Three years, well we know that… 5 years?… 10 years? Life? Would they also ‘mandate’ you undertake community service, again, we already know that… but would they ‘mandate’ your imprisonment? Execution even?
That is right B.T. There are however in any organisation a minority who are very principled and refuse to do evil. In the Job centres a handful of people have left because they were opposed to the Tory cruelty inflicted on the less well off. In any society even one good person can make a difference. However for the majority it is the job security that comes first and stuff everyone else. If the majority really cared about others we would have had Socialist governments since 1945 but of course as we know that hasn’t happened because of the “I’m alright jack sod you” Tory culture.
The Nuremberg defence: “Vi vas vonly vollowing vorders.” has been found to be invalid!
Thing is it’s usually the people following the order rather than the people giving the orders who carry the can. Just look how Iain Duncan Smith, Lord David Freud, David Cameron and George Osborne have escaped justice, largely because they could only do the terrible things they did with the agreement of a majority of MPs in parliament which waters down direct responsibility and makes charges of corporate manslaughter and similar difficult to make stick.
The N*uremberg defence: “Vi vas vonly vollowing vorders.” has been found to be invalid!
Reblogged this on The Greater Fool.
We let em do it.
Soon, all of our privileges, sorry “Rights” will be taken away.
Armed police, pumped up snoop powers, they want our land, our homes, our money and our soul, no so called Messiah in government is going to save us, even if his initials are the same as Jesus Christ,.. look what they did to him.
They are ruled by the City of London, “banksters paradise”.
Poor ‘Jeremy Corbyn’ – he has, in the last two days been crucified by our ‘free'(?) press – not in the least by Sky News – Rupert Murdoch’s ‘ever growing baby’. Today it is being reported as ‘Traingate’ – for fucks sake!
Even the BBC 6 o’clock News have jumped onto this bandwagon.
What if ‘David Cameron’ had done such an ‘horrendous’ thing?
What if ‘Theresa May’ had done such an ‘horrendous’ thing?
Nothing would have been said, or even reported – it is – after all –
“a political stunt” – in the form of “Jeremy Corbyn”
IT IS SHAMEFUL, IN THIS SO CALLED DEMOCRACY, THAT SUCH POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM SHOULD BE SO IN THE HANDS OF THESE ABSOLUTELY ROTTEN MEDIA OUTLETS.
The reason Jezza couldn’t get a seat was because nine out of the ten carriages were “reserved for women only” 🙂 Talk about being hoist by your own petard 😀
The Chuckle Sisters – I could easily put my petard up your’s and you would definitely feel good! 🙂
After all – I am a good ‘boar’! 😀
Quite right Lara! Did you notice on the BBC news just a few days ago, they were pumping up Owen Smiths campaign with pro Smith propaganda and slagging off Jeremy Corbyn in the same article but!!!!! Oh dear, there was Owen Smith talking at his press conference to a few dozen of the press and there was Jeremy Corbyn talking to a huge hall filled with people. Yet we the proles are supposed to think JC is unpopular with the general public. This is how the establishment always works. They think they can tell us what to think and we should slavishly follow. Most of the time it works but sometimes it backfires badly such as in the EU referendum. JC will probably win the leadership unless they ballot rig to stop him but come the general election you will see the establishment run a hate campaign the likes of which will never have been seen before. The idiot Owen Smith doesn’t realise he is being used or if he does he is just a low life sell out. As soon as he had beaten Jeremy Corbyn the right wing press would turn on him as they do all Labour leaders that are not fully pro establishment. There is no way the rich elite will allow a decent caring Socialist like JC to run the UK. If he is not under the control of big business he can’t be allowed to take power. The Tory elite will not stop until every part of the UK economy is run purely for the benefit of rich investors including seeing the complete end of the welfare state and NHS. This has always been the aim and is essential in order to control the working classes. Work for shit wages and in shit conditions or starve, just as it was when my Grandfather was a child before the first world war. He told me how bad it was before the birth of the NHS and welfare state and I have never forgotten the chill it sent through my bones.
What ‘Traingate’ did reveal was that Jeremy Corbyn has a wife – Laura Alverez. Boy he kept that one quiet! No sign of her in the train carriage video either – maybe she was sat in the “women only” carriage 😀
On the ‘left’ 😀
“Miss Alvarez, 46” – and how old is Jezza? 76 or thereabouts 😉
lol Jezza is a sprightly 26!
Doesn’t look it, love 🙂 Must be to do with him being an “intellectual”, what with having two F grade O levels 🙂
Maybe. In dog years!
Wonder why Jezza is always so irascible and bad-tempered when he leaves home in the morning… 😉
having to look at you backstabbing him
And why is she a “Miss” if they are married? 😀
It appears that Jezza has two sons – Ben and Thomas. Something else we didn’t know about:
Why did the Sexpot Trot keep so quiet about his (MUCH younger) third wife? An insight into the marriage of Jeremy Corbyn and Laura Alvarez
hmm better than putting it into a pigs head
The DNA tests state…. back after the break [10 minutes later]… welcome back 😀 … the DNA tests state: “Jezza is the biological father of Ben and Thomas 😀 “. Bet you are relived, Jezza :D. Fuck off! See you next time on the Jeremy Vyle show 😀
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3258245/An-insight-marriage-Jeremy-Corbyn-Laura-Alvarez.html
Very few people were even aware he had a wife until recently
Bizarrely, there is no shortage of women taken with Corbyn’s charms. Dubbed the Sexpot Trot, his dishevelled appearance and wardrobe of ageing jackets, Lenin caps and vests have won him a raft of female fans.
And the looker currently on his arm was preceded by two other ladies. Ooo!
Jezza is now onto his third wife – the first one – Jane Chapman – donated to Yvette Cooper’s election campaign 😀
And according to this article Laura Alverez runs a business selling coffee beans made by Mexican slaves – she does look kind of Mexican, and with a name such as Alverez:
Wake up and smell the coffee: Jezza’s wife sells coffee grown by slaves!
“Wake up and smell the coffee, comrade: Jeremy Corbyn’s wife sells ‘fair trade’ beans sourced from ‘happy workers’ in Mexico. Guess what? They live in shacks and are dirt poor, exhausted… and very angry
Corbyn’s wife, Laura Alvarez, runs Mexican coffee business Cafe Mam
Some poverty-stricken farmers earn 93p for each 500g bag sold for £10
Workers live in tiny shacks with their families, starting long shifts at 4am
Farmer pleaded with company director Miss Alvarez, 46, to ‘think about us’
Luxury coffee sold from the home of Labour leadership frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn is produced by poverty-stricken Mexican farmers, some of whom have earned less than the country’s minimum wage, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Laura Alvarez, the politician’s third wife, runs a business selling organic beans, and boasts that those who make it are paid ‘a fair wage and enjoy good conditions of employment’.
But this newspaper has discovered that Café Mam is produced by farmers in Mexico’s poorest state, who earn just 93p for each 500g bag that Ms Alvarez sells for £10.”
yet yc you voted with the rest of the backstabbers to take away benefits monies hooray for a red tie tory
“Since marrying and moving to Britain, Ms Alvarez, who lives with Corbyn in his £620,000 terrace house in Finsbury Park, North London, has entered the world of business” Jezza owns a £620,000 house in Finsbury Park, North London! Not bad for a Trot! 😀
JC also has a brother called pierce Corbyn who says global warming is bollox. I believe him, his brother on the other hand…..
The brother also does weather predictions based on sunspots.
So he’s a daft old bugger too then!
Y Cooper, you appear to have got lost and found your way to the wrong website. I think you belong here.
http://www.conservativehome.com/
Try and look carefully in future and you won’t get lost so easily. Anyway your masters at Conservative Home are waiting for you to check in. They have more propaganda bullshit for you to disseminate and want you to doff your cap and kiss arse as you normally would. Off you go!
“Iain Dale: Short-tempered Corbyn’s mask is slipping” 😀
Mask! What mask? We don’t call him short-fuse Jezza for nothing… 😉
Anyone having to put up with constant Tory propaganda from the establishment would end up with a Short Fuse! It doesn’t help when Tory trolls come on here adding to the lies. It’s easy to be a Tory in power when you have the establishment media fawning and praising you no matter how evil you are. Try to step outside of yourself and imagine how it must feel when for just trying to improve the lives of others you are constantly vilified and lied about by the establishment in order to brainwash the general public that you must be a danger to them when in fact Jeremy Corbyn is only a danger to those with the money and power. If he suddenly started telling everyone he believed in Nuclear weapons, loved the royal family and wanted to cut the top rate of tax and screw the poor, overnight the press headlines would change to reveal what a wonderful chap JC is and how he is “one of us”, and it would be a good idea to elect him. Get real!!!
Remember how Gordon Broon used to smash computers and printers, throw mobile phones off of the wall, now imagine Gordon Broon’s antics multiplied to the nth degree… then you have short-fuse Jezza on a ‘good-day’ 😀
In fact, Gordon Broon probably still does smash computers and printers and throw mobile phones off of the wall 😀
And we are supposed to elect these bad-tempered clowns to positions of high Office lol 😀
Well, we did, didn’t we – Gordon Broon! 😀 Let us not make that mistake a second time 😉
nah he smashed the dentist for the peasants killing off their free dentistry
ha ha ha its cheaper than yours yc alot cheaper
Thank fuck for for a new thread! The previous comment page was taking an age to load!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
One from the classic video vault.
The Lord will fuckin’ save you! Jesus will fuckin’ forgive you!
Stuff the government and their f8cking greedy mentality, robbing us of our benefits, pensions and wages so they can feather their own nests with plush furniture and posh country mansion houses. ‘Spose I better cheer everyone on here up a little bit with a summer tune –
Meanwhile, in all of the endeavours that all of you may be carrying out – please do not forget this total cunt – “Iain Drunken Smith” does not care an absolute shit if “you” have to visit a foodbank or not!
When on earth is this cunt going to be ‘prosecuted’ by Police Scotland?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-article-50-eu-referendum-iain-duncan-smith-neverendum-when-latest-a7202481.html
Please also have a look at the comments underneath – it says it all! 🙂
Also – where is the possible ‘prosecution’ by ‘Police Scotland’ of the ex- ‘Employment Minister’ – Chris Grayling?
Also – what happened to the ‘U.N. Investigation into the Rights of Disabled People in the U.K?
WIDELY REPORTED ON HERE – BUT “NOTHING AT ALL” SINCE THEN!
Is it, by any chance that ‘Police Scotland’ may have been ‘paid off’ or something?
IT DOES SEEM A LITTLE STRANGE, MAY I SAY, THAT NOTHING HAS COME OF ANY OF THIS SO FAR!
Buried Paul and kicked into the long grass while the EU referendum was on. The powers that be are now hoping no one will remember it or mention it again!
Very true Raining – the authorities that be are hoping that everyone will forget about it – well, let’s hope that they don’t and that these subjects keep on coming up again and again – not only on here, but elsewhere also! Otherwise, justice may never be done!
Opinion: This single video shows why disability benefit assessments should be scrapped.
Emily is 18 years-of-age and suffers with severe learning disabilities, autism and epilepsy.
Despite her obvious disabilities and how they would affect her ability to live an independent life, Emily is required to complete complicated assessment forms to help determine her eligibility to receive disability benefits……………………
“This single video shows why disability benefit assessments should be scrapped.” – it doesn’t show anything of the sort… 😉
I don’t know which is worse Worker Bee, your wilful ignorance, or your lack of compassion.
Threesome, ladies?
Good vid, if only everyone would forget the latest monkey jumping up and down in Parliament and get to grips with Socialism, fascism, Capitalism and communism, notice how they all end in “ism”.
This NWO malarkey seems to be a hybrid of all of them.
No wonder they need to depopulate. no room for sick or disabled. Universal Credit only needs “workers”.
Dr. Zhivago tells you that.
I luv the toon to that film.
“YOU WORK ALL YOUR LIFE FOR WHAT?”
THE BASTARDS NOW WANT TO ROB YOUR PENSION……
………But let’s face the truth, the bastards have been dipping your personal piggy banks for years.
Your money has been squandered on dividends to shareholders, pension holidays for the elite and used as a source of free cash to successive governments.
Our holier than thou pension firms are nothing but market freeloaders who are hellbent on leaving you with the most meagre existence that is humanly possible. These twats would take your eyes and come back for the sockets.
The financial services industry has but one aim, to deplete your share of your investments at any cost……………….
You can place as many ombudsmen and referees from here to the moon. They are all financed by the highwaymen of the golden mile.
So desperate are they to distance you from your hard earned cash, they have devised a way of you working till you drop and robbing women of umpteen years entitlements.
Each and every pension funds company is corrupt. The problem is that you have only been informed as and when you require it, which is now………..
You must ask yourselves where your hard earned cash has gone?
Promises in Britain are like piecrust, just itching to be broken.
Our most bent judiciary sit on their fat arses and keep schtum about everything that drops in their cosy little million pound, in trays.
The government can actively protect bankers bonuses but not give two fucks about those they are chosen to represent.
They are shit scared of Corbyn, that he might tip over the moneylenders tables and place the commodities and utilities back into public ownership.
………….my Labour Party has been infected by a virus that only a major split can settle.
Get rid of the bankers and those who represent the heads of finance, for they have no part in working class values.
They are but “plants”, representing wealth while pretending to champion the poor. Blairite puppets who want booting from here to kingdom come…..
“WE ARE THE PEOPLE, AND THEY NEED REMINDING EVEN IF WE HAVE TO TAKE TO THE STREETS”
………………and don’t forget, the government are trying their damnedest to try and keep you in line by monitoring your private chit chat and urging social media sites from airing your views.
…………..I wonder why?
Because the peasants are revolting! The Brexit vote a big kick up the arse for the establishment. They know their blatant loathing of the poor – particularly the disabled – will cause more civil unrest as the cuts, sanctions and ZHC economy together with the brutal conditionality of UC bite harder.
We must be monitored and controlled by all means possible.
Insurrection and dissidence stifled before it starts.
Control the hive mind of the proles……
I think all of us will find that being out of the EU will make life a lot – A LOT – more difficult for the struggling and the poor living under the thumb of a permanent Tory hegemony.
You see Geoff, they say the country cannot afford to pay pensions anymore and there are not enough workers to pay for all the elderly. Funny that, because in Surrey where I live there is a massive increase in Gated Communities and bloody huge mansions going up everywhere but apparently they can’t afford to be taxed more to help the rest of us. A few years ago the local Tory borough council had a choice of introducing a new higher band for council tax which would bring in revenue from all the new millionaires and billionaires or start charging people on JSA council tax for the first time. No prizes for guessing which one they chose. Yep, the bastards now steal money from the £72 per week JSA to subsidise the super rich. Think yourself lucky you get your £33, the evil sods will stop that as well if they get the chance.
Council Tax needs to be scrapped urgently and the system of local taxation should return to the rates* – the more expensive your property the more you pay – pro rata. That would soon sort out those bastard living in their ‘gated communities’.
Still in operation in Northern Ireland and the system of local business taxation for the whole of the UK
DWP Provider Guidance:
Compliance with Data Protection Act and Information Disclosure
The contractor must ensure that there are adequate arrangements in place for collecting, processing and sharing customer information.
It is important to remind a customer of the DWP confidentiality statement which they signed when they first made a claim to benefit. However, a customer’s signature does not constitute “consent” at all and does not eanble any sort of data sharing or disclosure. It simply provides a degree of reassurance that the DWP will handle personal data fairly and lawfully.
There is no specific “legislative enabler” which gives a provider the ability to gather or share customer’s information with a third-party, for example an employer or another training provider, for the purpose of
placing the customer into training/work and obtaining outcome related payments from the DWP. The informed consent of the individual must be obtained beforehand, in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act.
The information disclosure consent form* must, as a minimum contain the following information:
– what customer’s information your organisation will collect;
– why the organisation needs the information, for example for the purpose of recording the numbers of customers placed into training and/or employment, monitoring the effectiveness of the service and reporting outcomes to DWP and claiming associated payments;
– how the information will be stored;
– when and why the information will be shared with a third-party, for example an employer will be contacted when the customer starts work within so many weeks of leaving provision for the purpose of employment so that a job outcome payment can be obtained from the DWP.
Your organisation needs to made it clear to customers that giving consent is voluntary and that refusal to give consent or withdrawal of an existing consent will not effect any benefit they may be entitled to.
Authorisation to contact an employer to obtain evidence of employment must be expressly stated by the Provider before any information dislosure takes place. Renewal of consents needs to be confirmed at every intervention.
*Data Protection Act Waiver
“Hi ho hi ho , Its off to work we go🙂 !!”
— Karl Marx
Why did Karl Marx dislike Earl Grey tea?
Because all proper tea is theft.
Plagiarist.
Marx was a drunk who used to beat and abuse his wife.
Oh! And his pal Engels was a factory owner who used sweated labour to make his fortune.
Engels house is still on the go in Primrose Hill, London. Must be worth a fortune. But then again, as his buddy Marx so famously said: “All property (proper tea for Earl Grey fans) is theft.” 😀
“Engels’ interests included poetry, fox hunting” WTF! Or did someone just make that up. Wikipedia is as bad as the Daily Heil for making things up and it is not like these guys are here to defend themselves being like dead for over 100 years!
It is funny when you look at the windows and you just know that the curtains have never been taken down and washed in decades 😀 Never taken down and washed since they were first put up 😀
Reblogged this on Industrial Workers of the World Dorset.
“400 RECORDS SURROUNDING BRITAIN/ISRAEL NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMME GO WALKABOUT”
Israel nuclear weapons: UK government loses file on its involvement with country’s arsenal
More than 400 documents, including government files relating to the UK’s involvement in Israel’s alleged nuclear arsenal, have gone missing over the last four years, it has been revealed.
The response to a Freedom of Information request showed the UK’s National Archive at Kew contains more than 11 million documents in total, including many government documents that become publicly available after 30 years……….
……….AND YET,
A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST TELLS BLATANT LIES
Response
Copies of the document mentioned in this response are available on request
1. The number of items within the archives which have been damaged, destroyed, lost or stolen in 2014, 2013 and 2012
In the period 2012-2014, our records show:
• There were no records destroyed or stolen
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/freedom-of-information/information-requests/damaged-destroyed-lost-and-stolen-documents/
………….QUITE STRANGE AS IMPORTANT ARCHIVES GO MISSING AS BLAIR AND FROST’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE PHONEY IRAQ WAR HIT THE TABLOIDS.
Strange too that they went missing during the CHILCOT Inquiry……
ONE WOULD ALMOST THINK THAT THE SECURITY SERVICES WERE COMPLICIT IN A WHITEWASH TO ERASE ALL EVIDENCE OF OUR COMPLICITY IN WAR CRIMES?
Notable missing files include 1970s documents on nuclear collaboration with Israel………………
The losses include more than 60 Foreign office files, over 40 Home office documents, and six from the records of former prime ministers.
According to the BBC, one MP from the parliamentary group on official archives said he was “concerned” by their loss.
The losses were revealed by a FoI request submitted by the BBC.
A 1979 document titled “Military and nuclear collaboration with Israel: Israeli nuclear armament”, is among the missing pieces.
Read more
Israel approves new law to jail child ‘terrorists’ as young as 12
The file, contained among government files on arms control and disarmament in the 1970s, apparently relates to a United Nations resolution from 1978 which concerned “increasing evidence” Israel was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons.
Since the 1950s, Israel has retained a policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither publicly confirming nor denying whether it has a nuclear arsenal.
However, Israel is now thought to possess 80 nuclear warheads, built up as western governments have “played along with the policy of ‘opacity’”, as the Guardian’s Julian Borger puts it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/israel-nuclear-weapons-uk-government-loses-file-involvement-a7172116.html
“IF JUST ONE FILE HAD GONE MISSING IT COULD HAVE BEEN PUT DOWN TO AN ERROR, BUT WHEN 400 GO MISSING?”
HIDING THE TRUTH OF PREVIOUS PRIME MINISTERS INVOLVEMENTS IN WAR CRIMES IS THE NEW ACCEPTABLE NORM OF OUR CORRUPT DICTATORSHIP.
“400 FILES GO WALKABOUT AND EVEN THE POLICE ARE NOT INVOLVED”
…………seems as though corruption runs through the veins of planet Westminster.
The only government since the second world war that pursues an active policy of eradicating the disabled and trying to hide the evidence.
Yeah yeah yeah! But it would help is the Islamic nutters known as Hamas and Islamic Jihad didn’t send 12 year olds with suicide belts to blow up Israelis in the first place. Or do you like your double standards so mush you ignore one evil and accept another.
With spelling mistakes corrected take 2
Yeah yeah yeah! But it would help if the Islamic nutters known as Hamas and Islamic Jihad didn’t send 12 year olds with suicide belts to blow up Israelis in the first place. Or do you like your double standards so much you ignore one evil and accept another.
“DWP DESPERATE TO HIDE THE DEATHS THAT WON’T GO AWAY”
DWP hides seven secret benefit suicide reviews
Logo Courtesy of DWP
Logo Courtesy of DWP
August 25th 2016
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is refusing to publish nine secret reviews into the deaths of benefit claimants, despite finally admitting that seven of them relate to people who took their own lives.
DWP only released the information after Disability News Service (DNS) lodged a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
DWP has also admitted that five of the nine reviews – which all relate to deaths that took place in the 16 months from August 2014 to January 2016 – contain recommendations for improvements in the department’s policies or procedures.
Ministers are refusing to publish the nine reviews, even though civil servants prepared them for release on 23 May – more than three months ago – under freedom of information laws.
The information commissioner is now investigating DWP’s refusal to release the nine documents.
When they are eventually released, they will be heavily redacted and similar in format to 49 reviews that covered the period from February 2012 to August 2014 and were released by DWP in May, following a 21-month battle with DNS to keep them secret.
The request to see the latest nine peer reviews was submitted by DNS on 15 April.
In an email last month, DWP claimed it did not understand the DNS freedom of information request, even though one of its civil servants had admitted two months previously that the peer reviews had been prepared for release.
Many of the 49 reviews released in May concerned the deaths of disabled people who had applied for employment and support allowance (ESA), through the much-criticised work capability assessment (WCA) process.
And many of the reviews – 40 of which refer to benefit claimants who took their own lives – involved long-term claimants of incapacity benefit (IB) who had been reassessed for ESA.
Although crucial parts of the peer reviews were missing because they were heavily redacted, DNS found 10 key recommendations for DWP to take national action to improve the way it treated benefit claimants who were seen as “vulnerable”.
DNS has also submitted a complaint to ICO about DWP’s refusal to say if those 10 recommendations were ever carried out.
John McArdle, co-founder of the Scottish-based grassroots group Black Triangle, said: “We anticipate that many of these deaths will have been as a result of the WCA and we await the release of the full details.”
Last November, government-funded research concluded that the programme to reassess people claiming IB using the WCA could have caused 590 suicides in just three years.
The nine peer reviews – now renamed internal process reviews – are likely to be scrutinised closely by disabled activists for further evidence of failings in how DWP has dealt with benefit claimants labelled as “vulnerable”, many of whom are likely to be mental health service-users or have learning difficulties.
They could provide crucial evidence for calls – led by Black Triangle, and backed by many other disabled activists – for former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith to face a criminal investigation, following his refusal to address a coroner’s concerns about the safety of the WCA in 2010.
They want to hold Duncan Smith and his former employment minister Chris Grayling to account for their failure to improve the safety of the WCA, despite being warned that it risked causing further deaths.
Black Triangle has provided a dossier of evidence to Police Scotland, which McArdle believes shows that Duncan Smith and Grayling should be investigated for the Scottish criminal offence of wilful neglect of duty by a public official.
Last month, the parents of David Barr, from Glenrothes, Fife, backed these calls for Duncan Smith and Grayling to be prosecuted over these failings, which they believe led to the death of their son, who took his own life in August 2013.
Documents examined by DNS show that the circumstances of David Barr’s death mirrored those of Stephen Carré in January 2010.
Duncan Smith and Grayling failed to take steps to improve the WCA after May 2010 despite being warned by coroner Tom Osborne – in what is known as a prevention of future deaths report – that the test’s flaws risked causing further deaths of people with mental health conditions.
McArdle said the latest delays in releasing the secret reviews showed DWP were “serial law breakers and enemies of the truth”.
He pointed to: the department’s failure to respond to Osborne’s prevention of future deaths report; DWP having to be taken to tribunal to release the 49 peer reviews; and its continuing refusal to fulfil its promise to the courts to carry out a pilot project to test new ways to make the WCA safer for people with mental health conditions.
He said the failings identified by the court had “led to the tragic deaths of so many disabled people and devastated the lives of tens of thousands more who are chronically ill”.
McArdle said: “They are now dragging their feet on releasing these further peer reviews.”
He said DWP was also still refusing to reveal whether any of the recommendations made at national and local level in the 49 reviews had been implemented.
He said: “All we know is that outrages and tragedies are continuing to occur, unabated.
“Taken all together, these instances of illegal behaviour and wilful concealment of wrongdoing by the department over these past six years exhibit utter contempt for the rule of law and the fundamental human rights of disabled people – up to and including the very right to life itself.
“It can, and must be remedied urgently before further lives are lost. It is a matter of life and death and the longer our case against them is drawn out the more lives will be lost and the more complicit British society as a whole becomes.”
A DWP spokeswoman said in a statement to DNS: “The department is aware of your request.
“However, as you currently have a complaint with the information commissioner we are unable to comment further.”
…………….meanwhile, the body count gets higher and higher and IAIN DUNCAN SMITH and LORD DAVID FRAUD walk free………..
aktion t4 rolling along without much of a ado by the summer of 41 60 thousands deaths at the hands of the nazi party by the summer of 14 dwp admit 97thousands deaths hay rtu ids beat the naxi party hands down
DWP Decision Makers know best.
A DISABLED man who has battled bladder cancer for more than 10 years has won his fight to be paid benefits.
Paul Marlow, from Barton, said yesterday it felt “amazing” after officials ruled he should receive £368 a month – five weeks after the payments were stopped.
The 59-year-old, who said he felt let down and “angry” when he was told to get a job – hit out at the earlier decision to halt his employment support allowance.
The Meadow Brook resident said: “It’s unbelievable this happened. These people are out to stop disabled people from what they are rightly entitled to and it stresses people out so much it can cause suicide.
“I know there are people who are out to defraud and cheat the system and they should be punished, but people who need it shouldn’t be put through hell. It’s not right.”
The Department for Work and Pensions said in July that Mr Marlow was “now capable of doing some work” despite him having bladder cancer, suffering from hepatitis B, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a medical drug addiction and other health problems.
Mr Marlow said “he would love” to work, but added his health would not allow him to maintain a job.
The former caterer has had bladder cancer since 2002 and had 42 operations as part of his ongoing treatment.
Mr Marlow, of Stowford Road, worked in the the hotel and catering business for 31 years and only took two days off sick.
He said: “If I thought I was screwing the system I would appreciate what they have told me, but I’m a poorly man.
“I was brought up to work and I did work. Is it a crime I had to give up work because of bladder cancer?”
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/14699246.Cancer_sufferer___39_put_through_hell__39__after_told_he_was_fit_for_work_by_government_assessors/?ref=fbshr
The Department for Work and Pensions said in July that Mr Marlow was “now capable of doing some work” despite him having bladder cancer, suffering from hepatitis B, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a medical drug addiction and other health problems.
Amen
Can breathe a bit, yeah? Can work.
Apparently.
A person with no legs, one arm and limited eyesight was considered fit for work in a call centre or supermarket till because they could sit, use a cash register or computer keyboard, read from a screen and speak. It didn’t matter that they couldn’t easily travel away from home or that there were no supermarkets or call centres nearby who would hire them.
This IS the world we now live in.
But they work their way round this by saying that it is a LEGAL REQUIREMENT for employers to fit disability adaptations. So, like the supermarket/call centre is going to install a wheelchair lift, cash register/keyboard with braille keys, special screen reader and incontinence seat with back supports to enable the disabled person to do their job. But in the REAL WORLD we all know this isn’t going to go to all this hassle and expense – it is simply going to happen! Instead the supermarket/call centre will hire an able-bodied person – plenty to choose from!
But in the REAL WORLD we all know the employer isn’t going to go to all this hassle and expense – it is simply NOT going to happen! Instead the supermarket/call centre will hire an able-bodied person – plenty to choose from!
Only 4% gets through the mandatory reconsideration process to appeal. The DWP are trying to get that down to 0% !!!
Decision Maker – Suicide is fit for work. What job does a suicidal person can get !!!
DWP medical not Healthcare Professional Medical – Suicide – Suicidal did not pass the Medical – The DWP Medical. Now suicidal & fit for work. That is if you get out of being sectioned at £1000 a week to care for you.
Now call the police DWP !!!! DWP Assisted Suicide !!! The DWP only care because the DWP get a suicide bonus for each person they turn into being suicidal. So it is now suicidal Income Tax on earnings !!! No Income Tax or do you want a suicide tax office !!
Has anyone taken his shoelaces off him !!! That will help in getting a job. I can`t wear shoes because they take my shoelaces away !!! Don`t get started on my belts !!! DWP Pants !!!
That DWP hypocrite is using Maximus yes no tick box UNUM models. Perhaps the DWP hypocrites boss is Maximus thinking they a carrying out a medical to forget the cancer bit. The DWP are cleaning up Maximus`s mess or the DWP will be fined in the DWP Maximus Contract. More fines to pay your contractors DWP. !!! So it`s come down to DWP medicals over the phone with the DWP ESA thinking they are Maximus !!!
The DWP in breach of every rule they impose !!! Extra caring for people with mental health – extra caring for people who are vulnerable. That seems to go out the window with the rest of the DWP workers rule hand book. A race that can never be one even with admittance of guilt from their own DWP rules.
Fiddled & Money Laundering through disabled people !!! Disability Confident = Money Laundering. Disability Confident is an illegal operation of money laundering from the disabled. Now slander the disabled. You pay me to stop slander disability confident !!! Who`s paying !!! Hush hush – No tax then !!! No it`s not money laundering paying – Just doing my job !!!
So 100 suicidal people want to join up to Disability Confident !!! They are very confident !!! They seem to be exempt !!!
All based on Insurance Risk Assessment .
Over £20 Billion on DWP Contractors in 6 years a saving of disability risk assessment.
Where have I been – Working hard & paying no income tax because disabled people are bullshitters rambling on about fairness.
DWP don`t get me wrong about slandering & treating the disabled as a 10th class citizen. Disabled people don`t need vetting for a public form &/ Or Benefit because they are treated worse than dogs. Vetted for a mandatory reconsideration !!!
Vetted for a mandatory reconsideration !!! So no appeal then !!!
The Decision Maker needs a vet !!!
The dangerous bit is they think it`s rambling crap !!!r
Universal Credit discriminates in not every one has / knows how to use a computer. Forms & medicals over the phone are Null & Void in a court of law. The signing of a form over the phone is a magic trick that you can trust !!! The medical over the phone is just the same. So Universal Credit is flawed from the outset of the UNUM & Merlin System [aka tick box system & shut up & fit in]. ££ Billions Money Laundered because even an idiot knows UC is flawed.
In other terms, unless you have your own computer and home internet access whilst out of work the DWP will automatically cancel your JSA/UC benefits until such time you get such facilities. We are knackered by corrupt power-mad cunts if we are either in or out of work whether we like it or not.
Back to work doing the Notting Hill Carnival`s security. Cancel the carnival !!!
Stop & Search & SAS Snipers at the 2016 Notting Hill Carnival.
Any full petrol tankers to hijack !!!
* Off-topic but all the more worthy of note *
My Win10 (Anniversary upgraded) has just run an automatic unprompted defender scan that picked up a fucking Trojan malware from an unknown source whilst browsing through Edge. Glad I went with the recent Win10 upgrade as now my PC will scan and remove automatically the minute it picks up anything nasty from any website I visit on any of the four browsers I have – IE, Firefox, Edge and Chrome.
Yes Fen Tiger windows 10 is better than previous windows 7 and 8 but you do need to change some of the settings for increased privacy. Micro$oft do like to track and spy on us all. Better still is to learn about Linux Distro’s and run Ubuntu or Mint as they are far more secure than any windows OS. Be warned that Defender is not the best protection for a windows OS it’s very basic. For a free anti virus I would go for Avast. Anyway I don’t want to get all sad and geeky on here so I will stop right now.
Whilst millionairres and billionairres live in their plush gated mansions, everywhere else (including the newly reported NHS cuts/closures!) the so-called ‘austerity’ measures continue.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/26/lower-benefit-cap-to-hit-quarter-of-a-million-poor-children
“LORD DAVID FRAUD SIGNS DEATH WARRANT FOR A QUARTER OF A MILLION KIDS FROM POOR HOMES”
Click to access welfare-reform-and-work-act-impact-assessment-for-the-benefit-cap.pdf
……………and the cheeky bastard regards himself as a responsible minister!
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF THOUSANDS OF DISABLED THAT THE DWP ARE FIGHTING TOOTH AND NAIL TO HIDE……..
“Hands up all those willing to operate his gallows trapdoor”
“DWP HUMAN POVERTY LAB RAT CONTRACT”
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/3653b606-2d53-4031-ae5b-ec6e38c59f10
………………Studying the effects of welfare deprivation
Psychopaths only process information through facts, figures and observation, they do not have the cognitive skills to access empathy based real life situations, IMO this is why we are seeing a huge rise in data collection regarding this type of controlled surveying. They need to know how to mask their Psychopathy, because clearly, people are beginning to question the insanity of it all.
still watching and reading you Geoff Reynolds. Your comments always educational and very apt. I liked Trutheller too. If I could I would pay for you both to be given a free afternoon mortar shelling those in Westminster who implement these wicked regimes. For myself, I would rather like to pay for an elite Russian army force to launch an assault on the judicial mafia,maybe at one of their beanos. Maybe I could be there, opening the salvo with one of their Zukov organ grinder mortar-like attacks. Put em in coffins or wheelchairs…then have ’em assessed by ATOS. Dreams!
Judicial Mafia. Yes,every sitting they take their 30 pieces o silver. The most dishonourable people on planet earth.
I really had to chuckle t’other day when a judge sentenced a 80+ year old man to 8 years in the slammer for killing his wife. His wife was in agony+++. He loved his wife. Been with her for 40+ years. In the ‘Care Home’. (Have you seen what goes for ‘care’ these days?) Wottacharade! The old chap shot her in the head. Couldn’t take anymore!! His wife couldn’t take anymore. Still,our gilded elite will tell us how nasty we are,and punish us. They(the Top Table) have it all+++ Nice one fellas! Pity the underdogs on here think you really are scum. Sorry about that.
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we dont need.
– Tyler Durden, Fight Club
You’ve just broken the first two rules of the club by mentioning the club, Tyler, and so now you’re out of the fucking club and on your lonesome.
For JV still in Extended Holiday mose : D
mode 😀
Offering my support and best wishes to all those less fortunate in life whom governments worldwide ignore and treat badly.
“OWEN SMITH, BIG PHARMA’S INSIDE MAN IN THE LABOUR RANKS”
……….every drugs company needs a shithouse rat
……………………http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2016/08/26/owen-smith-s-big-pharma-past-rules-him-out-as-labour-leader
“OWEN SMITH” the Pfizer lapdog and Labour plant……..
Indeed there are many examples of unethical or illegal activity undertaken by Pfizer during that period. When Smith was at Pfizer, a panel of Nigerian medical experts concluded the firm was involved in clinical trials conducted on Nigerian children without consent, and paid billions of dollars of fines for illegally marketing painkillers. Smith subsequently moved to Amgen where he was put in charge of corporate affairs, corporate and internal communications. At the time the company was facing investigation for illegally and dangerously promoting an anaemia drug to cancer patients. It was subsequently fined hundreds of millions of dollars. “Instead of working to extend and enhance human lives, Amgen illegally pursued corporate profits while jeopardising the safety of vulnerable consumers suffering from disease,” acting US attorney Marshall Miller of the Eastern District of New York said.
………..and you wouldn’t think butter would melt in his mouth?
The new Work and Health Programme: government plan social experiments to “nudge” sick and disabled people into work
Written by Kitty S Jones
https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/the-government-plan-to-nudge-sick-and-disabled-people-into-work/
…….WHILST CHRISTOPHER GRAHAM, THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSIONER, HELPS BURY THE DWP MORTALITY STATISTICS.
“GOVERNMENT PROPOSED LAB RAT REFORMS ARE A FUNDAMENTAL BREACH OF HUMAN RIGHTS”
A spokesperson for Fightback 4 Justice said:
“This is the company that has won the tender experimenting with Carers claimants using body language techniques and 2 way mirrors. If anyone gets called into one of these meetings please get in touch as I’d be happy to attend. I am very very concerned about a potential breach of a person’s human rights here particularly where mental health is one of the claimants conditions. Nothing about this “study” seems ethical in my legal opinion. A room with a 2 way mirror and capacity for 12 people studying body language and facial expressions is wrong in so many ways, DWP are giving the wrong impression that claimants as potential criminals with this latest research in my view.” Michelle (legal advocate).
https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2016/08/27/two-way-mirrors-hidden-observers-welcome-to-the-department-for-work-and-pensions-laboratory/
http://salfordonline.com/31135-outrage-disabled-man-salford-benefits-sanction-camapign.html
“DIRTY TRICKS CAMPAIGN BY DWP ON ONE LEGGED SALFORD MAN BACKFIRES”
“LABOUR PARTY BARS OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND VOTERS”
………..and yet
One after another, yesterday’s commentators and politicians lined up to condemn Jeremy Corbyn as “unelectable”. And yet, on the ground, he inspires a passion, enthusiasm and hope that we have not seen in politics in this country for decades. His rally in Cambridge this week had to be postponed because the venue (capacity 1,800) was feared to be too small to accommodate the surging crowds. Most opinion polls have identified Corbyn as the candidate most likely to attract non-Labour voters to Labour in a general election.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/with-up-to-100000-now-barred-labour-has-become-less-a-broad-church-and-more-a-secret-society-10471163.html
Exactly!!! This is why I always point out to the gullible public, Don’t believe anything you hear through the official media about Jeremy Corbyn. All the hatred aimed at this man is because he doesn’t want to blow us all to kingdom come in a nuclear war, doesn’t believe in the royal family and wants to create a fairer society where the Tory establishment cannot continue to abuse the workers, starve the disabled and sick and the rich have to pay more tax. That’s all it takes to make yourself public enemy no 1 in the capitalist west
“starve the disabled and sick and the rich have to pay more tax” – but they don’t starve the sick and disabled. Anyone classed as disabled or sick will be on disability benefits or at least ESA at leasts which pays £30 a week more than JSA. Disability benefits are not subject to sanction but ESA can be sanctioned, but then again by *only* £5 a week or something. The only human beings being starved to death are jobseekers. JSA can be sanctioned for up to three years and this has happened to many jobseekers already and will continue to happen as long as the brutal, evil, abhorrent sanctions regime is in place.
Sanctions are barbaric and an abomination. Sanctions should play no part in the welfare system. Sanctions are KILLING human beings! And any person, politician or organisation who supports them is a pure and utter cunt.
End sanctions now – without exceptions!
ESA no longer pays £30 per week more for new claimants. Existing claimants will be protected even on switch over to UC. New ESA claimants will now get the same as JSA but it will not increase as in the past after 6 months and then a year. but they will then take another hidden cut when moved to UC as the housing element and other elements are being reduced to save money. Maybe you misread my post as I was stating that it is wrong to starve the sick and disabled as well as anyone on JSA not distinguishing between the two. All sanctions are wrong, and should be scrapped. Many ESA claimants who get sanctioned also get reassessed as part of the pressure to conform, and so often get switched to JSA for further punishment.
Don’t pin your hopes on Corbyn. He isn’t destined to ever be Prime Minister. He makes all sorts of promises and pledges but never, not even once, ever explains how any of these things will be paid for. More social housing: a better NHS: higher benefits: more humane social security: better prisons: social care for the elderly: renationalisation of the railways and track: better jobs – you name it Jeremy has signed up to it. But where is the money coming from? Borrowing? Taxes? From thin air? Unless Labour fields exact and plausible explanations in respect as per how Corbyn’s agenda will be funded there is not a snowball’s chance in hell of Labour displacing the Tories now that the Liberal Democrats have been destroyed.
Latest polls: Con 42% Lab 28% Lib Dem 8% UKIP 12% (Con lead: 14%)
Absolutely dire polling results for Labour and Corbyn I’m afraid.
Strato you appear to be looking at the problems of the UK and the world through a Monetarist aspect. This is not surprising as the world has been run along these lines of economic theory since 1979 in the UK and USA from 1980. The opposite view is that the economic system be run along Keynesian lines which is what Corbyn and McDonald favour. The main reason why the gap between rich and poor is so wide across the whole world is because we adopted Monesterism. It is difficult to give a breakdown of the two systems in a post on this site but the theories are explained here. http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/1113/concepts/keynesianism-vs-monetarism/
It was used to bring the USA out of the great depression explained here. http://www.novelguide.com/reportessay/history/american-history/keynesian-theory-and-new-deal
Anyway if you want to continue forever with the system we have now then I would suggest you vote Tory because Monetarism is their baby and they just love telling the poor it’s their own fault they are poor and we can’t afford to improve your lives. Well it’s a big lie, used to make sure they keep power in the hands of a select few at the expense of those who will toil for very little reward to prop up the system that suits them.
My point is that whatever the truth of the matter Corbyn will never ever be trusted enough by the general public to get elected to power unless he explains what he intends to do and how he intends to do it. So far he has plenty of ideas about what needs doing but appears clueless in respect to how he will actually do any of them which isn’t good. A leader ought to be able to explain in simple terms how he intends to realise his/her plans. So I reckon Corbyn is a dead duck and Labour will end up with even fewer MPs post-2020 with the Tories re-elected with a much bigger majority.
Thanks Jeremy.
In that case Stephen the end will be Tory governments for ever. Because unless people start questioning the propaganda pumped out by the media and get enough brains to work it out for themselves we will be back to 3 right wing parties to choose from and nothing will ever change. Corbyn is a dead duck only if the public don’t wake up and understand why the establishment hates him. So thanks Stephen
“But where is the money coming from? Borrowing? Taxes? From thin air?” Answer: From thin air 😀
Another moneterist I see! Check this out
http://www.novelguide.com/reportessay/history/american-history/keynesian-theory-and-new-deal
Sanctions are barbaric and an abomination. Sanctions should play no part in the welfare system. Sanctions are KILLING human beings! And any person, politician or organisation who supports them in any way, shape or form is a pure and utter cunt.
End sanctions now – without exceptions!
Withdrawing lifeline support that is calculated to meet the costs of only minimum requirements for basic survival – food, fuel and shelter – as a punishment for non-compliance WILL INVARIABLY cause distress, harm and loss of dignity
Benefit sanctions: Britain’s secret penal system
Few people know that the number of financial penalties (‘sanctions’) imposed on benefit claimants by the Department of Work and Pensions now exceeds the number of fines imposed by the courts. In Great Britain in 2013, there were 1,046,398 sanctions on Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants, 32,128 on Employment and Support Allowance claimants, and approximately 44,000 on lone parent recipients of Income Support. By contrast, Magistrates’ and Sheriff courts imposed a total of only 849,000 fines.
Sanctioned benefit claimants are treated much worse than those fined in the courts. The scale of penalties is more severe (£286.80 – £11,185.20 compared to £200 – £10,000). Most sanctions are applied to poor people and involve total loss of benefit income. Although there is a system of discretionary ‘hardship payments’, claimants are often reduced to hunger and destitution by the ban on application for the first two weeks and by lack of information about the payments and the complexity of the application process. The hardship payment system itself is designed to clean people out of resources; all savings or other sources of assistance must be used up before help is given.
Decisions on guilt are made in secret by officials who have no independent responsibility to act lawfully; since the Social Security Act 1998 they have been mere agents of the Secretary of State. These officials are currently subject to constant management pressure to maximise penalties, and as in any secret system there is a lot of error, misconduct, dishonesty and abuse. The claimant is not present when the decision on guilt is made and is not legally represented. While offenders processed in the court system cannot be punished before a hearing, and if fined are given time to pay, the claimant’s punishment is applied immediately. Unlike a magistrate or sheriff, the official deciding the case does not vary the penalty in the light of its likely impact on them or their family. If the claimant gets a hearing (and even before the new system of ‘Mandatory Reconsideration’ only 3 per cent of sanctioned claimants were doing so), then it is months later, when the damage has been done. ‘Mandatory reconsideration’, introduced in October 2013, denies access to an independent Tribunal until the claimant has been rung up at home twice and forced to discuss their case with a DWP official in the absence of any adviser – a system which is open to abuse and has caused a collapse in cases going to Tribunal.
Yet the ‘transgressions’ (DWP’s own word) which are punished by this system are almost exclusively very minor matters, such as missing a single interview with a Jobcentre or Work Programme contractor, or not making quite as many token job applications as the Jobcentre adviser demands.
How did we get to this situation? Until the later 1980s, the social security system saw very little use of anything that could be called a sanction. Unemployment benefits were seen as part of an insurance scheme, with insurance-style conditions. Any decision on ‘disqualification’ (as it was called) from unemployment benefit was made by an independent Adjudication Service, with unrestricted right of appeal to an independent Tribunal. The maximum disqualification was 6 weeks, and those disqualified had a right to a reduced rate of Supplementary Benefit assessed on the normal rules.
‘Sanctions’ are almost entirely a development of the last 25 years. The British political class has come to believe that benefit claimants must be punished to make them look for work in ways the state thinks are a good idea. Yet the evidence to justify this does not exist. A handful of academic papers, mostly from overseas regimes with milder sanctions, suggest that sanctions may produce small positive effects on employment. But other research shows that their main effect is to drive people off benefits but not into work, and that where they do raise employment, they push people into low quality, unsustainable jobs. This research, and a torrent of evidence from Britain’s voluntary sector, also shows a wide range of adverse effects. Sanctions undermine physical and mental health, cause hardship for family and friends, damage relationships, create homelessness and drive people to Food Banks and payday lenders, and to crime. They also often make it harder to look for work. Taking these negatives into account, they cannot be justified.
Benefit sanctions are an amateurish, secret penal system which is more severe than the mainstream judicial system, but lacks its safeguards. It is time for everyone concerned for the rights of the citizen to demand their abolition.
Interesting comments. I remember being unemployed in the 1980s and I didn’t apply for a job over a three month period after my father sadly died and so the benefit reduced my benefit by 40% for twelve months. They also stopped my national insurance credits for twelve months.
I am liking the use of ‘sanctions’ in above comment. – as a way to talk about these financial penalties. Even if it might seem like semantics – a bit like the use of ‘so called …’.
By inventing a new meaning for a previously existing term (offten used as a positive means to exert pressure/alter behaviour or improve situations) ministers, via DWP/JCP, have succeeded in conferring at least an air of legitimacy to a – redefined – word. There is a precedent for this.
Use of terms like ‘Sanctions’; ‘Sanctioning; ‘receiving a sanction’ or, if you’re the person affected, ‘being sanctioned’ – implies acceptance of the new reality, via adopting the terminology. This is (for some people) important in the same way they’ll continue to mention social security, instead of benefits – although some people won’t recognise it, or insist on the ‘updated’ term/s. People may continue to say they’re not in paid work, or unemployed, as against labelling themselves a Jobseeker.
Sanctions (so called) are recognised by all who are aware of their meaning in reality as what they are: punishment of the individual & any dependents they may have by removal of the basic means to live (subsist). And the permanent and explicit threat of the same (psychological torment) for as long as someone is without paid work – or from here on in, not considered to be earning ‘enough’.
I would be (more/very) concerned than ever if there’s any move towards standardised use of language/via removal of punctuation from general use (via the legal cistern) & altho this sounds ridiculous & melodramatic, so did the introduction of routine denial of basic means to live via starvation/threat of starvation until fairly recent times. The apostrophe might have an important role to play in the ‘so called’ war on ‘sanctions’.
When the courts impose a monetary penalty (as a punishment) they call it a ‘fine’. And that is all a ‘sanction’ is in effect – a a quasi-judicial fine imposed arbitrarily and on a whim by an unseen and unaccountable bureaucracy without any judicial oversight nor right to a hearing, and limited redress through an appeal.
Franz K., you have hit the proverbial nail on head – not for the 1st time. It’s that – sanction sounds a bit less ‘final’ & more cautionary; stoppage would be more honest/accurate.
Is the newly-minted definition of the ‘S’ word recognised in the lexicon (yet?) – i don’t want to check in case it’s in the OED.
IDS was back blustering in true IDS style on the radio the other day; trying to be an authoritative voice for triggering and making associated burbling/bumbling noises … sounding illiterate as ever & vauge as ever, to boot.
Most claimants will say: “the jobcentre STOPPED my money”, however, if you read DWP press releases* they will say instead: “My money went down” 😀
*DWP press releases (including images) are for illustrative purposes only
‘benefit stoppage’ has got a ring of finality and brutality to it though.. 😉
Hmm – strange they don’t describe it that way … i think from memory, when the spectre of monies not being paid is first raised, it’s phrased something very much like “… there’s a chance your money could go down”.
This is more cruel than saying “… there could be £0 for several weeks”.
Of course, if taking the ‘advice’ at face value leads to asking what proportion of the money could be witheld & then the use of such vauge terms (that do sound ‘less extreme/severe’) falls down & can’t be sustained/doesn’t make sense. This is where the “it won’t be me who decides …” routine comes in very handy …
And when you win an Appeal the ‘sanctioned monies’ are referred to by the DWP as “arrears” 😉
Hilarious (not).
And when you win an Appeal the ‘sanctioned’ monies are referred to by the DWP as “arrears”😉
You got to marvel at the the way the DWP twist, distort the meaning of words and phrases and generally bastardise the English language. The DWP have got the dictionary standing on its head!
Lexi, if and when the meanings veer far enough away from reality & people’s lived experience, woms can end up as euphemisms. Uninformed citizens end up incorporating new terms & phrases into their everyday lives and going about their business oblivious to what’s going on at one end of the high street they regularly visit, (especially if they’re able to walk quite fast & wear blinkers). Apparently also blissfully ignorant of people who are very much less well off than they themselves, who’ve been directly affected (‘sanctioned’) by the clawed hand of the JCP- and cannot shop but are in limbo/being treated as ‘less than/other’.
The Universal Credit regime is supposed to “mirror the world of work” hence the pseudo-justification for payment four weeks in arrears. Thing is though it couldn’t be further from the “world of work” that could be imagined. For example no employer could sign up to pay you monthly and then not pay you initially for five, six, seven or more weeks: at work if you misbehave you are given two verbal and a written warning before a really serious penalty not have your income stopped, without warning, often without you knowing exactly why, for THREE MONTHS and sometimes more.
Receiving Universal Credit is NOTHING like receiving wages, not at all.
The whole regime, from all of its inertia and delays to its ridiculously harsh and cruel punishments for very often trivial mistakes, is nothing like the “world of work” at all and no employer could ever get away with behaviour to his/her employees in the brazen way that the DWP does with claimants.
Why isn’t this being exposed in the media?
What is going on is a national disgrace.
If you are even given an early appointment in the jobcentre watch how hardly any of the cockroaches are at their desks at the time when they are paid to start work. Watch them scuttling in one by one after 9am. Too fucking lazy to get up in the morning. It’s a big give-away, as any employer will tell you, because it means they are only really there for the MONEY. Yet these hypocritical two-faced cunts have the audacity to preach to jobseekers that mantra that it is all about WORK. WORK, WORK, and more fucking WORK. Never the mind the money!
Same goes for the ‘work programme’. How many of those lazy cunt ‘advisors’, ‘consultants’ or whatever they call themselves are at their desks when they are supposed to be,
And yet no ‘sanction’ is ever imposed on these lazy cunts. And yet if a jobseeker is even one second late for an appointment a sanction will follow immediately.
There should be protest up and down the country to get the morons of our country and wake up to realise what devastation the tories are doing to real people!