Showing posts with label disability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disability. Show all posts

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Firms have 'fear factor' when employing disabled graduates, says CEO


graduateman

The number of disabled graduates securing jobs straight out of university is "not good enough", according to the CEO of disability consulting firm MyPlusConsulting.

In 2012, almost 9% of university students in the UK classed themselves as having a disability, but only 2% of graduate job applications came from people with disabilities.

Cooke told HR magazine disabled students lack the confidence to apply for work due to fears they could be perceived as 'a hassle'. There is also a fear that if they reveal their disability it could work against them, particularly due to the stigma attached to conditions such as mental illnesses.

On the employer side, too many firms in the UK have a "fear factor" when looking to employ disabled workers and are scared of "doing or saying the wrong thing".

"Employers need to start putting the message out that they welcome disabled workers not just at entry level, but in senior and board positions," Cooke said. "There needs to be better communication and an open dialogue and close the disconnect that currently exists between disabled workers and employers."

Cooke, a wheelchair user herself as a result of a childhood spinal injury, said "intelligent" companies "get it" and can see the large pool of talent that's available.

"There are companies that clearly display on their website and application forms what they offer disabled graduates," Cooke said"Those companies that don't display anything are not going to attract the level of diversity they obviously want."

Source

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Mental health patients failed by futile laws


A damning report by MPs today revealed a catalogue of problems in Britain's mental health services.

The Commons health committee found that the 2007 Mental Health Act, drawn up "to protect extremely vulnerable patients," was not working properly.

MPs said that its safeguards weren't effective, with laws designed to protect patients often ignored and psychiatric wards over capacity and under huge pressure.

And shockingly sectioning - forcing people into hospital - is being used to get patients a bed.

Furthermore, a system of treating patients in the community is not working.

Committee chairman Stephen Dorrell said deprivation of liberty safeguards (Dols) were brought in to protect vulnerable patients, such as those suffering with dementia or severe learning difficulties.

But he warned that it is commonplace for Dols to be ignored, leaving many people at heightened risk of abuse.

"The current approach to these vital safeguards is profoundly depressing and complacent," said Mr Dorrell, demanding the government look into the matter immediately.

"Nevertheless, we were shocked to learn that there is evidence that patients who need hospital treatment are being sectioned unnecessarily in order to access a bed.

"This represents a serious violation of patients' basic rights and it is never acceptable for patients to be subjected to compulsory detention unless it is clinically necessary."

He said the government should "urgently investigate the prevalence" of the practice.

The inquiry examined use of community treatment orders, intended to treat patients in the community partly to reduce pressure on beds.

While welcoming the policy, the committee found that the orders "have not worked as legislation intended," and were being used to save cash.

Patients have a right independent to advocacy, but the inquiry found that patients most needing advocacy were least likely to get it.

Morning Star

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

How Gov't Hid 1 million Jobless From Official Figures

Reblogged from Scriptonite Daily:


UE1

One of the purported achievements of the Coalition government’s disastrous economic policy of austerity, has been the unemployment figures.  Pundits say that at 7.8% (2.51m) they are nothing to shout about but not the disastrous rates seen in states such as Greece (26.9%) or Spain (26.3%). In reality, the unemployment rate is more than double this in many areas, while those in employment are facing ever worsening conditions to retain their non-jobs.

Messing with the Figures

 UE2

We have the Thatcher government to thank for the majority of the statistical trickery which currently renders the government released unemployment figures redundant.  Prior to 1979, the unemployment rate was anyone registered as unemployed, this was converted to a percentage of the total workforce and that was the published unemployment rate.  Then some changes came in:
  1. Redefining Unemployment:  originally defined as those ‘registered’ unemployed, changed to only count ‘claimants’ – this obviously reduced the number greatly as many unemployed people do not, for various reasons, claim benefits.
  2. Cutting Benefit Entitlements: By making changes to the benefit system (who is eligible and not) the government can magic away unemployment numbers by simply removing eligibility for benefits.  If the person cannot claim, they are not classed as unemployed.
  3. Training Schemes & Work Programmes: the conservative government of the 80’s began to double count those in training & work programmes.  First, they excluded them from the unemployed figures, then they added them to the total workforce figures – this means that simply by recruiting people into a work programme, the government has reduced the unemployment figures.  Prior to Thatcher, these schemes were not counted as employment.
The Thatcher government was able to show a drop in unemployment of 550,000 in July 1986, and 668,000 in 1989 by transferring those unemployed into work programmes.  They also kept an average 90,000 unemployed under 18 year olds off the books by making them ineligible to claim benefits.

Sadly, none of these changes have since been reversed, giving the UK public a much skewed view of unemployment and underemployment.  If we look at the research prepared by other bodies without such downright deceitful exemptions, we reveal a more realistic picture of the economic woe being meted out across the country.

The Real Unemployment Rate

UE3

A study put together by Sheffield University last year set out to establish the real level of unemployment in the UK, given that there has been little change in the published unemployment statistic, we can suppose they still hold relatively true.  The study found:
  • For Britain as a whole in April 2012, the new figures point to more than 3.4 million unemployed. This compares to just 1.5 million on the claimant count and 2.5 million according to the Labour Force Survey – the government’s two official measures of unemployment. The difference is attributable to extensive hidden unemployment.
  • An estimated 900,000 unemployed have been diverted onto incapacity benefits. These are men and women with health problems who claim incapacity benefits instead of unemployment benefits. They do not represent fraudulent claims.
  • Hidden unemployment is disproportionately concentrated in the weakest local economies, where claimant unemployment is already highest. The effect has been to mask the true scale of labour market disparities between the best and worst parts of the country.
  • In the worst affected districts, the real rate of unemployment is often around 15 per cent. Knowsley in Merseyside tops the list with a real rate of unemployment estimated at 16.8 per cent.
  • The older industrial areas of the Midlands, the North, Scotland and Wales mostly have the highest rates of unemployment. In large parts of the south of England the rate is still only 3-4 per cent.
  • Comparisons with similar data for earlier years shows that Britain was still a long way off full employment before the 2008/9 recession. Full employment is now still further away and the real rate of unemployment is higher than at any time since 1997.
  • The report casts serious doubt on the likely impact of the Coalition government’s reforms, notably the Work Programme and Universal Credit, which are founded on the assumption that unemployment can be brought down by encouraging the unemployed to find work. The evidence points to large and continuing shortfalls in job opportunities away from the most prosperous parts of southern England.
One of the more worrying points in the survey is the widening gap between ‘claimant count’ and unemployed (p5), as ever increasing numbers of people fund themselves without a job or eligibility to claim social security.  For this expanding pool of people, exploitation beckons.

Exploiting the Unemployment Racket

 UE4

The government is pressurising people into ever more exploitative work programmes in order to reduce unemployment figures by threatening withdrawal of social security for non-compliance.  In 2011, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government announced a plan to increase uptake of Workfare (the term given to these schemes) by 100,000.  They also made changes to the programme they inherited from New Labour as follows:

1. A jobseeker who leaves a placement after 1 week loses their welfare payments for 6 weeks.  If they do this a second time, they lose them for 13 weeks.  The third time, three years.

2. Placements can be mandated for up to 30 hours a week for as long as 6 months.

3. The scheme has been opened up so corporations in the private sector can exploit this taxpayer funded, forced labour.

This means that someone who finds themselves unemployed must work up to thirty hours a week, for up to six months at a time, stacking shelves for Tesco or Poundland simply to receive as little as £53 per week, which they are already entitled to as part of the social contract of Britain.  Also, Tesco isn’t paying the £53; we are, through our taxes.

Although an interview is supposed to be guaranteed at the end of the term, it is not required that the workfare provider has a vacancy open.  An interview for a job that doesn’t exist is no interview at all.

Corporations get free labour, the government gets to massage the unemployment figures (Workfare victims are counted as employed) and the unemployed get shafted.

Anyone doubting this critique would do well to read the findings of the DWP’s own analysis of the performance of their work programmes.  These schemes cost the taxpayer £5bn, yet only 1 in 10 people found employment lasting up to 3 months.  The figures are even worse for the sick and disabled people forced into the work programmes – only 1 in 20 finding lasting employment.

The picture doesn’t get any rosier for those who have managed to find employment either.

Employers are less likely to provide real jobs than ever.  As the market favours the employer, there has been an unprecedented month on month fall in wages through the entire 36 months of the Coalition government, and wages were already falling before they arrived.

On top of hidden unemployment, the UK also has an ever growing problem with underemployment; the case of people unable to find jobs with sufficient hours/pay to meet their needs.

A recent paper by researchers at the University of Stirling revealed that underemployment rose from 6.2% in 2008 to 9.9% in 2012. The rate hit 30% among 16 to 24 year olds.

We have also seen the rise of ‘zero hour’ contracts. Almost unheard of a few years ago, more than a million UK workers are now under these contracts.  These contracts have no specified working hours – meaning that an employee is placed on permanent stand by until or unless the employer needs them.  While classed as employed, the person has no wage security as they cannot guarantee their pay from one week to the next.  They also receive no sick pay, leave or other basic terms and conditions.

The Resolution Foundation recently published a review of ‘Zero Hours’ contracts which found serious issues of the spike in their use:
  1. Those on ‘Zero Hours’ contracts earn less than half the average wage (£236 vs. £482 per week) of those on proper contracts.
  2. Workplaces using ‘Zero Hours’ contracts have a higher proportion of staff on low pay(within £1.25 of minimum wage) than those who do not.
These factors have allowed the UK Labour Market in recent years to combine a relatively high level of employment and an unprecedented squeeze on wages.
  1. Those on ‘Zero Hours’ contracts work 10 hours a week less, on average, than those who are not (21hrs – 31hrs).
  2. 18% of those on ‘Zero Hours’ contracts are seeking alternative employment or more hours versus 7% of those in ordinary contracts
These factors have contributed to the rise in underemployment in the UK since 2008.  An ONS survey last year revealed more than 1 million people had been added to the rank of the underemployed since the 2008 bailout of the banks.
  1. ‘Zero Hours’ contracts are hitting young people the hardest, with 37% of those on such contracts aged between 16-24.
  2. ‘Zero Hours’ contracts are more likely to be held by those without a degree, and with a GCSE as their highest level of education.
  3. Non UK Nationals are 15% more likely to be employed on such a contract than UK Nationals.
It is not difficult to see the advantages of ‘Zero Hours’ contracts to employers – they can achieve maximum flexibility of their workforce, effectively retaining them on a pay as you go basis.  It is also clear that in the short term, the government of the day also enjoy the advantage of hiding the true effects of their cut throat economic policies.  But the ordinary human being seeking to meet the rising cost of living is losing on all counts.

Between 2008 and 2012, inflation rose 17% according to the Consumer Price Index, while incomes increased just 7% – this translates to a real terms pay cut of 10% for working people.  But the Consumer Price Index measurement tracks the rising cost of an imaginary list of products and services that the poorest workers are unlikely to ever buy.  The UK Essentials Index however tracks inflation of the bare essentials that would the poorest would buy – and these have risen by an eye watering 33% during the same period.  This means that not only is the impact of unemployment hitting the country disproportionately, but underemployment and exploitative employment conditions are too – with the poorest being the worst affected.

Economic Recovery? For Who?

UE5

There was a piece on the Guardian this morning talking about the triple boost to the UK economy of increased factory output, house prices and car sales, and trumpeting this as a sign of economic recovery.

But what is the point of this increased GDP if it is won at the expense of people wages and livelihoods?  Surely, if the inequality in the UK between rich and poor is growing, unemployment is rising, underemployment is rising and wages are falling – this is a recession.  It speaks volumes for the broken economic measures of growth at play here that a real world recession for the majority, is applauded as a recovery, when all that is recovered are the profits for transnational corporations and incomes of high earners, most of whom pay little or no contributions in tax.


Get Involved

Boycott Workfare – get involved in the campaign to outlaw workfare
UKUncut – get involved in demanding proper tax contributions from those corporations benefitting from these nightmare employment schemes.
DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts do extraordinary work highlighting the state’s assault on disabled people.  Please support them

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Call for NGOs and sick and disabled individuals willing to act as "victim" in a UN complaint or inquiry

I need to hear from NGOs and sick and disabled individuals willing to act as "victim" in a UN complaint or inquiry


Please circulate this widely in Britain.

I recently contacted a human rights solicitor at Leigh Day regarding the submission of a United Nations complaint (UNCRPD) or inquiry into Britain's draconian welfare reform policies. The solicitor has expressed interest. I need to hear from NGOs and sick and disabled individuals willing to act as "victim" in the UN complaint or inquiry.

For further information, please see http://www.twitlonger.com/show/lbeqbu http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rkmam4 http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.ca/2013/03/the-jobcentre-sanctions-scandal-in.html

I am especially interested in hearing from individuals (disabled and non-disabled) who have been unjustly sanctioned by Jobcentre and/or the DWP.

Please contact: Samuel Miller at disabilityinliterature@gmail.com

--
Samuel Miller

http://independent.academia.edu/SamuelMiller
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/letter-to-the-icc-at-the-hague-re-mistreatment-of-the-disabled-and-sick
http://mikesivier.wordpress.com//?s=Samuel+Miller&search=Go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnHBfW0_u5A&feature=youtu.be
E-Mail: disabilityinliterature@gmail.com
Blog: Hephaestus: Disability Studies
http://illnessandcivilization.blogspot.com/
Blog: My Disability Studies Blackboard
http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Hephaestus7
(Montreal, Canada)

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Dying Is An Option Thanks To DWP

Reblogged from enoughisenoughdwp:

Nothing left to do but die

It has taken 3 days to type this, I can't concentrate for long and can't be bothered to correct.

I suffer from crippling depression And anxiety. I also have problems walking  and standing unaided  because of a spinal issue. 

I rarely leave my home and spend most of my time in bed or in front of a Telly. I have lost contact with friends as I just want to be  left alone 

I haven't been paid any benefit since mid February when my ESA was stopped.

The reason they stopped it was because I didn't attend my medical assessment at Atos. This was because I never received my notification.

I am no longer at the address it was sent to, but when I lived there, mail could be very sporadic because mine and others on the street, would be sometimes delivered to different flats and houses on the street.

I appealed their decision but was refused twice and later told, they were not appeals, but  reconsideration, even though I filled out a GL24 form.

I have reached the point that some days I feel life is no longer worth living. I was evicted 3 Weeks ago and currently living in a mice infested squat because I didn't want to be parted with my dog.

If it wasn't for my pensioner mother, I don't know how I would have survived. She has helped me out with small amounts of money here and there, but it is not fair on her as she is also in bad health.

After several months I tried to apply for job seekers but was met by a very unhelpful and spiteful bitch called Saba who works at the Dalston Job Centre. I'm sorry, but after that woman did to me, it's the first word that comes to mind.

From the first meeting she showed no interest and didn't even look at me when I was in front of her.

Things came to a head when I attended  Dalston Job centre for my first sign on. Saba was unfriendly, barked at me. I told her I was unable to look for the required 8 jobs and only managed a few, because of my dire state of mind. I was on the verge of being evicted, suffering depression so bad that I spent most of the day with a duvet over my me. Compounded with arthritis and a bulging disc in my back, I was lower than low. Even standing at the kitchen sink was an ordeal. My only relief is when I'm lying down.

Saba reluctantly decided I would be paid, but scolded me like a child and told me to show up with proof of 8 jobs I had sought next sign on

She got me to sign something and when I handed the pen back to her, she claimed I threw it at her. In fact it dropped from my hand as I have problems holding on to things, even a phone because my fingers are numb most of the time  and feel like pins and needles.

She told me my JSA was being stopped because I threw a pen at her. I insisted on seeing her manager (she refused at first but I insisted). Her manager who overheard everything told me he had called her aside and spoke with her even before I requested to speak to him.

After two Weeks on JSA it was decided by my doctor I not try to work.

That is when the nightmare got worse.

How long am I supposed to live like this? I can't handle the stress of calling DWP, I can't handle the abuse from them, I can't handle sleeping on a mattress in a mice infested squat. I don't think I have enough pills left to take my life and not enough on my oyster card to get into my nearest tube station to jump infront of a train. The easiest thing is to walk in front of a bus on Kigslad High Rd nr the job centre What more do they want from me? My doctor has written a letter to them but that is not enough.

To our current government, Dwp, the staff at Hackney and Dalston job centre. My blood will be on your hands when I summon up the courage to leave this world.

I can't just blame them for everything, my problems began long before my dealings with Dwp. It hurts to be awake. I just want to sleep and never wake up.

It has taken 3 days to type this, I can't concentrate for long and can't be bothered to correct.

I rarely leave my home and spend most of my time in bed or infront of a Telly. I have lost contact with friends as I have nothig  to share

I'm out of money, can't pay for my mobile phone bill and can no longer pay for top up for mobile broadband,  basics like  personal hygiene and food

I don't want to be a burden to my mother anymore and cannot bare the thought of asking her for more money.

The following  people helped drive me over the edge

Dalston job centre, Hackney Job Centre, Francine (mare street jc) who was so cold and told me to kill myself if that's what I felt like doing , some woman called Begonia (mare st jc) who spoke very bad English and refused to give me her name yesterday and this morning, Jenny (mare st jct) who was rude some months ago and hung up when all I did was ask her a question.You are employed to help people not degrade them.

Rob on the Ajax Team at Mare St thanks for being very decent. Same goes to Delores at Dalston Job centre for being very patient and taking time out.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

DWP Finally Own Up To Fake Online Campaign

role-models-dwp

The DWP have admitted their involvement in the Role Models: Inspire A Generation youtube channel after first attempting to mislead people that it was initiated ‘by young disabled people for young disabled people’.

The youtube channel hosts 50 videos of disabled people with successful careers and has been criticised as being soft propaganda for the vicious cuts to disability benefits.

The youtube page previously gave no indication that it was a government run campaign, however this has now been changed to admit that: “This account is a co-production between young disabled people and the Department for Work and Pensions.”

The facebook page for the campaign, which also gave no information that it was a government run page, is still missing after it disappeared shortly after it was launched.  Scores of people had visited the page to criticise DWP inspired policies which are forcing hundreds of thousands of disabled people into desperate poverty.

Luckily the youtube channel, which currently has a less than impressive 49 subscribers, is still accepting comments.  The DWP say they want to encourage open and lively debate – but no swearing.
You can join in the open and lively debate at: http://www.youtube.com/user/rolemodelsinspire/

The Void

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Benefits Reform Statistics Used By Grant Shapps Were Inaccurate

In a Sunday Telegraph article from March, Shapps is quoted saying: "nearly 900,000 people who were on incapacity benefit dropped their claim to the payments, rather than undergo a tough medical test."

It continues: "This is a new figure, nearly a million people have come off incapacity benefit... before going for the test. They take themselves off."

However the UK Statistics Authority said the Tory chairman had "conflated" figures to get that total.

The figure of nearly one million Shapps quoted was in fact the number of new applicants to Employment and Support Allowance who had dropped claims between October 2008 and May 2012. They had not been awarded ESA.

The actual number people who were on incapacity benefit who dropped their claim to the payments was 20,000.

UKSA chair Andrew Dilnot, responding to MP Sheila Gilmore's enquiry, said: "Having reviewed the article and the relevant figures, we have concluded that these statements appear to conflate official statistics relating to new claimants of the ESA with official statistics on recipients of the incapacity benefit (IB) who are being migrated across to the ESA."

He goes on to answer Ms Gilmore's further inquiry over why so many new applicants dropped their claims, questioning Shapps' claim that applications for ESA were dropped because of the government's 'tough new test.'

Huffington Post

The Great Crapsby: Why Iain Duncan Smith isn’t all he seems

the_great_ids
The Great Crapsby. Artwork by Dan Murrell for the New Statesman

Like Fitzgerald’s doomed, self-fictionalising hero Jay Gatsby, the Work and Pensions Secretary has constructed a personal narrative for himself that doesn’t quite take in all the facts. Look deeper, and you discover the powerful ideology and lack of empathy that motivates his politics.
BY SARAH DITUM PUBLISHED 29 MAY 2013 8:39

It’s a bold play for Iain Duncan Smith to reference F Scott Fitzgerald in the course of his tedious, risible political thriller, The Devil’s Tune.

 A female character approaches a grandiose house:
“Laura was reminded almost instantly of The Great Gatsby. She smiled at the absurdity […]”
(Anyone who’s battled through this shockingly bad novel will feel the absurdity if not the smile.)

A bold play, but perhaps not a wholly inappropriate one, since at least one of Duncan Smith’s barely distinguishable characters owes a debt to Gatsby himself. Democratic presidential pretender Kelp is the epitome of the American dream, according to the novel – an ex-military man who has made his own myth and risen from dirt, with the help of some dubious money and connections. He’s also a deeply crooked politician.

Iain Duncan Smith has his myths too.

He’s the “quiet man”, the man who had the “Easterhouse epiphany”, a man whose compassion for the poor drove him to found the Centre for Social Justice, where his honest intentions become honest research. He’d like it to be believed that he – like Gatsby – has hauled himself up from common stock, but that’s not quite true. Nor are many of the other things that are widely believed about him, but he is like Gatsby in one regard: he’s a great work of self-fictionalising. The end result, sadly, is no match for the luminous Mr Jay.

Let us think of IDS instead as the Great Crapsby.

The narrative of the Great Crapsby is one of fall followed by resurrection, hinging on a single dramatic incident of enlightenment. Following his unlikely victory, Duncan Smith was a humiliation as Conservative party leader, his reign of just over two years was marked by embarrassment and ineffectiveness. His pitiful parliamentary performance won him the name “Iain Duncan Cough” in Private Eye, and having once betrayed Major, Duncan Smith reaped the disloyalty of his party in turn.

After he was deposed in 2003, it seemed plausible that he would vanish into the political scrub. Instead, he founded the Centre for Social Justice – the allegedly independent think tank that would do so much to promote and shape Conservative policies on welfare and society, and that established Duncan Smith’s credentials to take on the work and pensions portfolio.

Stories of the CSJ’s origins routinely mention something called the “Easterhouse epiphany”:
“It was on the Easterhouse Estate in Glasgow where I began to appreciate the scale of social breakdown occurring in Great Britain,”
writes Duncan Smith in one of the Centre’s publications;
“The CSJ was born through a visit to Easterhouse Estate in Glasgow,”
he says in another.

In 2010, Tim Montgomerie described the Easterhouse visit as the moment
something suddenly clicked […] he realised here was his personal mission and a mission for the Tory party.
So far, so Damascene. And it’s worth remembering that the apparatus of piety plays a large part in the iconography of IDS – he has claimed that:
“My Catholic background […] has become integral to everything I do.”
But – besides people saying that it happened – what evidence is there for this miraculous moment of enlightenment? 

Not, it turns out, very much at all.

In 1994, Duncan Smith (then working in the Department of Social Security, predecessor to the Department of Work and Pensions) wrote an editorial for the Mail (the text of which is copied here). In it, he decried the growth of spending on welfare since the foundation of the welfare state; he claimed that the benefits system had betrayed the intentions of the Beveridge Report, and was being defrauded and abused on a vast scale.
Worst of all, he alleged, the welfare state had created a class incapable of self-help:
“[T]he system discourages people from getting a job […] people become trapped, remaining dependent on the State rather than on their working abilities.” His answer? “There should be just one, income-assessed benefit.”
In 2010, Duncan Smith (now work and pensions secretary) delivered a speech. In it, he claimed the benefits system had betrayed the intentions of the Beveridge Report, that it was being defrauded and abused on a vast scale, and worst of all, that it was counterproductively “supporting – even reinforcing – dysfunctional behaviour.” His answer? Universal credit.

Over 16 years, there was only one appreciable difference in the rhetoric: in 1994, Duncan Smith claimed that it was particularly appalling to see welfare spending expand during a time of economic growth; by 2010, the argument for urgent action was that “the economy isn’t growing as we had hoped”. But that change is simply a matter of shaping the argument to the political conditions. Whatever Iain Duncan Smith discovered in Easterhouse in 2002, it did nothing whatsoever to alter his politics. His diagnosis and prescription for the welfare state has remained constant, from the Nineties to now.

The “epiphany” is a useful fiction, nothing more.

It feels painful to impugn Duncan Smith’s honour like this, because the perception of him as a decent man is so strong, even among those who oppose his politics. In some ways, his ineptness as a party leader has come to be seen as evidence of his virtue: his failure as a politician is proof of his good faith. But a certain taste for self-fashioning has long been evident in him. In 2002, Michael Crick discovered what might kindly be called exaggerations in Duncan Smith’s CV. It stated that he had attended the Universita di Perugia. This was not true: instead he had been to a language school in Perugia, and had not received any qualifications. Duncan Smith is a Perugia man in precisely the same way that grifting Gatsby was “an Oxford man”.

When he isn’t bloating his qualifications, Duncan Smith can be found putting on the poor mouth and talking up his experience of poverty. Having haplessly claimed that he could survive on £53 a week “if I had to”, Duncan Smith was forced to plead personal experience. After he left the army, he told the Mail, he lived illegally with his then-girlfriend, now-wife Betsy Freemantle, in a ragged bedsit.
“They say love makes everything work,”
said Duncan Smith, although presumably the fact that his partner is the daughter of a monied aristocrat and the recipient of an inheritance in her own right also went some way to making everything work. Whatever privations the Duncan Smiths may have experienced, there was always the comforting hand of wealth to keep them from plunging into the underclass. They now live – rent-free – in the Freemantle ancestral home.

So he may not know directly what it is to be truly poor, his defenders can say, but at least he has studied the issue through the Centre for Social Justice. Well, that depends on what it means to study something. The CSJ has published report on report, all of them with the curious effect of reinforcing its founder’s prior positions and supporting government policy.(The intimacy of the CSJ and DWP is underlined by the fact that, until late 2012, Philippa Stroud was both a special advisor to Duncan Smith at the DWP and paid by the CSJ to be co-chair of its board of advisers.) Few of us have the divine inspiration that lets our hypotheses precisely anticipate the results of our research, but Duncan Smith appears to be one of those saintly, second-sighted few.

Either that, or he has no respect at all for evidence. In 2010, Duncan Smith made a number of claims about the stymied brain development of children who “witness a lot of abuse”, or whose mothers have “different, multiple partners”, citing the work of Dr Bruce Perry. Perry protested that his work had been “distorted”: while Duncan Smith implied that children of chaotic or neglectful households were destined to criminality, Perry’s work had in fact been on children who suffered extreme deprivation, including being locked in a basement without human contact. Yet Duncan Smith maintained, implausibly, that he not misrepresented Perry’s findings.

This wasn’t an isolated case of over-enthusiasm. Here’s another: in April, Duncan Smith claimed success for the benefits cap before it had even been implemented, saying:
“Already we’ve seen 8,000 people who would have been affected by the cap move into jobs. This clearly demonstrates that the cap is having the desired impact.”
Again, the original research showed nothing of the sort. On 9 May, Andrew Dilnot of the UK Statistics Authority wrote:
“[the statement] is unsupported by the official statistics.” Furthermore, Dilnot’s letter to the DWP points out there have been previous incidents of statistical abuse in the department, and requests “further assurance that the working arrangements within the department give sufficient weight to the professional role and public responsibilities of statisticians.”
It is one thing to be an individual fantasist, telling flattering stories about yourself. It is another to insist that government policy should be directed by fantasy. But the final tragedy of the Great Crapsby is that, for all the dull power of his imagination, reality stubbornly refuses to comply. The work programme, which Duncan Smith launched two years ago, doesn’t work. The hardest cases are neglected while private providers profit from shuffling the easily employable into jobs.

Universal credit – the single benefit that Duncan Smith has been arguing for since the 1990s – seems unlikely to happen in this parliament, after widely predicted problems with the computer system saw the trial reduced to a minute population that included only individuals with the simplest circumstances. In the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority review, universal credit was given an amber/red status, meaning “in danger of failing”.

The Great Gatsby had his vast wealth and a belief in the green light. The Great Crapsby has his vast wealth and an irresistible attraction to that red light of failure – not just his own personal screw-ups, but a belief that the poor must be made to fail and ground down as far as possible. How we must hunger for saints in our politics if we accept a man as good purely because he says he is good, while so much of what he does bespeaks falsehood and a perfect absence of empathy.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Parliamentary Questions Appeals against WCA - 22 May 2013


The Countess of Mar tabled the following questions about the work capability assessments carried out by Atos in respect of applications for the Employment and Support Allowance.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many appeals against initial work capability assessments to either Jobcentre Plus decision-makers or the First Tier Tribunal have been successful; what percentage of total appeals have been successful; how many successful appeals were attributed to errors in assessments conducted by Atos Healthcare between March 2012 and March 2013; and what percentage of successful appeals in period those appeals represent.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many work capability assessments have either not been challenged or have been appealed unsuccessfully; and what proportion of such assessments made between March 2012 and March 2013 those cases represent.

  The following written answer was provided on 22 May 2013 by Lord Freud, Minister for Relfare Reform at the Department for Work and Pensions:
The department regularly publishes official statistics on the outcomes of employment and support allowance (ESA) work capability assessments (WCAs) for new claims made to ESA and for incapacity benefits claimants being reassessed for ESA. The latest statistics include outcomes of appeals heard up to the end of February 2013 against Fit for Work decisions at initial WCAs (for new ESA claims that started between October 2008 and February 2012) and can be found on the internet at the link below (table 3).
Employment and Support Allowance: Outcomes of Work Capability Assessments, Great Britain: Excel spreadsheet download available HERE.
Information on how many successful appeals were attributed to errors in assessments conducted by Atos Healthcare is not available.

Source

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Driver Who Tried To Save Stephanie Begs Government To Scrap Bedroom Tax

Battle: Mike Wallis tried to revive Stephanie 
Battle: Mike Wallis tried to revive Stephanie

Page One Photography

A driver last night told how he tried to revive Bedroom Tax victim Stephanie Bottrill after she jumped in front of a lorry.

Mike Wallis braved traffic to reach her stricken body, but his efforts to resuscitate the mum of two failed.

And he begged David Cameron to scrap the tax to prevent any more householders taking their lives as Stephanie did because she could not afford to pay.

The 27-year-old said: “It’s disgusting. I only found out yesterday she had committed suicide over the Bedroom Tax.

“It’s so shocking that it has put someone up to do something so extreme. These ­politicians sit in cushy offices in London not realising the impact they have on people’s lives.

“They should have given it more thought.” ­

Stephanie left a suicide note blaming the Government for her dire financial plight after she was hit with an £80 Bedroom Tax bill.

Her children had left the council house in Solihull, West Mids, leaving two spare rooms.

The 53-year-old had the crippling muscle disease Myasthenia Gravis and was too weak to work.
Stephanie was already struggling to get by.

But Mr Cameron’s hated tax tipped her over the edge and she killed herself in the early morning of May 4 on the M6 near her home.

First aider Mike, of Birmingham, spotted ­her lying on the road as he drove to work.

The Waitrose shift manager said: “The lorry driver was in the cab. She was on the ground.

“I gave her chest compressions to try to bring her back but there seemed to be a lot of internal injuries. She didn’t say anything. I think she had gone.”

The boss of the firm whose lorry hit Stephanie told how the driver, a man in his 50s, was left ­traumatised by the incident.

Ray Bartram, of Ely, Cambs, said: “He’s a good guy and this has been horrible for him. People shouldn’t forget the driver in this.”

Mirror

Bedroom Tax suicide: Stephanie Bottrill’s grieving son Steven hits out at David Cameron

Mirror

Iain Duncan Smith’s punishing new payments were the last straw for the tragic 53-year-old who killed herself to avoid plunging into further poverty 

Steven Bottrill
Steven Bottrill
Page One Photography
 
Unable to work because of ­a crippling illness, ­Stephanie Bottrill was already struggling to survive before the hated Bedroom Tax came in.

But Iain Duncan Smith’s punishing new payments were the last straw for the tragic 53-year-old who killed herself to avoid plunging into further poverty after being hit with an £80 a month bill for the two spare bedrooms in her council house.

And last night her distraught son Steven begged David Cameron to scrap the tax to stop anyone else being driven to suicide. 

The 27-year-old spoke as an online petition calling for the Work and Pensions ­Secretary Mr Duncan Smith to go over ­Stephanie’s death gained ­thousands of ­signatures.

Steven said: “The man who can change things is David Cameron. I think my mum wanted to get it out there what happened. 

Stephanie Bottrill
Stephanie Bottrill
Page One Photography 
 
“Hopefully now someone will listen. Someone will realise what has gone on and change things.

“They are all sitting in an office in London thinking of ideas how they can make money, but Mr Cameron has to give the seal of approval.

“They haven’t thought it through properly, how it will affect people. For my mum £80 a month is a huge amount of money but for people who are on huge salaries who have gone to Eton it is a different world.

“She was struggling already, it was a lot to ask for.”

Stephanie was so poor she used hot water bottles instead of her central heating. Steven added: “She couldn’t afford it. All the winter she didn’t have the heating on.

“She wrapped up warm, she had hot water bottles even when she was watching the telly.
“In 2013 in Britain you can’t imagine this. To live like that…” 
 
Stephanie Bottrill suicide note
Stephanie Bottrill suicide note
Page One Photography 
 
The Sunday People yesterday told how desperate gran Stephanie threw herself in front of a speeding lorry over her dire financial plight.

She was hit with the £80 a month bedroom tax after Steven and his sister Laura, 23, both left home.

In her suicide note to her son, she wrote: “Don’t blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the Government.”

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls warned ministers were pushing struggling ­householders to the brink of despair with their attacks on the poor.

He said: “Two thirds of people affected by the bedroom tax are disabled. It’s not fair. This policy is driving people to the edge of despair in their many thousands. David Cameron, George Osborne and Iain Duncan Smith should stand back from the rhetoric, which is always a little bit nasty and a little bit ­divisive, and say, ‘What are we actually doing?’ People are suffering terrible trauma.”

Stephanie, of ­Solihull, West Mids, had the auto-immune system ­deficiency Myasthenia gravis, an illness which weakens muscles. She was on constant ­medication.

The scene of the M6 motorway in Birmingham where Stephanie commited suicide
The scene of the M6 motorway in Birmingham where Stephanie committed suicide
Page One Photography 
 
Steven said his mum wanted to work, but could not. Doctors told her she was too ill but she was never ­registered as ­disabled, so had no ­disability benefit.

She had wanted to downsize her home but the council had nothing smaller available.

Steven added: “I last saw my mum the day before it happened. She had phoned me up crying and said she couldn’t go on there’s too much pressure. She was asked to find another £20 a week but she just didn’t have it. The system failed her at every stage.”

Stephanie died in the early hours of May 4 on the M6.

She had visited neighbours before killing herself, telling them: “I can’t afford to live.”

One, Tracey Hurley, said: “She had gone round everybody giving them hugs. But what I didn’t know was that she had obviously been planning it.”

Tracey described Stephanie as “kind-hearted with a good soul”.

Mr Duncan Smith would not comment yesterday. 

VIDEO REPORThttp://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bedroom-tax-suicide-stephanie-bottrills-1886058

The Daily Mirror 

Bus driver handed £60,000 from ex-bosses who sacked him unfairly when he developed diabetes

  • David Hoggett was fired for 'cheaper Polish drivers' it was claimed
  • 58-year-old worked under Abellio London Limited
  • It provides drivers for the famous red buses in London
By Anthony Bond
|

Payout: Bus driver David Hoggett, 58, has been awarded £60,000 after he was unfairly sacked from Abellio London ltd after developing diabetes
Payout: Bus driver David Hoggett, 58, has been awarded £60,000 after he was unfairly sacked from Abellio London ltd after developing diabetes

A double decker London bus driver who was unfairly sacked from his job after developing diabetes has been awarded almost £60,000 in damages.

Father-of-three David Hoggett was fired to make way for 'cheaper Polish drivers at half the cost', his solicitor claimed after winning the tribunal.

The 58-year-old had worked under Abellio London Limited - the firm employed to provide drivers for the famous red buses in the city and parts of Surrey.

He claimed sick pay when he was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and took several months to respond to Vitamin D medication last summer.

But bosses at Abellio sacked him on 'medical grounds of capability'.


He then sued the company for unfair dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of his disability, an employment tribunal hearing had been told.

Mr Hoggett successfully won his claim and was awarded £10,000 in injury to feelings compensation and two years of his salary, almost £47,000, bringing the total to £56,976.55.

Solicitor Alex Monaco, a senior partner in Compromise Agreements Limited, who dealt with the case, said: 'The unfair and discriminatory dismissal of our long-serving client Mr Hoggett would have decreased Abellio's wage bill and enabled them to recruit cheaper drivers from abroad.

'Mr Hoggett was paid £29,000, and if these cheaper drivers were being paid £14,000 or £15,000 it would be a two for one swap effectively.

'How many other people has this affected who have not stood up for their rights?'


Bus company Abellio strongly deny Mr Monaco's allegations, which were only made after the case had concluded, that his client was sacked to make way for cheaper foreign drivers.

It was reported last month that the operator flew bosses to Poland to recruit 50 new drivers.



Bosses at Abellio, a subsidiary of the Dutch state rail operator, claimed it could not find suitable British candidates to work on routes on parts of London.

The tribunal hearing held in Croydon, Surrey, was told that Mr Hoggett worked as a driver since May 2004 until he was sacked on July 20, last year.

Driver: 58-year-old had worked under Abellio London Limited - the firm employed to provide drivers for the famous red buses in the city and parts of Surrey
Driver: 58-year-old had worked under Abellio London Limited - the firm employed to provide drivers for the famous red buses in the city and parts of Surrey

He attended a doctor's appointment on March 9, last year, after suffering from what he thought thought was a chest infection.

The driver from East Molesey, Surrey, was signed off sick and during that period he was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes on April 11.

Doctors who helped treat his condition said they considered this to amount to a disability.

In his witness statement, Mr Hoggett said he was placed on a course of medication by his doctor to bring the diabetes under control.

But after returning to work he suffered a relapse in his condition and was signed off sick again

After meetings with staff manager Jacinta Faley she later advised him that he was being dismissed on medical grounds of capability.


Mr Hoggett said: 'I believe that the decision to dismiss me had been taken prior to the meeting on 20-7- 2012,' he said.

'The majority of the meeting seemed to focus on my termination rather than looking at my condition and how long it might take for me to be able to return to work.'


He added: 'I would like to point out that my driving licence was never removed or suspended by DVLA.

'They were advised, of course of my condition and subsequently confirmed that my driving privileges remain intact.

'I was getting close to returning to work and was simply waiting for my doctor to confirm this.


'I believe that I was unfairly dismissed by my employer and that the reason for my dismissal related to my disability.'


Speaking after the case, Mr Hoggett said: 'I'm glad the case is done and dusted. It has been dealt with I can move on with my life. It was a real burden to cope with and very stressful for me and my family.'


A spokesman for Abellio said: 'With regard to the Employment Tribunal on Thursday 2nd May 2013 we were disappointed by the result however, we will abide by the conclusion of the tribunal and wish the claimant all the best for the future.'


On the Polish bus driver allegation, he added: 'Our drivers are under a collective bargaining agreement and this is clearly both factually wrong and simply incorrect.'

Source

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Muscular dystrophy man told he must move out of his Wisbech home and into care home to save NHS money

Lee Thorne, muscular dystrophy sufferer is appealing against a decision for him to be in a care home and not in his bungalow. Left: Christine Morgan, Lee Thorne and Wendy Trowler. 
Lee Thorne, muscular dystrophy sufferer is appealing against a decision for him to be in a care home and not in his bungalow. Left: Christine Morgan, Lee Thorne and Wendy Trowler.


A 45 YEAR old man with muscular dystrophy is appealing against a decision by NHS officials which will force him to move out of his Wisbech bungalow and spend the rest of his life in a care home in Peterborough.


Lee Thorne, muscular dystrophy sufferer is appealing against a decision for him to be in a care home and not in his bungalow
Lee Thorne, muscular dystrophy sufferer is appealing against a decision for him to be in a care home and not in his bungalow
 
Lee Thorne, who has been in his purpose built bungalow for 13 years, says the decision would destroy his quality of life.

Mr Thorne, who enjoys days out to London, trips to the coast, concerts and museum visits with friends or carers, says being in a home would mean a future of “existing” instead of living his days to the full.

“My dignity has not been taken into account. This has been forced on me. I just want to live my own quiet life in the comfort of my own home,” said Mr Thorney of Victoria Road, who this week was allowed back to his bungalow for one day for the first time in 10 months.

Mr Thorne, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of six, lived independently with the help of social care until suffering a respiratory failure in July 2012.

Lee Thorne, muscular dystrophy sufferer is appealing against a decision for him to be in a care home and not in his bungalow
Lee Thorne, muscular dystrophy sufferer is appealing against a decision for him to be in a care home and not in his bungalow
 
He was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at King’s Lynn where he had a tracheostomy tube fitted to help with his breathing.

He suffered a chest infection and at the end of August was moved to Papworth Hospital where he remained until being taken to the care home in January 2013.

Having the tube fitted means he cannot legally organise his own care and has been told by the NHS continuing care package team he needs two carers 24 hours a day, seven days a week

Living in the care home would cost £1800 per week. Staying in his bungalow with two 24/7 carers would cost £5,500 per week.

Mr Thorne said: “I only need two carers in the morning and night time to help me in and out of bed.
“The rest of the time one carer is enough, so the amount quoted is too high.”

His friends Christine Morgan and Wendy Trower are desperate for him to stay in his own home.

Ms Trower said: “They told Lee he would only be in the care home temporarily yet after four months they say he has to stay for good.

“Since being in the care home he hasn’t left his room.”

Ms Morgan added: “He loves his life at home and has everything he needs around him. The decision is totally wrong. ”

By Kath Sansom
Saturday, May 4, 2013
8:58 AM
Source

Friday, April 19, 2013

Amnesty condemns gov't for assault on disabled

At its AGM on April 14 2013, Amnesty International UK passed a resolution on the Human Rights of sick and disabled people in the UK.

The resolution read:
“This AGM calls for urgent action to halt the abrogation of the human rights of sick and disabled people by the ruling Coalition government and its associated corporate contractors.
Calls for Amnesty International UK to urgently work with grassroots human rights campaigns by and for sick and disabled people, carers and their families. And to set up a specialist Disability Human Rights network…..
To protect the human rights of people with disabilities, ill people and carers to halt this regressive and lethal assault on our rights.”
You can read the full resolution here.

This month saw the introduction of the notorious Bedroom Tax; it’s has been estimated that two thirds of the households hit by the tax contain disabled people. Atos Healthcare’s ‘fitness to work’ assessments of disabled people – a linchpin of the coalition’s welfare reforms – have also been slammed by charities and paralympians.
 

Friday, March 22, 2013

Government invoke Godwin’s law to refuse to meet disabled people

Esther McVey - Talk to the hand
Esther McVey: Talk to the hand

The government has cited one line in the guest  foreward of a review of the work capability assessment as the reason why it refuses to meet with representatives of sick and disabled people. The line they objected to referred to wounded soldiers being sent back to the front by the Nazis.

As Michael Meacher MP said in Parliament “This work is evidence based, uses the DWP’s figures wherever possible, has never been challenged on accuracy.” He pointed out that it has been used by the Work and Pensions select committee, the joint committee on human rights, and in many parliamentary debates.

Mark Hoban, Minister of State for Work and Pensions, refused to meet Meacher to talk about the Work Capability Assessment and he flatly refused to meet representatives of We Are Spartacus. In Michael Meacher’s own words:
He simply replied blankly “I’m not seeing you”, and repeated it 3 0r 4 times.   I kept on insisting ‘Why not?’ and finally he said “I’m not seeing Spartacus”.   Again I was taken aback and asserted that in my view Spartacus had analysed hundreds of cases, prepared a very detailed and thoughtful analysis of the implications arising from these cases, and even if he disagreed strongly for whatever reasons it was his responsibility to meet them.   To this he simply kept repeating “I’m not meeting Spartacus”.
Michael Meacher took it to the speaker of the house and arranged a debate to face Hoban in Parliament. Hoban didn’t turn up. Instead he send Esther McVey, Minister for Disabled People. Who publicly refused to meet disabled people. The reason given, eventually, was that it “wouldn’t be constructive”. The evidence presented was one sentence from the guest foreward of The People’s Review of the Work Capability Assessment.
The process is reminiscent of the medical tribunals that returned shell shocked and badly wounded soldiers to duty in the first world war or the ‘KV-machine’, the medical commission the Nazis used in the second world war to play down wounds so that soldiers could be reclassified ‘fit for the Eastern front’.
- Guest Foreward to The People’s Review of the Work Capability Assessment by Professor Peter Beresford OBE, BA Hons, PhD, AcSS, FRSA, Dip WP, Professor of Social Policy, Brunel University

The government have essentially invoked Godwin’s Law to get out of meeting the most effective campaign against their welfare policy. They are afraid, desperate, and grabbing at any way out they can find.

Please sign the WOW petition to call for a cumulative impact assessment of the government’s welfare reforms.

Michael Meacher MP: DWP Ministers run frit of seeing delegation on Atos Healthcare
Benefit Scrounging Scum: Polite? Constructive? Request to meet with Minister Mark Hoban 10/2012
We Are Spartacus: The People’s Review of the Work Capability Assessment
Where’s The Benefit: Is It Coz We Is Disabled?
A Latent Existence: Godwin’s Law Must Die
We Are Spartacus

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Why won't DWP REALLY meet Spartacus?

Reblogged from Sue Marsh:

Any of you who just watched the car-crash that was Esther McVey trying to undermine the credibility of the Spartacus network, might like to see the quote that upset ministers so much, they refuse to meet us and treat us like aggressive radicals.

The quote, picked out  from 100s of 1000s of words laid bare over the last 3 years. You can decide for yourselves if you think it justifies DWP not meeting leading disability campaigners.

"The WCA is a statement of political desperation. The process is reminiscent of the medical tribunals that returned shell shocked and badly wounded soldiers to duty in the first world war or the ‘KV-machine’, the medical commission the Nazis used in the second world war to play down wounds so that soldiers could be reclassified ‘fit for the Eastern front".
- Quoted from:
       Professor Peter Beresford OBE, BA Hons, PhD, AcSS, FRSA Dip WP
       Professor of Social Policy, Brunel University
 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Chris Spivey on Ian Duncan Smith [Contains strong language]

Fuck Off Smiffy.




Okay, lets talk common sense.

Ian Smith – because that’s who the cunt really is - couldn’t cut it as the Tory party leader and as such was made to suffer the humiliation of being told to “fuck off out of it” – thus condemning  him as being a totally useless cunt.

Never the less, you only have to look at Smiffy to know that he has delusions of grandeur (hence the made up double barrelled surname and fake CV) and an ego the size of the National Debt – thus making him a useless, lying cunt who is full of shit.

Throughout his time as an inept politician he has done fuck all for us, yet taken, and continues to take, a big, extremely undeserved, public funded wage, as well as claiming equally undeserved, fantastically inflated expenses – thus making him a drain on society. In turn, that fact makes him a useless, lying, bullshitting, cunt, who is a gross liability.

In accepting his over inflated, totally undeserved, public funded wage and expenses, he becomes guilty of fraud. Even more so when you realise that the ponce was claiming a big wage for his wife who did fuck all else other than bring the Smiffy kids up – thus making him a corrupt, criminal, useless, lying, bullshitting, cunt, who is a gross liability.

Enter multi millionaire Dave ‘the rave‘ Cameron, a mush with an extremely secretive and shady past, whom it transpires has the blatantly obvious mandate of leading the country into chaos and civil unrest.

What better way to do it than employ a corrupt, criminal, useless, lying, bullshitting, cunt, who is a gross liability and full of resentment in the knowledge that he is perceived as a joke – a sick joke at that.

The fact that the Cunt Cameron would employ such an obnoxious, pointless dog turd is a good measure of our Prime Ministers integrity. The fact that the Nation has allowed him to do so – and carried on doing so –  is a good measure of their stupidity.

So, is Idiot Dickhead Smiffy value for money? Lets start with ATOS, since Dickhead Smiff aims to shave £2.5 Billion of the ESA bill. Here is what Edinburgh Against Poverty say:

Despite a fraud rate of just 1%, plus £16 billion in unclaimed benefits, the Government are determined to toss 500,000 people who currently rely on sickness benefits into the bleakest labour market in a generation and to cut already meagre disability benefits to starvation levels.
Straight away, that £16 Billion unclaimed benefits figure jumps out at you and slaps you round the chops. So, in reality, the government ought to think themselves lucky. Remember, Benefit is an ENTITLEMENT.

ENTITLEMENT: something that you have a right to do or have, or the right to do or have something. (Cambridge On-line Dictionary)
  So, notwithstanding that the government will pay ATOS a minimum of £50,000,000 just to pass these people unfit, those people will then go on JSA. Course, they may then go on the Work Program eventually. ATOS is getting £500 Million Quid for running that little scam.

Since ESA fraud is estimated to cost the government  £250 Million, it isn’t hard to see the false economy there. Neither is that taking into account the untold misery that these cunts are imposing on those poor people.

Neither does the Work Program work. This from the Guardian:

Number geeks point out that, as stunningly bad as the Work Programme figures are, they are actually slightly worse than they look. Between 1 June 2011 and the end of July this year 877,800 people were referred to the Work Programme and only 31,240 people got jobs and stayed there long enough (three or six months) for the relevant company to get paid. This is 3.4%; the Department for Work and Pensions’ lowest expectation was 5%. But if they had done this evaluation in the regular way – June to May, rather than June to July – the figure would drop even lower: 2.5%. [...] Working Links, proud holder of Work Programme contracts worth £307,752,305, put out a press release a few weeks ago saying they’d found 40 people jobs in McDonald’s. It’s not exactly specialist knowledge, is it? “Psst, I know this low-profile employer that never advertises, but just might give you a trial … Ronald McDonald.” READ MORE
  Add to that the cost of the court cases, the changing of the law needed to keep it going, and the potential lawsuits for medical negligence and what you are left with is a massive failure by anyone’s standards in terms of both cost and human suffering…. The useless, self serving, nonce cunt, pasty faced imbeciles are meant to serve our interests not implement our destruction.

Then there is the Universal Credits that IDS is publicly crowing about, while no doubt privately shitting himself since he knows that the scheme is going to be as successful as the novel he wrote.

The Universal Credit scheme (UCS)  has already cost over £2 Billion to set up according to the major study undertaken by the Institution of Fiscal Studies (IFS). However, the IFS also say this:

Of course, moving from the current system of benefits and tax credits to a single benefit will require major administrative and IT changes. It is beyond the scope of this note to assess the risk involved.

So if the IFS cannot predict the risks involved, then you just know that we are fucked.

The IFS then goes on to say that the  UCS will cost a predicted £1.7 Billion to run once it is properly in place, but cannot even begin to predict how much the running costs will be in the transitional period… Way to go
IBS IDS.

According to the IFS the UCS will have this effect:

A total of 2.5 million working-age families will gain and, in the long run, 1.4 million working-age families will lose, and 2.5 million working-age families will see no change in their disposable income because their entitlements to Universal Credit will match their current entitlements to means-tested benefits and tax credits.

Therefore, there is a difference being made to 3.9 million families with a plus minus ratio of 1.1 million. Course, the plus and the minus benefits are unknown, but will obviously be more drastic to the minus ratio and negligible to the plus ratio. This will no doubt cancel out any savings, while at the same time plunge another 1.4 million families into deeper poverty.

So, once again a massive failure by anyone’s standards in terms of both cost and human suffering … Fucking useless, evil imbeciles. I fucking detest the solidified farts.

As for the bedroom tax. The cost of setting that up will also be in the £ billions. That’s on top of the £ Millions in police costs to marshal the mass protests. To be honest, I cannot see it being workable. I can think of at least one scam to avoid it, if ya know the right people.

In any case, there is much back peddling by the government on who will now have to pay, which the Daily Mirror describe as “Total Chaos”  and estimates has cost us an unnecessary £36 million.

I repeat; Cost us – not them… US!

Where the fuck is the accountability? Imagine if you or I cost our employers that amount of money through our incompetence?

And, to top it all, those on benefits will now have to pay something towards their Council Tax bill.

Now, what I haven’t seen anyone mention yet is that when you get notification of your benefit entitlement it states something along the lines of ; The Amount Of Money The Law Says You Need To Live On. That amount of money is then stated in X amount of pounds.

Therefore, that X amount of pounds is the minimum you are allowed to receive by law and will have been calculated on the number of things people have to pay out for in everyday life I.E. Food, and bills. However, that amount of money will not have taken into account money for Council Tax, since it is safe to assume that anyone on benefits who has rent to pay will also be claiming Housing & Council Tax benefit.

So, to my way of thinking, unless the government add more money to JSA, Income Support and ESA, they are breaking the law and violating your human rights  by now making those on benefits pay towards their Council Tax. After all, those people will now be living on less than what the law says you need to live on.

To my mind, the same applies to those having their benefits sanctioned. Never the less, are those who have been sanctioned still eligible to pay the council tax for those weeks that they were given no money?

The very fact that some fucking jobs-worth cretin who was no doubt bullied at school has the power to decide who gets to eat and who doesn’t is sick, sick, fucking sick. I’d burn the fucking Job Centre down, I would and say sanction that you cunt.

My position remains the same. People, if you roll over and pay these thing, you are mugs who are contributing to your own downfall… Wise up.

It is also up to you people to fight for and protect, those in society who cannot do it themselves. Nay, it is your duty as human beings… Your government, whom were elected by your naivity are not going to do it, so the task falls down to you… And remember! You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

As for Iain Dickhead Smiffy boy! Lets kill the cunt.

Chris Spivey

Monday, March 18, 2013

Christian charities face Christian protests over use of workfare labour

Christian organisations including the Salvation Army and the YMCA are participating in “workfare” schemes, using workers who must work without pay or face losing their benefits.

Christianity Uncut is writing to the charities to urge them to withdraw from the schemes as a public witness against forced labour.

The call comes at the start of a week of action against workfare. The action has been called by the group Boycott Workfare for the week of 18-24 March. During the week, Christianity Uncut is planning to write to all Christian organisations using workfare labour.

Christianity Uncut welcome the fact that most churches and Christian organisations are not participating in workfare. We encourage them to sign the pledge promising that they will not do so in future.

Chris Wood, a spokesperson for Christianity Uncut, said:

“Workfare workers are not volunteers – their work is not voluntary but obligatory, and they should be paid a living wage. Instead they are being threatened with losing the benefits on which they live if they refuse to take part in this forced labour scheme.

“We are deeply saddened that charities such as the Salvation Army and YMCA are undermining the good work they do, and their witness to Christ, by participating in workfare schemes. Throughout the economy, workfare is increasing poverty and unemployment by reducing the jobs available for paid staff. Christians need to make a public witness against workfare and proclaim Jesus’ teaching that ‘The worker is worthy of his pay’ (Luke 10,7).”

There are numerous workfare schemes currently in operation. Each requires claimants to work without pay or face possible destitution through sanctions (benefit stoppages), which can last for up to three years. A list of schemes currently in operation can be found at http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?page_id=663.

Protests, creative actions and online pickets against workfare will take place on 18-24 March across the UK in a week of action called by the Boycott Workfare network to escalate the campaign against forced unpaid work. More information and a list of actions can be found at http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=1996.

Christianity Uncut