Money For Old Rope … How The Work Programme Poverty Profiteers Are Fleecing The Tax Payer

Former A4e boss Emma Harrison made millions out of the welfare-to-work scam before retiring just as the company became mired in fraud allegations.

If there is one place that a culture of worklessness really does exist it’s in the offices of the companies running Iain Duncan Smith’s Work Programme.  Some welfare-to-work advisors have been languishing on tax-payer funded salaries for years whilst barely lifting a finger.

Last week the DWP published an update of the Minimum Service Delivery standards for all of the main Work Programme providers.  These are the very basic levels of service that everybody referred to these companies can expect to receive as promised in their contracts with the DWP.  As the document reveals, you shouldn’t expect too much.

Appallingly a claimant on Employment Support Allowance can expect to wait eight weeks before Maximus will be bothered to help them produce a CV.  Those placed with the notorious A4e will only have contact with a named advisor once a month, whilst the most other providers are offering is just fortnightly meetings.  At these meetings participants are likely to be given a string of conditions they must meet, which might include workfare, or they will have their benefits stopped.  Then they’ll be politely asked to fuck off for another fortnight.  And that’s the Work Programme.  That’s the wonderful, flexible, intensive, tailored to the individual, innovative, half-arsed piece of shit that bungling Iain Duncan Smith has so far wasted close to a billion pounds of our money on.  And that’s why the performance of the scheme has been so dire and you are more likely to have your benefit sanctioned than find a job on the Work Programme...

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Old people auctioned off to care homes on the internet: Anger over 'cattle markets for grannies' as councils accept lowest bids to save cash

• At least a dozen local authorities are listing vulnerable people's details

• Ages and care needs including medication sent to up to 100 care firms

• They pick which people to bid for - and cheapest offer nearly always wins

• Expert Ros Altmann: 'eBay-style' system 'awful' and 'just uncivilised'

• Health group leader: 'It's an absolute disgrace - it's like a cattle market'

The elderly and disabled are being ‘put up for auction’ by local councils on ‘eBay-style’ websites, with care firms then bidding to offer them a bed.

At least a dozen local authorities are listing vulnerable people’s details – including their age and what care and medication they need – before inviting bids from care homes in the area.

The bidding is sometimes open for only a few hours, at other times it can last for two or three days. The cheapest offer often wins.

Critics last night said the system was akin to ‘auctioning your granny’ and a ‘cattle market’, saying sensitive decisions about an elderly resident’s final years are being made by a computer programme that is only interested in costs.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2945079/Old-people-auctioned-care-homes-internet-Anger-cattle-markets-grannies-councils-accept-lowest-bids-save-cash.html#ixzz3RHBSictL

OFFICIAL - Thousands of Children Forcibly Adopted

First it was BBC Inside Out South East on 02 February 2015, then it was the BBC News:

Adoption: Thousands of children forcibly taken into care

2 February 2015 Last updated at 10:31 GMT

Every year about 11,000 children are taken into local authority care without the consent of their parents.

Last year, more than 2,400 of them were forcibly adopted...

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Rough sleepers ‘swept’ off London’s freezing streets – Home News – UK – The Independent.

Rough sleepers ‘swept’ off London’s freezing streets – Home News – UK – The Independent.

Osborne’s ‘recovery’ is twice as slow as the slowest recovery on record

Indices of GDP per head over economic recoveries from the 1830s to today


Looking at GDP per head, the UK economy grew by 5 per cent between 2009 and 2014. Previously, the slowest recovery on a per head basis was from 1886 to 1901, when the economy grew by 10 per cent: twice as fast.

The average recovery speed over five years for previous major recessions is 13.7 per cent, pretty much three times as fast as the present ‘recovery’.

Strikingly, in the recovery from the great depression, GDP per head grew by 21 per cent, an annual rate of 4 per cent against Osborne’s 1 per cent...


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Anti-austerity forces grow in Italy after Greece vote

‘After the left-wing Syriza party notched an impressive victory in Greece’s recent parliamentary elections, a gust of energy has swept across debt-laden southern Europe, which has borne the brunt of the eurozone’s fiscal crisis.

In southern Europe, popular opposition has been growing against the fiscal austerity measures demanded by Germany, the economic anchor of the eurozone. In Spain, tens of thousands of people protested against welfare cuts on January 31, in rallies led by left-wing movement Podemos – which in just months has rocketed from obscurity to lead the opinion polls for Spain’s elections this year.

Meanwhile, in Italy – which, like Greece, suffers from a stagnant economy, high debt, and an astronomical youth unemployment rate – Syriza’s victory was met with supportive but tempered statements from centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.’

Read more: Anti-austerity forces grow in Italy after Greece vote

What has been achieved by 4.8 million Work Capability Assessments?

Nick Dilworth is a welfare rights adviser who has seen the full impact of welfare reform on the lives of his clients. He is also skilled at analysing statistics issued by the Department for Work and Pensions, and believes that one number, which lies buried in the data tables, should be revealed and widely publicised.

The number is 4.8 million. This is the number of Work Capability Assessments that have been carried out on sick and disabled people since the test was introduced in 2008. Nick has arrived at this figure by looking at the official data tables for the period up to March 2014, the most recent we have available. By combining the numbers of initial assessments and reassessments, he has arrived at a precise total of 4,799,800 as of March 2014. Nick says, in what must be an understatement, ‘We can safely say that by February 2015…

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Man burned alive in Britain – but does anybody care?

Originally posted on Pride's Purge:

(not satire – it’s the UK today!)

A man was burned alive in Britain – and nobody seems to care.
Malcolm Burge, 66, found himself more than £800 in debt as a result of a government decision to cut his housing benefit by 50%.
The council dealing with his case was also unable to correspond properly with Mr Burge because of a massive backlog they were experiencing – again due to government cuts to local government funding.
And so – on the same day he received a letter telling him he had to repay the money – Mr Burge drove to Cheddar Gorge and burned himself alive in his car.
Just the latest victim of Iain Duncan Smith’s war on the poor:

.

Iain Duncan Smith’s portrait made from photos of people who died for being poor (click on image to enlarge)


Some of his victims:


Malcolm Burge:


Edward Jacques:

Graham Shawcross:

David Coupe:

David…

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Re-elected Con-Dems could cost £9 billion

Coalition strategy on low pay could cost the taxpayer £9 billion more over the next five years if the present Government is re-elected, according to research verified by the House of Commons Library.

The analysis of official figures suggests that would amount to an extra £337 bill for every tax-paying family.

The estimate of social security and tax credit spending by 2020 assumes that previous Treasury forecasts for average earnings growth were over-optimistic to the same extent that they were between 2010 and 2015.

The coalition has presided over the largest fall in wages since the 1870s, with working people on average £1,600 a year worse off than in 2010 and those in full time work £2,000 a year worse off. The number of people earning less than a living wage has rocketed from 3.4 million in 2009-10 to 4.9 million...

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IDS's Department "has gone rogue" - HuffPost

The way the DWP is operating shows why it prefers to work in secrecy, and misleads when given the opportunity to be more open, both to the BBC reporter and us. Its jobcentre activities have become an active barrier to unemployed people getting into work, and recent figures from Oxford University and SOAS show that four out of five of those sanctioned don't find jobs.
Smith's Department has gone rogue, and he must bear the blame.

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A Government That Permits The Psychological Torture Of Benefit Claimants Does Not Give A Fuck About Mental Health

This Government do not give a shit about people with mental health conditions, and neither did the last one.  Whilst politicians of all parties offer soundbites and fake sympathy the treatment of people with a mental health condition by the benefits system now amounts to little more than psychological torture.

This is not hyperbole.  Whilst the medical establishment has stood ildly by, and mental health charities have veered between mild disapproval and outright collaboration, the DWP has lanched an all out war on the most marginalised people in society.

Consider the ‘claimant journey’, to use their language, for someone unable to work due to mental ill health.  The first step is to claim Employment Support Allowance, a process which may take months due to a huge backlog of cases.  During this period the claimant will be paid the Assessment Rate, the same amount as mainstream unemployment benefits, and a pittance at currently £72.40 a week.

Finally a dreaded brown envelope will drop through the door from the DWP – an invitation to have your mental health assessed by the notorious Atos.  At this assessment you may be found fit for work, fit for some work, or possibly placed in the Support Group.  What this means is that you might suddenly have your income – your only income – stopped.  The stress this places on people who are desperately in need of stability and consistency can be unbearable.  Is it any wonder that the number of suicides linked to this callous regime grows ever higher?

We know from the number of successful appeals that many of these assessments are wrong.  Equally importantly, these assessments have been ruled discriminatory towards those with a mental health condition in the courts...

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Tory MP Mark Spencer Wants Poor To "Starve In The Dark"

A Tory MP stunned fellow parliamentarians after defending the benefits system that left a jobseeker with learning difficulties without food or electricity after he was four minutes late for a Jobcentre appointment.
Conservative backbencher Mark Spencer, who represents the Nottinghamshire constituency of Sherwood, made the controversial remarks during a debate on the state of poverty in Britain on Wednesday afternoon in Westminster Hall.

Labour MP Lisa Nandy, shadow civil society minister, told fellow parliamentarians about how a vulnerable person in her constituency of Wigan suffered after having his benefits taken away under the controversial sanctions regime.

“Several times this year I have had to refer a gentleman with learning difficulties to Denise (the local Reverend) for food due to him having sanctions on him for turning up late,” a local councillor had told her. “The gentleman can’t tell the time and is a recluse. He has been found sitting in his flat in the dark with no electric or gas. He won’t ask for help.”

“Only for the old neighbours watch out for him and contact myself heaven knows what would of happened to him. I was informed he has to get a letter off the doctor for an electric card…The lad turned up at my door the other night. He hadn’t eaten for 5 days. He looked like he was dying.”

Iain Duncan Smith‘s sanctions system, under which a jobseeker can automatically lose their benefits for low-level offences like missing an interview with their Jobcentre adviser, has been a subject of mounting controversy as critics warned that the “immoral” reforms would drive people to rely on food banks to survive.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has so far defended the regime, with senior official Neil Couling causing controversy after he argued that sanctions can provide a “welcome jolt” to those affected.
In response to Nandy’s speech, Spencer said that people like him needed to learn “the discipline of timekeeping”, and suggested the education system needed to improve to cure the constituent’s learning difficulties.
He added: “I hope that the Hon. Lady [Nandy] appreciates that people who work very hard, and who might be earning very small amounts from working 50 hours a week, have to turn up to work on time. If they are late for their employment, they might be sanctioned by their employer.”

Spencer’s remarks, which have caused a stir online, outraged Labour MPs as he spoke in Westminster Hall. Nandy remarked that his “patronising tone” showed “exactly why people throughout the country are so angry with the Government”...

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Stats: DWP recruited 2907 Benefit Sanctions Decision Makers from 1059

Originally posted on www.refuted.org.uk:

Whilst the DWP continually says it has no Benefit Sanctions Targets, despite irrefutable evidence, this view now seems even more implausible since today it published statistics that it show they nearly trebled the number of sanction decision makers?



Source: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/decision_makers_4#incoming-614876
.

View original

Government's New Maths Test For 11-Year-Olds Revealed

HuffPost

Bombshell Poll: Clegg to lose seat in general election?

An exclusive ‘bombshell’ poll conducted by Survation for Unite reveals that Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg faces losing his seat at the next general election while fears over the NHS and the dangerous trade deal TTIP remain major issues for voters in Sheffield Hallam.

The poll also found a significant majority of voters who expressed an opinion in Sheffield Hallam (79 per cent) and people who voted Liberal Democrat in the 2010 (83 per cent) oppose the inclusion of the NHS in the EU-US trade deal called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

80 per cent and 83 per cent want David Cameron to exclude the from NHS falling into the scope of this agreement.

The poll of just over 1000 people also reveals that local NHS services are by far the most important issue for most voters. 45 per cent of voters generally and 51 per cent of people who voted Lib Dem in 2010 believe that the quality of local NHS services to be the most important issue.

A third of voters who expressed an opinion (33 per cent) intend to vote Labour in Sheffield Hallam in May and under a quarter (23 per cent) of voters intend to vote Liberal Democrat, dropping 30 percentage points since the 2010 general election...

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Need benefits? Say goodbye to privacy

On the 13th of February The Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Regulations 2015 come into force. On that date anyone claiming Universal Credit will lose control over who can see their most sensitive personal information. There was a consultation, of course. Sadly, the people who are affected by the new regulations don’t count as important enough to consult and the consultation ended on the 12th of January.

The reason given for these new regulations is that:

“Existing legislation does not provide DWP with a power to routinely disclose information about all claimants receiving UC.”

The consultation sets out exactly what information the DWP want to “routinely disclose”:

3.6 The data provided will include:

• Full name
• Initials
• Contact details including: address, email, telephone
• Details of others in household, in relation to the relevant Benefit Unit
• Type of accommodation – private / social rented, owned, none etc.
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• NINO
• Date of birth / age range
• Employment status / earning
• Debts / arrears/rent payable
• Benefits received including: level of payment, copy of documents (e.g. claimant commitment)
• Health conditions / disabilities
• Caring responsibilities
• Qualifications / training status
• Transport situation e.g. able to drive /access to car or easy access or public transport
• Barriers to work
• Languages spoken
• Access to financial products such as bank / building / credit union / Post Office card account / credit card
• Level of personal budgeting
• Access to computer and internet
• Level of digital skills

And who your information will be routinely shared by:

• The Department of Work and Pensions
• Any “universal support provider” contracted by the DWP
• Local authorities
• Credit unions
• Citizens Advice Bureaux
• Social landlords
• Relevant registered charities

The list of “relevant charities” is unclear but a list of those who were specifically consulted includes

“Citizens Advice, Homeless Link, Shelter, The Advice Services Alliance UK, Women’s Aid, Disability Rights UK, Step Change [formerly the Consumer Credit Counselling Service], the National Debtline, Money Advice Service and many others.”

Some of the categories of information to be shared are intensely personal and a lot of people will be horrified to learn that it will be disclosed to a long list of government employees and whatever organisation is deemed “relevant”.  Disclosure of that data to the wrong person could be extremely harmful to many vulnerable people.

The problem with these new regulations goes deeper than just violation of privacy...

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Newly released emails show pressure on JCP staff to sanction ever more claimants

There has been a long-running argument about whether the management of Jobcentre Plus (JCP) set targets for benefit sanctions. Ministers are adamant there are no targets for sanctioning people off benefits, while nearly everyone else laughs incredulously and say there quite obviously are. The Work and Pensions Select Committee are currently conducting an enquiry into the issue of sanctions, and recently spoke to the PCS union which represents thousands of JCP staff. Late last week, the select committee published some supplementary evidence supplied by the PCS union, that provides email evidence to show the pressure Jobcentre staff are being put under to increase the number of claimants they are referring for sanctions.

If you read the document linked to above, you’ll be left in little doubt that targets for sanctions exist, and that the management ethos has little to do with getting people into work, and everything to do with chucking as many people off benefits as possible. Rank and file staff are facing disciplinaries for failing to meet targets. This is not based on whether the actual decisions advisors make are the correct ones, but simply how many claimants they refer for sanctions. They are being told that if jobseekers are meeting their Jobseeker’s agreements consistently, they should be made tougher, to increase the chance they will do something wrong so they can be sanctioned...

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14 Towns And Cities And Counting Lined Up To Take Action Against Maximus On March 2nd #ScrapWCA

Maximus claimed that they would not face protests due to their involvement with the Work Capability Assessment.  They couldn’t have been more wrong.  14 towns and cities have already called events as part of the National Day of Action Against Maximus on March 2nd.

Please help spread the word about events near you and join in, as organisers Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) say: “If there isn’t a protest where you live – why not organise one? – we can help you with advice, leaflet designs, placard designs and put you in contact with local groups near to you, if you are interested email us on mail@dpac.uk.net”

Have you been sanctioned by Maximus?  DPAC have also asked for people to contact them if with their experiences of attending the Work Programme or other forced work schemes with the company...

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Gandhi’s Anti-Vaccine Views Ring True A Century Later

Almost one century ago, Gandhi published a book where he deconstructed the dangers and lack of effectiveness of vaccines and the agendas surrounding them.  His voice rings true now more than ever.

The internet meme below has been subject of a good bit of controversy. Not only is Gandhi taking what many today consider an extreme ‘anti-vaxxer’ stance, but some have questioned whether or not he ever made this statement, or statements like it.

The truth is that this quote only scratches the surface of Gandhi’s biting critique of the dangers, inefficacy, and malfeasance associated with the vaccination campaigns of his time. Gandhi, of course, is history’s most celebrated anti-imperialist, having almost single-handedly set into motion India’s independence from British colonial rule. He was extremely sensitive to Western forms of control and oppression, and was able to apply his intellect to the manner in which the Western medical establishment was coercing millions of Indians to succumb to the unhealthy practice of smallpox and plague vaccination

Read/Download the entire book here

The relevant chapters from his book A Guide to Health are republished below, but we have summarized some of the key points he makes so you can get a quick sense for how remarkably relevant his views on the topic are still today, and perhaps entice you to read the entire chapter thereafter.

Key points:

• The nature of diseases like smallpox have been misconceived. While smallpox has a contagious component, vaccinated individuals can become infected, and non-vaccinated individuals remain immune, disproving Jenner’s original theory that vaccination equates to bona fide immunity.
• Vaccination is a unsanitary practice. By injecting the ‘filth’ of a diseased cow and smallpox patient into the body of a healthy individual one inevitably makes them sicker, possibly producing new infections, ultimately resulting in a greater disease burden.
• The route of administration of the vaccine — injection— harbors special dangers versus natural (oral) exposures to infection.
• Fear of disease drives people to vaccinate against commonsense and rationality.
• Vaccination is unethical and immoral because of the manner in which the vaccine is produced (through the great suffering of poisoned animals)
• The income generated through vaccination is the driving reason why the medical profession does not wish to identify aforementioned problems in safety and efficacy.
• Conscientious objectors should be willing to stand their ground with courage and face persecution and penalties.
• Those objecting for medical reasons should aspire towards mastery of the subject such that they will be able to win others towards their perspective.
• Sanitation, hygiene, fresh air, water, and clean food are essential for preventing infection and/or helping those infected to recover.

Feel free to share our meme with some of Gandhi’s most salient quotes on the problems with vaccinology:..

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Demand DWP deaths inquiry - Wednesday 04 February

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) has released the following request:

For more information see http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2015/01/ministers



Can you help us to tweet all opposition members of the Work & Pensions Committee to get them to demand disclose:

Esther McVey is before them on
Wednesday  04 February 2015 9:30 AM.

Witness(es): Rt Hon Esther Mcvey, Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions
and Chris Hayes, Director, Labour Market and International Affairs

We want everyone to tweet to

@AnneBegg,
@SheilaGilmoreMP,
@Debbie_abrahams,
@glendajacksonmp,
@tpearce003,
@Mike4Eastleigh

– to demand that they open an urgent inquiry into deaths of DWP benefit claimants.

See more at: http://internaldpac.org.uk/Tools/Songbird/Songbird.php?TweetFile=60DeathstooMany#sthash.2oyzDZlD.dpuf

Welfare reforms are main cause of homelessness in England, study finds

Number of people facing homelessness rose sharply last year but trend has gone unnoticed by politicians or media, says lead author of Homelessness Monitor

Welfare reforms such as the bedroom tax, sanctions and housing benefit cuts are fuelling England’s rapidly worsening homelessness crisis, according to an independent study.

The government’s welfare policies have emerged as the biggest single trigger for homelessness now the economy has recovered, the study says, and they look likely to increase pressure on vulnerable households for at least the next two years.

London has become the centre of homelessness, the study says, as high rents, housing shortages and welfare cuts force poorer people out of the inner city to cheaper neighbourhoods. Those who lose their homes are increasingly rehoused outside the capital.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, said the report revealed the true scale of homelessness in England. “Rising numbers [are] facing the loss of their home at a time when councils are being forced to cut services. This is a desperate state of affairs.”

Official figures show that homelessness is rising – up by 12,000 in 2013-14 continuing an upward trend since 2009-10 – with rough sleeping also on the increase, and soaring numbers of homeless families in temporary accommodation.

But the study argues that these official figures underplay the scale and complexity of homelessness in England because they do not capture the hundreds of thousands of people in housing crisis who are given informal help by authorities...

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Bye Bye Esther, It wasn’t nice knowing you

Esther McVey, having brought misery to millions, firstly as a breakfast TV presenter, and then as a Tory Government Minister, is heading for a special sort of misery and embarrassment of her own (with thanks to Joe Halewood (@SpeyeJoe) for spotting this:

Its rare for a sitting government minister to be unseated at a general election, very very rare, but when it happens to a Tory, its worth savouring.

But when it is likely to happen to a Tory Minister as Nasty, cruel, unscrupulous, and hated as Esther McVile, the very prospect of it should be shared to enjoy by all.

Even the Tories must hate Esther, otherwise why would they leave her in a seat where her majority is only 2436 !

We are so looking forward to saying “Bye Bye Esther, it wasn’t nice knowing you.”

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Ministers change story yet again on benefit-related deaths

Ministers have admitted releasing yet more inaccurate information about their secret inquiries into the deaths of benefit claimants.

Last year, the Department for Work and Pensions stated, in a Freedom of Information Act (FoI) response, that it did not hold any records on deaths linked to, or partially caused by, the withdrawal or non-payment of disability benefits.

Mark Harper, the Conservative minister for disabled people, later told Disability News Service (DNS) that he did not “accept the premise” that DWP should collect and analyse reports of such deaths.

But the Liberal Democrat DWP minister Steve Webb appeared to contradict Harper when he said the following week that when the department becomes aware of worrying cases “they do get looked at”.

A DWP spokesman finally told DNS last October that it does carry out reviews into individual cases, where it is “appropriate”.

It then admitted, in another FoI response, that it had in fact carried out 60 secret reviews into benefit-related deaths since February 2012.

But in a response last week to a question from the veteran Labour MP Michael Meacher, Esther McVey, the Conservative employment minister, said the department had in fact carried out 49 “peer reviews relating to the death of a claimant”.

She refused to say how many of these reviews involved the sanctioning of claimants, and in how many cases DWP’s actions were found to be “inappropriate or incorrect”...

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Looming Staffing Crisis In The NHS As Atos And Maximus Try To Steal All The Nurses

Originally posted on the void:

Iain Duncan Smith’s brutal and bungled welfare reforms could be set to the plunge the NHS into chaos as nurses and doctors are paid huge sums to carry out benefit-slashing assessments instead of working in our chronically understaffed hospitals.

Last year the Royal College of Nusring warned that a lack of senior nurses in the NHS is putting patient care at risk.  This followed a report a year earlier from the Department of Health funded  Centre for Workplace Intelligence which found that the NHS will face a shortfall of 47,545 nurses by 2016.  It is not just Tory cost cutting set to cause this crisis in the NHS, but a lack of suitably qualified homegrown nurses.  Last year The Guardian reported that the shortage is already so acute that one in five nurses employed between 2013/14 had to be recruited from overseas.

US firm Maximus are the company brought…

View original 481 more words

Is the obesity crisis hiding a bigger problem? - Peter Attia

As a young surgeon, Peter Attia felt contempt for a patient with diabetes. She was overweight, he thought, and thus responsible for the fact that she needed a foot amputation. But years later, Attia received an unpleasant medical surprise that led him to wonder: is our understanding of diabetes right?

Daily Mail uses actor in fake story to demonise the unemployed

(not satire – it’s the Daily Mail!)

Thanks to Justice4Jobseekers for noticing this.

The Daily Mail has been caught red-handed using an actor in its ongoing mission to demonise benefit claimants.

The following article reports on someone who claims he is too ‘fit’ to work while claiming his £72 per week jobseekers allowance (warning – here lies Daily Mail crap):

I’m TOO FIT to work!

But the man in the article is actually an actor who has appeared in several feature films and works regularly as a model.

Here’s his professional profile:

Kamran Kam

.

The UK press has obviously decided to resort to downright fraud and outright lies to make sure the next election goes their way – hoping nobody will notice.

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Rachel Reeves could single-handedly lose the election for Labour

Rachel Reeves: This photo is a rare occasion in which she doesn’t have her foot in her mouth.

I’ll say it if nobody else will – Rachel Reeves is so stupid she could lose Labour the election.

Work and Pensions is a gaping policy open-goal for the Tories but Ms Reeves can’t see this and wants the world to know she’ll out-cut them on the Benefit Cap.

“Labour supports a cap on benefits. We will ask an independent commission to look at whether the cap should be lower in some areas,” are her actual words.

What stupidity. One can only imagine she is basing these comments on the fact that wages are lower in some areas than others. But prices are just as high!

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Making people ill is written in to the DWP Decision makers’ guidance on sanctions.

According to DWP advice for DWP sanction decision makers,

“it would be usual for a normal healthy adult to suffer some deterioration in their health if they were without1. essential items, such as food, clothing, heating and accommodation or
2. sufficient money to buy essential items for a period of two weeks.”……
“The DM must determine if a person with a medical condition would suffer a greater decline in health than a normal healthy adult and would suffer hardship (DMG 35142 et seq)”.”

Read the full text of Rev Paul Nicholson (of Taxpayers against Povery)’s letter published on the Kilburn Unemployed Workers’ blog at http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/health-and-costbenefits-analysis-of-dwp.html,

THE DWP SEEMS TO THINK THAT MAKING PEOPLE ILL “IS A PRICE WORTH PAYING” TO “ENCOURAGE” THE UNEMPLOYED INTO WORK. 

The DWP never thinks about the additional costs in the NHS when the DWP makes people mentally and physically ill by shredding or even stopping their incomes; and then enforcing inevitable rent and council tax arrears, overpayments etc……….

This is a clip from a government document for Decision Makers (re Sanctions) in the DWP. You can find the full article on the Ekklesia website,  It was sent in by a TAP supporter.
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21360

Guidance for hardship payments

“Comparing the decline in health with a healthy adult

35098 The DM must consider if the health of the person with the medical condition would decline more than a normal healthy adult. The DM should make this comparison based on a normal healthy adult who is in similar circumstances to the person with the medical condition.

35099 It would be usual for a normal healthy adult to suffer some deterioration in their health if they were without

1. essential items, such as food, clothing, heating and accommodation or

2. sufficient money to buy essential items for a period of two weeks. 

See Appendix 6 to this Chapter for further guidance.

The DM must determine if a person with a medical condition would suffer a greater decline in health than a normal healthy adult and would suffer hardship (DMG 35142 et seq)”.

read more here: http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/health-and-costbenefits-analysis-of-dwp.html

Cameron Has Killed at least 2,200 People - Frankie Boyle

[...] Boyle gave the murderous campaign of Cameron against the disabled. He said outright that Cameron had killed at least 2,200 people ‘bottom line’ through Atos and the fit for work test. But he was never challenged. 

[Richard] Osman raised the topic of the Channel 4 conspiracy drama, Utopia, as an example of television tackling difficult topics. 

Boyle stated in his usual forthright terms that the show was rubbish. It was based very much on the type of comics produced by Alan Moore and his ilk. However, Channel 4 had taken all the good material out of it. If they were really determined to produce quality television, they’d hire Alan Moore and co. Instead Channel 4 produced endless programmes genuinely exploiting deformity and sneering at the working class, explicitly mentioning Benefits Street...

Read the rest of this article here

Unemployed Being Punished With Hunger For Claiming Benefits, Say Churches

Two churches have launched a blistering attack on the Government for using hunger as a punishment for people claiming unemployment benefit, warning that using benefit sanctions to reprimand claimants who miss meetings or fail to look for jobs amounts to a policy of “deliberate destitution”.

In a joint written submission to MPs, the Methodist and Unitarian churches say the Government is presiding over a benefits system that places a harsher punishment on people who have the misfortune to be unemployed than those found guilty of committing a crime. The maximum penalty possible – removal of living expenses excluding housing benefit for three years – represents a loss of £11,000, while the largest fine imposed by the criminal justice system is £5,000.

In evidence to the work and pensions select committee published this week, they state: “The use of hunger as a penalty is simply unacceptable. It is extraordinary that the state would choose to punish lateness to appointments or sub-optimal job searching in such a way. The criminal justice system, when [it] fines or imprisons, ensures a person’s basic needs are met – there can be no argument, moral or utilitarian, that justifies a policy of deliberate destitution.”

The churches claim sanctions have left some people unable to buy food for more than a week, and have led to shoplifting, isolation and physical and mental health conditions. “The human cost of the sanctions system is extremely high,” the submission says. “One group we spoke with contained people who had received long (six-month plus) sanctions and who had considered taking their own lives.”

Sanctions can also have a devastating impact on claimants’ ability to look for work, as “the horizons of people who have received a sanction dramatically shrink to focus on the immediate problems of finding the next meal”...

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