According to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shoplifting offences in England and Wales in 2023 have risen to the highest level since records began in 2003.
According to the data there has been more than 430,000 recorded cases last year which had increased by 37% in the year ending 2023 when compared to 2022. This makes it the highest levels recorded since records started being kept in 2003.
James Cleverly responded by saying that although the police record it as a ‘sub threshold crime’ and it has a so called ‘corrosive effect’ on peoples confidence in the police. Its not surprising that he appeared to have zero sympathy for those effectively forced to shoplift due to various circumstances.
Julian Heyes, criminal defence lawyer and partner at Berris Law LLP went on to say ” The release of the recent shoplifting figures simply demonstrate that the years of austerity and cuts in policing have meant that the investigation of these so called minor offences have long since been neglected and ignored”
“The police cannot be blamed for this as they, much like the rest of the criminal justice system are on their knees. The cost to the high street is immeasurable and causing shops and businesses to close or restrict access to customers, not to mention the horrendous risks that members of staff have to take when challenging shoplifters”
The truth is that shop lifting is rising for various reasons including and not excluding others: The increasing cost of living, high energy bills, low wages, less than adequate social security payments, increases in mortgage repayments, social security payments being too low and badly paid employment.
Whilst many people with addictions shoplift to fund their habits there’s very little support given to them to conquer their addictions thus the circle of offending continues.
Let’s be clear, very few people actually want to shoplift its a situation they find themselves in through desperation and is usually the last option that they can take after exhausting other avenues, they’re desperate and see this as a last resort.
We all appreciate and acknowledge that there are foodbanks that help people but not everyone can access them or can wait until the next time they’re open. People are driven by hunger and distress and we live in desperate times which is entirely the governments creation.
The UK has a government hell bent on lining their own pockets and their business and personal friends with money that has been taken from the public purse. There’s been a sharp decline in the physical and mental wellbeing of the working class and mortality levels are rising. The constant stripping of funding to local councils has also paid a huge part in this and town centres aren’t being cared for like they should be because theres no longer the financial means to do so. This has a direct impact upon the high street.
The solution to this is quite simple and to be honest basic economics. For a society to succeed and thrive there has to be financial investment into the public, the more money they have to spend undoubtably benefits their general health it also helps to transform the areas that they live.
It’s easy to blame a shoplifter for shoplifting, and I don’t condone violence towards retail staff. The blame lies totally at the governments feet. Society as we knew it has been broken by the current government, the amount of desperate and hungry people are at their highest in modern times, desperate people are forced to take measures that they would previously have never dreamt of doing.
Hurl your anger at the government and not Joe Public.
Every now and then I get so angry when the government reveals new plans for disabled people I have to delay writing this blog. Today is one of those days.
I’ve been writing this blog for over 10 years now and since then it’s been an endless onslaught of changes to the social security system that willfully marganalises and causes an immense amount of suffering to those already struggling and in need.
No one chooses to be disabled and neither does anyone choose to become ill, it’s an awful situation to be in however the government clearly believes that they do.
The difference between the haves and have nots is becoming much bigger as each day progresses. For example if a Tory government minister or indeed a prime minister becomes ill they can afford to pay privately for the best care to recover or manage their situation. An everyday regular person cannot afford to do so.
Some people never fully recover from an illness because they can’t afford to access the care that they need and they manage the best that they can.
Imagine being such a vile, awful person that constantly attacks those in need whilst smiling at the same time… Well Rishi Sunak did just that in an interview on Radio 5 this morning April 19th 2024.
Sunaks clearly is not happy with doctors and consultants rightfully declaring that people are unfit to work. They do this having extremely good medical knowledge. They want the best for their patients.
Sunak plans to stop this and has declared that if his ideas come into fruition GPs will no longer be in charge of issuing sick notes. So basically a person with zero medical training will do so, most likely a DWP sadist that has no qualms doing this.
In the interview Sunak declared that claim Britain has a ‘sick note culture’ and people are being ‘unnecessarily’ written off work.
Sunak announced that there would be a review of the fit note system to reduce the number of people being declared not fit for work and that doctors shouldn’t be ‘over medicalising everyday challenges and worries of life’.
Reading this you’d have thought that he has had some medical training to come to this decision but he hasn’t. He probably sat in a meeting with colleagues discussing how they can continue to hurl more punishment to already marginalized people afterall they regard disabled and ill people as ‘useless eaters’
He most likely sees this as a vote winner and back in the day it probably would have been, but people have clearly had enough of this now. There’s only so many times you can kick a person whilst they’re down without some retaliation.
And people will definitely rebel against these evil plans. I can bet there’s more in disgust at these plans than think they’re a good idea.
The ‘scrounger against scrounger’ way to manipulate the public isn’t working as well as it was before. Many of those that had this view now find themselves at the recieving end of it now
A Lot more people can see right through it and thank god they can.
What Sunak needs to do is to acknowledge that nobody chooses to be disabled and ill, it can literally happen to anyone at any time. He won’t and he never will.
His kind hates working class people especially those that are disabled.
One thing that I do know is that if you think these plans are dreadful they’ll become a whole lot worse if they win the next general election. Let’s vote them out.
And so the DWP cruelty continues and we shouldn’t be surprised.
Unpaid carers have been told by the DWP (Department Of Work And Pensions) to repay thousands of pounds of benefits after unknowingly earning too much money years ago.
Not only is this cruel it was entirely preventable if the DWP had done their jobs correctly. But forcing unpaid to pay back thousands is unbelievable especially when they save the government millions every year.
The DWP system shows when carers have gone over the earnings limit but they failed to inform claimants instead allowing their claims to continue for months or even years before recovering the full amount owed.
This has also been highlighted in a series of articles by Patrick Butler in The Guardian which shows exposing the cruelty in how they treat unpaid carers
Along with this the folks over at Benefits And Work have raised the reasons why the DWP should never get the police powers they desperately want.
This also proves why the DWP should never be given police powers.
This has resulted in the DWP given free reign to threaten carers with jail terms. They have also used laws that were designed to strip drug dealers of their property to take money from carers.
The DEP have unlawfully ignored judges legal directions in order to increase the amount they can take back from carers.
The DWP have been shown to misleed MPs for years by promising that new technology meant large overpayments would no longer happen.
Alongside this they are refusing to publish a report on the effects of overpayment recovery on carers which was completed years ago.
Take for example the heart breaking case of Vivienne Groom who cared for her elderly mother who had dementia and suffered from a stroke is a disturbing example of how the DWP treat carers.
Vivienne was given incorrect advice from a social worker that she didn’t need to declare her part-time minimum wage at the Co-Op job to the DWP whilst still receiving carers allowance.
When her hours increased she did inform the DWP, who said they would get back to her.
Unsurprisingly they never did reply to her.
Years later she was threatened with prosecution and began repaying the overpayment at £30 a month.
This is a large amount of money for her to replay each month but she did so.
Her mother sadly died and left her a £16,000 inheritance. The DWP went on to prosecute Vivienne using the Proceeds of Crime Act.
This was created to take expensive cars and large houses from drug dealers, not people who have cared for loved ones
They also threatened her with up to seven years in prison in order to steal her inheritance.
Vivienne decided to take legal action and was refused legal aid because she had £16,000 in capital even though she couldn’t access it because the DWP had her account frozen the day the money went into her bank account.
The case ended with the DWP legal team ignoring judges directions on three separate occasions to make calculations that may have reduced the amount Vivienne owed and, instead, getting the whole of her inheritance.
It’s extremely disturbing that the possibility that a vengeful organisation as is the DWP could be given the power to search claimants homes, seize their possessions and prosecute them or impose fines upon them must be challenged whenever it is raised.
As proven time after time the DWP will ignore a judges ruling and will appeal any decisions made in a court of law.
It’s wrong, beyond cruel . The government should be thanking unpaid carers for the work that they do because ultimately they save the government millions of pounds each year.
It’s our job to challenge this whenever possible and share articles to raise awareness because believe it or not there are people that aren’t aware that this does and will continue to happen.
A huge thank you to Patrick Butler for his hard work in producing these interviews
It’s no surprise that the DWP (Department Of Work And Pensions) is continuing to punish universal credit (UC) claimants with their harsh sanction regime afterall it’s their favorite and easiest method of punishment that they use.
The latest official figures show that sanctions rate had remained to above 7% from August through to November of 2023 which are the most recent months of which figures are available.
However in in March 2020, just before the pandemic began, UC sanctions rates were at just 2.5% having fallen steadily since January 2017.
The DWP have unsurprisingly given no explanation for this almost threefold increase in sanctions.
I mean how on earth could this happen?
Sanctions are imposed for various reasons but the most common are for failing to attend or take part in mandatory interviews, indeed 95% are given for this reason.
What we do know from past experience is that sanctions are given for wrongful reasons.
These reasons vary but are often and not excluding others claimant not receiving notification of having to attend a meeting, being ill and notifying the DWP that they were not able to attend or already working at the time given and their employer won’t allow them to leave for their DWP appointment.
We know that sanctions can and should be appealed however many aren’t aware that they can do so and have the energy to fight it.
Sanctions are particularly cruel because not only does the claimant get sanctioned it also affects any dependants that live with them.
Combine this with the cruel benefit caps and this with the three child limit which directly impacts a child’s health and well being.
Are incentives being given for Job Coaches to refer people for sanctions?
I can’t say for sure but we do know that they’ve been using these methods for years now and it’d be very out of character to stop doing this.
I do know that sanctioning people like this is cruel, inhumane and needs to be stopped now before more people fall victim to the DWPs cruel regime of punishment and blame.
Jobcentres have given claimants referrals food banks for many years and on the whole it’s worked quite well. It’s helped possibly millions of people throughout the years.
This referral comes in the form of a referral slip which contains some personal details about the claimants for example if they have children and any other essential details.
Some food banks will only accept people if they’ve been referred by outside organisations such as the DWP, social services and so on.
For no apparent reason the DWP aren’t happy with handing out food bank referrals stating that it’s and have decided that it’s now an “inappropriate use of personal claimant data” and referrals need to be stopped.
Thousands of claimants rely upon these referrals and often request them when they’ve had their benefits sanctioned or are waiting weeks for their first benefit payment, they’ve literally kept people alive as they are unable to buy food.
The DWP have decided that claimants now have to approach another agency, such as their doctor, housing association, social worker to obtain a food bank referral.
This then automatically puts another barrier to receiving much needed food from a food bank.
I dont for one minute believe the DWP’s data protection argument is valid, after all they don’t have a problem with sharing claimants details to other organisations and agencies that work alongside them. Nor do they respect a claimants privacy when they’re looking up a claimants details and activities on social media etc.
That’s apparently ok.
Contrary to the DWPS depiction of claimants they are intelligent enough to read the contents of the slip and realise that they will be handing over their personal details. to food banks, it’s ridiculous to think otherwise.
However the real reason that the DWP don’t want food banks to be able to publish their statistics showing that massive amounts of claimants are being forced to access food banks
This is as a direct result of the benefits system completely failing claimants and pushing them further into poverty.
Unbelievable aren’t they willing to put a claimants basic human rights at risk in order to save themselves and hide essential details.
Their benefits systems were created to make people suffer afterall how dare they ask for help.
At last the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) has revealed the details of their appalling new system that assess claimants that are in the severe disability group.
As we know every person’s circumstances are different depending upon their diagnosis and entry to this group may be based on and is not exclusively
Having medically precise definitions that are not connected with the benefits system :
Having information that only a claimant or carer will know however a specialist will still have to provide details:
Having availability of specialist services and access to said services where the claimant lives
And unbelievably no clear criteria given at all.
There is also great concern that their distinct lack of clarity on the overlap between the Severe Disability Group and the light-touch review system for PIP will cause claimants to be wrongly assessed and treated.
We can only imagine how disastrous this will be for severely disabled people which gives me great concern for their well-being.
God help us they certainly have no regard for the lives and well-being of extremely vulnerable people.
Many claimants and disability charities are sharing their concerns that the creation of their planned separate group of severely disabled claimants will be directed purely at reducing future payments for those that they allege are not as severely disabled.
And there lies the real reason for the creation of this new group. It’s all about the money and how to take away as much as they can take away from vulnerable people to line their own greedy pockets.
How can you tell if the DWP lying? When they deny something but then also allow it at the same time….Here we have an example of their hypocrisy and they never fail to disappoint do they.
The team over at Benefits and Work submitted a freedom of information request asking the DWP if they are paying bonuses for detecting benefit fraud and if staff have to reach targets for criminal prosecutions. Rather predictably they denied both in a statement given in response to the FOI;
“The DWP does not operate any bonus or incentive schemes aimed specifically at staff who are involved in detecting and investigating benefit fraud and overpayment cases. There are also no targets for Investigators to achieve a prescribed number of criminal outcomes.”
Adding:
“I can confirm that DWP operates an in-year reward and recognition scheme for all DWP teams and Individuals to be recognised for displaying exemplary behaviours or making a significant contribution to team performance. This applies to all colleagues across DWP.”
Their response does appear to rule out that there is a formal bonus system for detecting fraud or recovering money. But it does not rule out the possibility that teams or individuals can receive rewards for recovering large amounts of money for the DWP or prosecuting large numbers of claimants.
We await further details of this.
However we are wise to their lying ways, knowing that if they can get away with doing something by simply changing the wording they will.
It is not acceptable in any way shape or form to issue bonuses or rewards for targets such as these. They create a system when a bonus or reward becomes more important than the wellbeing of already vulnerable claimants. They lead to false accusations, sanctions based upon lies knowing at the same time that many are unable to challenge their decision because they’re not strong enough to do so.
As we know the DWP are pushing a bill which will give them access to approximately nine million claimants bank accounts through parliament.
They are already pushing for additional powers of arrest, search and seizure additional to having access to bank accounts and it’s a scary thought.
If they are successful with their aims the DWP will therefore have its own anti-fraud police force. With this they could also be able to impose huge fines without going to court.
This is extremely worrying considering if they are successful they won’t have any real accountability by anyone but themselves and we know what that means.
By default the accountability given to their actions will be very low if any at all. Yes they make claimants follow their rules when they often don’t follow them themselves.
Whilst this legislation hasn’t been given to the DWP yet it’s vital to be aware that this could happen and to prepare for it if it happens.
Keeping good records of everything that you do and have done. Double check everything and keep everything safe.
Please note this hasn’t happened yet so don’t worry and I will be sharing more about this and what you can do as and when more information comes out.such immense powers does appear,
Please don’t panic this hasn’t happened yet and it might not go through parliament yet and I’ll keep you updated.
New claimants with mobilising issues will be the largest group hit by the proposed changes to the work capability assessment (WCA) planned for 2025, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has predicted.
Those that have severe mental health conditions will also be hit hard.
The OBR has estimated that by 2028-29 there will be;
Approximately 371,000 additional claimants placed in limited capability for work (LCW) group and not the limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) group. This is happening because of changes being made to the mobilising descriptors.
Approximately 230,000 additional claimants will be placed in LCW group rather the LCWRA group because of the upcoming changes to the substantial risk regulations.
Approximately 29,000 claimants will be placed in the intensive work search group rather than the LCW group because of the future changes that are being made to the ‘getting about’ points score.
It was confirmed as evidence to the Commons Work and Pensions Committee in parliament last month that the DWP is still intending to introduce the changes to the WCA in 2025 and that they will only affect new claims.
It is also estimated that by 2029, over 600,000 people will miss out on the additional payments that they would have if they were still in the LCWRA group.
As a result of these changes it has been reported that almost a quarter of a million claimants many of the those with mental health conditions, will knowingly have their health and wellbeing put at risk.
It has also been estimated that only one or two percent of these claimants will actually be able to find work because most of these claimants either aren’t well enough. Also many workplaces cannot make the required alterations to their workplace to make it disabled friendly.
These changes have been implemented to save them money, to give more tax cuts to those that are already getting a good deal.
To take away a person’s vital payments and to make them look for work that they won’t be able to do is unbelievably cruel.
How many of these already extremely vulnerable people will be sanctioned or forced to do tasks that they aren’t capable of.
It’s unacceptable to treat people like this and all of us should be angry about this I know that I am.
There’s no price that can be put on a person’s life but this cruel and calculated government will continue to throw as much hatred as they can before the next general election.
They don’t care and no one should expect them to either.
Hi folks sadly they won’t be a blog this week I’ve had a really stressful busy week
I don’t like doing this but I do need a clear head because I don’t want to write a rubbish blog post.
I’m struggling to pay my home internet bill which is essential for blogging, researching and helping people which I’ve been busy with this week.
Thanks to all of my supporters every share helps to raise huge public awareness of how life is for so many of us. Believe it or not some people aren’t aware of how people are suffering under this Tory government.
If you like my blog and can afford to there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.
It comes as no surprise that the DWP has announced that they will spend approximately £30 million a year for them to investigate supposed benefit fraud. This apparently will be identified by their new system. It is also estimated that they will save £500 million a year through as a result of this.
The DWP have also estimated that over the first ten years their new surveillance powers which will potentially result in 74,000 prosecution cases and 2,500 custodial sentences.
As we all know the DWP intend to use their new powers much more widely and as a tool to financially attack innocent social security claimants.
The impact assessment for the new powers states:
“The power is not limited to a specific type of data or type of institution/Third-Party to allow us to fight new fraud and error issues as they emerge and engage with new institutions as efficient opportunities become available to us.”
Also:
“This measure is drafted broadly . . . to enable DWP to apply this measure to non-financial organisations in future if it is deemed appropriate and proportionate”
However the DWPs new surveillance powers appears to have been welcomed in parliament having gained cross party support.
Sadly only 51 MPs voted against the amendment, with 30 of those being SNP and just 7 each from Labour and the Lib Dems. This is so frustrating because anyone with any experience of the DWP and their operations will know that they will use their new powers for nefarious reasons. They won’t use them fairly and will use them to target already financially vulnerable people.
It angers me even more that hardly anyone in parliament are concerned about their well-being. Of course Tory MPs would vote for it because it will ‘save’ the government money resulting in more money for them and their friends.
However they fail to remember that the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act was introduced to combat terrorism and organised crime but in reality was used to spy on people dropping litter, dog walkers not cleaning up after their dogs and so the list continues
In my opinion it was used very unfairly and for the wrong reasons. Will the same thing happen when the DWP introduces their new powers?
You can bet they will, I can imagine the DWP are already rubbing their hands with glee. Any excuse to intimidate social security claimants.
However in reality capital and abroad fraud account for less than 15% of benefits fraud and error, yes less than 15%.
Of course the DWP will use this as an excuse to unfairly delve into all aspects of claimants lives in order to identify the other innocent 85%.
This is extremely worrying because social security claimants shouldn’t have their privacy and confidentiality taken away as a default for claiming benefits.
Of course the government has no intention of investigating their pals in high places for their blatant fraudulent behaviour and lies. This is exactly why the government is losing money, not a few hundred quid but millions of pounds.
It deeply sickens me that the DWP will be given these powers which will undoubtedly be used to intimidate and harass vulnerable people.
Also knowing that they’ve got hardly anyone in parliament that will stand up and fight against such measures.
Keep safe and warm if you can, the recent storms have been very worrying especially for those without a home to live in and everyone that can’t afford to heat their homes.
A huge thanks to everyone that reads and has supported my blog for all these years it means the world to me.
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It’s been a long while since I’ve focused upon the DWP’s enforced volunteering (Workfare) schemes so I thought I’d revisit it.
Myself and many others have been protesting against them for many years for the reasons below.
Enforced volunteering goes against everything that actual volunteering stands for and it’s so bloody wrong.
Here’s a list of reasons why Workfare is wrong, and what the knock on effects are for people employed at these work places.
Workfare actually puts claimants at an increased risk of sanctions If they can’t attend their Workfare placement for any reason albeit disability, Illness, childcare etc their DWP work coach can refer them to be sanctioned.
Enforced volunteering criminalises the unemployed, setting the so called deserving and undeserving poor against each other after all how dare people not work for nothing. (I’m being sarcastic)
Of course everyone should be paid a wage for the work that they do.
Work for nothing schemes perpetuate poverty and inequality. It’s soul destroying being forced to work for nothing whilst doing the same things as paid employees are.
Workfare schemes have displaced paid workers and workers. I’ve written about previous employees being forced to volunteer at their previous employment doing the same job.
They provide free labour for private companies. Why pay someone when they can fill those positions with unpaid workers. It’s a win win for them.
Workfare undermines the fundamental rights to social security, which gives the claimant free choice of employment, equal days pay for an equal day’s work.
It undermines a workers basic rights to pay and fair working conditions by introducing a claimant workforce doing the same job without the legal status as workers.
Workfare drives down wages and conditions for all workers by undercutting the labour market and undermining bargaining power. Once again why should they pay employees when they can get free labour.
It doesn’t help people into paid employment despite this being the premise of the reason why Workfare was created.
Enforced volunteering actually prevents claimants from doing their own job searches based upon the work that they’re qualified to do.
For a long time now Workfare schemes create false employment statistics because claimants undertaking workfare are counted as in employment.
Workfare undermines the values and practice of volunteering. It can’t be called volunteering if it’s not voluntary.
It’s shocking that this is still happening and that no one is talking about this anymore. I’ve called Universal Credit being a digital workhouse, claimants having to do everything their work coach says or face being sanctioned.
No one should ever have their main means of survival taken away from them. Every person deserves to have the ability to buy food to eat, to keep warm and have somewhere decent to live.
Sanctioning people is totally unacceptable, a sadistic way of punishing people especially taking the cost of living and energy cost crisis.
As I write this the temperature outside is -4 and I worry about everyone that is now chasing warmth every day. Job searching is extremely hard when your main focus is hunger and cold.
My thoughts are with everyone that can’t get out and can’t access warm spaces, not can they access food banks.
Whilst although I’m glad that these warm spaces have been created for people to use we should be protesting about the need for them in the first place.
They say ‘The greatness of a nation can be judged by how it treats its weakest member’. The UK is clearly failing those most in need. The only way of rectifying this would be a general election and a new government that would prioritise those most in need first.
Will this happen? I’m not sure but I hope that they do.
EDIT I forgot to thank Boycott Workfare for their hard work and campaigning which resulted in some charities from using unpaid workers.
Please take care everyone my thoughts are with you.
I don’t get paid for any of the work that I do. If you like my work and would like to donate to keep both myself and this blog going you can find a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.
I approached the new year with great trepidation thinking about what horrors the government could inflict on us. I didn’t have to wait long.
It has been officially announced that HMRC are going to look into the accounts of people that sell their old clothing and belongings on Vinted and EBay.
HMRC are also going to investigate Air B&B hosts and people that work for Uber, Deliveroo and suchlike.
The majority of people that sell on platforms such as Vinted and EBay are just ordinary folk struggling to pay bills etc and are doing this as a last resort.
Whilst I accept that there are some that make a fair bit of money doing this and they should pay tax on what they earn the majority don’t.
For example they might be selling things to pay for a funeral of a loved one, to buy the basics such as food and energy and just to get by.
As the cost of living crisis continues to worsen the amount of people forced to sell their much loved things and aren’t doing this with joy.
Let’s look at it another way, it’s easier for the government to financially attack poorer people because it’s easier for them to squeeze money from them. They like to kick a working class person whilst they are down and not give them any help I mean how dare they.
This will undoubtedly scare people from selling their unwanted clothing etc on these sites not because they want to avoid paying tax but because of the massive invasion of privacy granted to HMRC.
I’m not a paranoid person, far from it but I’m extremely worried about the amount of powers given to HMRC and the DWP. At the touch of a button they can learn everything about us and this does make me very concerned.
At the same time they don’t investigate their tax evading millionaire and billionaire friends though, they don’t intend to either.
This comes at a great cost to the country as a whole and our economy isn’t going to improve until this is tackled.
Money makes money something they still fail to recognize.
So why are they doing this?
It’s classic Tory handbook stuff, distracting the public from their wrongs by attacking the poorest in society. They do it time and time again it’s what they do best.
We need to stop this rot from the top and the constant attacking of working class people. Investigations of the governments involvement with their tax avoiding multi million pound business pals.
Can you imagine how much better off the UK would be if they actually paid their taxes.
One thing for sure, Tory corruption won’t stop any time soon but we need to take away their governmental power and start rebuilding the mess that they’re going to leave behind.
I truly hope that this year treats you better than the previous one, you deserve better, we all do
I hope you all enjoy the festive period even though I know it’s tough for so many of us.
Here over at The Poor Side Of Life HQ it’s going to be a quiet one, to be honest I’m not really celebrating it.
Of course I’ll make sure that my daughter enjoys Christmas but as a single parent and having no family etc to celebrate with it’ll be quiet.
I’m going to take the time to reflect and maybe get some rest, it’ll be a welcome change.
Don’t feel pressured into celebrating Christmas if you don’t want to. Christmas is a tough time for so many of us, remembering times past and people long gone.
I’m here if you’re on your own and want to chat.
A huge thanks to everyone that reads and shares my blog posts it really does mean the world to me.
And as for the Tories they can get to feck. I have zero time for them.
It seems from years of experience in such matters that the DWP like nothing more than handing out sanctions during the festive period.
If that isn’t bad enough their reasoning for sanctioning people is mostly totally unreasonable, giving claimants targets that they can’t reach.
In my eyes sanctioning a person is the cruelest thing to do to a claimant. No regard is given as to the health and wellbeing of them either, once the decision is made by their DWP work coach and sent off for approval it’s down to the claimant to appeal the sanction.
Appealing a decision to sanction isn’t easy, it’s difficult and directly impacts their mental and physical health and a direct correlation between the two can be found. Please see my previous blog posts.
Here are some examples of the reasons why claimants have been sanctioned. It’s gaslighting at its worst but hey the DWP has targets to reach.
I’ve helped many people with sanction decisions. You might think that these are made up but they aren’t they’re the real deal.
Sanctioned because claimants father had just died.
Sanctioned because a claimants father had just passed away half an hour before the signing on appointment.
They phoned their advisor up and were told that they had to attend their appointment. The claimant was waiting for the doctor to certify the death.
Sanctioned because their baby died.
A claimant sanctioned because they couldn’t attend their appointment due to their baby dying. They asked their work coach if they could rearrange their appointment but was refused. Instead they were told to bring the death certificate in to prove it.
Sanctioned because a work coach made a mistake.
Sanctioned because a work coach made a mistake in their records for an upcoming appointment. Luckily the claimant had kept the proof on their appointment which was given on an appointment card showing the time and date that they were given to attend
The case of the missing letters
Here’s a very common reason for sanctioning people.
Sanctioned for not attending an appointment that they had supposedly been sent a letter for.
The letter was never sent.
The onus is on them to prove that the claimant recieved it. They couldn’t because they didn’t. Watch out for this one folks
Sanctioned for attending a job interview.
Sanctioned for attending a a job interview at the same time as a signing on appointment.
They requested that their appointment be changed so they could attend their interview but their advisor refused.
Important to know that they’d also sanctioned for not attending their interview.
It’s a catch22 a no win situation except for the DWP
Any reputable organisation would not threaten to sanction or indeed sanction people for the above reasons. They’d actually care about the people that they help.
The DWP do neither, they don’t even care for their staff and it’s scandalous that they’re allowed to get away with this.
As I’ve previously posted sanctioned rates are rapidly increasing.
It’s important to remember that sanction decisions can be appealed and you must do this.
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Like you I’m struggling to manage everything, I was hoping to be able to turn my heating on for a few hours on Christmas day for my daughter but that’s impossible now. Nor will I be able to provide a decent Christmas dinner.
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I’m so sorry to have to tell you that our good friend and comrade Christine Clarke passed away earlier this week.
Christine was a huge supporter of my blog and our campaign and was a constant support not only to me but to others.
She had a very kind heart and was a long time protector of our planet having been a long term member of the green party. Christine was also a campaigner at Greenham Common and other campaigns.
Her kindness knew no bounds and this radiated to others always there to comfort people especially at Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre demos. Always there to help and advise others in their time of need.
Christine, you will be sadly missed by so many thanks for the memories and good times. I shall miss you dearly.
My photo that was taken on one of our Universal Credit demonstrations.
According to the latest DWP statistics that have been released reveal that 522,690 UC claimants have been sanctioned in the previous year to July 2023.
They show that in July 2023 49,000 new sanctions were applied.
These figures are very concerning with 6.48% of the claimants sanctioned is now almost reaching the peak rate in October 2022.
According to the statistics 96.5% of sanctions were applied for failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview.
However these statistics don’t reveal the claimants reasons for not attending or participating in mandatory interviews.
One of the most common reasons for the above is not receiving any communication from the DWP that would inform them of these appointments. For more information about this please see a previous blog post titled ‘The case of the missing letters’
Other reasons for non attendance include illness, childcare commitments and not being able to physically attend an appointment.
Of course claimants can appeal these decisions but it isn’t easy to do and many still don’t know that they can do this.
It’s also important to know that sanction decisions are made by work coaches and are often based upon opinion not fact.
For example if they explain to their work coach that they couldn’t attend because of illness, the work coach will decide if this is a good enough reason to do so.
Also in the event that an appointment letter hasn’t been received by the claimant the onus is on the DWP to prove that it’s been delivered.
Of course they can’t prove this, indeed I’ve helped in cases when the letters hadn’t been sent in the first place and I actually saw them still in a claimants paperwork.
It’s especially concerning that we are going through a cost of living and energy cost crisis. The prices of everything appear to be rising daily and many essentials are no longer affordable.
The cost of turning heating on is also impossible for many, and as we are heading towards what will be an extremely cold winter being sanctioned is unnecessarily cruel.
Despite the right wing media portraying the amount of Universal Credit is too much in reality payments are already barely enough to survive on.
It’s also vital to know that debts such as council tax debt repayments and suchlike are garnished from UC payments before they receive them. This leaves claimants with barely enough to buy the very basics needed.
As a result of this an ever increasing amount of people, working and not working are becoming dependent upon food banks. Food banks are also struggling to keep up with the increasing demand because of the cost of living crisis, leaving many that used to donate food unable to do so anymore.
Sanctioning already vulnerable people in the midst of a very serious cost of living crisis and a cold winter is beyond cruel.
Taking away a person’s very means of survival is totally unacceptable, with the ramifications of this lasting a long time, some never recover from it.
We need to start campaigning against sanctioning again because there’s never been a more important time to do so.
After writing last week’s blog their cruel plans were confirmed and I fear it’ll be worse than I initially thought.
Please read my previous blog post for more details.
I’m angry, well I’m beyond angry and I’m scared for every single person that will be affected by these proposed changes myself included.
I wrote this on X, formally known as Twitter, #autumnbudget #budget social murder by design.
Honestly I don’t believe I’m wrong about this I wish I was. I couldn’t publish my blog yesterday because I was finding the enormity of this too much. I went from anger to worry and back to anger.
I can imagine you doing the same.
Let’s be honest it’s already horrendously difficult for disabled and unemployed people. If they don’t appear to satisfy their overlords the DWP potentially could be sanctioned or worse.
Disabled people being diagnosed as ‘fit’ for work by medical professionals not qualified to do so which causes immense distress and often a decline in their health.
The government’s proposal to take claimant’s ability to access medication and other benefits will undoubtedly cause many deaths. No one takes medication when it isn’t needed and it’s essential to their well- being.
It’s horrifically cruel but I don’t need to tell you that.
They shouldn’t be forced into jobs when they’re not fit for work and employers shouldn’t be expected to employ people that can’t do the work in the first place.
They also proposed that disabled people can work from home for telephone work and suchlike.
Not every disability is visible and not everyone can do this work. It would cause them great distress and physically and mentally they can’t do it.
Of course they suggest this under the assumption that everyone has access to the internet at home already having everything they need to do this work. You can bet the DWP won’t offer them any support either.
It’s important to remember that these changes will not affect existing claims and will only affect new claims. However they will be moved to the new regime in 2025.
Am I still angry? Yes I am because they’re literally handing a death sentence to the most vulnerable people and they can never be forgiven for this.
It appears that the government is going full throttle with their let’s punish unemployed people as much as possible until they give up plans.
They now plan to completely stop unemployed claimants of all of their social security payments if they appear to be refusing to look for employment.
Not content with this if their plans come to fruition they will also be stripped of their right to free prescriptions and discounted bus travel, the Chancellor has announced.
According to the Chancellor this will be the biggest welfare shake-up for a decade.
If they appear to be making no effort to find work will be kicked out of the system after six months.
Those who do engage but have still not found a job after 18 months will be forced to take on work or forfeit their benefits.
According to Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, the reforms should be seen as a “huge investment” in employment, rather than a “savings exercise”.
Yeah right it’s all about saving money and making the poorest and most in need pay the most financially.
As part of the proposed reforms claimants that claim the basic rate of Universal Credit who are fit to work but refuse to engage for six months will have their claims closed completely.
I repeat the government will also take away ALL of their monthly allowance and their rights to receive free NHS prescriptions, dental care, legal aid and bus and rail discounts.
I don’t need to say how much of a dangerous precedent this is setting. Many decisions made by DWP work coaches are based on their opinion and are not based on fact.
So if in their opinion they aren’t making enough effort All and I repeat ALL of their payments will stop.
If this goes ahead they will literally leave people to starve, live in cold damp properties and force thousands onto the streets.
We already know Job Coaches aren’t always sympathetic towards claimants that are struggling even when they are ill or have other genuine reasons as to why they’re struggling.
If in their opinion it’s not good enough every payment could be stopped. As we know there is a shortage of well paid suitable employment.
People just can’t accept any job especially if their circumstances don’t allow them to.
I know I’m repeating myself here but I do feel that this will push thousands of people over the edge, living in distress unable to cope.
The government may as well just admit their massive hatred for unemployed, vulnerable and disabled people.
The very fact that they want to take money away from people leaving them with absolutely nothing just to save them money is about as low as they can go.
Under no circumstances should the public be punished for the shit decisions the government has made. The UK is in a mess, going through a recession, even though they won’t admit to this.
Foreign countries no longer want to invest in the UK and who can blame them. The UK stock market is in a really bad shape and still the government refuses to do anything about this, hell they don’t even want to admit it.
Unemployed people haven’t wrecked the UK and they certainly shouldn’t be punished for their mistakes either.
It’s virtually a death sentence and this needs to be challenged by everyone right now and with the greatest urgency because people will die and this is no exaggeration.
Thanks to everyone that reads and shares my blog posts. If you aren’t subscribed to my blog please do so you won’t receive any junk emails and you’ll be updated as soon as I publish a new blog post.
Well it appears that the DWP have been busy conducting a survey about the concerning list of proposed new powers they’re wanting to implement.
These include:
Trained DWP investigators having arrest powers
Trained DWP investigators having search and seizure powers
Collecting information about where claimants are spending money
Apparently the DWP research findings reveal that a majority of the public questioned were in favour of every one of these measures being introduced.
Combine this with the constant failing of the DWP system, it’s dire incompetence, lack of any unaccountability and data leaks the very suggestion that staff could arrest claimants and seize their possessions is likely to worry and cause distress for thousands of people.
The draconian suggestion that the DWP could start looking at how claimants spend their money is also going to cause distress.
George Orwell wasn’t wrong was he.
This week the first King’s Speech promised proposals to “reform welfare and support more people into work” whilst giving no details of how they’re going to do this.
It makes me wonder if the above are included in these supposed reforms but I hope they aren’t.
I’d like to question the legality of their proposed plans, is it within the law for the DWP to access claimants bank accounts without permission? Would that in itself be a serious data leak?
If this is allowed will people be sanctioned for spending their money on what the DWP could regard as being ‘wrong’, will they have a list of items that claimants won’t be allowed to purchase?
I’d like to see these proposals being challenged by those that can do this.
It’s hard enough having to live whilst claiming social security, the cost of living and rising energy costs have made everyday living much harder.
Every day more people are forced to access foodbanks for help because they can’t afford to eat.
Winter is also on it’s way and it’s pretty cold where I live, this will result in more people forced to live in cold damp homes
Having a decent quality of life has become a long forgotten thing, a dream of the past and we deserve so much more than this.
The sooner this corrupt government is out of power the better because the public can’t take much more.
Thanks to Benefit And Work for their original reporting of this.
The PCS union that represents DWP workers have recently warned that there’s a “staffing chaos” at the DWP, with work coach roles being particularly affected. Meanwhile the government apparently seeks to hire thousands of new staff despite having just made hundreds of workers redundant.
As a result of this unmitigated staffing chaos, additional “support measures” are supposedly being put in place in Jobcentres to manage the workload of work coaches.
The support measures include reducing the frequency of work coach contact with some claimants from fortnightly to monthly and shortening some meetings from 50 minutes to 30 minutes.
This will be welcomed by claimants that might have to travel quite a distance to their nearest Jobcentre.
However here’s the kickback which effectively wipes out any supposed help offered. The Chancellor has announced an end to civil service expansion, with an immediate cap on the civil service headcount, with a view to reducing it to pre-pandemic levels.
Go figure, it’s a disaster something that the government is very familiar with. They’ve proven time and time again that they’re incapable of managing anything with efficiently.
With the DWP failing to manage its current workload with no let up in the foreseeable future, the very idea that tens of thousands of additional claimants can be removed from the LCWRA group and given effective support to help them into work is rubbish, a bare faced lie that they will be reminded of in the future.
Basically it’s very clear to see that the sole purpose of making the WCA much harsher is to save money and not to help claimants.
Think about it, they don’t care about claimants especially disabled ones that are already in an extremely vulnerable position.
Let’s take for example, approximately 680 staff have recently been made redundant by the window and door manufacturer and seller Safestyle.
The business has gone into administration with no warning to its employees and the GMB union expects up to 600 job losses.
However on Monday, administrators Interpath Advisory said the number of redundancies was about 680.
Sadly only 70 of the roughly 750 staff have been retained.
Appallingly saff were unexpectedly texted to “down tools” on Friday evening and received news of the appointment of administrators on Monday in the car park of the company’s headquarters in Bradford, GMB said.
They’ve been made redundant with immediate effect and told they won’t get another penny from the company.”
GMB organiser Bob McNeill added: “Bosses didn’t even have the decency to let them into the building out of the pouring rain”
This will result in at least another 680 people being made unemployed due to no fault of their own. As pointed out above they aren’t going to receive any more payment from the company.
This is another 680 people that will put increased pressure on an already failing system that can’t cope with the demand.
It’s clear to see that despite the government’s denial, the UK is going through a recession which combined with the cost of living and energy cost crisis is very concerning for everyone that owns a business, big or small.
Every day more companies and small local businesses are forced to shut their doors which will also put even more pressure on the DWP system.
It’s a disaster, heartbreaking for everyone affected but the government is doing what they do best, causing chaos and even more suffering for the poorest and most vulnerable.
They need to go as soon as possible. I fear that they aim to cause as much chaos and confusion as they can before being forced to leave number 10.
The damage they’ve done to this country is irreparable, it’s hard to come back from this if not impossible.
As Ireland announces their 2024 budget today they show in detail how it intends to use one of the strongest public finances in Europe.
This budget intends to cut future pension and climate costs whilst at the same time introducing more measures to ease the public’s cost of living stresses.
Having a budget surplus in Europe whilst unusual, should be something that the Irish government should be proud of. It’s quite an achievement considering there was after a rise in public spending during the pandemic.
The rather savvy decision to increase Irish corporate taxes paid by a small number of foreign firms has resulted in them having a surplus amount of 2.9% of gross national income last year.
Budget details are as follows and doesn’t exclude others:
1. A mortgage tax break worth up to €1,250 for homeowners. It will be given to those with a home loan of between €80,000 and €500,000 at the end of last year. Those who qualify will get 20 per cent relief on the increased amount of interest paid on their mortgage between 2022 and 2023.
2. At the moment working people start paying tax at the top 40 per cent rate once they earn €40,000. This rate will be increased to €42,000.
3. There will be three energy credits of €150 each – one before Christmas and two after it.
4. A double payment of child benefit will be made before Christmas, and a double welfare payment after Christmas.
5. The Qualified Child Increase is to rise by €4 to €46 per week for under 12-year-olds and to €54 per week for over 12-year-olds.
6. The successful hot school meals programme is to be extended to a further 900 primary schools in April and parents benefit is to be extended to nine weeks from August.
5. The monthly Domiciliary Care allowance is to increase by €10 and Child Benefit is to be extended to 18-year-olds in full-time education.
6. All social welfare payments are to rise by €12 a week.
7. The budget will also include the establishment of new savings funds where excess corporation tax revenues will be lodged.
8. Tax credit for renters is likely to climb from the current €500 to €800.
9. The free schoolbooks scheme will be extended to students in the first three years of secondary school.
10. There is an agreement to reduce childcare fees by another 25 per cent but that it would occur “later” in 2024.
14. Theres also help for small business and farmers and also a social welfare package put together by minister Heather Humphreys.
15. Finance Minister Michael McGrath will lay out how much the government intends to invest in a sovereign wealth fund that his department says could cover much of Ireland’s age-related costs to 2035 if enough of the corporation tax receipts are saved
16. A second, smaller 14 billion euro ($14.8 billion) infrastructure and climate fund, available to catch up on targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and act as a buffer against capital spending cuts in any future downturn.
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17. This will involve help for pensioners, people in receipt of social welfare payments with the focus being on children and families thus making it easier to raise a family and helping to reduce and an aim to end child poverty.
18. Donohoe announces funding for over 2,500 additional beds in hospital and community settings, along with an increase of more than 22,000 staff through additional recruitment.
Mr Varadkar said the budget will be “a little bit different to last year because inflation is moderating
He also said: “The nature of the tax system is that middle income and higher income people pay the most income tax so therefore any income tax package is going to benefit middle income people and more affluent people more.
“But that’s why you have to see the budget in the round and there will be other measures for example around the cost-of-living, around social welfare and around the cost of childcare and the cost of school and college. They will benefit everyone. People who aren’t working for example will benefit a lot from them.”
Whilst I’m not saying this budget is perfect and I’m sure there’s some that will criticize it but it’s a world away from what the UK is offering at the moment.
The huge difference between that the UK’s budget announcements and those of Ireland is alarming and shouldn’t be ignored.
In the UK unemployed and disabled people are demonized for claiming benefits and the government continues to attack most vulnerable with cuts to benefit payments and extremely harsh DWP compliance requirements and rules.
What this does show is that Ireland clearly understands the importance of investing financially in the well-being of it’s people. They know that this helps their economy a great deal.
The UK will never have a healthy economy like Ireland until they do the same, it’s extremely short sighted not to do so. Common sense shows that this helps to grow both local and national economies.
Huge changes are needed in the UK as well as creating policies with aims like those of Ireland.
The question is will this happen with future UK governments? I won’t hold my breath.
Hiya I know times are really awful for us all at the moment but I just wanted to pop on here to thank you all for your help and support over the past 9 years.
I never expected to be blogging for as long as I have been although at the time of creating this blog I knew it was going to become a whole lot worse.
Truth be told I had already been protesting and campaigning for a while when a friend of mine suggested that I should write a blog about my experiences.
I remember saying to him that I didn’t expect anyone to read it and I’d give it a month and then stop.
I couldn’t have been more wrong if I tried. It immediately got read and shared and the media started to read it.
Back then matters such as I write about weren’t being discussed by many, it was like speaking to a brick wall. They did however have a good interest in the blog and matters started to be discussed in newspapers and the media online and offline.
I’m not saying that I was totally responsible for this because I wasn’t, it’s down to the hard work of DPAC, Black Triangle and other groups as well. They’ve worked extremely hard and deserve credit for what they’ve done.
At first I was called a liar, an extremist and I shouldn’t be listened to. They tried everything to try and get rid of me from weekly visits, sometimes 3 in two hours from the local police trying to move us from outside the Job Centre.
Luckily we know where we stood in regard to the law and we didn’t move.
They even criticised my appearance, that was rather boring.
I can’t say it’s been easy, far from it but I know that myself and others have helped hundreds of people and this blog has done and still continues to raise awareness.
A massive thank you to everyone that has and does support my blog and everyone that reads and shares it.
So what’s the future for this blog?
I’d like to be able to continue blogging for as long as possible, it’s my baby and I don’t want to see me ending it.
Personally I’ve gone through a lot over the past few years and I don’t want to dwell on it but I’d like to thank you for being there for me when I needed it.
Carrying on blogging is hard though, I can’t afford to pay my broadband bill and I don’t have credit on my phone either. Not unlike many of you reading this.
I haven’t got a clue how I will continue but I shall find a way.
Remember there’s more of us than there is of them, they know this that’s why they’re so bloody scared of us.
Keep holding them to account is extremely important.
The government is planning to impose stricter sanctions for benefits claimants, the chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed
As this year’s Conservative Party conference ends Jeremy Hunt revealed plans to impose tougher benefit sanctions. Saying that it will encourage people to look for work.
However research has shown that sanctions cause destitution and worse for already financially vulnerable people.
Punishing people even more because they can’t find work doesn’t help people find work and combined with the cost of living crisis it will push thousands of people into even more poverty causing extreme distress and harm.
When speaking at the Conservative Party Conference, chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that 100,00 people are leaving the labour market every year for a “life on benefits”. He also said that this is why the government is replacing work capability assessments and examining the sanctions regime.
Hunt neglects to tell his audience that one of the reasons why unemployment is rising is because business such as Wilkos and small businesses are being forced to close. They find themselves unable to trade anymore because of the financial crisis.
Hunt went on to say “It isn’t fair that someone who refuses to look for a job gets the same as someone trying their best.”
This isn’t true though, people claiming universal credit working or not working have to adhere to strict job searching rules as stated in their claimant commitments.
Pitching claimant against claimant isn’t a new trick by the Tory party. They’ve been doing it for years under their ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor ideology.
Their remit has however changed as it’s clear to see that they regard everyone as not deserving of help especially disabled people who always bear the brunt of the government’s cruel policy changes.
Instead further punishments will undoubtedly force vulnerable people to look for unsuitable low paid work which could damage their health and plunge them into even more poverty than they’re already in.
Anela Anwar, Chief Executive of the anti-poverty charity Z2K, said: “The government needs to stop scapegoating people in poverty. More people are claiming disability benefits because more people are seriously ill or disabled – not because people have suddenly become lazier.
“The punitive and trigger-happy benefit sanctions system already leaves hundreds of thousands of people without the money they need to survive every year. And it doesn’t work: evidence tells us that sanctions leave people sicker and even further from the labour market.
“Further tightening the screw will only cause more destitution, prevent people re-engaging with DWP, and no matter the safeguards in place, will inevitably affect some of the most vulnerable.”
Indeed it will and life is going to become a great deal harder for vulnerable people that need help and support rather than even more punishment from a cruel uncaring government.
Personally I’d like to see them all live as we have to, with no access to funds and forced to live in damp, substandard housing. I’d like to see if they could survive this for over a year, but it won’t happen.
One thing they’ve managed to excel at is totally destroying the UK, its foundation, reputation, people, industry, businesses.
The current state of the stock market proves this, when big businesses and major players from around the world stop investing in the UK there really is no future for it. No one wants to invest in a country that’s failing everything and everyone.
We need a general election asap because the Tory government will stop at nothing to continue to feather their own nests, even when they put the future of the UK at great risk.
My photo. It totally reflects the state of the UK at the moment.
If you like my blog please can you share it. It makes a massive difference and raises much needed awareness.
I don’t get paid anything for the work that I do and it’s a huge struggle for me.
If you’d like to contribute towards keeping it going there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.
Any donations made will be used to pay my internet bill and make it possible for me to continue blogging these important issues.
Northern council leaders have warned that 27,000 new jobs would not be created if HS2’s northern leg is scrapped
Recently Cheshire and Warrington’s council leaders and the region’s LEP have written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressing their deep concern over the rumours that the government is seriously considering scrapping of HS2’s northern leg.
The letter has been signed by Cllr Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council, Cllr Craig Browne, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council, Cllr Louise Gittins, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cllr Russ Bowden, leader of Warrington Borough Council and Clare Hayward, chair of Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership.
In it they say that scrapping the northern leg will undoubtably worsen the north-south divide thus effectively leaving the government’s so called levelling up agenda meaningless.
However Rishi Sunak is reportedly reviewing how the cost of HS2 can be ‘controller’s he states that the cost of delivering it has apparently crippled since its conception. Sunak appears to have no qualms in cancelling the northern leg, after all the fact that he’s considering it speaks volumes in itself. For those in Greater Manchester it’s the worst scenario after putting years of hard work into plans and policies and vast amounts of money.
Once again the north has been promised the earth, but all it seems we’ll get is scorched earth,” said one council leader “For the government to even be thinking about scrapping the northern leg is just madness and I find it difficult to comprehend the logic behind it.”
Another added ominously: “If the north of England is largely left out of the HS2 loop, the north-south divide is almost certainly going to grow wider.”
The HS2 project was created by Gordon Brown’s Labour government in 2009 and was envisaged to link some of the country’s largest cities and towns to London, though the Midlands up to Manchester from Euston.The 225mph railway was originally planned to run from Euston to Manchester and Leeds via Birmingham.
However the planned HS2 extension to Leeds was ended in November, 2021 then followed in the following March that the planned construction between Birmingham and Crewe would be delayed by two years, and that promised services might not reach central London until the 2040s.
But it’s not just about the physical creation of providing high speed train travel. It came with the promise from the government that this project would help Greater Manchester to level up and help to realign regional imbalances after the government acknowledged that the north is neglected north.
Along with this came the promises of what HS2 could bring to Manchester and the north. Amongst these and not excluding others, reduced journey times as intercity trains currently operated by Avanti West Coast would be taken off the West Coast Main Line and better capacity and links around the region and other counties through NPR.
A new Manchester Piccadilly HS2 station was also proposed which would also will incorporate Northern Powerhouse Rail links that would importantly unlock east-west journeys thus potentially boosting the UK’s economy and productivity, as well as Manchesters.
The leader of Manchester city council, Bev Craig, gave an impassioned plea to government in June, urging HS2 to be built right – and built once – here, with a four-platform underground station rather than a station above ground running into Manchester on concrete stilts, as proposed by HS2 Ltd. HS2 in Manchester, she said, would result in subsequent regeneration bringing in more jobs, residents and visitors to the city centre – plans she described as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’.
The government has always rejected the underground argument for Manchester as too costly. But reports suggest Mr Sunak could offer an underground station for Piccadilly and reallocate savings made on HS2 to rail in the north in a bid to placate local leaders – that or a HS2 delay to Manchester of many years, saying that scrapping HS2 to Manchester, she said, would mean levelling-up ‘is dead’.
“The government has not officially communicated any intention to us about what they plan to do around HS2 to Manchester,” Coun Craig said. “As of yet, there is no clear indication from government as to what action will be taken.
That’s why Andy Burnham and I have written to the Prime Minister demanding a meeting to get an update on the current status of the line and to continue to make the strong case that HS2 should not be scrapped to Manchester because to do so wouldn’t just bring long-term financial consequences for the country, but would also be the final nail in the coffin for levelling-up.”
She said there’s been no response – and there was no prior warning. “What you would be ending up with from a north to London line is something that runs from outer London to the Midlands, and doesn’t even go into the capital,” she added.
“One of the reasons that we are so committed to pushing HS2 to Manchester is not just for the economic growth that it brings, but also the huge opportunity that it offers. Because HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail – HS2 north to south, NPR getting across the north, connecting towns and cities – they need each other.
“Network Rail has said that if you were to scrap HS2 to Manchester, NPR would cost an extra £15bn. HS2 would provide the platform that NPR needs.”
She described HS2 as the ‘building blocks’. “It’s about faster trains, but it’s also about capacity. Manchester’s railways are full,” said Coun Craig. “HS2 would take all of the London trains and put them on a separate line, and that gives more capacity for the other lines to use existing tracks.
“NPR – fast connections east to west in the north of England – would also use some of that same track, they would use the track that is currently planned between Manchester Piccadilly and the airport.
“Political short-termism shouldn’t be creating long-term decisions that will create long-term economic harm. The government needs to give absolute certainty that the investment that was promised to the north will not be reneged on. We see time and time and time again commitments falling away. Where in the north of England, Greater Manchester, we are promised something, and it doesn’t follow through.
“If they do scrap HS2 and there isn’t a coherent plan, it’s for the people of Greater Manchester to drawn their own conclusions. But the conclusions that I am hearing from many Mancunians is that it gives a sign that the government simply don’t care what they think, or don’t care what the needs of businesses are, many of which are also very frustrated at the moment.
This is extremely important for the people of the north west who are desperate for job creation and future funding for already run down council budgets. As more people are losing their jobs due to previously solid department stores such as Wilkos there isn’t enough decently paid employment to cover the need.
As the public in the north west complain that their town centres are run down with shops and markets closing, the blame clearly lies with the government for taking away obscene amounts of council funding and preventing possible job creation such like those above.
While this governments in power I can’t see that any so called levelling up will happen, its just another meaningless term created by the government to keep the public quiet.
Lastly I have a big ask, one which I don’t like making.
To say I’m struggling financially at the moment is an understatement, as it stands I can’t afford to pay both my home internet bill, my mobile phone credit top up and also the everyday things that we need to continue.
I don’t want to have to give up blogging but I may have to considering the above.
Sadly I’m also still living with long covid which is physically and mentally exhausting and my anxiety is really bad on some days.
Any help will directly help me to continue with my work.
The DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) have recently announced that they have begun a consultation concerning changing the WCA (Work Capability Assessment).
The DWP would like to make it harder for claimants that are found to have LCWRA) Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity for universal credit.
They also want this to apply to claimant’s that qualify to be in the support group of ESA.
The consultation document declared that the proposed alterations would apply to four activities:
How a claimant mobilises
How they control their bladder and bowels.
How they cope with social engagement and their ability to go out and manage daily life.
Out of all the proposed alterations by far the worst has got to be their plans to stop all of the above activities as well as the substantial risk rule.
Whilst the government doesn’t regard this rule to be important it’s in many cases the only way that people with severe mental health conditions can enter the LCWRA group.
The DWP’s reasoning for these for these cuts is that since the pandemic employment has changed and there are more opportunities to work from home.
They then argue that if claimants no longer have to travel or mix with other people in order to work they will be able to manage their health conditions at home whilst also earning a living.
Yeah working from home isn’t going to be a miracle cure is it.
The DWP also conveniently fails to recognize that at the time of writing claimants that are in the LCWRA group don’t get any support when looking for work.
The DWP however reveals how cruel and sick they are. In what could be likened to the Charles Dickens character Scrooge they regard taking away the additional and vital £390 a month they receive as a kindness.
If this isn’t bad enough they also plan to move them into the limited capability for work group and therefore put them at risk of being sanctioned and great distress.
The DWP try to explain this in their consultation document:
“It is not right that so many people are left without support, and we must not hold people back from opportunity.”
According to the consultation document, any changes will be legislated in 2024 and come into force in 2025.
They will affect new claimants from 2025 and existing claimants when their award is reviewed from 2025 onwards.
These proposals are also separate from the plan to entirely abolish the WCA from no earlier than 2026/27 for new claimants and 2029 for existing claimants.
The timetable for slashing the support group would allow any proposed savings to be included in the government’s future spending plans and could be announced in the Autumn statement.
This would then enable the Tories to offer tax cuts for the already wealthy which will be funded by welfare savings as part of their forthcoming election manifesto.
The consultation on the proposals lasts until 30 October.
It’s important to take part in this consultation because they need to see that there is a strong opposition to their plans and will show that there isn’t public support for them also.
It could possibly help to stop or show them that their continuation of their hateful treatment of disabled people isn’t popular and is the wrong thing to do.
Rather unsurprisingly the government has recently announced their proposed plans to reform work capability assessments. Using the guise of their new so called “mission to “support people into work”.
Why will these changes cause distress and harm?
Putting even more pressure upon already vulnerable disabled people causes an anxiety like no other. Imagine having the fear that you could be sanctioned for being physically or mentally unable to comply to job search requirements constantly hanging over you.
It’s already hard enough trying to cope with day to day life when disabled and putting more pressure upon them will, I fear push many into illness or worse.
Disability charities and campaigners have been calling for reforms to work capability assessments for a long time now. These assessments cause huge distress for disabled people as a whole and those with mental health conditions.
The DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) announced earlier this year that they planned to scrap said health assessments by 2028. Instead they’ve pushed forward these changes with gusto.
According to prime minister Rishi Sunak said: “Work transforms lives – providing not just greater financial security, but also providing purpose that has the power to benefit individuals, their families and their communities.
He went on to say “That’s why we’re doing everything we can to help more people thrive in work – by reflecting the complexity of people’s health needs, helping them take advantage of modern working environments, and connecting them to the best support available.
He also forgot to mention the truth that work does not transform lives for disabled people, it’s not a cure for disabilities and these plans will make life as a whole worse because of the added pressure that will be put upon them to comply.
Despite what Sunak claims minimum wage and zero hour employment do not give people financial security. They barely earn enough money for able bodied people to live on let alone disabled people who need more financial support to survive from day to day.
Sunak talks about ‘modern work environments’ whatever they may be as if they’re the answer to everything but in reality it’s very different.
I doubt he knows what these ‘modern work environments’ are after all he’s never had a real minimum wage job himself. He hasn’t got a clue.
I suspect that once in operation the DWP will ram up the pressure for job search requirements for disabled people to a level unseen before.
What support will the government supply for disabled people?
From experience not much if any at all. The government and DWP like to spin proposals like these round using fancy words and language which is meaningless and nothing but word salad.
To be honest I don’t know anyone that has a minimum wage or zero hour contract that can positively say that their work has provided them more financial security.
Thousands of people that are forced to claim Universal Credit (UC) are dependent upon food banks and the kindness of family and friends to survive.
The UK now has more children living in poverty than we have seen in modern times. We also have more disabled people having to go without meals or care that they desperately need.
NHS hospitals and services are being run to the ground, we have schools at risk of collapsing because the government failed to fix the concrete problem years ago and they expect us to believe that they care about disabled people.
Truth is as I’ve said many times before they don’t care. All the government cares about is saving money and not spending any on disabled people.
The government also likes to throw around ‘benefit fraud’ especially when related to disabled people. It’s extremely hard to qualify for disability benefits in the first place and even more so trying to ‘fool’ the system.
They need to concentrate on their tax dodging pals instead.
Not all disabilities are visible and everyone with a disability should be treated with kindness and support both emotionally and financially.
I know that this will never happen but I can dream can’t I.
Anela Anwar, chief executive of the anti-poverty charity Z2K told the Big Issue “Disabled people are already disproportionately likely to be in poverty, and these proposals will only make this worse. The Health and Disability White Paper recognised that the work capability assessment is not fit for purpose – yet DWP is now consulting on plans to make it even stricter.
“This will inevitably lead to seriously ill and disabled people losing vital income, and being forced to look for work they can’t do or be sanctioned. Government must think again and provide financial stability and support to seriously ill and disabled people on low incomes, not yet more cuts and threats.”
The consultation’s proposals include reflecting “improved employer support in recent years for flexible and home working” – meaning a person with a disability is more likely to be approved as ‘fit to work’ during a work capability assessment.
These proposed changes are due to come into force in 2025. Soon after the government will proceed with their plans to scrap the work capability assessments. People will instead be assessed for a new health element of universal credit during personal independence payment (PIP) assessments.
Thanks to the Big Issue and DPAC and DNS for previously reporting upon this.
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Hi there I hope you are all ok and are trying to cope in these godforsaken awful times. Just when you think it’s got as bad as it can be the government comes up with something else to torment us.
I’ve decided to write a blog similar to the ones that I used to do when I started out all those years ago. Back in the day things were bad but it’s a whole lot worse now.
Life has certainly changed beyond recognition, services that we had to support people and communities are long gone, working class labour controlled local authorities have had their funding stripped and it’s now virtually impossible to heat and eat.
I often find myself walking around my local town remembering how lovely it used to look compared to now.
It’s run down in parts mainly because the funding that used to be available isn’t available any longer. The government has provided some funding but it can only be spent on designated projects and not urgently needed ones.
It’s the same in most working class towns. Shops are shutting because people no longer have any spare money and have to concentrate on essential things.
A good economy can’t be created by not investing in communities something the government fails to realise
It’s easy to be quick to blame local authorities for the decline of our town centres whilst forgetting that it’s essentially the governments fault for denying much needed funding. If they don’t have the money it can’t be done can it.
Anger should be directed towards the government for their part in the destruction of local communities.
It’s a class war for sure.
Back in the day myself and fellow campaigners DPAC and Black Triangle predicted that things would get bad and we weren’t kidding. I remember being called an extremist and I was making it up.
We weren’t wrong were we.
One thing I do know is that we’re all struggling at the moment and with autumn quickly approaching the worry of keeping warm is upon us.
How will we manage? God knows but I predict there’ll be many casualties this year. It’s soul destroying but I fear that this too is becoming normalised just like foodbank usage has been.
Despite all of the above I like the town that I live in, I can escape to the countryside by walking up the road and I appreciate it now that I’m able to do this.
Keep strong everyone we can get through this because we’ve got each other and they can’t take that away from us.
Hi there I hope you are all ok and are trying to cope in these godforsaken awful times. Just when you think it’s got as bad as it can be the government comes up with something else to torment us.
I’ve decided to write a blog similar to the ones that I used to do when I started out all those years ago. Back in the day things were bad but it’s a whole lot worse now.
Life has certainly changed beyond recognition, services that we had to support people and communities are long gone, working class labour controlled local authorities have had their funding stripped and it’s now virtually impossible to heat and eat.
I often find myself walking around my local town remembering how lovely it used to look compared to now.
It’s run down in parts mainly because the funding that used to be available isn’t available any longer. The government has provided some funding but it can only be spent on designated projects and not urgently needed ones.
It’s the same in most working class towns. Shops are shutting because people no longer have any spare money and have to concentrate on essential things.
A good economy can’t be created by not investing in communities something the government fails to realise
It’s easy to be quick to blame local authorities for the decline of our town centres whilst forgetting that it’s essentially the governments fault for denying much needed funding. If they don’t have the money it can’t be done can it.
Anger should be directed towards the government for their part in the destruction of local communities.
It’s a class war for sure.
Back in the day myself and fellow campaigners DPAC and Black Triangle predicted that things would get bad and we weren’t kidding. I remember being called an extremist and I was making it up.
We weren’t wrong were we.
One thing I do know is that we’re all struggling at the moment and with autumn quickly approaching the worry of keeping warm is upon us.
How will we manage? God knows but I predict there’ll be many casualties this year. It’s soul destroying but I fear that this too is becoming normalised just like foodbank usage has been.
Despite all of the above I like the town that I live in, I can escape to the countryside by walking up the road and I appreciate it now that I’m able to do this.
Keep strong everyone we can get through this because we’ve got each other and they can’t take that away from us.
The government has been found to be still deducting money from people’s Universal Credit to pay their utility bills, despite them losing a legal case concerning deductions being taken from other benefits.
Roll back to 2022 High Court judges judged that this payment scheme which allows money to be taken from people claiming benefits to pay energy bills, was unlawful if the claimant had not been consulted first.
However it comes as no surprise that the ruling did not cover people claiming Universal Credit. Thousands of people are are still having money taken from their payments without consulting with claimants to see if they can afford to pay them.
This leaves them with far less money to cover their bills and everyday expenses.
The government unsurprisingly says the policy is fair after all their not struggling financially are they.
The government said that the repayment scheme protected people from the potential consequences of not paying bills which includes and is not exclusive to homelessness, service disconnections, potential court actions.
All of which will still occur because taking payment deductions without consulting the claimant will still result in all of the above.
It’s totally unfair, the repayment decisions don’t take into account a person’s ability to afford this and undoubtedly push people further into poverty.
Under the governments repayment policy, private utility companies and others can apply to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for up to 25% of a person’s benefits to be paid directly to them – to repay a debt and meet ongoing usage costs.
That’s a hell of a lot of money to be taken from a persons payments. Many claimants have more than one debt being taken from their payments.
It’s unfair and cruel, it’s already a struggle to get by due to the cost of living and energy payment crises.
Court Ruling
In september last year (2022), a disabled former Leicestershire police constable won a High Court case against the government scheme.
The court ruling is applied to some claimants on legacy benefits eg jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) and income-related employment and support allowance (ESA).
But the devil’s in the detail isn’t it. The ruling does not apply to people claiming Universal Credit.
No surprise really, there’s no way they’d want this to apply to UC claimants. It’s a cruel, harsh system and they don’t want it making life easier for them.
However following another separate legal change, which took effect in April 2022, households receiving Universal Credit. This legal change states that claimants must now be asked to agree to new deductions for ongoing usage costs for electricity or gas.
But once again the DWP is taking full advantage of this decision. It’s a request and not a legal requirement to ask for consent for new deductions for electricity or gas and water bills that are in arrears.
So they give with one hand and take more away. Surprise surprise.
In figures released in November 2022 to the BBC show that around 431,800 automatic deductions were in place from households receiving Universal Credit for utilities bills. A Freedom of Information request by BBC News has found 221,000 of those were for arrears.
In June, the DWP lost an appeal against the High Court ruling and is now allowing people the chance to submit representations before new deductions are made from legacy benefits.
It says it doesn’t plan to retrospectively seek consent from anyone already having money deducted.
The DWP have told BBC news that they don’t make any money from administering third party deductions.
The final costs of contesting the judicial review and appeal with Ms Timson were not yet known.
I expect the government to continue to contest this decision at every step, after all their priorities don’t lie with people living in poverty. There’s always enough money for this
Wilko has today announced that they have entered into administration putting 12,000 jobs at risk.
Sadly Wilko’s have found themselves unable to find emergency investment which could have saved 400 shops across the UK.
It’s likely to be the end for the business which has been trading since 1930.
In an interview conducted by BBC News the firm’s boss, Mark Jackson, has been quoted as saying ‘management had “left no stone unturned” in its attempts to save the company.
“But we must concede that with regret, we’ve no choice but to take the difficult decision to enter into administration,” he said.
What happens next?
If Wilkos fails to find another business to buy any of the shops or parts of the business out of administration they will become the biggest High Street casualty this year.
It’s expected that Administrators are to be appointed later on Thursday (today), however it will continue to trade as normal for now.
GMB union told BBC News that the collapse was “entirely avoidable”.
National officer Nadine Houghton said: “GMB has been told time and time again how warnings were made that Wilko was in a prime position to capitalise on the growing bargain retailer market, but simply failed to grasp this opportunity.”
Although the business has been struggling for some time, the depths of its problems emerged last week when it announced its intention to appoint administrators.
This gave Wilko 10 days to secure a rescue. However, it was unable to strike a deal within that timeframe.
Wilkos have had a significant level of interest which had included indicative offers that would have met all their financial criteria to recapitalise the business
But without the surety of being able to complete the deal within the necessary time frame and given the cash position, they’ve been left with no choice but to take this upsetting action.
Why is this happening?
Wilko has been struggling with sharp losses and a cash shortage for a long time now.
They had already borrowed £40m from Hilco which is a business restructuring specialist. The company had previously cut the amount of employees, had overhauled it’s leadership team and sold off a distribution centre which was vital to the running of the business.
Whilst most Wilko’s stores are in High Street locations this has proven to be very costly for them as many, not all customers have moved to shop at bigger retail parks and out-of-town locations.
The pandemic also changed the shopping habits of many combined with the cost of living crisis which is having a massive impact on high street shopping.
Wilko’s has also faced strong competition from rivals such as B&M and Home Bargains as shoppers are now seeking out bargains.
Regrettably Wilko’s failed to adapt their business to the changing shopping habits of their customers which is one of the reasons why the business has entered into administration.
Richard Lim, chief executive at Retail Economics a retail consultancy commented saying that a combination of rising costs, lower customer demand and fierce competition is what ultimately pushed Wilko to “breaking point”.
“Against the backdrop of seismic shifts in consumer behaviour and the intense pressure on margins, the business was too slow to react to these mounting challenges and paid the ultimate price,” he said.
The company, founded in Leicester, is still owned by the same Wilkinson family..
When Woolworths ceased trading in 2008 they were quick to fill the gaps in the high street that were left.
Why am I writing about this in my blog?
Wilko’s has long been a staple of the high street, and is still used by many to buy essential household products. It’s accessible for those without cars and are usually easily accessed by public transport.
Retail parks are catered towards car drivers and aren’t easy for non car drivers to access.
Many of the 12,000 employees have worked there for many years and hold their work colleagues in great regard. It’s going to be an awful shock for them when they enter the world of unemployment and the cruel DWP system.
The DWP won’t have any sympathy for them and the stress that they put upon claimants is unbelievably cruel, forcing many to rely upon food banks to survive.
My thoughts and sympathies are with all Wilkos employees and their families, including their customers that relied upon the company for their shopping requirements.
It’s indeed a sad day for the high street, one that won’t be forgotten by many.
Wilko has today announced that they have entered into administration which has put 12,000 jobs at risk.
Sadly Wilko’s have found themselves unable to find emergency investment which could have saved 400 shops across the UK.
Sadly it’s likely to be the end for the business which has been trading since 1930.
In an interview conducted by BBC News the firm’s boss, Mark Jackson, has been quoted as saying ‘management had “left no stone unturned” in its attempts to save the company.
“But we must concede that with regret, we’ve no choice but to take the difficult decision to enter into administration,” he said.
What happens next?
If Wilkos fails to find another business to buy any of the shops or parts of the business out of administration they will become the biggest High Street casualty this year.
It’s expected that Administrators are to be appointed later on Thursday (today), however it will continue to trade as normal for now.
GMB union told BBC News that the collapse was “entirely avoidable”.
National officer Nadine Houghton said: “GMB has been told time and time again how warnings were made that Wilko was in a prime position to capitalise on the growing bargain retailer market, but simply failed to grasp this opportunity.”
Although the business has been struggling for some time, the depths of its problems emerged last week when it announced its intention to appoint administrators.
This gave Wilko 10 days to secure a rescue. However, it was unable to strike a deal within that timeframe.
Wilkos have had a significant level of interest which had included indicative offers that would have met all their financial criteria to recapitalise the business
But without the surety of being able to complete the deal within the necessary time frame and given the cash position, they’ve been left with no choice but to take this upsetting action.
Why is this happening?
Wilko has been struggling with sharp losses and a cash shortage for a long time now.
They had already borrowed £40m from Hilco which is a business restructuring specialist. The company had previously cut the amount of employees, had overhauled it’s leadership team and sold off a distribution centre which was vital to the running of the business.
Whilst most Wilko’s stores are in High Street locations this has proven to be very costly for them as many, not all customers have moved to shop at bigger retail parks and out-of-town locations.
The pandemic also changed the shopping habits of many combined with the cost of living crisis which is having a massive impact on high street shopping.
Sadly Wilko’s has also faced strong competition from rivals such as B&M and Home Bargains as shoppers are now seeking out bargains.
Sadly Wilko’s failed to adapt their business to the changing shopping habits of their customers which is one of the reasons why the business has entered into administration.
Richard Lim, chief executive at Retail Economics a retail consultancy commented saying that a combination of rising costs, lower customer demand and fierce competition is what ultimately pushed Wilko to “breaking point”.
“Against the backdrop of seismic shifts in consumer behaviour and the intense pressure on margins, the business was too slow to react to these mounting challenges and paid the ultimate price,” he said.
The company, founded in Leicester, is still owned by the same Wilkinson family..
When Woolworths ceased trading in 2008 they were quick to fill the gaps in the high street that were left.
Why am I writing about this in my blog?
Wilko’s has long been a staple of the high street, and is still used by many to buy essential household products. It’s accessible for those without cars and are usually easily accessed by public transport.
Retail parks are catered towards car drivers and aren’t easy for non car drivers to access.
Many of the 12,000 employees have worked there for many years and hold their work colleagues in great regard. It’s going to be an awful shock for them when they enter the world of unemployment and the cruel DWP system.
The DWP won’t have any sympathy for them and the stress that they put upon claimants is unbelievably cruel, forcing many to rely upon food banks to survive.
My thoughts and sympathies are with all Wilkos employees and their families, including their customers that relied upon the company for their shopping requirements.
It’s indeed a sad day for the high street, one that won’t be forgotten by many.
Wilkos Homeware also known as Wilkinson’s has announced that they’re expected to enter insolvency because of mounting cost pressures.
The company has officially filed a “notice of intention” to appoint administrators after failing to find enough investment.
Wilkos currently employ approximately 12,000 people within their current 400 UK stores.
Sadly a victim of the cost of living crisis leaving customers, possibly the effects of the pandemic have caused a downturn in profits confirming that stores are unable to pay expensive store leases.
Wilkos announced in January that they had to make the hard decision to close some existing stores with some closing in February.
Wilkos have officially announced that they’re expected to enter insolvency after failing to secure a takeover which would have helped the business to cope with ‘mounting cash pressures.
My thoughts are with all Wilko’s employees that at the time of writing are facing unemployment many of which have worked for the company for years.
My Photo Ashton Under Lyne Store.My photo Ashton Under Lyne Store.
As expected the Bank of England has raised interest rates again this time by 0.25 percentage points to 5.25 per cent hoping that slowing the pace of increases whilst persistently high inflation will begin to ease.
It’s reported that interest rates fell more than was expected in June whilst economists were expecting a quarter-point increase after central bank raised interest rates by half a point when they last met.
However despite inflation rates falling the cost of items and goods in the UK are continuing to rise faster compared to other economies like the Eurozone, Japan and the US.
Despite prime minister Sunak’s assurances that although he had previously promised that he would half inflation by the end of 2023 which obviously won’t be happening now. He also claims that ‘Britons can see the light at the end of the tunnel’ on LBC radio earlier this week. Predictably this bold claim doesn’t match real life experiences of the public who are experiencing ever increasing daily costs plunging many even further into poverty.
How do you know when a Tory (Conservative) politician is lying? They open their mouth.
The latest official data shows that consumer prices have risen 7.9 per cent in the year to June, down from 10.1 per cent at the start of the year.
When interviewed recently by the BBC Michael Saunders, a former Monetary Policy Committee member that now advises the consultancy organisation Oxford Economics, said the impact of higher interest rates on households had been “slower and smaller” than in the past because fixed-rate mortgages were more common, homeowners had larger savings and fewer had a property loan.
He added the economy would still face a “powerful delayed monetary tightening” as fixed-rate mortgages expired.
As the reality of fixed rate mortgages coming to an end only just starting to hit home owners, many of which are struggling to meet their mortgage payments, many will be forced to sell their properties and I predict thousands will in the near future become homeless.
Already the demand for homeless services far outstretches the amount of temporary accommodation that local councils and authorities can’t be met leaving them having to prioritise vulnerable people, many of which are offered unsuitable accommodation.
Of course Sunk has no idea how the decisions he makes impact the public and also their repercussions. Living a life of great privilege and luxury set apart from ‘normal’ people with not a care in the world.
Photo by Anthony ud83dudcf7ud83dudcf9ud83dude42 on Pexels.comPhoto by Dominika Greguu0161ovu00e1 on Pexels.com
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I’m writing this in anger that I haven’t felt for a long time. I try to keep calm and be proactive but this has got to be one, yes only one of the worst things that I’ve read recently.
Sadly this didn’t come as a surprise, it’s a big slap in the face for the general public and proves the point that we don’t have a government in charge of the country. Instead we have a cartel allowed to do whatever they want without any repercussions.
The public should, quite rightly be angry about this. Hunger is a great distraction though and those that are have to prioritise finding food to feed themselves and their families.
It’s an obscene that British Gas profits have soared by a staggering 889% to a record £969m. At the same time Centrica, its parent company, has also revealed a £6.5 billion profit in the first six months of 2023.
It’s hard to imagine having that amount of money isn’t it and I ask the question ‘How can any organisation like British Gas be allowed to profit like this?’
The government should be asking them to cut their prices instead it gets worse British Gas have reported its highest ever first-half profits of almost £1bn.
The energy regulator Ofgem is worse than useless though and clearly isn’t’tn’t on the side of the public. It blatantly sat back and allowed British Gas and Centrica to recoup costs from household bills, keeping in mind that they are already struggling.
British Gas and Centrica aren’t even trying to hide this though, this year’s earnings for the six months to June 30 have increased dramatically compared with operating losses of £1.1 billion a year earlier.
Meanwhile their operating profits increased by £2.1 billion from £1.3 billion a year ago whilst the general public will have no choice but to struggle.
It’s criminal and should be dealt with accordingly.
Rather disapointingly Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has so far reaffirmed his recent decision not to scrap the two-child benefit cap. His reasoning for making this decision is financial stating that there will have to be more ‘tough choices’ if Labour is to win the next election.
At the recent Future of Britain conference, Starmer said Labour had had to make “really ruthless” decisions telling his top team: “Tough choices is not a soundbite. We’re going to have to take them. Without them, we don’t get to the next stage.”
Senior Labour MP Stella Creasy went on to argue that scrapping the cap could in fact save money as it was “potentially costing more than it is saving” as greater hardship prevented people from finding work”.
The two child benefit cap policy was introduced by George Osborne when he was Tory chancellor. This cruel policy prevents parents from claiming universal credit for any third or subsequent child. Scrapping the two child cap would take approximately 270,000 households with children out of poverty at an estimated cost of £1.4bn in the first year.
The benefits far outweigh the decision to keep this cruel policy. Parents would be able to afford more basic essentials to keep their children healthy and happy. This in turn would lessen families reliance upon food banks and other emergency services. It would also improve physical and mental health of both parents and children which subsequently will cut down pressure on the NHS.
It would also improve both local and national economies, if people have more money to shop locally for food and essentials the economy will improve. I accept that this wouldn’t happen overnight, but it would undoubtedly help especially when we’re experiencing a massive cost of living crisis.
Starmer has agreed that the current mood of the country is “pretty bleak” as he set out the need to reassure voters about the situation while also setting out a vision for the future. Repurposing a slogan used by New Labour, he said: “We need three things: growth, growth, growth.”
The real ‘tough choices’ are being made everyday by parents unable to provide food and clothing for their children often going without meals themselves so their children can eat. I honestly don’t think he realises how bad it is for them. If he did he would make it a priority to stop this cruel policy.
For working class people their futures are looking even bleaker than he can imagine and not making the decision to end the two child limit policy is in my eyes the wrong thing to do. I’d like to ask him several things; what have these children done to you to make you act in such a manner? Don’t they deserve a decent quality of life? Why are you enabling the continuance of their suffering which will prove to be more expensive for the country in the long term?
Call me old fashioned if you like but I believe that every child matters, that they all should have a decent quality of life, a decent education and given the support that they need to do so. Starmer should keep in mind that these children forced to live in poverty are our both our future and the countries also. They’ll eventually become the ones to make important decisions, help improve the economy and be the employees that provide the essential services that we will be dependant on when we get older.
This decision isn’t a vote winner either, decisions like this will stop people from voting labour in future elections. They aren’t going to vote for a political party that ultimately doesn’t represent them in any way and won’t fight of change on their behalf.
I hope that Keir Starmer changes his mind and decides to put our children health and wellbeing as a priority because they deserve it.
It appears that a lot of people have been contacting their MPs to raise their concerns about not being able to get their calls to the PIP enquiry line.
As a result of taking action like this an increasing number of questions from MPs to ministers about problems with the line.
Bravo everyone!
One of the questions recently asked was from Labour MP Kerry McCarthy, this then resulted in Tom Pursglove, minister for disabled people who actually actually admit that the waiting times for PIP and ESA enquiry lines have been too long.
Who’d have thought this… We’ve known this for a long time but ministers and MPs had previously been ignored.
This in my opinion is a result of the action that you’ve taken, well done everyone.
However Pursglove claimed that ESA call waiting times have begun to improve. He went on to say that the delays and chaos is set to continue until the end of the summer.
Keep in mind that the proposed 600 new staff to be employed by the DWP could well have no medical training at all which if not will cause distress and harm.
If this is the case we will have to continue to campaign for fair treatment and understanding for all disabled and ill people.
The blatant discrimination which is constantly metered towards disabled and ill people is in my eyes horrific. No one should be treated like this let alone vulnerable disabled people.
It’s vitally important to continue to contact your local MPs it can make a huge difference.
It’s vitally important that we continue campaigning against this though, it raises awareness and can in some cases result in change.
Huge thanks go to the team over at Benefits and Work for their hard work for original reporting of this.
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Currently I’m trying to obtain photo ID and it’s impossibly expensive.
Figures released by the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) in June have revealed that 25.5% of PIP AR1 review forms were returned late or not at all in the 12 months to February of this year (2023)
According to Viscount Younger, 5th Viscount Younger of Leckie, an elected hereditary peer who sits on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords), only 7% of claimants who received an AR1 form were disallowed for non-return.
Some claimants already have an additional support marker which means that decisions can be made without the form being returned.
Other claimants may have been granted an extension of time for returning the form.
However returning a PIP form can be extremely difficult to say the least due to the DWP’s telephony chaos and their lack of urgency to resolve it.
Alternatively claimants have also reported receiving their renewal forms with only a week remaining to fill it in and post it.
This then results in the claimant trying to phone the PIP line up to get an extension and not able to get through to any help.
Other claimants have also reported receiving less time to complete and return the form also confirming that when they try to phone up to request an extension their calls are being cut off.
I suspect that thousands of PIP claimants are being refused their payments because they are prevented from requesting an extension as a result of not being able to talk to anyone on the PIP line.
If this happens to you you can appeal their decision.
The amount of already vulnerable people forced to suffer even more because of the government’s incompetency is immense and shouldn’t be ignored.
These people are your neighbours, friends, relatives and each and every one of them deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. They all deserve to receive their PIP payments to help them cover their everyday needs.
It’s a scandal that this is happening and I urge to contact your local MP and voice your opinion on this. If you don’t tell them they won’t know the impact that this is having on you.
Digital aspects of universal credit (UC) has routinely lead to wrong payments being awarded to claimants which are often the most vulnerable claimants – and therefore breaches rule-of-law principles, new Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) research finds.
The three-year study found that while the digital nature of the benefit has some advantages for UC claimants, the way the digital systems have been designed can also lead to people being left without vital money they are entitled to and information they need in order to challenge DWP decisions.
In the worst cases claimants are forced into acute hardship because the programming and operation of this digital- by-design benefit does not align with social security legislation.
The charity’s report catalogues numerous injustices and breaches of rule-of-law principles in the operation of digital UC systems and reveals the extent to which its workings are opaque for claimants and researchers.
Problems uncovered by CPAG’s research include people missing out on additional support they are entitled to because the online claims process does not identify their needs. Families are going without their entitlements for all children because verification paperwork is pending for one child.
Care leavers are also unable to submit a digital claim in advance of their 18th birthday even though DWP guidance enables this.
Worryingly, the research found that in the year ending February 2023, approximately one-third of the 2.9 million registrations for UC did not result in a claim being submitted at all but there appears to be no DWP information in the public domain on why the drop-out rate is so high.
CPAG’s research suggests that aspects of the digital claim form that make it difficult for some claimants to complete the form and establish their entitlement may explain at least some of these abandoned claims.
Digital claim form does not ask all the right questions
Some claimants are entitled by legislation to extra amounts of UC or exemptions from the standard rules of UC.
This can be because of their particular circumstances (for example if they have a health condition, are escaping domestic violence, are carers or care leavers).
However the digital claim form doesn’t always ask claimants if they meet any of the conditions for these extra amounts or exemptions. As a result of this claimants – who are not experts on the complex UC rules – don’t always get a fair chance to establish their entitlement.
In the worst cases, vulnerable people go without extra money or exemptions they should have.
For example, while UC claimants under the age of 35 renting in the private sector will receive the shared accommodation rate of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA), there are exceptions to this for claimants with certain rates of disability benefits, and claimants who have lived in homeless accommodation for three months or more while receiving specific support. These claimants are entitled to the higher one-bedroom rate of LHA.
However, the online claims process doesn’t ask claimants if they meet any of these conditions. Instead, the DWP expects claimants to understand the complexities of the housing cost element regulations and self-identify as having the specific circumstances and characteristics that exempt them from the shared accommodation rate.
This breaches the rule-of-law principle of procedural fairness and is a failure of the duty to make reasonable enquiries.
By failing to ask all the relevant questions, the UC system systematically discriminates against groups entitled to additional support – the very same groups who by definition are often the most vulnerable and at risk of discrimination because of their extra needs.
Nor does the digital claim form ask claimants what date they want to claim from even though backdating by up to one month for example if a claimant ‘couldn’t reasonably be expected to make the claim earlier’ for reasons including and not excluding having a disability, or a system failure.
Claimants can request a revision of their claim so that it has an earlier start date, but the DWP does not establish in each case when a claimant wishes their claim to start from. This then places the onus on claimants to self-identify that a backdate is possible.
This leaves some claimants who are eligible for backdating – mostly people with health conditions or disabilities – without money they are entitled to.
CPAG wants claim forms amended to ask all claimants if they require backdating or want to claim from an earlier date.
All children in a family deprived of support if one child can’t be verified
The UC digital system is unable to accept the verification of individual children independently of other children in a household. This results in families missing out on their legal entitlement to the child element of UC for all of their children. This happens if there is a problem with providing evidence to verify just one child in a family.
The computer system clashes with social security regulations which entitle the children to support.
Early Warning System case – November 2022
A woman has three children, aged 10, 14 and 19. The woman has cancer and claimed UC in April, declaring her children via a change of circumstances in June. She couldn’t provide evidence of her eldest child’s education because he hadn’t been accepted into college yet and it wasn’t possible to provide evidence until the new school year.
The verification for all of the children failed because of the lack of evidence for one of her children. Since June, her UC award has only included the single person allowance, limited capability for work-related activity and housing costs restricted to a single person according to the local housing allowance (LHA) rules. There is no child element for any of the children and no additional bedrooms allowed for them in the LHA size criteria
Early Warning System case August 2022
This claimant has four children, for one of whom she receives Disability Living Allowance. The claimant had recorded this child as being on low-rate care, when she was in fact on mid-rate care. This is irrelevant for her UC…
DWP asked her to correct it but she missed the message because English is not her first language. As a result, she wasn’t paid the child element (or disabled child addition) for any of the children (all born pre-Apr 2017) for three consecutive assessment periods.
She also had no work allowance applied and her housing element was reduced as she was deemed to be under occupying with no children in the household.
She missed out on around £1,500 per month, was in extreme hardship and got into massive debt. [The case, from CPAG’s Early Warning System August 2022, was eventually resolved by a welfare rights adviser
Digital system can’t accept advance claims despite regulations permitting them
DWP guidance enables advance claims of up to one month for prisoners who are about to be released from custody and care leavers in advance of their 18th birthday.
These claimants can’t receive benefits while they are the responsibility of the local authority or are in prison but the legislation enables them to make a claim while support structures are in place.
In practice however, the digital UC system does not accept advance claims. One adviser told the CPAG research team:
Will (adviser) – October 2021
The law allows care leavers to make an advanced claim… It doesn’t mean you’ll get your money earlier… But what it does allow, which is very important for that group of people, is… about four weeks before they turn 18 … the social worker can go out, get their ID together, and explain what the process is. You press submit, sit back. They turn 18….. And in five weeks’ time the money comes.
That’s the way it should work… [But in reality the DWP] say you can do something called advanced preparation of a claim, but you can’t do an advanced claim… If you press submit it all b…..s up. What we find with our young people is, they quite often don’t want to, on the morning of their 18th birthday, go through a claim… it can be two or three weeks, sometimes longer, before they’ll come back to engage with the social worker…’
Claimants lose access to information they need:
When a decision on a UC award is revised or superseded (changed) with effect from an earlier date, it can generate an overpayment (if the amount of the award after the change is less than was previously awarded). This can also cause underpayments (if the amount of the award after the change is more than was previously awarded).
When the award is changed from an earlier date, claimants can no longer see the original decision because their payment statement in their online account is automatically updated to display only the new decision.
Without being able to compare the original with the new payment decision, claimants have insufficient information to identify whether any overpayments or underpayments have been calculated correctly.
Similarly, claimants who previously received UC and then make a new claim lose all access to their previous online journal because it is overwritten by a new one.
This is a problem for claimants who want to challenge a termination of their award and for those looking to resolve outstanding issues on the original award.
Claimants in this position can only access their previous online journal information by querying the information available via the UC helpline, applying for a subject access request or waiting for the information to be reproduced in the paperwork prepared for a challenge of the decision at Tribunal.
Design of the UC system is opaque:
CPAG sees the same mistakes in UC decision making and administration time and again but the lack of transparency on its design makes it difficult or impossible to interrogate whether errors are automated or clerical, and if clerical, the reasons why those aspects of the system have not been automated.
To make UC more transparent at an operational level, the DWP must:
Make information on the system’s design available.
Explain how officials interact with the digital systems and publish its guidance for officials, and information on how it is applied.
At a system-wide level, the DWP must make the source code for UC publicly available, as is required by the Government Digital Service’s service standards.
The Department has committed to publishing the code for personal independence payment and pension credit but not UC.
Child Poverty Action Group’s head of policy and research Sophie Howes said:
“At its best, digitised universal credit makes it easier to claim. But at worst, it rides roughshod over rule-of-law principles and leaves claimants without enough money to live on. Try telling a mother of three that the computer says No to support for all of her children just because there’s a bureaucratic delay in the paperwork for one child. The DWP must take the wraps off UC so that its workings are transparent. There are low-cost changes the department can make to ensure digitalisation improves UC so that it’s fair, in line with regulations and capable of getting correct payments to all claimants. Almost half of children will be in households claiming UC when it’s fully rolled out, so getting it right is imperative.”
This is all pretty damning and shows what we have known for years. The Universal Credit system isn’t fit for purpose and certainly doesn’t run on a system of help and compassion.
This causes many claimants to drop their claims for UC because of its complexity which causes distress.
Thanks to Child Poverty Action Group for undertaking this research and publishing this report. It’s hard hitting but vital reading
Almost half a million PIP ( Personal Independence Payments) deliberately disconnected by the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) in April revealed in freedom of information request by Benefits And Work
Most of these callers were disconnected before they were able to wait in a call queue.
Benefits and Work submitted a freedom of information request asking the DWP to reveal the amount of calls made to the PIP Enquiry Line that were cut-off before being placed in the queue and those that were in the queue but didn’t manage to connect with an operative.
The DWP then answered providing the following statistics:
February
Calls put in queue 415,552
Calls blocked 34,860
March
Calls put in queue 488,965
Calls blocked 306,865
April
Calls put in queue 388,265
Calls blocked 494,044
It’s worth remembering that even though they might have managed to get a spot in the queue this doesn’t guarantee that their calls will be connected to an operative.
Thousands of calls also get disconnected when placed into the queue. that just because you get into the queue.
Of course the DWP aren’t addressing these problems, I personally think that the could be deliberate because many callers will give up and try to manage without their PIP payments.
I cannot stress enough how dangerous this is for already vulnerable people claiming PIP, they need their payments so they can manage from day to day.
How will they manage without their payments or without the answers they required upon phoning the hotline?
I strongly suspect that thousands will go without essential meals, will be unable to get out to do everyday tasks and to attend appointments etc.
These payments are essential to their well-being and treating their calls like this will also cause thousands to become distressed or worse.
The government needs to stop treating disabled people as some sort of subhuman community and not worthy of any help or assistance.
We need to fight back and challenge this blatant discrimination. Everyone is entitled to a good quality of life and this needs to stop.
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Rather unsurprisingly a new media hate campaign against disabled people has begun and it’s one of the worst that I’ve seen for a while.
It comes as no coincidence that this started alongside government plans to abolish the WCA (Work Capability Assessment).
These plans will allow unqualified jobcentre work coaches to decide whether claimants are capable of work.
The government’s answer to this sadly is text book for them, demonizing vulnerable disabled people portraying them as the enemy and the usual scrounger rhetoric.
The Telegraph however was the first to start this campaign of hatred stating in an article
“Millions are claiming benefits without ever having to look for work, helping to push the tax burden to hit its highest point since the Second World War . . . It raises the question, just how much of our hard-won salaries are spent on the benefits of those who do not work? With the calculator below, Telegraph Money can now reveal how much of your salary goes towards bankrolling the welfare state.”
However this hasn’t gone unnoticed though with many commentators on Twitter comparing the language of this campaign with a poster issued in 1938 supporting Nazi eugenics.
This read “This person who suffers a hereditary disease has a lifelong cost of 60.000 Reichsmarks to the National Community. Comrade, that is your money too.”
Next to join the hate campaign was The Spectator magazine writing “When will the Tories face up to Britain’s benefits scandal?” They were quick to spout their venom against disabled people claiming that whilst UC (Universal Credit) is an improvement “the problem now is people, often citing mental health issues, claiming sickness and disability benefit.”
It went on to say: “The UK system seems to have been thrown into crisis by such claims and has no idea how to properly process a mental health claim. So we end up with 5,000 claims a day – a day! – for sickness benefit . . . The waste of lives is one thing, but then there’s the waste of money.”
This strongly implies that all disabled people with depression are making it up and they should be working.
Last to the hate campaign was Jeremy Vine asking in a tweet viewed by thousands asking;
“Is it time to crack down on jobless benefits?
“Nearly four million people in the UK are being supported by the state without ever having to look for a job.
“That’s because they’ve been deemed too sick to work.
“Is it wrong for taxpayers to fund them indefinitely?”
However Vines team wasn’t prepared for the outrage that it caused on Twitter which resulted in them deleting their tweet but their scheduled programme still going ahead.
None of this is a coincidence it’s the typical Tory tactic to demonize vulnerable people before they commence with their plans, this time being to abolish the WCA.
They know that this won’t be popular and they will be of considerable resistance to their nefarious plans.
They counteract this by feeding lies to the public which will continue the scrounger rhetoric which we have seen many times previously.
Disabled people already face enough judgement from the public. People with mental health issues should never be judged in this manner.
Pitching disabled people as being scroungers is not only awful it’s also dangerous. Making a claim for a disability is far from easy, it causes great distress and judgement from others.
No one should be judged for their disability, people can’t just ‘get over it’ and being forced to find work will be extremely distressing to say the least
Let’s make it clear, no one chooses to be disabled like Vine and The Telegraph suggests and we need to campaign hard against the government’s proposed plans.
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It appears that the DWP have extended their total disregard and lack of care to their Future Pension Center helpline.
DWP minister Laura Trott disclosed in a written answer to parliament that between the 27 January and 26 March 2023, 1,007,868 calls were made to the Future Pension Centre helpline.
Of these, 47,345 were answered.
18,006 calls were abandoned.
It also revealed that a massive 942,517 calls were cut-off by the DWP before the callers got through to an operative.
That means a shameful 94% of all calls were deliberately disconnected.
This once again proves that the DWP and the government are totally ‘incompetent’ and are totally failing those that are desperately in need.
Personally I think that it’s deliberate and not down to incompetence after all they save money because people give up trying to contact them. They like to save money especially off the backs of vulnerable people.
Their systems aren’t fit for purpose and this proves this to be the case.
Will the government invest in their call systems and make them fit for purpose?
Don’t hold your breath. It’s beneficial for them not to do so. Meanwhile vulnerable people will continue to get distressed whilst trying to contact the DWP and many will give up altogether.
This isn’t acceptable but don’t expect the government to care enough to do anything about it.
Earlier this month (May) the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) released their latest Universal Credit sanction statistics. The statistics reveal that 541,000 UC claimants were sanctioned in the year to January 2023.
The greatest majority of those (530,000) were shown to have been sanctioned for failing to attend or failing to participate in a mandatory interview.
However these figures represent a very small fall from the previous peak sanction rate and the number of claimants sanctioned is shown to be still more than double the figures pre-pandemic.
In January 2020 18,462 claimants were sanctioned.
In January 2023, the figure was 44,888.
However the non attendance of mandatory interviews are mostly for genuine issues such as not recieving a letter or notification of having to attend an interview, I’ve blogged about this many times.
Other reasons for non attendance can be Not being able to get to their nearest Jobcentre for their interview because of cost, illness and appointments clashing with childcare obligations.
It is then that the claimant is left to the discretion of their work coach as to if they’re sanctioned or not.
This is incredibly worrying especially because the DWP is now planning to give work coaches the power to decide who is capable of work. Please see my previous blogs for details about this.
Please note that as already blogged it is planned that medically unqualified work coaches could be given the responsibility of making life changing decisions on behalf of UC claimants.
Decisions such as if a disabled or ill claimant is in their opinion able to take part in work-related activities.
Based upon their decision they could be given the power to recommend sanctions and suchlike.
As a result of not being medically qualified such decisions will be based purely on opinion and not fact.
Upon being sanctioned a claimant can try to show their work coach good causes for not attending a planned meeting. They can also do this if their work coach decides that even though they’ve attended a meeting but have failed on their eyes to participate as well as expected.
This can be for many reasons such as their disability preventing them for doing so or illness.
However the work coaches decision is purely based upon their decision or mood so it’s clear that unfair sanction decisions can be sent to the decision maker leaving the claimants payments being sanctioned.
Sanction decision can be appealed and their is an appeal process. Whilst the majority of appeals are successful the whole process is very long and extremely stressful, leaving the claimant in great distress and under enormous financial pressure.
The whole benefit sanction process is heavily biased against claimants, the balance of power unfairly being in the hands of work coaches and decision makers.
Once a sanction has reached the end of the appeal process and a decision made in the claimant’s favour the damage has already been done and many claimants never fully recover both mentally and physically from this.
Sadly this won’t be changing for the better any time soon and it would be nieve to expect this.
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An ever increasing number of children are now living in poverty as a result of the cost of living crisis, increasing energy costs, result of parents losing their jobs and DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) issues such as benefit sanctions.
As we are seeing this huge increase of people living in poverty little has been said about the effects of hunger upon children and their learning abilities.
It sounds like commonsense that childhood learning and hunger are both interconnected issues that are faced by many children in the UK. If you’re hungry it’s very hard to concentrate on anything else.
Recent studies have shown that hunger and malnourishment can have a severe impact on a child’s mental and physical development, which can ultimately affect their academic performance and life opportunities.
According to the End Child Poverty coalition, 4.2 million children in the UK are living in poverty, 2.4 million of whom are living in severe poverty. Poverty is a significant driver of hunger and food insecurity, with many families struggling to afford and find healthy and nutritious food.
Research by the Trussell Trust food bank network found that over 1.2 million emergency food supplies were given to children in the UK in 2020. This highlights the extent of hunger faced by children in the country and the need for action from the government.
The effects of hunger and malnutrition on a child’s learning can be very profound. Children who experience hunger often find it difficult to concentrate and focus, affecting their memory and cognitive abilities.
This can also lead to behavioral issues, affecting their interactions with others and their overall development.
Moreover, poor nutrition can significantly affect a child’s physical development, leading to a lack of energy, poor growth, and an increased likelihood of illness.
One recent study found that children who experienced hunger were more likely to have lower academic performance and to struggle with basic literacy and numeracy. Children who eat more healthily and more varied diets also have better cognitive abilities, and in many cases have better academic outcomes.
There is evidence, however, that basic interventions can help address these issues. Breakfast clubs at schools have been shown to improve pupils’ behaviour and academic performance. This is particularly noticeable with children that come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Whilst charities and organizations are also working to provide food parcels and other forms of support to families and children who are struggling with hunger, the food offered to them are usually of low nutritional standards but they do quench their hunger.
Childhood hunger and malnutrition in the UK continues to have a huge impact on a child’s learning and development.
Whilst there are interventions such as breakfast clubs and food banks that can help alleviate these problems, and it is vitally important for policymakers, schools, and charities to work together to ensure that all children have access to the resources they need to thrive.
Sadly at the time of writing the government is very reluctant to help at all. Instead the cost of living crisis and rising energy costs are continuing to increase plunging more children and their families further into poverty.
Is the government doing this purposely? It certainly makes me suspect this. The health and wellbeing of working class children appears to be unimportant to them and the less they learn the better for them.
As I’ve previously mentioned under the proposed DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) the WCA (Work Capability Assessment) will be abolished by 2026.
To replace this it is to be replaced by one assessment which will be the PIP (Personal Independence Payment) assessment. This will decide if a claimant will be eligible for PIP and if they are also eligible for the new UC (Universal Credit) health element.
Rather unsurprisingly the DWP plans to employ unqualified UC work coaches to make these decisions rather than qualified health professionals.
It will be those unqualified UC work coaches that will decide whether a claimant must undertake work-related activities
I strongly suspect, as we have seen in the past that disabled claimants will be judged upon the mood and attitude of their work coach. If their work coach is ok and in a good mood they might be judged fairly. If not then they could be treated harshly.
Basically their quality of life will therefore be dependent upon an unqualified DWP work coach.
At a recent debate at parliament Labour MP Karen Buck asked Tom Pursglove (who is the present DWP minister for disabled people) several questions about how the proposed abolition of the WCA will work in practice.
Buck asked Pursglove if there would be a substantial risk test which would be similar to the one already used in WCA assessments.
At the time of writing the WCA rules say that Claimants do not have to undertake work-related activities if there is a substantial risk to the mental or physical health of any person if you did so.
Needless to say thousands of appeals against WCA decisions have been successful on the basis that there would be a substantial risk to either the claimant or those around them.
Of course the DWP aren’t going to let this continue. How dare disabled people win their appeals and receive the payments that they’re entitled to.
Under the new proposed system the legal safeguards will no longer exist and all decisions will be made by unqualified work coaches, most of which might not have any or very little knowledge of physical or mental health issues. These issues if ignored will put claimants at risk.
Basically unqualified DWP work coaches will have sole power to make these life changing decisions.
God help us.
Buck asked Pursglove if there are any plans to introduce a mandatory reconsideration and appeal route against these decisions made by work coaches.
Pursglove’s answer was to totally ignored the question No surprise there.
He went on to make outlandish claims that work coaches would adopt a tailored approach that will allow work coaches to build a relationship with Claimants which will determine if any work related activities that Claimants can or can’t do.
I struggle to believe that this will actually happen given the fast staff turnover due to the stressful conditions that they work under. Not to forget work coaches having to take sick leave or indeed leave their jobs altogether.
So basically, cutting away the word salad from Pursglove as I’ve said above, decisions will be based upon attitudes and beliefs of any work coach, without any legal safeguards to prevent dangerous or clearly prejudiced decisions.
But Pursglove didn’t finish there. He went on to say that Claimants might be asked to volunteer in the first place building it up to mandatory placements with requirements added at a pace to suit individual claimants.
So voluntary work is now supposed to cure a claimant of all disabilities and illnesses? It’s not the first time that they’ve claimed this.
So going off Purseglove’s statements work coaches will decide the pace at which a claimant must increase their level of activity. As said above this will happen without any protection in place for claimants who are struggling to keep up therefore putting them at risk of being sanctioned.
When questioned about an appeal process, Pursglove would not answer, saying only that the DWP “will take time to carefully consider how best to implement these changes” and “ensure it provides the taxpayer with value for money and is accessible and effective in delivering for our service users.”
So if there won’t be any legal tests to decide who is or isn’t capable of work based upon the opinions of a work coach how can any decisions be challenged via a social security appeal tribunal?
Buck also asked “whether a benefit sanction that reduced a Claimants UC standard allowance to zero would remove a claimants entitlement to their entitlement to the Health Element of UC”
Pursglove’s initial response seemed positive stating ‘Entitlement to the new UC health element will only end when the functional impact of a person’s health condition improves and they are no longer eligible for PIP or as claimants earn more money resulting in their UC claim tapered away making them financially better off in work’
However this changed when he went on to say that ‘ As we develop our reform proposals we will consider how some interactions with the UC system will be reflected in the reformed system’
In my opinion this suggests that the DWP have not yet worked out many things about the new system, as is often the case.
Sadly this is par for the course for the government and the DWP. They’re always in a big rush to implement more draconian ideas upon the most vulnerable that they forget to actually make important decisions within their plans.
Whether this is done purposely or not is up to debate but I suspect they do.
I’ll keep my eye on this so expect more blogs upon this important subject.
Huge thanks to Benefits and Work for their hard work and original source of information about this subject..
Massive thanks to everyone that likes, shares and tweets my blog posts. This makes a massive difference in raising awareness of subjects such as this.
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Excellent blog from long time reader and supporter of my blog. You can find his blog over at thephisophicalmusehttp://thephisophicalmuse Thanks Mike!
I was started receiving Pension Credit at age 60 after having been on JSA for 18 months (sanctioned for the last 2 months). When I applied I was asked how I had learned about Pension Credit and I replied that DWP had told me 6 months previously that I would have a choice of staying on JSA or switching to Pension Credit – I would have been foolish to continue looking for work and receive half as much money even if I hadn’t been sanctioned!
I still receive some Pension Credit to top up my State Pension, but Independent Age https://www.independentage.org/ is campaigning to ensure more people are advised of their entitlement
I used to work for the Department of Social Security in Australia. If someone over 55 had been unemployed for 6 months they’ld receive Mature Age Allowance, which basically acknowledged that they were unlikely to find a job so were not expected to continue looking for one to continue receiving the same benefits.
Seems similar to what I found in U.K., except that I had to wait 5 years longer to qualify but got twice as much as on JSA.
As part of my last job I was required to attend a training session on pensions and was told that one needed to be paying National Insurance for most of our lives to qualify for state pension. I piped up and said, “Where does that leave me, I’ve been out of the country for 27 years?”
I got some attention as I was quite evidently closer to retirement age than anyone in the room, but I didn’t get an answer!
No chance of me building up a pension fund, I had to wait until after I retired to find that I would be entitled to State Pension because of a reciprocal agreement with the Australian government – not the full amount, but Pension Credit makes up the difference.
WASPI women should be complaining that their pension age was to be increased to 65, not that they didn’t have sufficient notification of the increase.
What does it matter if they tell you they’re gonna raise your pension age in 10 years time, unless you’re within 10 years of pension age?
We need to stop of thinking of ourselves and ask why anyone should be required to work beyond 60 years of age unless they choose to!
Those of us already retired can ask these questions because we’ve got nothing to lose, do we?
The triple lock on our pensions cannot be assured under a Tory government. Everyone should join a union, I joined Unite Community after I retired ✊
DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) minister Tom Pursglove admitted that claimants are waiting over half an hour on average for PIP and DLA helpline calls to be answered.
He also claimed that he is going to recruit extra staff to cope with the volume of calls on the helplines but gave absolutely no indication of how many are being employed and for how long they’ll be employed.
Nor has he confirmed if the extra staff he plans to employ are qualified to do so.
At the time of writing the average wait for a PIP enquiry to be answered is 37 minutes and for DLA enquiries it is 33.5 minutes.
However it is imperative that Tom Pursglove reveals the amount of callers that don’t get an answer at all because their calls are disconnected.
Earlier this year the DWP revealed that in March almost 90% of half a million callers to the Future Pensions Centre were faced with being call-blocked because they couldn’t cope with the rising call demand.
Implementing Call-blocking results in calls not being allowed to go on the call waiting queue because the queue is too long and they get cut off.
This is also happening to callers contacting the PIP helpline as reported to Benefits And Work by claimants trying to contact the said helpline.
We cannot ignore the fact that the claimants trying to contact these helplines are all vulnerable and are in great need of getting their enquiries answered.
The question also needs to be answered as to how many of these vulnerable people have given up trying to contact the departments. This could in some circumstances result in their payments being stopped leaving them more vulnerable than they already were. .
There’s no excuse for the DWP’s lax attitude towards the whole situation.
It’s clear that they don’t care about how this can impact upon the claimants lives and it is totally unacceptable.
It’s been revealed in the publication of a government white paper and a subsequent report by John Pring from Disability News Forum that job coaches with no academic qualifications could be tasked with making life changing decisions as to whether a disabled person must carry out work related activities as part of their DWP commitments.
This is dependent upon whether the government goes ahead with its plans to scrap the “fitness for work” test.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has told Disability News Service (DNS) that there are no minimum academic qualifications required to undertake the role of a work coach in a Jobcentre.
It has also been revealed that it will be these work coaches who will be given the task of deciding if disabled claimants in receipt of universal credit are able to carry out tasks such as attending training courses or work-related interviews.
Many thanks to John Pring for his continued hard work in revealing the latest news from the DWP and their scurrilous plans to hurt disabled people even more.
I’ve got no doubt that the government will try and push their plans through because as we already know they care little, if at all about the welfare of disabled and poor people.
They’ll continue to persecute disabled people until they’re out of government making sure that they can create as much damage as possible until they’re forced to leave.
Back in the day I remember when the UK had a fully functioning NHS dentistry system that many in the UK were entitled to be given treatment by an NHS dentist.
People are still entitled to this and it is dependent on certain benefits, pregnant women, women who had recently given birth and some pensioners had access to the NHS free service.
As a whole the system worked well and appointments to see a dentist and to get treatment was fairly easy. If you had a toothache or dental abscess it was also easy to get a dentist to treat you before complications set in.
Roll forward to 2023 it’s near impossible to find a dentist that’s willing to take on NHS patients and a person’s condition isn’t taken into account.
Many NHS dentistry patients have also unknowingly found themselves taken off their dentists patient lists. This happened to me, if you get a toothache like I get often or a dental abscess it’s tough and difficult to cope with.
Finding an NHS dentist is near impossible though.
Most doctors and a&es won’t treat people with dental problems and trying to find a local dentistry hospital can be near impossible.
It’s become very clear that the government is actively destroying the few NHS dentistry services that are still available. They clearly don’t care about the public’s health.
Basically as stated by George Monbiot the state of our mouths truly does reflect the state of the nation.
Many people find themselves without an NHS dentist because their circumstances change such as house moves and relationship changes and dentists take NHS patients off their lists.
I live in an area of the UK where there are hardly any, if any at all dentists accepting adult NHS patients. I was lucky enough to find a dentist to treat my teenage daughter who needs extensive surgery in the near future. My fear is that she’ll age out before any date for the operation becomes available. She was one of the lucky ones.
Currently at the time of writing 80% of practices in the UK are no longer taking on new child NHS patients, and about 90% are refusing new adult patients.
Sounds horrific doesn’t it and it gets worse. Some dentists do offer a waiting list for NHS appointments but they’re years long and of no use for urgent appointments.
Often accessing emergency services requires finding a dentistry hospital, being able to travel a long distance and being able to afford to do so.
I don’t know anyone can afford to pay for private treatment. Those that have in the past can’t afford to do so again.
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However the reasons why dentists are refusing to treat NHS patients are pretty simple and it’s easy to understand why.
When dentists treat patients on the NHS, they actually lose money, because the government funding package doesn’t cover their costs of doing so.
Since 2006, dentists have worked for the NHS under contracts that are shockingly designed to fail NHS dentists.
Dentists undertaking NHS work are paid in units of dental activity’ which is shortened to( UDA). This method of payment doesn’t take into account the cost of treatment which bears no relation to the costs of treatment. Under this system treating a patient earns a dentist three points regardless of the length and expense of each procedure.
Under this contract each and every NHS dentist also has to meet annual UDA targets
Absolutely no regard is given to dentistry prevention work which is in great need.
Dentists are paid at the UDA rate no matter how skilled they are and their experience.
Add the above to the government cuts that are hitting hard.
In reality NHS dentists as well as other health systems and the NHS as a whole requires approximately 4% a year to keep up with it.
However NHS dentist services receive 1.2%. Add this up that they are requiring 4% to function but funding for NHS services have been cut by 4% a year.
It’s also important to take into account rising costs of energy, , energy, wages and materials which accounts to about 11% a year.
Dentists working for the NHS simply cannot stay in business unless they use their income from private practice to subsidise their public practice.
Parliament’s health and social committee stated in 2008 “it is extraordinary that the public health department did not pilot or test the UDA payment system before it was introduced.”
Rather typical isn’t it.
Since then successive governments have apparently tried to change an already broken system but haven’t made any improvements.
In 2022, the government produced a so-called reformed contract in England. This was apparently supposed to allow better access to NHS dental services. This however hasn’t prevented the decline of NHS dentistry because they’re still going to be losing money when treating NHS patients.
Rishi Sunak recently told parliament that there are now more NHS dentists across the UK with more funding, making sure people can get the treatment they need.
He’s got the nerve to even suggest this. The number of NHS dentists is decreasing daily. If you need a dentist you’ve got virtually no chance of seeing one.
As a result of this most if not all dental practices treating NHS patients have found themselves unable to reach NHS contract targets. . If dentists deliver fewer than 96% of UDAs that they are contracted, they find themselves in a position similar to being fined by the government.
It look’s as if they will take a record hit. The dentists undertaking NHS work were forced to pay back as much as £400m from a total English dentist budget of some £3bn.
This is effectively destroying remaining NHS dentistry, obviously they can’t afford to work at a loss and on top of having to pay back the government.
It’s hard to believe that as the UK is in one of richest nations that people can’t access dentistry services.
It’s horrific that people are so desperate to get rid of their pain they’re resorting to pulling their own teeth out, buying temporary fillings and suffering in pain.
People are also accidentally overdosing on painkillers which is very dangerous both to health and life. We must also take into account the adverse health effects of dental abscess and suchlike which at worse can cause death.
Cruelty is what the conservative government does best though, most of their systems are designed to punish working class people for their very existence. How dare they ask for dental treatment.
Something needs to change and soon before more people suffer and also unfortunately die.
Will this happen though? No not a chance and it’s pointless trying to appeal to them for sympathy and help because the government clearly don’t care.
This is Mike’s comment about his quest in finding an NHS dentist.
There are two dentists where I live but, after extracting all of my own teeth and wanted dentures, I could only find one NHS dentist within 20 miles that accepted new patients. York and Leeds are both within 20 miles! Reason I wasn’t previously registered was returning from Australia where I didn’t need to register.
Thanks for telling me about your experience Mike and for your continued support of my blog also sharing it. I appreciate it.
United Nations General Secretary Antonio Gutteres has infuriated Israeli politicians to the extent that that they demand his removal from office if he won’t condone their war crimes. Many others are being fired for doing their job, he’s just the highest ranking. For the last 30+ years the United Nations has voted overwhelmingly to end […]
United Nations General Secretary Antonio Gutteres has infuriated Israeli politicians to the extent that that they demand his removal from office if he won’t condone their war crimes. Many others are being fired for doing their job, he’s just the highest ranking. For the last 30+ years the United Nations has voted overwhelmingly to end […]
The poor side of life 