Apparently there are millions of people milking it at taxpayers' expense, apparently they need more incentive to find a job, apparently there are lots of jobs waiting for people if only they weren't so lazy... and the best way to get them into these non-existant jobs is to ensure that they are plunged into serious poverty.
This is from our glorious chancellor who as we are aware has not had the advantages of privilege, who knows what it is like not to be able to afford food, who has been homeless:
While I'm sure there are a few people who have made this type of lifestyle choice for a short period, the vast majority of people on benefits want to work or are unable to work and may either need help getting and keeping a job or may need long term support from society.
There are also a few people who have lost the plot when it comes to work and do need help with motivation. I'm sure a key part of the lack of motivation is a lack of meaning and purpose. I'm just not sure that poverty is the kindest way to provide someone with purpose...
There is also the benefits trap to consider and there is a real need to find a way to allow people to increase their income without losing benefits - certainly at the lower levels of income. Osborne seems to want to tackle the benefits trap by removing benefits - possibly the harshest way possible. To do so when jobs are scarce is even more harsh.
It is worth remembering that poverty is a key feminist issue, poverty affects women far more than men.
Increasing the gap between rich and poor has always been the Tory ideal.
Green Party campaigner in Kent. Also a nurse, academic, former manager, writer, Druid, husband and father...
Showing posts with label benefits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label benefits. Show all posts
Friday, 10 September 2010
Thursday, 9 September 2010
More benefit cheating....
Another example of the appalling and uncaring approach to disability assessments by ATOS and the Lib/Lab/Tories.
Labour introduces the Employment Support Allowance as a replacement to Incapacity Benefit contracting with ATOS to assess claimants - a process which has been widely criticised. The Lib / Tory coalition are pushing this much further, seeking to unfairly reduce the benefits to people. A civil society protects people who need support - the Lib/Tories are assaulting this principle.
Check out the Carewatch campaign here.
Labour introduces the Employment Support Allowance as a replacement to Incapacity Benefit contracting with ATOS to assess claimants - a process which has been widely criticised. The Lib / Tory coalition are pushing this much further, seeking to unfairly reduce the benefits to people. A civil society protects people who need support - the Lib/Tories are assaulting this principle.
Check out the Carewatch campaign here.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Benefit cheats!
This is from my friend Alan Wheatley. Labour introduced significant changes to incapacity benefits designed to stop peopel claiming them. They employed a private company to reassess people and ATOS have excelled at removing people from receiving benefits... Meanwhile £billions of tax evasion by the rich is ingored by our political masters in Whitehall.
This is from Alan:
Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd report that the policy of hiring private sector 'bounty hunters' to catch 'benefit cheats' from the private sector was actually implemented by New Labour before this year's General Election.[1] The idea of extending the use of Experian services to catch Incapacity Benefit fraudsters came not from the ConDems but from Experian.
It struck me when Parliament went into recess and the war against ‘benefit cheats’ was ratcheted up by way of the bounty hunters to catch bogus Incapacity Benefit claimants story, that the ‘silly season’ was perhaps the most apt time for ratcheting up smear campaigns — not only poetically, but also in terms of media barons’ deployment of staff.
Actually though, my experience as a successful ESA tribunal appellant has told me that ‘bounty hunters’ already existed, although they themselves should — in my view — be charged with benefit fraud. I’m talking about the ATOS Healthcare ‘Approved Healthcare Practitioners’ who conduct Work Capability Assessments on behalf of the DWP.[2]
None of the physical tests recorded on the report by Dr R of my Work Capability Assessment took place.
Further, in the ‘Occupational History’ section of his report on my Work Capability Assessment, he failed to include reference to my more than two decades of jobseeker benefit claimant status before my last waged work. Further, he failed to record that that last waged employment had only been so part-time that I still claimed JSA while doing it. I had also told him that I only stuck it out for 11 months because I learned through experience in it that I was more likely to go destitute in doing six hours cover duties per week at £7.81 per hour — and only £5 per week ‘earnings disregard’ — than get adequate in-service training to get more than 16 hours per week as a regular worker with own allocation of service users.[3]
Thus the omissions in the 'Work Capability Assessment' report on me conspired to make it look as if I was one of those people whose citing of mental health issues as reason for claiming Employment & Support Allowance was questionable. I had actually been looking for waged work as a lifelong disabled person, while government was pretending that Incapacity Benefit claimants were the only disabled people 'of working age' on 'out of work' benefits.
Like I say, in 2005-2006 I was only allowed to pocket the first £5 of my weekly earnings of £7.81 per hour. (That was except for the one Christmas week when covering for colleagues on Christmas hols netted me over 16 hours work.) Five pounds per week is less even than the hourly national minimum wage. Due to DWP understaffing and the ridiculous and demeaning admin burden of such measly ‘earnings disregard’ for JSA claimants, though I had conscientiously completed and submitted part-time earnings forms, the DWP had erroneously reported to my local council that I was not eligible for JSA. Only when I gave up that paid work did I get time to get through to DWP to sort it out.
Government's failure to protect benefit claimants from hardship does not make tabloid headlines
Yet I was not the only one to suffer from DWP admin meltdown. In 2004-2005, JobCentre Plus failed to answer 21 million incoming calls to its helplines. Claimants affected sometimes experienced destitution as a result, reports Community Care magazine. (‘JobCentre Plus: Poor service continues’.[4]) That is 44% of all incoming calls. Meanwhile, only 5% of calls to the DLA/Incapacity Benefit helpline were answered.
Napoleon said: “Attack is the best form of defence.” Similarly, the moral of my tale is that criminally negligent government with a mass media that is constantly vigilant against the wrong targets finds that smear stories against those it has let down the most are its greatest self-defence.
But social workers and social care workers who defraud their service users face the risk of criminal prosecution. ATOS, while, gets more work at taxpayers’ — and especially vulnerable people’s — expense. (Even benefit claimants pay VAT, so we are all taxpayers.)
NOTES
[1] Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd 6 Sepetember Newsletter
http://tinyurl.com/2bbt8vz.
[2] See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10159717 'New benefit system labelled unfit',
http://tinyurl.com/2fy7uad Community Care magazine search for 'ATOS', and you will see that my own experience of a quack service was not uncommon.
[3] The £5 per week 'earnings disregard' for JSA claimants aged 25+ has remained so low since 1988. See http://tinyurl.com/2eqk5dg
'Why people work informally while claiming benefits'.
[4] Published 16 November 2006. Search find link at www.communitycare.co.uk website currently not fully operational.
This is from Alan:
Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd report that the policy of hiring private sector 'bounty hunters' to catch 'benefit cheats' from the private sector was actually implemented by New Labour before this year's General Election.[1] The idea of extending the use of Experian services to catch Incapacity Benefit fraudsters came not from the ConDems but from Experian.
It struck me when Parliament went into recess and the war against ‘benefit cheats’ was ratcheted up by way of the bounty hunters to catch bogus Incapacity Benefit claimants story, that the ‘silly season’ was perhaps the most apt time for ratcheting up smear campaigns — not only poetically, but also in terms of media barons’ deployment of staff.
Actually though, my experience as a successful ESA tribunal appellant has told me that ‘bounty hunters’ already existed, although they themselves should — in my view — be charged with benefit fraud. I’m talking about the ATOS Healthcare ‘Approved Healthcare Practitioners’ who conduct Work Capability Assessments on behalf of the DWP.[2]
None of the physical tests recorded on the report by Dr R of my Work Capability Assessment took place.
Further, in the ‘Occupational History’ section of his report on my Work Capability Assessment, he failed to include reference to my more than two decades of jobseeker benefit claimant status before my last waged work. Further, he failed to record that that last waged employment had only been so part-time that I still claimed JSA while doing it. I had also told him that I only stuck it out for 11 months because I learned through experience in it that I was more likely to go destitute in doing six hours cover duties per week at £7.81 per hour — and only £5 per week ‘earnings disregard’ — than get adequate in-service training to get more than 16 hours per week as a regular worker with own allocation of service users.[3]
Thus the omissions in the 'Work Capability Assessment' report on me conspired to make it look as if I was one of those people whose citing of mental health issues as reason for claiming Employment & Support Allowance was questionable. I had actually been looking for waged work as a lifelong disabled person, while government was pretending that Incapacity Benefit claimants were the only disabled people 'of working age' on 'out of work' benefits.
Like I say, in 2005-2006 I was only allowed to pocket the first £5 of my weekly earnings of £7.81 per hour. (That was except for the one Christmas week when covering for colleagues on Christmas hols netted me over 16 hours work.) Five pounds per week is less even than the hourly national minimum wage. Due to DWP understaffing and the ridiculous and demeaning admin burden of such measly ‘earnings disregard’ for JSA claimants, though I had conscientiously completed and submitted part-time earnings forms, the DWP had erroneously reported to my local council that I was not eligible for JSA. Only when I gave up that paid work did I get time to get through to DWP to sort it out.
Government's failure to protect benefit claimants from hardship does not make tabloid headlines
Yet I was not the only one to suffer from DWP admin meltdown. In 2004-2005, JobCentre Plus failed to answer 21 million incoming calls to its helplines. Claimants affected sometimes experienced destitution as a result, reports Community Care magazine. (‘JobCentre Plus: Poor service continues’.[4]) That is 44% of all incoming calls. Meanwhile, only 5% of calls to the DLA/Incapacity Benefit helpline were answered.
Napoleon said: “Attack is the best form of defence.” Similarly, the moral of my tale is that criminally negligent government with a mass media that is constantly vigilant against the wrong targets finds that smear stories against those it has let down the most are its greatest self-defence.
But social workers and social care workers who defraud their service users face the risk of criminal prosecution. ATOS, while, gets more work at taxpayers’ — and especially vulnerable people’s — expense. (Even benefit claimants pay VAT, so we are all taxpayers.)
NOTES
[1] Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd 6 Sepetember Newsletter
http://tinyurl.com/2bbt8vz.
[2] See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10159717 'New benefit system labelled unfit',
http://tinyurl.com/2fy7uad Community Care magazine search for 'ATOS', and you will see that my own experience of a quack service was not uncommon.
[3] The £5 per week 'earnings disregard' for JSA claimants aged 25+ has remained so low since 1988. See http://tinyurl.com/2eqk5dg
'Why people work informally while claiming benefits'.
[4] Published 16 November 2006. Search find link at www.communitycare.co.uk website currently not fully operational.
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Carer Watch Campaign against the Welfare Reform Bill
The new Welform Reform Act 2009 (see here for brief summary), abolished income support for people with disabilities, terminal illnesses and very young children in favour of ability tested benefits (ESA).
Carer Watch have launched a campaign (which I fully support):
"CARERWATCH ARE FIGHTING TO RESTORE UNCONDITIONAL BENEFITS TO ALL PEOPLE WITH SEVERE AND ENDURING ILLNESS - SOME WITH ONLY MONTHS TO LIVE. IN PARTICULAR CARERWATCH WANT THE THREAT OF SANCTIONS AND CONDITIONALITY under ESA REMOVED FROM PEOPLE WITH SEVERE AND ENDURING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES."
Already there are reports that the assessments are penalising people who need support. These assessments are being carried out by private companies (as you would expect of this government, nice little profit margin here). But this is no way to support vulnerable members of society! One measure of a civilised society is how it supports people who need it, clearly Labour have not understood this.
The solution is relatively straightforward:
1. Reduce means and ability testing wherever possible.
2. Introduce a Citizen's Income and provide additional support for those who with diabilities, young children, older people etc.
3. There needs to be an assumption that people will seek work if they can. Reform the benefits system so that it gets rid of the benefits trap, allows people to seek smaller amounts work and accepts that some can't work.
Carer Watch have launched a campaign (which I fully support):
"CARERWATCH ARE FIGHTING TO RESTORE UNCONDITIONAL BENEFITS TO ALL PEOPLE WITH SEVERE AND ENDURING ILLNESS - SOME WITH ONLY MONTHS TO LIVE. IN PARTICULAR CARERWATCH WANT THE THREAT OF SANCTIONS AND CONDITIONALITY under ESA REMOVED FROM PEOPLE WITH SEVERE AND ENDURING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES."
Already there are reports that the assessments are penalising people who need support. These assessments are being carried out by private companies (as you would expect of this government, nice little profit margin here). But this is no way to support vulnerable members of society! One measure of a civilised society is how it supports people who need it, clearly Labour have not understood this.
The solution is relatively straightforward:
1. Reduce means and ability testing wherever possible.
2. Introduce a Citizen's Income and provide additional support for those who with diabilities, young children, older people etc.
3. There needs to be an assumption that people will seek work if they can. Reform the benefits system so that it gets rid of the benefits trap, allows people to seek smaller amounts work and accepts that some can't work.
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