Updates : the Fight against the Bedroom Tax

 All Posts, Benefits, Welfare reforms  No Responses »
Jun 192013
 

The fight against the Bedroom Tax and benefit cuts is spreading to new areas, as rent arrears and eviction threats sharpen the pressure. 

Manchester had a first victory last week, when protests outside Court headed off a Bedroom Tax eviction – see report and photo

Barnsley will be outside Court on Thur 20th when 700 people are summonsed for Council Tax arrears.  They are asking other groups to come with banners – details here (scroll down the page)

In Birmingham 300 people marched on Saturday despite pouring rain, in memory of Stephanie Bottrill – see BBC and ITV Central News report

Campaigns and growing rent arrears are upping pressure on Councils and landlords. Tenants are demanding to address landlords at this year’s big Housing Conference 2013 and will join a big Bedroom Tax protest when Lord Freud and other ministers speak to the conference 27 June in Manchester details here

Councils oppose Bedroom Tax:  36 local authorities met at Manchester Town Hall 7 June and called on the Government to abolish the bedroom tax – see report. This is a welcome beginning – we will continue to campaign and call for councils and landlords to agree “No Evictions” due to benefit cuts, as at least 15 councils have so far, and fight to ensure no one loses their home.

The first steering group meeting of the Anti-Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice Federation on 8 June (see broadcast here) heard reports from round the country and agreed the following:

Campaigning:

  • Produce more material including a guide on how to fight the bedroom tax
  • Feed the website, twitter and facebook with reports and stories: email benefitjustice@gmail.com
  • Frequent press releases

Organising:

  • Try to co-ordinate a network of local and national politicians against the bedroom tax
  • Start discussions about date for national demonstration
  • Next steering group meeting – early September – venue tbc

Diary:

  • Saturday 22 June: Help leaflet and talk about benefit cuts at the People’s Assembly – London
  • Thursday 27 June: Lord “Spare Mansion” Freud Protest -  Manchester
  • Saturday 27 July: National Day of Protests against the Bedroom Tax and Benefit Cuts - leaflet here

Keep in touch – let us know your plans for 27 July Protests – and if you have suggestions, want speakers or help.

Eileen Short

for Anti Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice Fed

Follow the campaign: www.antibedroomtax.org.uk     facebook: The Anti-Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice Federation Twitter:  @benefitjustice   

 

 

Information on Sanctions wanted by Boycott Workfare

 Action, All Posts, Benefits, News, Welfare reforms  3 Responses »
Jun 142013
 
Boycott Workfare is a UK-wide campaign to end forced unpaid work for people who receive welfare. Workfare profits the rich by providing free labour, whilst threatening the poor by taking away welfare rights if people refuse to work without a living wage. We are a grassroots campaign, formed in 2010 by people with experience of workfare and those concerned about its impact. We expose and take action against companies and organisations profiting from workfare; encourage organisations to pledge to boycott it; and actively inform people of their rights.

Boycott Workfare call for sanction stories

Posted: June 12th, 2013 | Author:  | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Boycott Workfare outside Policy Exchange after "ruining" their event

Boycott Workfare outside Policy Exchange after “ruining” their event

In return for supporting the passage of a retrospective law to steal £130 million from claimants who were illegally sanctioned, the Labour party were promised by the government that there would be an independent investigation into the sanction process. Of course, we expect little from an investigation that came at the price of justice for claimants. With no space for claimants to actually submit their concerns and experiences, the views of claimants will be not be represented.

With your help, Boycott Workfare would like to highlight the devastating impact that benefit sanctions are having on people’s lives. Collecting together your experiences of benefit sanctions we will be putting together a sanctions zine. Email us your words, however many or few you want to use. Things you may want to include may be:

- the length of the sanction

- the ‘reason’ the Job Centre gave for imposing the sanction and how they told you this ‘reason’

- how it affected your life, including its impact on your physical and mental health, your family and friendships

- how you coped during this time

- and how you are doing now e.g. still claiming JSA, stopped signing on, signing on to a different benefit, stress/worry about further sanctions etc.

- perhaps you have not been sanctioned, but have been bullied and threatened with sanctions

Email us at info@boycottworkfare.org

Feel free also to submit drawings and get in touch if you have any other ideas or suggestions. We also welcome submissions from those who are indirectly affected by benefit sanctions, such as welfare activists, welfare advisors and those involved in the Civil Service Rank and File Network.

We look forward to reading your submissions!

 Posted by at 16:22

Press release: Independent Living Fund – Birthday Protest

 Action, All Posts, Benefits, Independent Living, Independent Living Fund ILF, media, News, Welfare reforms  No Responses »
Jun 102013
 

Monday, June 10th -2pm Dean’s Yard, Westminster with delivery of Birthday Card and photo opportunity at DWP office, Tothill Street.

 

Disabled people will gather tomorrow to celebrate the twenty fifth birthday of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) which was set up to support disabled people with the highest levels of support need to live in the community instead of being confined to residential care. The silver jubilee of the ILF follows the government’s announcement in December 2012 that the Fund will be permanently shut from April 2015 leaving disabled people in despair about their future.

 

Since it was established on 8th June 1988 the ILF has supported thousands of disabled people to live active and meaningful lives enjoying choice, control and independence and being able to participate in employment and volunteering, education and training and family, social and public life.

 

Local authorities do not and cannot provide the same level of range of support as the ILF. Even for disabled people found eligible for adult social care services, support packages are ever diminishing as funding for local authorities is slashed. Since the closure of the ILF to new applicants in December 2010 there has been a marked increase in inequality and oppression with support packages that do no more than feed, water and maintain disabled people effectively trapped in their homes. This is inhumane and in clear breach of disabled people’s fundamental human rights.

 

The permanent closure of the ILF signals the end of disabled people’s right to independent living. A spokesperson for Disabled People Against Cuts said, “It is shameful that in one of the richest countries in the world, disabled people should be left to live this way and that independence and inclusion should be sold out in favour of inequality and oppression.”

 

Protesters will gather to share birthday cake and celebrate the lives that support through the ILF has enabled us to live before presenting a birthday card to the Department for Work and Pensions.

 

contact –

Anne 0787 2038370

Jenny – 07966 132 523

 

 

JSA Benefit sanctions sky rocket under coalition!

 Action, All Posts, Benefits, News, Welfare reforms  2 Responses »
Jun 082013
 

2.25 Million -But Why so many?

2.25 Million Jobseeker’s sanctioned
since Coalition came to office!

Are they serious?

These figures are truly earth shattering.

DWP figures which you can access here show that since May 2010 an astonishing 2,257,000 claimants on Jobseeker’s Allowance have had their benefits referred for a decision on whether to cut their benefits for a fixed length period.  The numbers of sanction referrals has rocketed from around 5,500 to 6,000 per month since 2000 right the way up to 2007, since then they have slowly increased but it is only since the Coalition took office that sanction referrals have sky rocketed to levels we have never seen before.  A study conducted by the DWP in 2006 showed that around 130,000 claimants in total were subject to sanction referral in a year.  These latest figures are seeing figures of over 110,000 in a single month.

From April 2000 to October 2012 there has been a total of 3,192,910 sanctions where a decision has been made over whether the claimant’s benefit should be stopped for a fixed period.  The fact that two and a quarter million of those sanction referrals have been recorded should be cause for serious concern as to the vigour at which they are being applied.

The DWP’s statistical footnote explains that ‘prior to April 2010, a Failure to Attend Advisory Interview attracted an entitlement decision. Since then, it has attracted a fixed length sanction of between 1 and 2 weeks.’  It is this kind of sanction which accounts for 1,150,670 of all sanctions – by far the largest number, this category has only come in to play since the Coalition took office.  487,980 reported failures to participate in the Coalition’s Work Programme are recorded since July 2011.  The fixed length sanction regime can last a longer than two weeks but the period of 1 to 2 weeks is what is recorded in the DWP’s notes.

These figures raise serious questions over the validity of the sanction regime.  It is simply incomprehensible that the rate of sanction should increase from 5,000 per month to over 100,000 purely because new conditionality has been built in to the claims regime. It should be remembered that these figures only relate to those claiming Jobseekers Allowance, the DWP has yet to publish full figures for the Employment & Support Allowance.

Questions should be asked as to whether it is the DWP’s privately contracted Work Programme providers who have simply become too ‘sanction happy’ in a bid to cover up their badly performing rates of placing the most ‘difficult to place’ claimants in to the workplace.  Claimants stand to lose their benefits for 1 to 2 weeks for failing to attend an advisory interview, in many cases their appeal rights are limited or not explained to them.  I can recall cases where claimants were sanctioned for the most bureaucratic of reasons.  In one case a claimant attended the Jobcentre for a full hour and a half in the morning happily going through all of his return to work options and was told he did not need to return in the afternoon to sign on at a desk which was a matter of a few metres away in the very same Jobcentre from where he was in the morning.  He was assured his signing details would be passed to the claims adviser and thought no more about it.  he later learnt he had been sanctioned for not turning up in the afternoon.  He ended up having to appeal – a process which took months.

One has to wonder if these sanctions are being imposed as a way of reducing the numbers who appear on the DWP’s payment database; which is needless to say closely linked to the data collected for Government unemployment statistics. Once a claimant has been removed from the payment database there is no telling how long it will be before the claimant reappears as a statistic – despite it being only a matter of weeks without benefit it can take months to adjust government statistics. 

Here’s the DWP figures:

 

 

Month                    

Claimants sanctioned 

May-10
Jun-10
Jul-10
Aug-10
Sep-10
Oct-10
Nov-10
Dec-10
Jan-11
Feb-11
Mar-11
Apr-11
May-11
Jun-11
Jul-11
Aug-11
Sep-11
Oct-11
Nov-11
Dec-11
Jan-12
Feb-12
Mar-12
Apr-12
May-12
Jun-12
Jul-12
Aug-12
Sep-12
Oct-12

61.020
80.410
84.870
84.170
89.180
88.490
87.250
67.670
73.500
80.080
89.130
62.540
58.970
54.260
48.830
51.000
50.740
52.700
61.930
52.140
65.390
75.520
86.310
80.560
98.220
88.840
110.470
96.270
97.040
79.500

Total 


2,257,000

A further DWP report issued in 2012 tells us how the sanction system operates in practice:

“If a claimant fails to undertake any activity required as a condition of their participation on the Work Programme without good cause, then a doubt may be raised against their claim. These doubts are referred to the DWP Sector Decision Makers (SDMs). Once the SDM has made a decision on whether to sanction or disallow/allow a referral, they enter their decision on a system called DMAS (Decision Making and Appeals System). The decision is also sent back to the Jobcentre Plus office for entry to LMS (Labour Market System) and JSAPS (JSA Payment System) which then makes the appropriate changes to the actual payment to the customer. ”

So it would appear the LMS records are updated upon sanction and will will have the effect of quickly ‘adjusting’ the unemployment figures – very handy.

Now lets compare those sanction figures with previous years using the same DWP data sources:

Month                    

Claimants sanctioned 

May-00
Jun-00
Jul-00
Aug-00
Sep-00
Oct-00
Nov-00
Dec-00
Jan-01
Feb-01
Mar-01
Apr-01
May-01
Jun-01
Jul-01
Aug-01
Sep-01
Oct-01
Nov-01
Dec-01
Jan-02
Feb-02
Mar-02
Apr-02
May-02
Jun-02
Jul-02
Aug-02
Sep-02
Oct-02

5.760
5.540
5.190
5.900
5.570
5.980
6.400
5.090
5.860
6.190
6.830
5.440
5.630
5.940
5.950
5.910
4.970
6.110
6.080
4.700
4.920
5.630
6.050
5.940
6.500
5.200
7.140
6.150
5.760
6.130


Total


174,460

Isn’t it astonishing that under the Coalition sanctions have soared to two and a quarter million compared with 174,460 over the same time period between 2000 and 2002? Yet the Coalition are always telling us how they’re reducing the numbers claiming Jobseekers Allowance with figures of approximately 1.5 million – they’ve seemingly sanctioned more than are currently claiming!

One also has to wonder how the rushed off its feet DWP is physically able to deal with this many sanctions, especially with all the appeals and reclaims it has to process – it all points to systematic chaos within the Department.

with thanks to the continously brilliant Nick for more go to

http://ilegal.org.uk/thread/7123/work-programme-working

Twitter: @Mylegalforum

Update and new Actions in Fight against the Bedroom tax

 Action, All Posts, Benefits, Disability Rights, Events, Politics, Welfare reforms  2 Responses »
Jun 042013
 

Last Saturday saw thousands on the streets again against the Bedroom Tax. Reports and photos are still coming in – see http://antibedroomtax.org.uk/ and Anti-Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice Federation on facebook

 

Reminder:

This Saturday 8 June, 12.30-2.30pm
is the first Steering Group meeting for the Anti Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice Federation
at Somerstown Community Centre 150 Ossulston St London NW1 1EE (beside St Pancras and Kings Cross rail and Underground station and very near Euston station)

All Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice groups, and other campaigns fighting benefit cuts, plus supporting trade unions and organisations, are invited to send reps.  Get in touch for details or directions.

 

Hull is the latest Council considering tenants’ demands not to evict due to Bedroom Tax. Councils agreeing not to evict is a big boost to campaign confidence. Even when they continue to threaten eviction, this promise helps to galvanise resistance and keep up the pressure.

Barnsley are already threatening court action and campaigners are preparing protests at court hearings.

 

Other Dates
15 June Birmingham protest march – No more deaths from Bedroom Tax. March has support of Stephanie Bottrill’s family, and all local groups are asked to come with a banner/placards.
25 June Manchester – Lobby the Housing Providers 12-1pm CIH conference http://www.cih.org/housing2013

Angela 28 Says: If they take away my Support it’ll be the End of my Life!

 Action, All Posts, Disability Rights, ILF, Independent Living, Independent Living Fund ILF, media, News, Resources, Social Model, Welfare reforms  3 Responses »
Jun 032013
 

As more and more people are finding that they go from hours to minutes of support from their local authorities, as ILF users are threatened with being passed into a local authority system that cannot serve the aims of independent living, and as independent living is becoming more of a mirage every day, despite article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (UNCRPD) – we look at Angela’s story. Angela contacted DPAC several months ago when it was clear that her local authority were carrying out practices that appeared to be against protocol -legal representation was found. However, this could not stop the real threats to the reduction of Angela’s support or to her right to independent living:

Angela’s Story
I’m 28 years old – but if they take away my social care it’ll be the end of my life.

I’m disabled but I want to enjoy life the way any other young woman can.  I have two volunteer jobs.

 Now they’re threatening to take this support away – leaving me isolated at home, forcing me to go to bed at 9.30 every night, not even able to go to the toilet.

I did a degree in psychology and criminal behaviour. It was interesting but nothing like CSI! During one of the seminars, I met a representative from Headway, the spinal brain injury charity and I’ve been volunteering there for the last two and a half years. I won Luton’s Volunteer of the Year Award last year.

I’m constantly looking for paid work. I don’t sit around watching TV, I never have, I don’t believe in that. I would love to get a paid job. I have tried. I’ve been for interviews for customer services and as a support worker. Even though we are supposed to have equal opportunities, people still look at my wheelchair.

I was hit by a car when I was two. I have a spinal brain injury which has affected my left side. I can’t walk because I have no balance, so I use an electric chair.

When I turned 18, Social Services helped me find a place to live and be independent. Social care gave me total freedom to get up, go to bed, go to the toilet and settle into my new home and life. With decent social care I’ve been able to do whatever I want. I can go out and enjoy life the way any other young woman can. I have two volunteer jobs, and I can go shopping and see my friends.

Suddenly, out of the blue recently they’ve tried to cut my care from 20 hours a day down to three. I was shocked, upset and angry. I tried to negotiate with the woman at the Council and was told “life’s not perfect for anyone”.  I don’t expect it to be perfect – I want to have a life like any young woman.

I’d have no freedom. I’d have to be in bed at 9.30pm and get up at 7.30am, with no way to go to the toilet in the night either. My carer wouldn’t have time to cook me fresh food (microwaved horsemeat lasagne here I come!).

Imagine living this life for the next 50 years. If I was stuck with that forever, I would give up and lose my passion for living. I would find a way to end my life.

What I’m asking for isn’t unreasonable. I just want flexibility and freedom and a little support. I’m not asking for the world. But I do want dignity and I do want freedom. If I wasn’t in this wheelchair I would have those things, so why shouldn’t I.

What’s worse is it isn’t just me. It isn’t just about reducing how much support people get. They’re taking away all support for some disabled people. Every disabled person who needs support should get it – this is about the basic dignity and freedom to live our lives.

The government has what they call a spending review coming up – it’s when George Osborne decides: How will he spend our money? What do we care about as a country?

Will you sign the petition I’ve started and send George Osborne a message loud and clear that we want adequate support for disabled people to live independently?    They spent more than a billion pounds just on the Olympics village where the athletes stayed last year, surely they can put at least that much into social support for us? We only have a few weeks!
Angela Murray

Petition: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/george-osborne-save-social-care-let-me-and-all-disabled-people-live-with-freedom-and-dignity

Please sign the petition and write to us at mail@dpac.uk.net with your stories. We are also looking for stories from people who were stopped from applying for Independent Living Fund support in 2010 when the Coalition closed it to new applicants.

This is not just about ‘care’ it is about independent living, the right to independent living and support for all. It is about the UK breaking its own signed commitment to the UNCRPD. It is about the impact on real lives like Angela’s. It is fundamentally wrong!

DPAC is continually gathering evidence of the impacts of the cuts, their effects on independent living and quality of life for disabled people and those with long term health issues. Unlike some other organisations we are keen to bring this Government to task through every route we can, including the legal system.

 

 

Ellen Clifford talks to Real Fare on Welfare Reform and Protest

 Action, All Posts, Benefits, Disability Rights, Welfare reforms  2 Responses »
May 292013
 

“The government have managed to get away with causing misery…and there hasn’t been an outcry because they’ve wrapped it up in all this language of reform”

Ahead of the national day of protest against welfare reforms this Saturday, we caught up with Ellen Clifford – one of the organisers of the Benefit Justice Campaign. In this first part of the interview, we talk about the Campaign, divisive tactics and the need for unity.

Ellen Clifford - Benefit Justice Campaign/DPAC

Ellen Clifford – Benefit Justice Campaign/DPAC

For those that don’t know, could you tell us a bit more about the Benefit Justice Campaign, how it came about and why now? 

The Benefit Justice Campaign was set up by three campaigns, DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts, Defend Council Housing and the Right To Work Campaign. We came together in January of this year because the people that we represent were being hit on all sides by cut after cut after cut from this government and we wanted to unite together to form a campaign. So rather than disabled people campaigning on our own, we want to be with council house tenants who were going to be hit by the bedroom tax, and with unemployed workers, and we also wanted to unite with workers through the trade unions because the government has been using a lot of divisive rhetoric about benefit scroungers and the difference between strivers and skivers, and we wanted to come together and overcome a lot of those myths, that a lot of people who are being hit by the benefit cuts are actually in work. And what the government is doing affects people in work and out of work – so to provide a combined campaign to oppose it.

Why have the government been pushing this striver vs. skiver debate? 

Well it was very effective and it has been very effective over the last couple of years. People have actually thought we really need to reform the welfare state. A lot of people talk about the need to stop all these people having a lifestyle on benefits. So actually the government rhetoric has been really effective, and what they’ve managed to do is they’ve managed to get away with causing misery and pushing many, many thousands of disabled people – the poorest members of society, into poverty. That’s what they’ve been effectively doing, but they’ve got away with it and there hasn’t been an outcry because they’ve wrapped it up in all this language of reform and saying that these people are taking all the taxpayers’ money, and trying to point the finger at people that don’t really exist. There aren’t people choosing to live a lifestyle on benefits because it’s ‘such a wonderful life’.

A lot of people would say we’ve got this national debt, so there has to be cuts. ‘Everyones feeling the pinch’, so what would you say to them?

Yeah, not everyone’s feeling the pinch. There’s a certain section of society that really isn’t being affected by it. Meanwhile, there are sections of society that are being hit over and over again. So research that came out recently from the Campaign For a Fair Society, showed that the poorest members of society are being hit harder than anyone else. But they also showed that disabled people with the highest level of support needs, people with complex and severe disabilities, are being hit 19 times harder than the average person so there’s no way ‘we’re all in it together’. There are some sections of society who are being deliberately targeted harder than anyone else.

“Austerity is lining the pockets of certain sections of society.”

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times Rich List in April showed that the 1000 wealthiest UK residents increased their wealth by £35bn last year. So some people are getting richer out of this actually. Austerity is lining the pockets of certain sections of society.

So why aren’t we attacking rich people more?

I think some sections of the population are, but we mainly do that through social media, through our own blogs, or through the left wing media maybe. Certain elements of the right wing media certainly have fallen in with the government and they will reproduce the government statistics which are shown to be misrepresented most of the time.

A Previous Defend Council Housing Protest in London Image: demotix.com

A Previous Defend Council Housing Protest in London Image: demotix.com

You already have a lot of support for the campaign, but how do you get to the people who are a little more shut off? There must be people who would maybe stand with you and support you, but they aren’t aware of what is going on. How do you get to them, and how do you get them to act?  

And it’s the isolated people who are more likely to be in trouble because they’ve got no support so it’s about reaching those people. I think through social media DPAC has got quite an online presence. We’re very involved in Facebook and Twitter and social media, and people find us through that because people are looking because they don’t know where else they can turn to. So that’s one way, but of course people don’t all have access to social media and the internet, and what we’re seeing increasing is local campaigns being set up and just going around, like I was doing on Sunday, just knocking on doors in estates where people are affected – so actually meeting people in person.

At the Benefit Justice Summit a couple of weeks ago in Westminster, you had many organisations coming together for different struggles – around 37 from around the country including DPAC, Hands Off Our Homes, Manchester vs. Bedroom Tax and so on. There was a lot of talk about unity, and coming together – why is that such a strong message right now?

I think people are feeling that because we’ve been attacked for the last couple of years and we haven’t managed to change it yet. The government have done some small U-turns – for example the bedroom tax exempting children with severe disabilities. But, we’ve never got them reverse the direction of welfare reform so I think people want to come together en masse to try and mobilise, to try and fight against the bigger things that are happening – essentially to get the government out and that’s only going to happen if everyone campaigns together.

Find out more about the Benefit Justice Campaign here.

Join us for the second part of the interview on Thursday.

Follow us on Twitter/Like us on Facebook

With thanks to Real Fare please follow this excellent blog

http://realfare.wordpress.com/

 

 

Another manipulation of figures by the right wing press and the Tory party about incapacity benefit claimants: Anita Bellows

 All Posts, Atos, Benefits, disability hate crime, Welfare reforms  1 Response »
May 292013
 

The chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Andrew Dilnot, has responded to a complaint from Sheila Gilmore MP regarding an article published in the Daily Telegraph which implied that 900,000 people who had been in receipt of Incapacity Benefit had dropped their claims rather than undergo a face-to-face assessment for the replacement benefit, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The article quoted Rt Hon. Grant Shapps MP, in his capacity as Conservative Party Chairman, as saying “This is a new figure, nearly a million people have come off incapacity benefit…before going for the test. They take themselves off.”

After investigation, Mr Dilnot concluded that these statements were misleading, although he formulates his response more diplomatically, as the 900,000 persons quoted did not appear to be claiming Incapacity Benefits, but represented the cumulative total of 878,300 new ESA claims which were closed before undergoing assessessment in the period from October 2008 to May 2012. Which means these people closed their claims before receiving benefits, and this happened over a period of four years. And according to research undertaken by DWP, an important reason why ESA claims in this sample were withdrawn or closed before they were fully assessed was because the person recovered and either returned to work, or claimed a benefit more appropriate to their situation.

Regarding claimants on Incapacity Benefits, a total of 603,600 recipients were referred for reassessment as part of the migration across to ESA between March 2011 and May 2012. Of these, 19,700 claims were closed prior to a work capability assessment in the period to May 2012.

Again, the right wing press and the Conservative Party have been caught red handed manipulating the figures. This is an exercise that DWP and IDS have also mastered over the past 3 years, by repeatedly using the number of new ESA claims to boost the number of people found fit for work, and distorting the real picture. The real picture for those who can remember the media headlines fed by DWP ” 70% of Britons on ‘incapacity benefits’ found to be fit to work”, is that with a much more stringent test, over 70% of people previously on incapacity benefits are still entitled to them.

Link to PDF copy of  letter HERE

The Atos experience: please read this

 All Posts, Atos, Benefits, media, Welfare reforms  7 Responses »
May 282013
 

When I received the initial phone call, from the DWP, I was hopeful that my health would be assessed fairly. I knew nothing of Atos.

I was told that during the process, I would lose no money. That was the first inaccuracy of many to come.

I returned the completed health questionnaire and waited.

Soon after I was summoned to attend a medical assessment at Wolverhampton, to be conducted by a ‘health care professional’ (HCP). This turned out to be the strangest medical I’ve ever gone through. I was asked to squeeze the HCPs fingers; I was asked to squat, and was told that I could use the wall as balance if necessary.

What possible relevance could these exercises hold?

The HCP spent more time looking at the computer monitor than she did in eye to eye contact.

The assessment eventually ended and I left, with a feeling of impending doom.

When I received the decision from the DWP, I was a little shocked, I must be honest. I knew that I could not carry out constant functions over a period of hours. I knew how my symptoms displayed themselves.

I sought help at my local CAB centre and almost at once I felt a sense of relief that I was not on my own.

The CAB advisor spent over twice the time the HCP had done and she came up with a report which clearly explained how my health affected my ability to carry out day to day functions.

There was nothing so profound in the DWP report.

My first appeal, to the DWP, failed as was expected, and I was advised to appeal to the first tier tribunal.

I also contacted my MP, Valerie VAZ, who wrote to the DWP, arguing that the assessment had failed to consider the degenerative nature of my condition, and was therefore flawed.

Soon after I received a phone call from a Decision Maker (DM) at the DWP who, after running through the assessment findings, offered another assessment.

Subsequent I received a new date with Atos.

This was in June 2012.

Between then and May 2013 I attended a handful of appointments, all of which were either cancelled by Atos due to my falling poorly during an assessment or for some administrative reason, such as computer problems.

On one occasion I was conveyed from the assessment centre to the local AE dept., when my BP & Pulse Rate were exceedingly high, and I was experiencing chest pains.

I spent the rest of that day hooked up to a variety of machines in the hospital.

Days later I received another Atos appt., this time for 0900…there was no chance I could make an appt. so early in the morning.

They should have been aware of this. It’s mentioned in my medical notes.

These frequent journeys were taking their toll on my health. My GP was so concerned that he wrote to Atos, explaining and sharing these concerns.

The Atos response was to change my AC venue from Wolverhampton to Birmingham, which is further to travel, and to approve a taxi, for collection and drop off at the attendance centre (AC). I already had a lift too the AC. travel was NOT the issue.

Atos had, for whatever reason, misread or misunderstood the nature of the letter from my GP.

The next appt. was the first taxi journey to the new venue, Birmingham, and my appt. was for 1:15pm.

I rang Atos at 12:30 just to confirm the taxi was booked, and was told it was.

13:15 came and went with no taxi.

The taxi arrived at about 13:25, which meant I was already late.

I arrived at 1355. Almost 45 minutes late.

To add insult to injury, I had pre-arranged to meet my welfare advice rep. at Birmingham. He was not happy either.

Understandable really.

More complaints were submitted to Atos.

This time they responded, eventually, with the offer of a home assessment.

Great news? No!

By the time if my tribunal I had still received no appt. for the Atos doctor to attend my home for the assessment.

My appeal was heard by the First Tier Tribunal and I was successful.

As good as this news is, it must not be seen as a way out for Atos. They caused considerable stress and aggravated my medical conditions for over a year with the catalogue of errors conducted by their staff. Pure and simple.

This would not be tolerated in any walk of life, so why should Atos be permitted to behave in this manner?

Something needs to be done.

I am hopeful that someone reading this will be in a position to offer some advice and support.

I am very sorry for those who are still fighting Atos.

I understand how they feel and I hope that something can be done to help them.

Thank you for reading this.

If any journalists would like to follow up this story please contact mail@dpac.uk.net

Achieve your Potential or Starve, The Government’s Real Message to Young Disabled People

 All Posts, Atos, Benefits, Disability Rights, DLA, ILF, Independent Living, News, Politics, Welfare reforms  4 Responses »
May 252013
 

Any campaign from this Government which claims to support disabled people should be viewed with suspicion and the latest offering from the DWP is no exception.

The department yesterday put out a press release boasting: “Celebrities have joined forces with the government to help launch a campaign aiming to promote positive role models for disabled people.”

This campaign features a youtube channel where 50 videos have been posted which have “been produced with a focus on overcoming barriers”.  Many of these videos are unsurprisingly about disabled people who have high flying careers, such as Dame Anne Begg, or are stories of disabled entrepreneurs.

The accompanying press release includes a gushing quote from Emmerdale actor Kitty McGeever explaining how after becoming disabled it ‘took some time to get back into work’ but she managed it with the help of the Government’s Access To Work scheme.

This scheme provides funding for workplace adaptations, travel or some care needs for disabled people in employment.  The number of people benefiting from Access To Work has plummeted by over a third since this Government weren’t elected showing the true situation for disabled people currently seeking employment.

Whilst this campaign may be a cheap attempt to improve those figures, it comes against a background of savage cuts to benefits, services and housing for disabled people.  It is a campaign run by a government which is declaring hundreds of thousands of sick and disabled people to be ‘fit for work’ with the aim of stopping their benefits.  A government which has been only too happy to force sick and disabled claimants onto workfare as part of the Work Programme -  with no public scrutiny of where they are being sent or for how long.  A government that is set to force potentially hundreds of thousands of disabled people from their homes due to the bedroom tax, benefit cap and other measures.

And when Personal Independence Payments (PIP) fully replace Disability Living Allowance, this is a Government which will have slashed completely a vital benefit for 20% of disabled people.

This move alone is likely to mean that over 50% of disabled people are forced to leave work as funding for specialist equipment, care and transport disappears*.

Vast numbers of disabled people are set to be plunged into poverty by these measures, and it is this which reveals the true intentions of this latest DWP run project.  One of the charities involved in the campaign is quoted as saying that the “project is about showing what disabled people can do – not what they can’t”.

This is eerily similar to David Cameron’s line when interviewed shortly after the opening of the Paralympic games when he said: “It’s about the inspiration and it will change people’s minds and that’s what matters. It’ll teach people about what they can do, rather than what they can’t do.”

It is also the line used to justify the benefit-stripping Work Capability Assessment which according to the DWP focuses on “what an individual can do despite their health condition, rather than simply what they can’t.”

Minister for Murdering Disabled People, Esther Mcvey also pops up in this week’s press release, and whilst not quite so explicit, her underlying message is the same:  “young disabled people tell me they want to see more inspiring role models to show where disabled people have achieved their ambitions despite the odds being stacked against them”

For young disabled people the odds are stacked against them like never before due to this Government and in this context the true nature of the DWP’s latest campaign becomes clear.  This is not about providing role models for young disabled people or helping people fulfil their potential or even changing perceptions of disabled people as is claimed.  This Government doesn’t care about any of that.  This campaign is yet more insidious DWP propaganda attempting to give the impression that those plunged into poverty due to the ruthless cuts to disability benefits will only have themselves to blame.  If only they’d learnt to play wheelchair rugby, or been a fucking Dame, then they could afford to put the heating on.

The campaign also has a facebook page which might be a good place to share experiences of what people can no longer do due to the vicious cuts to benefits: https://www.facebook.com/Rolemodelsinspire

Dawn Willis writes well about this kind of narrative: ‘I’m not Stephen Fry, how damaging is that?’ from Dawn

*this figure comes from a survey carried out by Disability Rights UK (DRUK) which reported that 56% of those asked said they would have to leave work if they lost their DLA.  DRUK are notoriously in the pockets of the DWP, with Chief Executive Liz Sayce writing a report which recommended the closure of the Remploy factories.  The survey relating to the number of people likely to leave work due to PIP seems to have disappeared from DRUK’s website, for which there is surely an entirely innocent explanation.

Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid

With massive thanks to the brilliant Johnny Void for letting us re-post

See more from Johnny at http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/25/achieve-your-potential-or-starve/

 

Eviction notice for bedroom tax? Journalist wants to hear from you

 Action, All Posts, Benefits, Welfare reforms  5 Responses »
May 222013
 

In response to the bedroom tax, have you received a letter telling you this is your “final demand” or mentioning impending “eviction”? I’d like to share the stories of people – particularly those who have disabled people or children in their family – who have received such letters because of the bedroom tax. Please get in touch on

frances.ryan18@btinternet.com

 Many thanks.

DPAC and TUC members in action of Solidarity! with film

 Action, All Posts, Atos, Disability Rights, Independent Living Fund ILF, media, News, Social Model, Welfare reforms  4 Responses »
May 222013
 

DPAC Logo 3 amendment 1 (Small)On the day of the success of the ruling against the WCA-Activists from DPAC and disabled workers attending the TUC Disabled Workers Conference have blocked Tottenham Court Road in an unprecedented act of solidarity.

 This Government has repeatedly used the language of division, trying to divide workers and claimants, public and private sectors workers, non-disabled and disabled people. Today we strike back as one, united voice.

 The Cuts imposed by the ConDem Government under the cloak of ‘Austerity’ impact on disabled people in every area of life. The scrapping of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will tens of thousands of disabled workers, and will force many of them out of their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people both receive and deliver public services as workers in Public Service Departments, Local Authorities and the Voluntary Sector. ILF and DLA play critical roles in maintaining people in these jobs. The 1% uplift limit on Benefits, Universal Credit and the Bedroom Tax will impact on many disabled people both in and out of work.

 The removal of many of our basic rights affect not just disabled people, but all of us. For example, the removal of Legal Aid for medical negligence claims comes at the same time as every single contract within the Health Service is open to tender by private companies. This has serious and significant implications for each and every one of us who make up the 99%.

 But not everyone is being hit by austerity. While multi-nationals like Atos and Capita make fortunes, tax avoidance and evasion to the tune of tens of billions goes uncollected. The wealthiest 1000 UK residents increased their wealth by some 35 billion last year while disabled people and the poorest members of society were pushed into poverty and despair as the targets of brutal cuts.

 Disabled activists have led the fightback against this Government since the beginning, and today disabled activists and workers lead the way again in the first joint, co-ordinated direct action by campaigners and unions on the streets of the U.K.

 Shabnam O Saughnessy from DPAC said: “We are delighted to be joined on the streets today by our union comrades. This represents the first steps towards uniting resistance from communities and workplaces. It dispels the myth of disabled people as scroungers and workshy. We are not some separate group of others, we are your friends and neighbours, we work alongside you. Many millions of disabled people are being affected by cuts, and today is about getting our voices heard.”

 Sean McGovern, co-chair of the TUC disabled workers committee said: “Trade unionists would like to send a clear message to this government that trade unions, workers and grass roots disabled groups stand together against the onslaught of vicious cuts rained down upon us by the Condems.”

DPAC and disabled workers from the TUC conference block Tottenham Court Road 22nd May

Notes

1)    Disabled People Against Cuts is a national campaign led by disabled people to oppose the attacks on disabled people being carried out under austerity. www.dpac.co.uk

 

2)    The 2013 TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference takes place on 22-23 May. The TUC Disabled Workers committee recently rejected an invitation to join the government’s new Disability Action Alliance on the grounds that involvement would restrict the TUC’s ability to campaign against government policies that are affecting disabled people.

 For more information contact Ellen Clifford on 07505144371 or ellenrclifford@btinternet.com

For updates see twitter: @Dis_PPL_Protest

and Disabled People against Cuts Face book Group

We previously incorrectly attributed a quote to  Mandy Hudson that was said by Sean McGovern. This has now been corrected after we were alerted to this by Sean (26th May)

Mental Health Resistance Network: victory on case against WCA!

 Action, All Posts, Atos, Benefits, legal challenges, local groups, News, Welfare reforms  9 Responses »
May 222013
 

Three judges today confirmed what DPAC and other campaigners have been saying since 2010– the benefits test used to decide whether people are fit for work, actively discriminates against disabled people and those with mental health issues

 Mental health Resistance network (MHRN) have won the judicial review case against the DWP on the clear inadequacy of the Work Capability Assessments. They supported two users who took a case against the DWP for the harm these tests do to those with mental health issues. The WCA has been severely criticised since the Condems took over the reins from the New Labour WCA inception, making the tests more and more difficult and more and more humiliating for all concerned.

 Last week Dr Greg Wood resigned claiming the tests were biased, there have been a number of high profile resignations from nurses resigning and claiming that not only were the tests unfair they were degrading. This is a subject disabled people know all too well, from the millions lavished on Atos for tests and the millions for appeals.

 The  judicial review focussed on specific issues for those with mental health issues – that of gathering supporting evidence. Under the current system, individuals are responsible for gathering their own medical evidence and sending it to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). If anyone fails to do this, it simply won’t be looked at, and in many cases if you do do this your papers will be brushed aside (see DPACs survey responses on the WCA HERE).

Reporting the victory DPAC’s sister group,  Black Triangle Campaign wrote:

“The judgment that the DWP is in breach of the Equality Act is a huge victory for everyone affected by severe mental illness, but it’s sad that it took a court case to force the DWP to take action”.

DPAC wants to congratulate the two people that took the case, MHRN and all others that supported this. We hope this is another step towards outlawing these tests and stopping them for the damage they are causing all disabled people as called for by the BMA and the RCN.

We note that the big Disability charities have , as usual, chosen to take the credit for this success and we say again that this success is due to MHRN a small group that chose to do something. It is due to the two people that took the case and the solicitors involved. This case was not initiated by any of the big disability charities-despite them joining in later to save face.

 The charities sat back and did nothing, but they are fast to take the credit for something that they didn’t even contribute too. We hope that the success of the MHRN actions leads to an end to this inhuman process for all and we congratulate them for their tenacity and their actions in getting someone done- to the charities we say: we know the difference between the real heroes and those that try to bask in reflected glory-if you had made the move that MHRN had or acted more vigorously we might applaud you, as it is we are, once more unimpressed by your actions.

 see also:

http://dpac.uk.net/2013/05/esa-regulations-25-and-31-campaign-black-triangle-to-meet-with-scottish-parliament-welfare-reform-committee-chief-this-thursday/

http://dpac.uk.net/2013/05/where-are-the-mental-function-champions-at-atos-and-other-atos-type-things/

http://dpac.uk.net/2013/01/dpac-press-release-wca-descriptors-fail-dwp-fails-atos-fails/

http://dpac.uk.net/2012/10/joint-statement-on-work-capability-assessment-wca-by-dpac-and-black-triangle/

http://dpac.uk.net/2012/11/dpac-survey-responses-on-wca-what-harrington-didnt-ask/

 

 

 

 

Will Legal Victory by MHRN against the Atos Tests be our Last?

 Action, All Posts, Independent Living, legal challenges, Welfare reforms  1 Response »
May 222013
 

On the 22 May the Mental Health Resistance Network won their Judicial Review case against the Atos tests (WCA) and the impact on those with mental health issues. We congratulate them, the two people that took the case and the solicitors for the work they have done in exposing the WCA for the nightmare that it is for those with mental health issues and all disabled people. The DWP say they will appeal the ruling: we hope this is the beginning of the end for the WCA and the horrors that it is putting people through. However, this success would not have been possible without legal aid, and is tempered with further fears of the legal aid cuts.

 The Condems have already pushed through some of their wealth charter on justice and legal rights through their punitive cuts to legal aid for those facing benefit problems. Its not over yet-they now want to re-examine the process of Judicial reviews. However, the cuts so far are already affecting the process of judicial reviews because the new rules mean that those solicitors who take cases are less likely to be paid with the Condem cuts. We do not see all the work that goes into cases nor the effect that the cuts are having on those solicitors and legal firms who believe that justice has no class basis and is not restricted to those with wealth. But the Condems have cut funds to solicitors and CABs which means we have fewer allies to fight our cases. The Condems are doing a great job of removing every element of human rights, welfare and social justice from the British people. We cannot continue to let them get away with it without doing more and more about it.

 The proposals cover a range of aspects of legal aid including criminal work, prison law and judicial review and it can be difficult to get across what it means.

 In judicial review, for example, it’s hard to explain the impact of the proposal to prevent solicitors getting paid for all the work they do on cases if they don’t end up getting permission to go to a full hearing. So many cases succeed before that by just spelling out what the public body is doing wrong so they realise they have to sort it out. But there can be loads of work involved in getting to that stage and it would be really hard if lawyers can’t get paid for that at all. Judicial review lawyers and other legal aid lawyers will try everything they can to keep trying to help people but it just gets harder and harder to survive and already that means it’s hard to find someone skilled enough who can take cases on.

 What is clear is that disabled people will be disproportionately affected within each of the areas that is proposed to be cut – including disabled prisoners and others in the criminal justice system but also in areas like public law/judicial review which disabled people need help with more than ever now because of the effects of other cuts.

 We are trying to encourage as many people as possible to come forward with stories that illustrate the real types of problems they face that legal aid is vital to help with. There is a brilliant website set up by someone from Young Legal Aid Lawyers http://savelegalaid.wordpress.com/

 People can submit stories of how legal aid has helped them (or hasn’t been able to help them because of the effect of the cuts already – eg in many areas there are ‘advice deserts’ where you simply can’t get hold of a lawyer with the right expertise). There are several about disabled people unable to fight injustice because of cuts already in place in many areas including the criminal justice system.

 We need to see more experiences good and bad – the issues and what can be done to sort them out are so invisible to most people. There aren’t many examples of disabled people tackling problems with social services cuts etc.

 The website makes it really simple to give the examples. It’s so important to show people that it’s not about lawyers, it’s about people who need advice, and it’s a false economy to deny them that, in so many ways not least undermining the rule of law because people have no real access to justice unless they are wealthy.

 Please help and give your stories http://savelegalaid.wordpress.com/

Tweet share on Face Book and pass this on- its up to us!

Please complete the consultation closing date June 4th HERE

More info on Consultation and what is happening HERE

Roll up and come and join our birthday bash on June 10th

 Action, All Posts, Events, ILF, Independent Living, Independent Living Fund ILF, News, Welfare reforms  1 Response »
May 202013
 

IN JUNE THE INDEPENDENT LIVING FUND IS 25 YEARS OLD. 

The ILF has been invaluable to enable disabled people to live independently now without even any vote in parliament or any discussion the Butchers of Benefits have announced it will close from 2015 with no replacement funding for more than 12 months maximum. Many local authorities have said this will result in disabled people being forced back into institutions or left to rot in their own homes without adequate levels of support.

On June 10th we’re going to have a birthday celebration with some others including hopefully a magician, street theatre, and cake plus lots of birthday cards to go to our DWP ministers.

We’re all meeting up between 1.30 pm and 2pm at Deans Yard, SW1P 3PA which is at the back of Westminster Abbey (ie the side that isn’t opposite House of Commons).

Nearest accessible tube is Westminster and for other travel information contact Transport for All http://www.transportforall.org.uk/

Hope to see you all there. Feel free to drop us a line at mail@dpac.uk.net if you can come to this. Bring friends, banners, and noise plus cakes if you can.

 Posted by at 21:20

ESA Regulations 25 and 31 Campaign: Black Triangle to meet with Scottish Parliament Welfare Reform Committee chief this Thursday

 Action, All Posts, Benefits, Welfare reforms  No Responses »
May 192013
 

By John McArdle Black Triangle Campaign
Sunday 19th May 2013

As our members and supporters know, Black Triangle has been at the forefront of lobbying members of the medical profession to help us bring an end to the DWP-Atos Work Capability Assessment régime at the earliest possible time.
We began locally when our campaign member and Medical Adviser Dr Stephen Carty submitted a motion through the Lothian Local Medical Committee (LMC) to the Scottish Conference of LMCs (Scottish GPs associations) at Clydebank last year.
The motion calling for the WCA to end “with immediate effect” was carried almost unanimously. We quickly submitted it to the UK LMCs conference in Liverpool, where it gained the overwhelming support of UK GPs before making its way to the British Medical Association’s Annual Representative Meeting where doctors from every discipline carried it almost unanimously on 24th June.
Sadly, as John Pring of Disability News Service has reported, the BMA’s leadership have so far failed to give any meaningful effect to the motion.
In November we launched our ESA ‘Substantial Risk’ Regulations 25 and 31 Campaign asking GPs to apply the law to discharge their ethical duty of care to act where policies and systems are causing avoidable harm to patients.
Where GPs have done this the campaign has been a great success.
We have distributed the information throughout the NHS locally in Scotland and 26 magnificent doctors from Scotland and the rest of the UK at the coalface of have joined with us in lobbying the BMA leadership to disseminate knowledge of the Regulations to GP practices everywhere.
The Scottish media has done its bit with coverage in The Scotsman, The Herald and the Edinburgh Evening News. We are deeply grateful to them for this act of socially aware and responsible journalism. However, we have been completely stonewalled by the UK London-based national media such as the BBC and sadly, even by ‘friendly’ publications such as The Guardian who, shocklngly (and not for the first time) do not seem to have found our campaign work meritorious enough to warrant a mention in their esteemed title.
As the environmental movement say: ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’.
This has been our tactic from the outset and in that spirit we have arranged to meet with the Convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee, Michael MacMahon MSP, this coming Thursday to present our case to him advocating that the Scottish Parliament now intervene on our behalf in support of our ESA Regulations Campaign.
As Sir Nicky Winton whose 104th birthday it is today has said:
“I think there is nothing that can’t be done if it is fundamentally reasonable.”
We are confident that our ESA Regulations campaign is fundamentally reasonable in every respect.
Further still, we are confident that once it receives the close attention it truly merits, it will prove to be the single most effective weapon we have as a civil and civilised society in fighting back to protect all our sick and/or disabled citizens from the most wicked, unconscionable and ruthless attack on the civil rights of disabled people in living memory.
If we in Scotland are successful in enjoining the support and backing of the Scottish Parliament in ensuring that all Scottish GPs know how to apply the regulations, we are confident that GPs in England and Wales will also rapidly follow suit.
Wish us luck and when we go there, we go there for you.
All of you.
It’s all we can do.
Solidarity!

reposted with thanks from

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2013/05/19/esa-regulations-25-and-31-campaign-black-triangle-to-meet-with-scottish-parliament-welfare-reform-committee-chief-this-thursday/

 

Hardship Payments,Budgeting Loans and Short-term advances

 All Posts, Benefits, Welfare reforms  2 Responses »
May 182013
 
“Crisis loansCrisis loans came to an end in March 2013. But if you’ve run out of money and can’t afford to eat or pay your rent, there are still financial hardship payments available from job centres and local councils.Local councils are now responsible for helping you if you’ve been hit by a disaster like a fire or flood and you’re suddenly homeless or can’t afford food or necessities.

The type of help varies council to council.

If you are on benefits there’s other money available, depending on your situation. The job centre won’t necessarily tell you about this, so arm yourself with knowledge.

1) Hardship payments

If your money from Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit has been stopped for some reason – for example you’ve been sanctioned because you haven’t applied for enough jobs – you might be able to get a hardship payment.

Apply by talking to your JSA advisor. We strongly advise speaking to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau first – getting hardship payments can be tricky and they’ll help you.

2) Short-term Advances

If you’re waiting for a benefit claim to be processed and you need money right now you might be able to get a Short-term Advance from the Job Centre.

How do I apply?

Talk to the job centre.

Who gets a Short-term Advance?

They’re available in all parts of the UK. You’ll have to prove that you’ll be in dire need if you don’t get any money – for example you don’t have any savings.

Do I have to pay back a Short-term Advance?

You’ll have to pay the advance back in three months (six months in exceptional circumstances).

3) Budgeting Loans (soon changing to Budgeting Advances)

Budgeting Advances help you with big one-off payments like rent, clothes and furniture. You must have been claiming benefit for six months to get one. If you haven’t been on benefit long, you can still claim a Budgeting Advance if the money would help you get a job i.e. with transport costs.

Who can get a budgeting advance?

People from all over the UK including Northern Ireland can get Budgeting Advances.

How do I apply?

Download the SF500 budgeting loan form from the GOV.UK website.

When do I have to pay back a budgeting advance?

They normally have to be paid back within 18 months.

How much can I borrow?

The minimum you can borrow is £100. The maximum number of loans you have at one time can’t be more than £1500.

Help – my claim has been refused

If you get refused for financial hardship help, you can ask the job centre to review the decision. You have to do this in writing, stating the reasons why you want the decision to be looked at again. You then send this to your local job centre who will forward it to the reviewing team. Once they’ve considered your case a reviewing officer will contact you.

Find out more about appealing a decision about benefits.

If that review is unsuccessful, you can send a complaint to the Independent Case Examiner who deals with all complaints against job centres.

If you don’t comply with your Jobseeker’s agreement, you may have your JSA sanctioned for a number of weeks. Your local Job Centre should ideally tell you if you’re losing your benefit and explain why, but you may find the money just doesn’t come into your account. 

If you find your JSA money has not come into your bank account, do the following:
Contact the Job Centre straight away to find our why it has not been paid.
If a sanction has been applied, ask why, and ask for information in writing.
Visit a local advice centre such as Citizens Advice Bureau as soon as possible.
If a sanction has been applied incorrectly, challenge it (your advice centre will help you).
If a sanction has been applied correctly, you local advice centre may still be able to help you access funds, food, and stop any further sanctions being applied to other benefits like Housing or Council Tax. They may be able to get the length of the sanction reduced.
You can also apply for a hardship payment if you can demonstrate you’re suffering from hardship as a result of the sanctions.”
Reply to this email to comment on this p

 Posted by at 20:59

Call Out for Disabled People who Missed Out on Applying to the Independent Living Fund

 Action, All Posts, Disability Rights, ILF, Independent Living, Independent Living Fund ILF, legal challenges, Welfare reforms  2 Responses »
May 172013
 

Government plans to permanently shut the Independent Living Fund are a concern for all disabled people and to everyone who cares about inclusion and social justice in the UK. The ILF was set up to support disabled people with the highest level of support need to live independently in the community regardless of their level of support need and when the alternative was residential care. The end of the ILF without adequate alternative support provision signals the end of the right to independent living for disabled people and a breach of Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People.

The ILF has been shut to new applicants since December 2010 and thousands of disabled people must therefore have missed out on support needed to enjoy full and meaningful lives. At both central and local government levels no information has been recorded to monitor the impact of this and to measure any potential breach of Article 19.

Inclusion London and Disabled People Against Cuts are asking for individual disabled people to come forward if you think you would have been eligible to apply to the ILF before it was shut at the end of 2010. It is important that information is recorded from the UK about any threat to disabled people’s fundamental rights and freedoms and will give disabled people in the UK the chance to invoke international protection of our rights.

If you are happy to share your story, information the support you get (or don’t get) and the impact this has on your life then please contact ellen.clifford@inclusionlondon.co.uk or phone 020 7036 6032.

 

Radical London: Organising in our communities June 8th

 Action, All Posts, Benefits, Events, News, Politics, Welfare reforms  No Responses »
May 162013
 

Organising in our communities, struggling for change
A practical day working towards mass grass roots resistance and beyond

Loads of us are involved in a wide range of struggles and campaigns, but we tend to do our own thing and generally don’t link up with others who live or work near us. Many others hate the present system but don’t know where to start to change things. So what do we do?

In order to create an alternative and to build the kind of society we want to see we need to start from the grassroots. One of many things we need to do is to organise in our streets, estates, workplaces and communities.

We need to link existing campaigns that are geographically and issue wise near to each other. We need to try to develop local groups throughout the country – although for this event we are only looking at London.

So, on June 8th we want to get anybody who is or wants to organise locally in London together to discuss how we can move things forward. Everyone has something to contribute and skills to share, whether you’re actively involved with struggles in your community or workplace or you’re just looking for somewhere to start.

Sat June 8th 10 am – 5 pm Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA (Map and directions at www.resourceforlondon.org )

For more information about the event or to get involved in organising it contact us at: event@radicallondon.net

 Older Entries
http://dpac.uk.net/wp-content/plugins/wp-accessibility/toolbar/css/a11y-contrast.css 19 queries in 1.432 seconds.