Feb 132024
 

Online meeting

Date: Sunday 18 February 2024

Time: 3 – 5pm

Zoom Link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83785735292?pwd=YjGm5MtbQiYOv1p6a9i1nClm3JrgQA.1

Meeting ID: 837 8573 5292

Passcode: 709981

British Sign Language Interpretation and palantypists provided

Speakers: Bill Scott, Senior Policy Advisor, Inclusion Scotland; Andy Mitchell (@BenClaimant), Unite the union; Michael Erhardt, Policy and Campaigns Officer, Disability Rights UK; Ellen Clifford, Disabled People Against Cuts and author of The War on Disabled People; La Toya Grant, DPAC Deaf group.

 

This meeting will go through the key changes currently planned for the social security system affecting Deaf and disabled people.

Topics covered will include:

  • Plans to tighten the Work Capability Assessment. Key groups of people affected by this will be those with mobility impairments or those at risk of harming themselves and others if forced to engage in work search activity.

 

  • Plans outlined in Transforming Support: the health and disability white paper published in March 2023. These include scrapping the Work Capability Assessment and replacing Employment and Support Allowance/Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work and Work–Related Activity with a new Universal Credit health component that is dependent on eligibility for Personal Independence Payment.

 

  • The roll out of in-work conditionality. This disproportionately impacts on disabled workers and women.

 

  • How Deaf and Disabled campaigners will be taking these plans and the harm they will cause to the United Nations Disability Committee in March.

 

There will also be a campaigns meeting in Parliament on Monday 19 February to explore how we can build a united resistance against these plans to punish hundreds of thousands of poor and disadvantaged people.

The meeting is open to all those who want to attend. Please let your MP know about the meeting and ask them to come along.

 Posted by at 03:55  Tagged with:
Feb 132024
 

Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm

Date: Monday 19 February 2024

Place: Thatcher room, Portcullis House, 1 Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2JR

British Sign Language and Palantypist provided

Co-chairs: John McDonnell MP and Martha Foulds, Disabled People Against Cuts [DPAC]

Speakers: Martin Cavanagh, DWP President, PCS union; Ellen Clifford, DPAC and author of The War on Disabled People; Meg Thomas, Disability Wales; Andy Mitchell and Brett Sparkes, Unite the union; Paula Peters, DPAC; La Toya Grant, DPAC Deaf Group.

 

This meeting will explore how Deaf and disabled people and our allies can campaign against changes to the social security system which will punish and remove essential income from the poorest in society.

We’ve seen and experienced the cruelty of welfare reform now for over a decade. Now we are facing new government plans to shake up the disability benefits system that will unquestionably lead to further harms and avoidable deaths, to deeper and more widespread poverty and to greater inequality.

In one example of this, savings included in the November budget are linked to lowering benefits for 371,000 disabled people who are already on poverty level incomes.

Plans published in Transforming Support: the health and disability white paper in March 2023 shocked and terrified Deaf and disabled benefit claimants. These were followed by a consultation launched in early September 2023 to tighten the Work Capability Assessment. Key groups of people affected by this will be those with mobility impairments and those at risk of suicide and of harming themselves or others if forced to engage in work search activity.

The plans are justified by unevidenced government claims that Deaf and disabled people can be freed from poverty through lowering benefit payments and mandatory activity supporting them to find work. The reality for many, if not most, will be greater poverty and hardship.

The plans have also been accompanied by media attacks on disability benefit claimants. Covid made it acceptable to openly treat disabled people’s lives as dispensable. Whereas media attacks during early welfare reform inflamed hostility towards claimants in the guise of condemnation of benefit fraudsters, now those attacks are directly targeted at disability benefit claimants with accusations that the system is too generous and open debate about whether those on long-term disability benefits should be supported by the social security system at all.

We know that the majority of the public are in favour of a social security system that provides a genuine social safety net and is targeted at the most disadvantaged in society. However, too many people are unaware of what is happening or unsure how to show opposition to it.

This meeting will hear from campaigners and trade unionists about what we are doing to raise awareness and to challenge the proposed changes.

It will be a chance for Deaf and disabled people and our allies to discuss what more we can do and how to build a united resistance that demands a social security system that is fit for purpose and fair for all.

 

Please forward details about this meeting to your MP, explain it is important to you as their constituent and ask them to attend.

For those DPAC members who can come in person, reasonable travel costs can be covered. Please contact mail@dpac.uk.net for more information.

Please also share information about this meeting among your contact networks.

 

 

Mar 252021
 

A photo of a white banner hanging from a bridge saying "No Cuts 2 Universal Credit #20More4All"

Fight for £20 more for claimants on legacy benefits

The government has extended the £20 uplift to Universal Credit for another six months but we know how callous and cruel it is not to apply it to legacy benefits, as explained in this short animation from Sheffield DPAC:

 

You can read DPAC’s report #20More4All – Why the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit must be applied to legacy benefits: testimonies, stats & facts here: https://dpac.uk.net/2021/03/20more4all-testimonies-stats-facts/

 

Why it’s important to take action

The government increased Universal Credit by £20 per week at the start of the pandemic, when nearly two million more claimants came onto the benefit, exposing the social security system to greater scrutiny.

Many claimants never got the £20 uplift in the first place. It was only applied to Universal Credit so those still on legacy benefits and not yet moved over to Universal Credit were missed out. Many of these are disabled and their living costs have been significantly higher as a result of the pandemic and needing to shield.

Out of work benefits in the UK are well below the amount needed for a decent standard of living. All benefits need to be significantly increased, not cut.

We need people to be properly supported in these difficult times. The benefits system needs a complete overhaul. The Universal Credit system doesn’t work – it has been proven be toxic and massively harmful.

As well as fighting for a permanent uplift – we must fight for it to be scrapped and replaced with a social security system that provides a genuine safety net for all that need it.

The free school meals saga shows that when people fight back the Tories can be pushed into U-turns.

We understand that many people are still unable to leave their homes and we are NOT asking anyone to put their lives at risk or to break social distancing guidelines.

We are asking people to do just whatever you can to build support for this issue and to let claimants know there is a fightback they can get involved with.

 

Ideas for what you can do to support the campaign

  • Take and share selfies hashtags #20More4All
  • Put up and share posters in support of the campaign. You can:

                            – make your own

                            – download a copy here: https://dpac.uk.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/20More4All.pdf

 

Mar 022021
 

 

Photo showing huge closed doors of the Treasury building flanked by classical columns. A lone empty wheelchair sits outside.

With so many disabled people shielding – justifiably in fear for their lives – it is a challenge to make visible the very urgent situations we are facing, marginalised and ignored as disability issues are within wider society.

And there are many, many pressing issues requiring the attentions of those in power. The fact that disabled people accounted for 59.5% of Covid-related deaths lsat year for one. Another, the subject of DPAC’s day of action today (1 March) is the fact that disabled people’s unavoidable expenditure has sharply risen as a direct result of the pandemic and yet the 2.2 million claimants still on legacy benefits – three quarters of who are disabled people – have been denied the £20 peer week uplift given to Universal Credit claimants from March last year.

There is widespread support for application of the uplift to legacy benefits but still the government has continued with its strong of excuses as to why this cannot happen. At first we were told the technicalities of setting up a system to make the extra payments would take too long. That was the start of the pandemic since when those techncialities could have been resolved many times over.

Then we were told that legacy benefits would be going up by 37p per week from April – an amount intended to reflect rising costs through inflation but representing an increase of only 0.5% while the state pension will be increasing by 2.5%.  It is also an amount that comes no where near enough to cover the additional costs of incurred by those who are shielding.

We have also been told that legacy claimants have the option to transfer over to Universal Credit when the DWP knows full well that will severely disadvantage those currently in receipt of the disability premium.

Now the line is that there are a whole package of protection measures that disabled people could/would/may have benefitted from such as mortgage holidays. Now there definitely are disabled people out there with mortgages who are financially struggling but the reality of disabled people’s lives and the oppression we experience means that for many of us owning our own home isn’t something we can even aspire to.

Given that clear mismatch between the reality of disabled people’s lives and the government’s version of how we live, we decided that some communication and education were urgently needed.

Given current limitations we attempted to do that by collating the various letters, testimonies and comments that were sent into us over the last few weeks from disabled people and carers, from those who have received the uplift and know what it means to them and from those who haven’t, as well as from decent members of the public who simply care about the issue. We did two things with these: 1) compiled a document combining lived experience with key findings from recent reports evidencing the need to retain and extend the uplift [available here: #20More4All: testimonies, stats & facts – DPAC  ]2) Printed them all out (anonymously), placed them in individual envelopes in a postage sack and arranged for a courier (paid above London Living Wage) to deliveer them to the Treasury for us.

A pile of letters in white envelopes addressed "To The Chancellor" A brown postal sack

 

However, we weren’t sure that even 190 letters and testimonies would get the message through.

So we created some very basic education tools in the form of wheelchairs to which we attached items and explanatory tags representing the essentials that disabled people are having to go without due to the financial pressures of the pandemic, including a blanket (heating); an incontinence pad (bathing, laundry and medicines); a face mask (PPE); an empty packet of cuppa soup (nutritious food) and an empty purse (enough money to live on).

Three wheelchairs in a row with a brown postal sack in front of them

An empty purse hanging from the arm of a wheelchair

 

An incontinence pad lying on the seat of a wheelchairA pink blanket on the arm of a wheelchair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A face mask hanging from the arm of a wheelchairAn empty Cuppa Soup pack on the arm of a wheelchair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our lovely courier attempted to deliver these for us to The Rt Hon Boris JOhnson, MP, The Prime Minister; to The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, The Chancellor of the Exchequer; and to The Rt Hon Therese Coffey MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Unfortunately neither 10 Downing St, HM Treasury or the Department for Work and Pensions would take receipt of our carefully thought out gifts. So we can only assume their ignorance continues. The Treasury refused even to accept the bag of letters from disabled people. In fairness to the DWP they did take a copy of our document compiling testimonies and statistics which they told the courier they would pass on to Coffey but we aren’t expecting a reply any time soon. The resounding impression of the afternoon is that once again the Tories are leaving disabled people out in the cold and assuming they can get away with it.

An empty wheelchair outside the gates to Downing St

A wheelchair outside the DWP

 

Mar 012021
 

To coincide with today’s day of action, DPAC is publishing “#20More4All – Why the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit must be applied to legacy benefits: testimonies, stats & facts”

The testimonies collated in the document have been collated together from three sources:

  • Responses to an online survey set up DPAC Sheffield and @ImaJSAClaimant. There were 177 respondents. 17% of these are on Universal Credit and have received the uplift. 84% reported they are in receipt of legacy benefits.
  • Responses to a survey carried out by Unite Community. 539 Community members responded. These include disabled people and unemployed workers.
  • Emails sent to Disabled People Against Cuts. These include three from legacy benefit claimants describing their everyday financial struggles and another 25 with copies of letters sent to constituency MPs asking them to support the extension of the uplift.

We have left the comments in people’s own words as we received them.

The research evidence section collates key findings from a number of recent reports that clearly evidence the need not only for the £20 uplift to be extended to legacy benefits and made permanent, but also the urgent for a new social security system that ensures a guaranteed decent income for all.

Linda Burnip, co-founder of DPAC, said: “The survey results show how necessary an uplift to legacy benefits is needed. People especially those in the WRAG who are being forced to live on a measly £74 a week are being left to starve or freeze. Even in austerity struck Tory Britain this is totally unacceptable.”

Andy Mitchell, @ImaJSAClaimant on twitter, said: “For me the comments quite clearly demonstrate how much the extra £20 is needed for the most basic of human needs. In a wealthy country, even after spending 10 years living through and being affected by austerity, it is deeply troubling that disabled people and families with dependent children are missing out on meals and cutting back on heating, As Linda rightly says, it is totally unacceptable – but it is something too many in society have turned a blind eye to for far too long.”

Jen Jones, founder of DPAC Sheffield and herself a claimant of legacy benefits, said:”I cried reading the replies, so many people who feel just like me. Forgotten, unwanted, or a burden, stated that they would wish the extra support for only the most basic necessities. To eat 3 meals a day, to be able to wash themselves and their clothes and to keep warm. We’re not asking for the moon on a stick. Support us to live.”

#20More4All – why the £20 uplift must be extended to legacy benefits – final

Feb 072021
 

image with the campaign slogan "No cuts to benefits Keep the £20 uplift & fight for more" with the hash tags #2-More4All #NoCutsToBenefits

Saturday 6th February saw a widely supported day of action to demand a £20 per week uplift to legacy benefits and that the government scraps its proposals to cut Universal Credit by £20 per week. See the report back here.

But there is still more to do over the next few weeks before Chancellor Rishi Sunak gives his Spring budget on March 3.

Help us build support for these demands and force the Tories into a u-turn.

What you can do:

– Put a poster in your window. You can download one here or ask for hard copies to be sent to you by emailing mail@dpac.uk.net

– Get on social media and post selfies and videos using the hashtags #20More4All and #NoCutsToBenefits

– Write to your MP about why this issue is important to you. There is a template letter you can download here

– Raise awareness and build support for the demands from your trade union, Unite Community branch or campaign group

– Organise or support on social media, local socially distanced protests or banner drops

 

For reasons why this is important:

https://twitter.com/imajsaclaimant/status/1357399387140460545?s=20

https://twitter.com/imajsaclaimant/status/1357401280751280128?s=20

 

 

Feb 072021
 

Dear [insert name of MP]

I am writing to ask you as my MP to call for the £20 Universal Credit uplift to be extended to legacy benefits.

This concerns/personally affects me because… [insert]

More than 2.2million claimants who have not yet been moved on to UC missed out on the £20 uplift when it was introduced in March. This is despite the fact that many of those claimants are disabled with underlying health conditions and their expenditures have significantly increased as a direct result of the pandemic and the need to shield for almost a year now.

UK social security payment levels also represent only a relatively small percentage of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). This is the amount calculated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as what is needed for an acceptable standard of living. After the uplift, UC payments are just 43.4% of the MIS.

For those still on legacy benefits, as they have been throughout the pandemic, the amount they continue to receive in benefits represents just 33.9% of the MIS.

Many of the more than 2.2 million benefit claimants who have not received the uplift are disabled. Disabled people have been badly hit by increased expenditures as a direct result of the pandemic and the need to shield. Many have been self-isolating for nearly a year now. Higher spending has been caused by, for example, the need to purchase PPE for social care support workers coming in and out of their homes, costs of online food deliveries and increased energy costs.

Research carried out by the Disability Benefits Consortium found that:

  • The majority (82%) of disabled people surveyed said they had spent more than they normally would – due to greater food shopping and utility bills, as well as having to pay for taxis to attend essential appointments – since the COVID-19 crisis began.
  • Two thirds (66%) said they had to go without essentials like food, heating or medication as a result of increased costs since the pandemic started.
  • Nearly half (44%) said they had fallen behind on financial commitments like rent, mortgage payments, or household bills.

In response to this research, the government says that benefits will be increased by 37p per week in April 2021 and that claimants still on legacy benefits have the option of moving over to Universal Credit.

Neither of these points provide a suitable remedy to the situation.

The benefit increase is designed to reflect higher costs of living due to inflation, not the pandemic. It is also below the level that is realistically needed to cover inflation, being linked to the CPI and representing a mere 0.5% increase while state pensions will rise by 2.5%.

Many disabled people are financially worse off on Universal Credit which for example removes both Severe and Enhanced Disability Premia and would have more to lose than to gain by moving off legacy benefits.

There is also the question of how disabled people without access to the internet or support to navigate the benefit system are supposed to be able to make the move over to Universal Credit with the operations of welfare advice and community support organisations so heavily restricted by the pandemic.

Keeping and extending the £20 uplift is vitally important to prevent greater poverty, debt and misery and to help those currently out of work to find employment.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

[name]

[address]

 

 

 

Sep 212020
 

 

Deaf BSL users are invited to take part in a workshop on the future of social security on

Thursday 1st October

2 – 3.30pm

via Zoom

 

The workshop is being hosted by the Experts by Experience Commission on Social Security, a user led project that is funded by Trust for London. All members of the Commission are people with their own personal experience of receiving welfare benefits.

 

Last year we put out a Call for Solutions and received over 900 online responses and around 100 feedback forms. Working with researchers from Warwick University and the London School of Economics we analysed the responses and put together our first ideas on what a better welfare benefits system could look like.

 

Now we want to go back out to Deaf and disabled people, benefit claimants and anyone with an interest in social security to get your views on our initial ideas.

 

This is important to us because at every stage we want to check our thinking is in line with what other people who are most affected by the benefits system think.

 

You can find out more about our work here: https://www.commissiononsocialsecurity.org/

 

To register your place for the event email ellenclifford277@gmail.com before 5pm on Friday 25th September. You will then be sent the link to join the meeting.

 

 

Sep 112020
 

Members of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) are invited to take part in an online workshop on the future of social security.

 

Monday 19 October

7 – 8.30pm

via Zoom

 

The workshop is being hosted by the Experts by Experience Commission on Social Security, a user led project that is funded by Trust for London. All members of the Commission are people with their own personal experience of receiving welfare benefits.

Last year we put out a Call for Solutions and received over 900 online responses and around 100 feedback forms. Working with researchers from Warwick University and the London School of Economics we analysed the responses and put together our first ideas on what a better welfare benefits system could look like.

Now we want to go back out to Deaf and disabled people, benefit claimants and anyone with an interest in social security to get your views on our initial ideas.

This is important to us because at every stage we want to check our thinking is in line with what other people who are most affected by the benefits system think.

You can find out more about our work here: https://www.commissiononsocialsecurity.org/

To register your place for the event email ellenclifford277@gmail.com before 5pm on Friday 25th September. You will then be sent the link to join the meeting.

 

 

Jul 282020
 

Depression, Work and Welfare: their Interaction over Time

I am a student of University of Essex and I am looking for participants for my project
about unemployment, depression and benefits. This project is independent of
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Job Centres and other related agencies.

To see if you can help, please answer the next four questions.
1. Have you been unemployed (now or in the past)?
2. Are you trying to find work or are you currently working?
3. Have you experienced depression before or during your unemployment?
4. Have you needed welfare benefits (now or in the past)?

If your answer is ‘yes’ to all four questions, I would like to hear about your
experiences in relation to unemployment, benefits and depression. In this
project, I collect stories about how people tried to break out of unemployment. I hope
to learn about things that helped, and issues or barriers people experienced.
I am keen to talk to people from a variety of backgrounds, including those from
minority and marginalised groups. Participants will be mainly from a large area
between London and East Anglia.

It is important I talk to people who have good, not so good or mixed experiences. In
this project, everyone’s opinion is important.

What do I get out of participating?
– It is an opportunity for you to speak freely about your experiences. Please often find
talking about their experiences enjoyable and worthwhile.
– I will be keen to let you know about the findings, and to tell you how the findings are
shared with a wider audience.
– Your time and effort will be much appreciated, and as a ‘thank you’ you will receive a
£15 high street voucher after the interview.

If you are interested in the study, it is important that you understand the purpose of
the research and what it will involve. Please read the information below carefully and
take time to decide whether you would like to take part. I will be happy to answer any
questions you have to help your decision.

How do I sign up?
You can contact me directly via email: kn18837@essex.ac.uk

What happens next?
I will get in touch with you within a few days and will ask a few questions about you
and answer any questions you have about the research.
If you are still happy to take part, I will arrange a suitable time and mode for the
conversation. The meeting will take about one hour. We can talk via a video call or
over the telephone, whichever way you feel the most comfortable. When the
research is completed, you will receive a report about the findings, if you are
interested.

A few more things you need to know
• You need to be at least 18 years old to take part.
• Participation is voluntary. You can withdraw at any time and you do not need
to explain why you would like to stop participating. If you withdraw from the
study, you can ask the researcher to use or destroy your data and any
information you have given and not to contact you again.
• You have the right to refuse to answer or respond to any question that is
asked of you.
• Your name will not be used and will be replaced with a random name.
• Your anonymity and your identity will be kept confidential and data will be kept
secure.
• The project will be written up as a thesis dissertation at the University of
Essex. It is planned to be shared in relevant circles and published as a journal
article.
• Some of your words may be used in reports but under another name so the
readers will not know who you are.
• Participation will not affect your benefits. No information about you is shared
with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Job Centres, HM Revenue
and Customs (HMRC) or the agency that asked you to take part.
• This project is organised by Krisztina Nemeth, Trainee Clinical Psychologist
and is funded by the Health and Social Care Department of the University of
Essex. The title of the project is: Depression, Work and Welfare: their
Interaction over Time.
• The legal basis for processing your personally identifying data is that you
have consented to it. The data controller is the University of Essex. Essex
University’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted on dpo@essex.ac.uk .
• The proposal has been reviewed by the Faculty of Science & Health Ethics
sub-Committee.
• If you have any issues or problems with the study, please contact the
researcher (kn18837@essex.ac.uk) or the project supervisor

Jul 092020
 

Blog post by Colin Hampton

I have been the Coordinator of the Derbyshire Unemployed Workers’ Centres since 1985. In that time I have witnessed the course of Labour Party policy in relation to social security and on occasions, together with colleagues, met ministers and shadow ministers to express our views, concerns and policy proposals.

On reading the interview with Labour’s recently appointed Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Reynolds I was reminded of the decades of missed opportunities in developing social security policies that we can all campaign around.

The present pandemic has shaken up the world. One consequence of the lockdown has been the challenging of entrenched views towards low paid workers and those vulnerable within our communities. Even the most diehard Conservative, preaching self-reliance and privatisation, must have had at least a fleeting moment of reflection. We are not islands on our own, but are interdependent for our mutual survival. All those cleaners, shop assistants, delivery drivers etc have been given new status during this time, though not reflected in their wages of course. The homeless must be given shelter-so as not to infect us! People must be given furlough payments when unable to work even if only to prevent looting and social unrest.

The diehard Conservatives, like most of us, will ignore evidence that does not fit in with their strongly held views that give them comfort – but for many the lightbulb will have flickered. Those clapping our key workers will be people who have swallowed the daily diet of propaganda blaming poverty on the poor and unemployment on the unemployed themselves. Workers will be waking up to the realities of claiming benefits and finding it is not the garden of roses that they have been led to believe. I have witnessed the process many times when mass redundancies have affected Derbyshire. Experience is the greatest educator. However, we must seize the narrative to make sure that when people reflect on that experience, the conclusions they draw, enable policy changes bringing social security for all.

The Labour Party is primarily interested in winning elections. It is more interested in winning office at all levels of government rather than changing the world. Readers may disagree but for the large part, little has changed for the better during my six decades, and the situation of those out of work and claiming benefits is worse now than even under the dark days of the 1980s, and I speak from the experience of dealing with the issues on a daily basis for much of that time. This is despite a significant period of Labour government. Jonathan Reynolds will be more interested in becoming a Government Minister than battling for a better world for those dealing with the DWP on a daily basis. I do not say this with relish, it is merely a reflection of years of experience.

Social Security should be a vote winner for Labour but as each election approaches it never has a comprehensive policy plan or even a vision to give to the electorate of what it actually wants to achieve. Before the 1997 election of Tony Blair’s new Labour government a group of activists from the Unemployed Workers Centres went down to Parliament to meet the shadow ministers responsible for work and pensions issues. This was just following the introduction of the Jobseekers Allowance. Chris Smith MP and Ian McCartney MP assured us that once elected, they would alter beyond recognition, through regulation, the Jobseekers Allowance and its sanctions regime. Claimants groups would be in the midst of all policy formulation through consultation and involvement. The election happened and all that changed was the jobs of Chris Smith and Ian McCartney. Jobseekers Allowance was entrenched and the sanctions regime made harsher. The language of hard-working families was developed and each year the public attitude surveys showed the increasing lack of empathy towards claimants at the same time as benefit levels plummeted relative to wages. Despite being in a position to change things for the better for the poorest and most vulnerable, the opposite was done. No attempt was made to challenge and change the perception of those forced to claim benefits through sickness, disability or lack of opportunities in areas ravaged by unemployment. For the most part only supply-side policies were used e.g. new deal, which emphasised that unemployment and poverty were the fault of those not doing enough to find work. Casualisation of employment became entrenched. In Chesterfield there were more employment agencies than mobile phone shops and the job centre became a recruiting sergeant for the army of private sector agency job providers. Jobs had to be taken if no hours or conditions of work were advertised in the job centre. Zero hours work became normalised.

It was at this point that Jonathan Reynolds erstwhile boss James Purnell took the reins of the Department for Work and Pensions. When Mark Serwotka describes Parnell as “the worst social security minister under new Labour” It is worth taking note. Jobseekers allowance sanctions had rocketed under John Hutton’s tenure. Many now forget that benefit sanctions went through the roof under new Labour, preparing the way for the atrocities brought to bear on people following the introduction of employment and support allowance work capability assessments under Purnell and the coalition government thereafter. Some of Purnell’s ideas included charging interest of 26.8% per annum on crisis loans to the unemployed and plans that the TUC said are reminiscent of workfare, claimants being forced to work full time for their benefits after two years unemployment. National salary insurance was another of his ideas. This plan would see a trebling of jobseekers allowance rates for redundant workers to be repaid when they have found work once more. The idea was framed in the language that people in Britain do not feel that they get back from the welfare state what they put in. Sounds familiar – it should do as Jonathan Reynolds says “welfare should reflect what you put in to tackle public mistrust”. This was the headline on his June 2020 interview.

The leadership of Jeremy Corbyn was refreshing for those campaigning on issues of unemployment and poverty. For the first time in my 35 years at the Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre I felt that the Labour leadership, if not all of its MPs, were on the side of those facing poverty, homelessness, destitution and were not afraid to say it. My local MP told me, at the time of Ed Miliband’s leadership, not to expect support for benefit increases, elimination of sanctions or an ending of work capability assessments because the Labour Party was not going to be triangulated by the Tories as the party of the unemployed and the scrounger. I respect his honesty. Under Corbyn and McDonnell there was a huge shift in this regard and I can’t recall anyone arguing that the 2017 and 2019 election defeats where in any way down to the leadership’s antipoverty rhetoric.

It must still be pointed out that although the issue of social security was always said to be a priority of an incoming Labour government in 2019 they were very shy at offering a vision of practical policies that might be advanced. As the possibility of government became closer the policies around Social Security policy were the least developed for fear both of costing and divisions in the party and membership over universal credit/universal basic income, and associated issues around labour market policy. The manifesto reported “We will….. design a system that will treat people with dignity and respect. Our ambition in designing this system will be to end poverty by guaranteeing a minimum standard of living “.

I have been saying for the last three decades that the labour and trade union movement needs to develop this “system” whether in government or not. The Tories, when out of office for 13 years, had the hilariously named Centre for Social Justice and the development of universal credit. Similarly we must use our time out of Government to develop policy initiatives and cultivating wide support through the engagement and involvement of all those that have experience as well as a stake in the policy formation. The Unemployed Workers Centres along with Unite community, PCS, TUC and many others have already backed a Welfare Charter laying down the principles on which these policies should be developed. The major trade unions and the TUC have supported the principal of universal basic income. As a movement we need to come together with a plan. No doubt it will not suit everybody, but we have to have a plan. We cannot leave this to the Labour Party. They will want to tinker about with the present system fearing the electorate if seen to be soft on benefit claimants. I once took the Guardian’s Amelia Gentlemen to visit 6 ESA claimants who had been given zero points on the work capability assessment. These people were so obviously never likely to work ranging from a young person with special-needs to a man who was drinking morphine out of a bottle, he was in so much pain during the interview. Each one after angrily expressing their case to the journalist finished by attacking other benefit claimants on their estate saying “they are the ones who shouldn’t be getting benefits-not me!” The propaganda runs deep, but a tipping point has been reached and Corbyn and McDonnell showed that we should not be fearful in arguing for dignity and Social Security for all. It is no use any longer having ambitions and visions we need plans and policies. The Reverend Paul Nicholson, the great antipoverty campaigner died earlier this year. When Tony Blair and allies continually talked about ending child poverty by 2020 he said on many occasions “does that mean child poverty is acceptable in the meantime.” Of course it isn’t and we must not waste any more time in outlining the practical ways in which it is to be eliminated. Our job is to keep up the pressure, to understand the limitations and constraints of the Labour Party, to work with the trade unions and disability groups and organisations. In doing so public support for radical policies has to be pursued. You never know, if that happens, even Starmer’s Labour party might get on board.

 

 

 

Jun 272020
 

Logo of #SUCA showing a badge saying "Stop & Scrap Universal Credit"

The three month suspension of conditionality and sanctions ends on 30th June. This measure was brought in by the government during the Covid-19 outbreak. No information about how they will be restarted has been forthcoming or when job centres will be re-opened. Claimants have been left both anxious and uncertain. There is now overwhelming evidence of both the serious harm that the sanctions regime inflicts on the most disadvantaged members of society and the fact that sanctions are punitive and counter-productive to the aim of getting people off benefits and into work. 

Join the Scrap Universal Credit Alliance in our demands to:

#EndConditionality

#ScrapSanctions

#NoMoreBenefitDeaths

 

Ways you can get involved:

  • Get active on social media at 12 lunchtime on 1 July using the above hashtags and directed @DWP @justintomlinson @theresecoffey . You can find a list of findings, facts, stats and links for reference here: https://dpac.uk.net/2020/06/sanctions-findings-facts-stats-and-links/
  •  Write to your MP asking them to put pressure on the government not to restart conditionality and sanctions. Please let us know any responses that you get.
  • We encourage people to write to their MPs. You can find a template letter here: [to be added]
  • Write to your local paper
  • If you think you may be affected by conditionality restarting and putting your safety at risk because you still need to shield it may be worth gathering what medical evidence you have (for example if received a letter or correspondence from the NHS telling you to continue shielding until the end of July) and pro-actively sending it in to your job centre/adding it in to your Universal Credit journal. It is difficult to know what to do given the complete absence of information from the government.

 

Jun 252020
 

6.30 – 8.30 pm

Monday 29 June

Watch live on DPAC Facebook page, Twitter or YouTube channel.

Speakers: Ellen Morrison (DPAC); Grace Blakeley (British economics and politics commentator and journalist); Mark Dunk (co-author of Universal Basic Income: Reasons to be Cheerful or No Go Central?), Matt Breunig (US policy analyst and founder of the People’s Policy Project),  David Bush (Editor, Spring magazine) Simone Aspis (disabled activist), Bill Scott (Senior Policy Advisor, Inclusion Scotland), Mandy Hudson (teacher, member of the National Education Union and disability rights activist based in Ealing) and Paul Collins (vice Chair and Equalities Officer of Henley Constituency Labour Party).

Join us to debate the arguments for and against universal basic income. We will also hear from international allies about UBI pilots around the world.

Jun 192020
 

 

Speakers: Charlotte Hughes (The Poor Side of Life); Gail Ward (DPAC North East); Andy Mitchell (Unite Community); Mark Harrison (Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance); Fran Heathcote (National President, PCS Union); Dave Allan (TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee/Unite the union); Kate Summers (researcher, London School of Economics); Jay Mehta (clinical psychologist); Jennifer Jones (Sheffield DPAC) and with Paula Peters and Mark Dunk from DPAC.

6.30 – 8.30pm – Monday 22 June

Watch via:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPiFIM4pWlJaV6Ohw_ojGoQ/videos

https://www.facebook.com/pg/disabledpeopleagainstcuts/videos/

 

The Covid-19 outbreak prompted millions more people to apply for UC and discover the realities of dealing with the DWP and rules such as the five week wait and savings threshold. At the same time, the government announced temporary measures on issues campaigners have been pushing for, for years. The uprating of UC has not been applied to legacy benefits, creating a two tier benefits system. Disabled campaigners were alarmed by comments from Labour’s new shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions suggesting that those who work should be entitled to more from the social security system than those who don’t. The fundamental problems with UC highlighted so disparagingly in 2018 by the United Nations rapporteur on Extreme Poverty Philip Alston, have not changed and DPAC continues to demand that UC is stopped and scrapped.

This meeting hosted by DPAC for disabled campaigners and our allies will be a chance to review the situation with Universal Credit and discuss how we take the Stop and Scrap campaign forward in the current climate.

#StopandScrap #WaronDisPpl

Jun 122020
 

Last week, Disabled People Against Cuts wrote to Labour’s shadow Secretary of state for Work and Pensions, Jonathan Reynolds. We raised concerns about comments he made in an article for Politics Home where he suggested a new social security system is needed  – one where those who pay more in get more out. DPAC like many other disabled campaigners are concerned that this approach will disadvantage disabled people who are unable to work and thus to “pay in”.

You can see a copy of our letter here: https://dpac.uk.net/2020/06/dpacs-letter-to-jonathan-reynolds-mp-regarding-his-statement-today-that-welfare-should-reflect-what-you-put-in-to-tackle-public-mistrust/

Reynolds replied to us on 11 June. His response is below:

 

Dear Steering Group,

 

Thank you very much for your email. I hope that this can help clarify my thoughts on this matter. The first thing I would like to stress to you is that support for disabled people and those with caring responsibilities is not and never should be contributory. I emphasised this in my interview with The House last week.

 

Contributory benefits have been part of the UK’s social security system from the very beginning. Although their role has reduced over time, they remain a key component of the welfare state today. The state pension is the biggest example of a contributory benefit. In addition, anyone who has lost their job during this crisis and who is ineligible for Universal Credit will predominantly have to rely on Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA).

 

Jobseeker’s Allowance (now called ‘new style’ Jobseekers Allowance) is also a contributory benefit. To qualify a person must have paid National Insurance for the two years preceding their claim.  It is not a marginal part of the system: between 16th March and the end of April a quarter of a million claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance were made. If a person qualifies for JSA, they are eligible for payment regardless of their partner’s income or the savings they possess (unlike Universal Credit). It is possible to be eligible for both JSA and Universal Credit at the same time, but under the way Universal Credit works any JSA would automatically be deducted from your UC claim so most people don’t bother claiming both.

 

Under the proposals Labour put forward at the beginning of the Covid crisis, people would both get more from Universal Credit (because we would abolish the benefit cap and the two child limit) and more people would be eligible to receive Universal Credit to begin with, because we would also suspend the savings thresholds. These thresholds – a particular severe version of the means test – exist because the Government believes if you fall on hard times you should spend your savings to support yourself regardless of the contributions you have made to date. If you have been saving for a housing deposit, or are an older person with relatively modest lifetime savings, you could be heavily penalised.

 

But even allowing for these changes we have called for, some people would still be relying on Jobseeker’s Allowance. The amount received is far from generous: just £74.35 for most people, and an even more miserly £58.90 if you are aged under 24. This is why we have also called for the uprating of both JSA (and ESA) in line with the increase in Universal Credit at the beginning of the crisis. However, if you compare this to a country like Sweden – widely acclaimed as one of the best systems in the world for supporting people through unemployment – you would find workers there who have paid contributions are eligible for 80% of their former earnings for 300 days in the event they lose their job, subject to a daily cap but with no means test. In addition, for those who have not paid into contributory funds the minimum provision is still considerably higher than ours. Social security systems that offer real protection for everyone tend to enjoy much higher levels of popular support and are more effective as a result.

 

It is a fundamental mistake to believe contribution is not still a part of our existing system or to assume contributory benefits somehow exist at the expense of universal provision. In the UK our social security has always been a combination of universal components (eg child benefit, until the Coalition Govt), means tested components (income support and now Universal Credit), and contributory benefits. This is separate to the support we have for disabled people and those with caring responsibilities. As we develop our policies to replace Universal Credit, eradicate child poverty, and develop a modern social security system that is truly fit for purpose, we need to consider what should happen to all these existing parts of the system. But I recognise we will not win support for this agenda unless we can demonstrate that the system we design will be there for everyone when they need it.

 

I wanted to make a final note on language. Because the UK’s current social security has so many holes in it, the consequences of not being within the remit of the furlough or self-employed scheme during this crisis are significant. For these people to then find out they are ineligible for Universal Credit, or only eligible for modest contribution-based support, causes understandable discontent. My constituents in this position tell me they feel they have contributed throughout their lives to a system that has not supported them when they most needed it. I would strongly draw a distinction between that genuine sentiment, and the language of someone like George Osborne with his rhetoric on skivers and shirkers, or the deserving or undeserving poor. We must always root our language and policies in the everyday lived experience of the public, and together build support for a system that everyone can rely on.

 

Thank you again for raising your concerns. I hope that this has helped allay any concerns you had. If you would like to discuss this any further, I would be more than happy to speak with you over the phone or Zoom.

 

With very best wishes

Jonathan

 

Jonathan Reynolds MP
Member of Parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

May 262020
 
A picture of the front cover of the book titled: "The War on Disabled People: capitalism, welfare and the making of a human catastrophe by Ellen Clifford". Behind the text is the image of a man on crutches. The full background, including the image of the disabled man, is rendered in shades of red and black. The text is in white.
The War on Disabled People is now available to pre-order from Zed Books:
Zed are offering a discounted price but DPAC realises that the cost will still be beyond the reach of many people – not least because of the issues covered in the book.
We will be giving away a few free copies kindly donated by Zed to names pulled out of a hat on 15th June. To enter please email your name to mail@dpac.uk.net with ‘Book Draw’ in the subject line.
Very sadly the battle for accessible formats to be available is ongoing… watch this space.
May 222020
 

A mother of four young children has issued a legal case against the Government after the benefit cap eliminated an increase in Universal Credit (UC) intended to help families affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the Chancellor increased UC payments by about £90 a month as part of the emergency Coronavirus Act 2020, the single mother, who does not wish to be named, in fact saw her family’s monthly Universal Credit payment of £1,397.92 cut to £1,275.

Now, represented by Carolin Ott and Tessa Gregory of Leigh Day solicitors, the mother has written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Therese Coffey, with a pre-action protocol letter, making her case for judicial review.

The perverse change occurred because the benefit cap which prevents families outside of London receiving more than £20,000 a year in welfare payments is still being stringently applied. The Covid-19 increase put the mother’s combined Universal Credit and Child Benefit payments above £20,000.

Further, the mother, who lives in a small two-bedroom house with her children aged 11, six, three and one, has  been hit by the Department of Work and Pensions decision not to suspend advance payment deductions and continue to claw back an advance payment she received in 2019.
The Covid-19 UC increase meant her monthly advance payment deduction has been increased accordingly. As a result of the effect of the benefit cap and the advance payment deduction, the claimant’s Universal Credit monthly payment has been reduced by £122.96 even though it should have increased due to the Covid-19 emergency help provided.

Leigh Day makes the case on behalf of the claimant that the application of the benefit cap and the decision to continue to apply advanced payment deductions are irrational and perverse and violate the claimant’s rights under article 14 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) read with article 1 of Protocol 1 ECHR and/or article 8 ECHR.

The case also argues that as a single mother with children, the claimant has suffered unjustified indirect discrimination in that she has been treated the same as other people whose situation is different from hers.

The mother said: 

“The changes to benefits in the pandemic have left me worse off when in fact they were supposed to help me during this difficult time, how can that be right?

“The advance payment deductions are being made because I fell victim to fraud when someone stole my identity and claimed UC in my name last year. The loan that was applied for in my name is being treated as an advance payment and I am having to pay it back even though I never requested it and never saw any of the money. Now my children and I are suffering.

“Of course I have had to face extra costs because my 11-year-old and six-year-old aren’t in school. I am struggling to home-school them because of my reduced income. I just want to receive the additional help other Universal Credit claimants are being given.”

Leigh Day solicitor Carolin Ott said:

“The increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance was intended to help the most vulnerable in society meet the extra costs they would face because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, our client has been left worse off because the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has applied the benefit cap and advance payment deductions.

“Our client argues this is unlawful as it is irrational and discriminatory. The benefit cap is a measure intended to encourage benefit claimants into work but it is absurd for it to deprive individuals of much needed support during a time when it is entirely unrealistic for them to enter into employment.”

Leigh Day has asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to reply by Wednesday, 20 May, explaining the decision to retain the benefit cap and advance payment deductions and to confirm that she will:

  • Urgently review the application of the benefits cap where it applies as result of the increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance in the 2020 regulations;
  • Pending that review, suspend the application of the benefit cap and make arrangements for payments to those affected to make up the shortfall in their April Universal Credit payments;
  • Urgently review the application of discretionary advance payment deductions in the case of those affected by the benefit cap.
Jun 132019
 

Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People | Frances Ryan

In this video, Frances Ryan explores the devastating reality of austerity on disability benefits – providing a damning indictment of a safety net gone wrong. She is the author of Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People.

To order a copy at discount price go to: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4346-crippled-austerity-and-the-demonization-of-disabled-people-frances-ryan

Verso has also given DPAC the chance to give a free copy away to one lucky member. Email mail@dpac.uk.net with “Crippled” in the subject line before mid-day on Tuesday 18 July to be in with a chance of winning.

Also, few places still left for London book launch supported by DOAC, Unite the Union and the People’s Assembly Against Austerity: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/crippled-austerity-and-the-demonization-of-disabled-people-launch-for-frances-ryans-new-book-tickets-62955660074

Jun 052019
 

Saturday 3rd August – for more info and to book a place go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/crippled-austerity-and-the-demonization-of-disabled-people-launch-for-frances-ryans-new-book-tickets-62955660074

Frances Ryan discusses her searing exposé of austerity’s impact on disabled people, alongside Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty and Paul Atherton, who is referred to in the Housing Chapter and has been homeless for ten years.

In austerity Britain, disabled people have become the favourite target. From social care to the benefits system, politicians and the media alike have made the case that Britain’s 12 million disabled people are a drain on the public purse. In this event, Frances Ryan exposes the disturbing reality, telling the story of those most affected by this devastating regime. She talks about a paralysed man forced to crawl down the stairs because the council wouldn’t provide accessible housing; a malnourished woman sleeping in her wheelchair; and a young girl with bipolar forced to turn to sex work to survive.

Through these personal stories, Ryan charts how in recent years the public attitude towards disabled people has transformed from compassion to contempt: from society’s ‘most vulnerable’ to benefit cheats. Crippled is a damning indictment of a safety net gone wrong, and a passionate demand for an end to austerity measures hitting those most in need.

Disabled People Against Cuts will be hosting an afternoon with Frances Ryan. Introduced by Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty, Ryan will be joined by a guest panel to discuss her book Crippled.
Please note that Frances Ryan is unable to travel at this time so will be appearing via a live link. There will be copies of the book available to buy and breastplates ready signed by Frances.

Access information: the venue is wheelchair accessible. For those unable to attend in person the event will be filmed with thanks to @imajsaclaimant.

Supported by Disabled People Against Cuts, Unite the Union and the People’s Assembly.

 

Aug 262018
 

 DWP facing court over claimant’s universal credit ‘fit for work injustice’

A disabled man who was unfairly found “fit for work”, and then saw his benefits slashed by almost £180 per month after he was forced onto the government’s new universal credit benefit system, is seeking justice in the high court.

It is the latest in a series of legal cases that have been taken on behalf of disabled benefit claimants against DWP, as a result of a series of welfare reforms introduced under successive Conservative and Conservative-led governments.

The man, known as IM for legal reasons, had been claiming employment and support allowance (ESA), but after undergoing a work capability assessment he was told in March last year that he was no longer eligible for ESA.

His jobcentre advised him to claim universal credit instead, which he did, but he also successfully appealed against the decision to find him fit for work.

Although the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) now accepts that he was unfairly found fit for work and that he has limited capability for work-related activity – the equivalent of being in the ESA support group – he has been treated as a new universal credit claimant.

As a new claimant, he is not entitled to the severe disability premium (SDP) he previously received as a top-up to ESA.

If draft regulations become law, he may be entitled to the partial compensation of £80 a month agreed by work and pensions secretary Esther McVey for those who lost entitlement to SDP when they were forced to move onto universal credit.*

IM’s judicial review case has been taken by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), which has described DWP’s policy as “irrational” and discriminatory.

It has secured permission for a judicial review of the failure to provide IM with transitional protection after his move to universal credit, or, alternatively, the refusal to allow him to return to ESA.

CPAG is taking a similar legal action on behalf of TD, a single mother with a disabled child, which will be heard by the high court alongside IM’s case.

TD gave up her job to become a full-time carer but had her income support terminated when her child’s disability living allowance (DLA) was about to end and before it could be renewed.

She was also told by the jobcentre to claim universal credit, which she did.

Despite DWP eventually admitting that there had been a mistake, TD is now receiving almost £140 a month less under universal credit than she did when receiving income support.

The two cases are expected to be heard together in the high court early next year.

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) welcomed the judicial review and warned that if it was not successful, many other disabled people would be affected in a similar way.

DPAC said DWP was clearly engaged in “another cost-saving exercise”.

A DPAC spokesperson said: “Financially, the incentive for DWP is to find as many claimants as possible fit for work.

“Even if the decision is overturned, DWP is saving money by transferring claimants to universal credit.

“This is clearly just more evidence that universal credit is beyond being fixed.

“People already living on poverty-level social security payments are simply and randomly being thrown even further into destitution.”

Claire Glasman, from the campaigning organisation WinVisible – which supports disabled women – said: “Families are being devastated by abolition of income support, which is some recognition of caring work.

“We are contacted by stressed out mothers at their wits’ end when their children’s DLA and their carer benefits are threatened by the brutal personal independence payment [which is replacing working-age DLA]and universal credit system.”

A DWP spokeswoman said: “We are not able to comment on an ongoing legal case.”

23 August 2018 From Disability News Service

 

 Posted by at 18:20
Jun 082018
 

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-06-07/HCWS745/

There has been some significant changes announced by the government concerning Universal Credit.  In a parliamentary statement yesterday Esther McVile says that the government intends to make the following changes-

The timetable for managed migration has been extended by 1 year.  It is now due to run from July 2019 – March 2023. Yet another delay on top of the years and many, many millions of pounds it has already taken

And transitional protection and the severe disability premium- some good news ahead of the court verdict which is expected shortly.

The Government has already made a commitment that anyone who is moved to Universal Credit without a change of circumstance will not lose out in cash terms. Transitional protection will be provided to eligible claimants to safeguard their existing benefit entitlement until their circumstances change.

Today I am announcing four additions to these rules to ensure that Universal Credit supports people into work, protects vulnerable claimants and is targeted at those who need it.

“In order to support the transition for those individuals who live alone with substantial care needs and receive the Severe Disability Premium, we are changing the system so that these claimants will not be moved to Universal Credit until they qualify for transitional protection. In addition, we will provide both an on-going payment to claimants who have already lost this Premium as a consequence of moving to Universal Credit and an additional payment to cover the period since they moved.

Second, we will increase the incentives for parents to take short-term or temporary work and increase their earnings by ensuring that the award of, or increase in, support for childcare costs will not erode transitional protection.

Third, we propose to re-award claimants’ transitional protection that has ceased owing to short-term increases in earnings within an assessment period, if they make a new claim to UC within three months of when they received the additional payment.

Finally, individuals with capital in excess of £16,000 are not eligible for Universal Credit. However, for Tax Credit claimants in this situation, we will now disregard any capital in excess of £16,000 for 12 months from the point at which they are moved to Universal Credit. Normal benefit rules apply after this time in order to strike the right balance between keeping incentives for saving and asking people to support themselves.”

The above changes will be brought in by new regulations in the Autumn (Universal Credit Managed Migration and Transitional Protection Regulations).

 Posted by at 21:29
Mar 132018
 

Badge saying "STOP & SCRAP Universal credit"

This Wednesday 18 April join DPAC, Single Mothers’ Self-Defence and WinVisible to call on the Government to #StopAndScrap Universal Credit. 

London Protest – meet for 11am outside the visitor’s entrance to House of Commons.

You can see details of local actions around the country on this page.

To download a flyer for use on the day click here: flyer 

 

Feb 132018
 

If you’re planning a local action around March 1st please let us know.

UC Day of Action local protests

Brighton– March 1st Clock Tower, Brighton, 10.30 am – 1pm information handout.

Facebook Event Link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/327263861014031/

 

Bristol – March 1st at Broadmead Shopping Centre 12 – 2 pm all meeting up in the middle. Please wear black if possible.

Facebook Event Link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1575085919265099/

 

Ceredigion – March 3rd 11am – 1pm Guildhall, Cardigan, SA43 1JL

https://www.facebook.com/events/1725015990888709/

Chester- March 1st 12-2pm Job Centre Plus, City Road, Chester, CH1 3AQ

Facebook event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/177236042877566/

Derbyshire –  Online Event: 1-2pm

Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1570832732972130/

 

Dundee-  March 1st 12-2 pm Job Centre Plus, Wellgate, DD1 2DB

 

Edinburgh
Thurs 1st March  1pm (till approx 2.30pm)
Leith Jobcentre, 199 Commercial St, Edinburgh EH6 6JF

Edinburgh action called by Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty – grass-roots anti-austerity and disability rights groups invited to participate with their banners and stalls.

https://www.facebook.com/events/437482893334245/

 

Falmouth – March 1st 8-11am at Penryn Jobcentre, Penmarin House, Commercial Rd, Penryn TR10 8SB

https://www.facebook.com/events/560750934288894/

Leamington Spa Job Centre 58 Brandon Parade, CV32 meet noon

London (central action) –  11 am until 2pm.  House of Parliament, Westminster. Meet for 11 am outside visitor’s entrance to House of Commons

Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/323792051472634/

London, Kentish Town – 1-2pm outside Kentish Town Job Centre

https://www.facebook.com/events/2060011490902572/

 

Manchester- March 1st at 13:00–15:00

Norwich – Norwich City Hall 12.30 – 2pm

Facebook Event Link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/217086858848908/

 

Sheffield–  12 noon until 1 pm.  Sheffield City Hall, Bakers Pool, Sheffield, S1 2JA.

Facebook Event Link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1756747394635182/

 

York – March 1st 10am -12pm Monkgate, York

https://www.facebook.com/events/1609285995821063/

More info
https://dpac.uk.net/2018/01/national-day-of-action-to-stopandscrap-universal-credit-march-1st/
https://dpac.uk.net/2018/01/dpac-position-statement-and-motion-for-union-branches-on-universal-credit/

 Posted by at 16:26
Aug 152017
 

Many claimants will be aware that with Universal Credit there are 7 waiting days when claiming , well some good news is that there are some exceptions. While this is going to be quite daunting for many, there are small things which will help existing IR ESA ,JSA,IS claimants.

 

 

Exceptions
5 A person will not have to serve 7 waiting days where

1. a new award of UC is made2

1.1 to a single claimant where a previous award has ended when the
claimant ceased to be a member of a couple or

1.2 to joint claimants where two previous awards ended as the result of the
claimants becoming a couple or

1.3 in any other circumstances where the assessment periods for the new
award begin on the same day of each month as the assessment periods for a previous award  or

2. on the relevant date, the claimant or either of the joint claimants

2.1 is terminally ill or

2.2 has recently become a victim of domestic violence  or

2.3 is a care leaver or

2.4 is aged 16 or 17 and has no parental support  or

2.5 has been a prisoner within the month ending on the relevant date or

2.6 has been entitled to new-style JSA or new-style ESA within the 3 months
ending on the relevant date or

2.7 was entitled to old-style JSA, old-style ESA or IS at any time during the
period of 3 months ending on the relevant date and ceased to be entitled
to that benefit on starting paid work or

2.8 does not fall within paragraph 5 2.7  and was entitled to one of the
following benefits at any time during the period of one month ending on
the relevant date

2.8.a old-style JSA or

2.8.b old-style ESA or

2.8.c IS or

2.8.d HB or

2.8.e child tax credit or

2.8.f working tax credit

 

1 UC Regs, reg 19A(3); 2 reg 19A(3)(a); 3 reg 21; 4 reg 19A(3)(b); 5 reg 98(2); 6 reg 8(3); 7 Universal Credit
(Transitional Provisions) Regs 2014, reg 16A; UC Regs, reg 19A(3)(b)

2.7 was entitled to old-style JSA, old-style ESA or IS at any time during the
period of 3 months ending on the relevant date and ceased to be entitled
to that benefit on starting paid work or
2.8 does not fall within paragraph 5 2.7 above and was entitled to one of the
following benefits at any time during the period of one month ending on
the relevant date
2.8.a old-style JSA or
2.8.b old-style ESA or
2.8.c IS or
2.8.d HB or
2.8.e child tax credit or
2.8.f working tax credit7 .