Category: Army recruiting

Army recruiting, Ashton Under lyne, baby, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, covid 19, Decision maker, DLA, domestic violence, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, International Women's Day, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Television Licence, Television Licence fines, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

Rise In Energy Costs Will Cost Lives. It’s Time For Action.


No more. I’m fucking done. The horror stories I’ve heard over the years about people desperately trying to survive under this Tory government have angered me to the point of boiling over. My inbox is full, my Twitter feed is going crazy and my phone hasn’t stopped ringing.

I’ve heard many accounts of how people are already struggling to cope with the massive energy price rises, how the hell are they going to cope after the 1st of April?


Yesterday I heard the concerns of a young woman with a baby who is already struggling before the massive cost increase, already paying £40 for three days electric on a prepayment meter just to keep her electric on.

Another person who used to have a good job at Manchester Airport reduced to borrowing a tenner from a person they never met face to face to put their electric back on so the cheap food they bought won’t spoil.

A woman who thought she was £400 in credit actually owing £600.

Remember that this is before the April energy cost increases. So when does it stop?


When will more people stand up, come with me and my mates and march upon the corridors of power and say no?

Are we are NOT going to be letting the Tories bend us over and dry-fuck us into oblivion anymore?


You want me to be less activist? Fine. I will. When the government stops deliberately starving people of the basic necessities of life.

This is going to become much worse than anyone could have predicted, thousands of people will no doubt be either thinking of or taking their lives because they can’t afford to live and can’t find a way out of their situation.

I predict that they could be thousands of deaths caused by hypothermia and related illnesses. People can no longer afford to buy and run heated blankets. Nor do they have the money to buy warmer clothes.

Undoubtably there will be thousands of admissions to hospital because of malnutrition related illnesses and diseases. This is already happening, people are already dying from hunger thanks the cruel DWP regime. Already people can’t afford to cook meals. This is going to become a whole lot worse than it is now.

Homelessness levels will increase dramatically because people are going to be forced to make the choices of heating or eating and not being able to pay their rent or mortgage as well. It’s not a choice that should have to be made.

Can you imagine how heartbreaking it is to have to tell your children that they have to wear coats etc at home because it’s too expensive to heat their home? As you’re reading this a child and their parents will be cold and hungry due to no fault of their own.

Can you imagine being disabled or ill and being reliant upon have the heating on to help keep you alive only to find out that that you can’t anymore because it’s too expensive to heat their home?

To put it bluntly the government doesn’t care one bit, hell they aren’t even hiding their disdain of working class people. They don’t care if we live or die. Rishi Sunak could have done the right thing but instead he chose to force thousands into death, absolute poverty and starvation.

We should all be angry about this. This is the ultimate insult to the working class people of this country and we all need to challenge this in whatever way that we can.

Have you noticed that I’m angry? Everyone should be.

Not only will these price rises be extremely detrimental to the economy, which will most likely will take a massive dive as a result of people will no longer be able to go shopping for basics never-mind luxuries.

Thousands of small businesses will be forced to shut because of the rising costs as well as some big businesses, forcing workers not already claiming Universal Credit to apply for the first time. This will undoubtably cause emotional and financial distress.

For a country to grow its government needs to invest in people, normal people not millionaires to grow the economy and the wellbeing of people. Instead they do the opposite, Sunak preferring to go for short term gains for his pals whilst deliberately ignoring the well-being of the public and the economy.

Rishi Sunak whilst eyeing up his next job at num 10 has got to be the worst Chancellor Of The Exchequer that we’ve ever had. His decisions are unbelievably cruel.

People will no longer be able to afford to donate to food-banks instead becoming reliant upon them themselves. This will cause the closure of the very places that keep people alive.
People WILL DIE don’t ever forget this.

It’s already happening. The foodbank trollies in supermarkets are seeing fewer donations.

We really need to put pressure in the supermarkets to donate the food themselves and not rely upon already poor people to buy the food and then donate it.

We also have to remember the 186,000 people that have already died with Covid 19 mentioned on their death certificate. People are still dying and we must never forget this.

Remember that all this is a political choice made by millionaires designed to inflict cruelty upon the poorest and most vulnerable

It’s time to get angry, to take action and campaign for a much fairer society.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Please read, share, tweet and email this blog post. We have to raise as much awareness as possible and now is the perfect time to do it.

Want to join a protest? Join one of the Peoples Assembly marches on the 2nd April. Find out more at https://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk

Want to chat to likeminded people and join a protest? Head over to https:manchesterdpac.com Theres lots that you can do and you will find solidarity.

I don’t receive any funding for the work that I do, and to say that it’s a struggle is an understatement. If you can afford to and you would like to donate to my campaign and blog theres a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

Massive thanks to everyone that does and has supported my campaign and blog. Without you I couldn’t do this.

Big thanks to my friend Lucy for being the inspiration for this article and for yesterdays tweets.

Army recruiting, baby, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, domestic violence, domestic violence,, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Ian Brady, International Women's Day, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Television Licence, Television Licence fines, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

£2 BILLION GIVEN TO PRIVATE COMPANIES FOR PIP AND ESA ASSESMENTS

Well who’d have guessed that the government would find £2 billion from their magic money pot to inflict even more cruelty to disabled and ill claimants.

Thanks to Benefits And Work who have uncovered the first details of the new assessment contracts for PIP, ESA and UC claimants.



These shiny new contracts will split the UK into five regions which will involve over £2.8 billion being given to the private sector over a period of five years. This is supposedly to allow the DWP to decide how these assessments will take place through telephone or face-to-face assessments.

I add that as usual this will be decided ignoring the actual physical and mental needs a claimant might have.


Under the new claimant Functional Assessment Services (FAS) system as it is titled, the UK will be divided into five regions from 1 August 2023:

Lot 1 – Northern England and Scotland 647,600,000

Lot 2 – Midlands and Wales 473,400,000

Lot 3 – South West England 338,000,000

Lot 4 – London, South East & East Anglia 396,800,000

Lot 5- Northern Ireland 105,100,000



In each region, a single company will be chosen to carry out all the PIP, ESA and UC assessments.

So basically money talks regardless of already vulnerable claimants needs. Whoever puts the best tender in wins the contract.

Call me old fashioned but the wellbeing and needs of individuals should always be put first. Instead they companies with no medical knowledge and experience to assess already vulnerable people.

They will be allowed to decide if a person disabled enough to claim their rightful payments regardless of having no medical knowledge of their needs.

Basically claimants life’s are once again in the hands of these so called assessors.


The total value of the contracts that will be given is £2 billion firstly to rise to £2.8 billion if the DWP chooses to extend the contract for an additional two years.

You can bet that they’ll choose to extend these contracts, afterall it’s beneficial for the government to extend them.

There’s always room for extending cruel systems such as this. What the government won’t tell you is that they want as many people as possible to be declared fit for work. It doesn’t matter of they’re fit or able enough to do so.



The Scottish government will be taking over PIP assessments itself in advance of August 2023.

There will be some claims that are already underway that will still be dealt with by private sector assessors.



The bid winners will be paid first for a ten month ‘implementation phase’. This will ensure they will have fully trained their staff and have acquired suitable premises. It also will give them the chance to implement their IT systems before going live.


As we already know the DWP never make any system uncomplicated though. To prove this the DWP will provide one IT system for PIP claimants and a separate system for ESA and UC claimants.

The DWP have already warned potential providers that changes might take place place throughout the life of the contract.

These changes may include alterations in the ‘channel mix’ as the DWP call it.

An example being “change in proportional requirements relating to virtual assessments and face to face assessments. They could for example change requirements such as 60% face-to-face to 20% assessments.


It is very clear that the DWP and not the assessment providers that will decide which proportion of claimants receive a telephone or face-to-face assessment.


This makes it clear that assessment providers will be working to meet targets for types of assessment. This will completely ignore the fact that some claimants are obliged to have an inappropriate method of assessment.

As you can see none of this will be beneficial for anyone that claims ESA,PIP and UC.

As these systems are target driven the assessors will be more concerned with meeting targets than the wellbeing of anyone being assessed.

I don’t have to tell you how much distress is caused by cruel systems like this especially if they’re target driven. Who remembers Sandra’s Stars?

We must remain vigilant because as we know from past experience the government will try to put in legislation and plans without our knowledge.

You can do this by sharing information online on your preferred social media provider, emailing mine and likewise blogs to people that might need informing

Manchester DPAC over at https:\\manchesterdpac.comhttps:\\manchesterdpac.com Also local branches of Unite Community over at join.unitetheunion.orghttp://join.unitetheunion.org.

Every share, tweet and conversation about these issues raises awareness which is extremely important.

Massive thanks given to Benefits And Work for making me aware of this happening. They do so much hard work to raise awareness.

Also thanks to a Twitter friend for alerting me to this. Thanks RooneyMusic!

Also if you live in the Greater Manchester area please join Manchester DPAC. You can find them on Facebook and Twitter

Please read, share and tweet my blog. Every share helps so much!

A huge thank you to everyone that has and does support my blog and campaign. I really couldn’t do this without you.

I don’t receive any payment for any of the work that I do. I’m struggling financially at the moment. As you know my son died and my daughter is struggling to cope with his death as am I.

If you would like to donate my PayPal ad is posted above, below and at the side of this blog post.

Army recruiting, Ashton Under lyne, baby, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, domestic violence, domestic violence,, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, International Women's Day, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

Disabled and poorest excluded in yesterday’s budget announcements.

It won’t come as a surprise to many of you that once again disabled people and the unemployed were totally excluded from yesterday’s Budget announcements.

The reasoning behind this is their long seated belief that everyone should work despite their ability to do so. Failure to work then puts people into their category system labeling them ‘Empty Feeders’ and suchlike.

To understand this it’s best to take away the notion that the government actually cares for the working class. They never have and they never will.

Of course they’ll throw them the odd crumb such as cheaper alcohol to give the illusion of caring whilst blatantly ignoring that many can’t afford to go to a pub or buy alcohol these days.

So how does the government ensure that the unemployed and disabled will suffer even more in the shortest amount of time?
They take away their hope, support leaving them more vulnerable to increasing poverty and illness which therefore will end their lives prematurely.

Living in poverty means living in constant arrears forced to use pre-pay meter energy meters that they cant afford to top up. Going without heating, food, the ability to cook food, showers and the ability to do their laundry and take care of their personal needs. This has a massive negative effect on their physical and mental health which then ends up costing local authorities and the government more money in the long run.

It’s never been about the money though. This is a choice that the the government makes and will continue to make whilst they’re in power.

The government doesn’t care about a disabled person unable to find and pay their much needed carers. Often left to cope alone they can’t see a way out of their situation because the government isn’t going to help them.

What the government apparently fails to understand is that when poor people have more money they spend it in their local communities therefore helping the local economy. So when the government says that that they care about helping small businesses and communities they’re actually lying.

Whilst the government gives their millionaire friends tax cuts and financial help they move their money into their tax havens instead of the economy. Theres no such thing as the trickle down effect.It’s all about keeping the rich happy and the poor miserable and ensuring that their poverty and reliance upon the government for help continues.

It was also the government’s choice to scrap the Universal Credit £20 uplift. It’s not because they couldn’t afford it because they clearly can. They choose to make the poorest suffer.

By excluding those on legacy benefits from any extra help could be another attempt by the Government to try and force legacy benefit claimants to switch over to claim Universal Credit by making it more attractive despite the fact that it will make them much worse off financially..

Working people that claim Universal Credit are the only ones that will benefit slightly. They now have to give 8% less of their hourly wage back to the system leaving them still loosing 55% of their hourly wage. Most are on minimum wage jobs, often working zero hour contracts.

The only people that will greatly benefit from this year’s budget announcements will be the better off and of course the government’s friends, the millionaires. They’ll always come before the health of disabled people and the working class.

We know our place and the government will continue to remind us of this. But don’t expect me to doff my cap to them because I won’t.

Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com

Please join my friends over at Manchester DPAC https:\\manchesterdpac.com they do amazing work. Also check out the national DPACs page over on Facebook

Please read, share, tweet and email my blog. Every share helps massively.

I don’t receive any payments for any of the work that I do. If you’d like to donate towards the upkeep of the blog and campaign theres a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

A huge thank you to everyone that shares and helps to keep my blog going, I can’t thank you enough.

Army recruiting, Ashton Under lyne, baby, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, International Women's Day, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Television Licence, Television Licence fines, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

DWP BACKS DOWN OVER HIGH-PRESSURE PRE-TRIBUNAL TACTICS


The DWP has recently backed down on their high pressure pre-tribunal tactics the day before they faced a judicial review initiated by a disabled woman. Her case concerned the way the tactics that the DWP has been using putting extreme pressure upon PIP claimants via telephone into accepting a lower PIP payment offer rather than attending a tribunal to hopefully receive higher PIP payments.

The claimant known as ‘K’ had been approached by the DWP who made a low offer and told the claimant, known as ‘K’ that they had just one hour to make up their mind. During this conversation the DWP also warned K that tribunals ‘are not very nice to go to’ and if K took it to tribunal they could lose her whole award.

The DWP are well known for their bullying tactics, particularly towards disabled and vulnerable people. K explained that they felt extremely pressured to make a quick decision and wasn’t given the time to make a decision or to seek advice upon this from others.

Needless to say the DWP should not be putting pressure upon people like this, using fear as a tactic to manipulate disabled people into accepting a lesser payment that they are entitled to.

Unsurprisingly the DWP refused to accept it was doing anything wrong for a year until the day before the hearing, when it suddenly agreed to make a number of changes.

These changes being;

Advising staff its essential  that they inform claimants that even if they accept a revised offer they still have the right to appeal against it.

Telling DWP staff that they must ensure that benefit claimants do not feel ‘pressured’ into making a decision.

Introducing mandatory training to all staff involved in ‘lapsing’ appeals by the end of October to ensure they understand the updated guidance.

The DWP unsurprisingly, refused to agree to end the practice of making pre-tribunal offers to claimants .

We shall see if the DWP continue to use their intimidatory tactics, or if they agree to the actions agreed upon in the court case.

As you all know the DWP like nothing better than to target the most vulnerable and disabled people, knowing that they might find it hard to appeal decisions made towards them by the DWP, and personally I do think that some DWP workers do get a kick out of doing this.

It’s never ok to treat people like this. No one should have to fight for the very means to survive especially in times like these when everyone is struggling even more because of the pandemic.

Can you imagine how awful it is to receive a letter from the DWP that you are no longer entitled to the very monies that have kept you going? Your very means of survival taken away at the push of a button and an uncaring letter sent to you?

This is the reality of life for thousands of people every day, it sends people into mental and physical distress. It’s a never ending circle of abuse metered upon them by the DWP initiated by the government.

No one should ever be forced to go through this cruelty and we must continue to fight to end this. You can do this by sharing my blog posts and other campaign groups posts. Write to your MP to share your disgust, share posts on Twitter and Facebook. Join a campaign group, share your worries and concerns.

Your voice matters so let’s make sure that you are heard!

Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

This week is a very difficult week for me. As you know my son recently died and it is our joint birthday this weekend on the 1st of August.

The pain of loosing a child, even though they were an adult is unlike any other pain that I have ever felt before. A part pf me wants to run away for the day, hide and speak to no one. Another part of me says sensibly that I can’t do that because his sisters will probably want to do something.

To put it bluntly I’m a mess but I’ll be ok, that’s what I keep telling myself. It feels like two minutes ago when Joseph entered this world at 7.40am .

Joseph was autistic, dyslexic and he also had a few other conditions, but he was an extremely brave, high functioning individual. He loved living on his own in his flat, and he was the local odd job man, always helping others.

Joseph did also have to fight the DWP every time his PIP and ESA was up for renewal. He attended tribunals and was helped by local organisations and myself. I know that he found this extremely hard to cope with but he did and I’m so proud of him.

This blog post is written in remembrance of Joseph, and all the good that he did in this world. He would have been very happy about this decision.

Please read, share, tweet, email and talk about this blog post and the issues surrounding it. This makes a lot of difference and it helps lots.

Please support my blog and campaign and blog. I don’t receive and funding for what I do and I am still helping families locally with food etc. I really couldn’t continue without your support.

For anyone that would like to donate towards my campaign and blog theres a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

A huge thank you to everyone that has previously supported my campaign and blog.

Personally I’m trying to make my front garden into a memorial garden for my son and any advice etc is more than welcome!

Many thanks to Benefits and Work for being the inspiration for this post.

Army recruiting, Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Ian Brady, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, moors Murders, Myra Hindley, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Television Licence, Television Licence fines, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

Is the governments proposed pandemic roadmap doomed to failure?

Covid 19 infection rates have been falling across the UK as a result of the national lockdown. Thanks to the NHS the vaccination programme is making good progress and so far appears to be reaching their expected targets.

The national lockdown has helped to stop the spread of covid-19. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of people admitted to hospital with serious Covid 19 related illnesses.

This should not be treated lightly as the threat of the pandemic and once the lockdown conditions are lifted there are still major unresolved challenges which could result in the R rate and mortality levels rising.

Many local and regional public health teams don’t have the tools available to tackle outbreaks despite large numbers of the public believing so.

The Covid 19 virus has the potential to spread very quickly which could result in the virus once again being out of control.

This is very worrying because we are now seeing quicker spreading mutations of the Covid 19 virus emerging which is a trend that is most likely to continue once lockdown conditions are once again lifted.

The government has released its roadmap, but for it to succeed, the government needs to fix the already existing problems with the way that infection data is recorded so that the spread of covid-19 can be accurately recorded.

Therefore it is extremely worrying that the results of Imperial College London’s REACT study and the Office for National Statistic’s infection survey are still not matching with the data that the Test and Trace. Records.

For public health teams to be able to take the necessary actions to prevent infection rates rising, the problems surrounding this needs to be dealt with.

Public health teams cannot be expected to react appropriately when the data that they receive isn’t accurate. Without this accurate data its very difficult to see where the localised outbreaks are and to respond accurately.

One of the downfalls of the Test and Trace system is that it can only provide infection data for people that come forward to be tested, therefore the system can only trace the contacts of those who have imputed their data to contact tracing teams.

Many people aren’t coming forward for testing as a result of the insufficient provision of economic support from the government if they are required to isolate as a result of their test and trace data. This then expands health inequalities between those that can afford to stay off work than those that can’t.

Public health teams are also facing problems in accessing the data that is generated by the Test and Trace system mainly as a result of the system being technically insufficient to provide the needed data and the information that does arrive is too slow to do so.

Despite the governments new Roadmap system it can’t be be successful unless there is improved data access for Public Health Teams for them to act upon.

Improved early warning systems would also help to alert teams to spikes in their local infection rates before they rise out of control. This would also help to identify new mutations of the virus.

For the governments new roadmap system to be successful it’s very important to have an effective early warning system to alert Public Health Teams about rises in local and national infection rates.

The NHS and public and health professionals across the country have worked extremely hard trying to tackle the spread of covid-19. Their combined efforts have lead the country to a place where we can see a way out of the current restrictions that we have faced for so long.

It’s important to remember that our exit from lockdown must be time appropriate and access to reliable data must be improved upon. without this the governments planned Roadmap will fail our hope to return to life as normal.

To avoid a fourth lockdown will requires much more than just a roadmap. It requires an effective early warning system both locally and nationally to rises in infection rates. This also depends upon effective and early action from the government in response to keep the virus under control.

Throughout this pandemic the government has been extremely slow to act upon data given thus enabling the virus to run out of control leading to mutations of the virus. We have seen the government be far to slow to respond to infection rates given which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.

We need to prevent future spikes and if possible avoid another lockdown.

To achieve this the government needs to start acting quickly and more decisively, based their actions upon active monitoring of good quality data.

Source Maggie Rae president of the UK Faculty of Public Health.

Army recruiting, Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

Prepaid energy top up and Coronavirus. How do you top up your prepaid energy meters? IMPORTANT.

Dear readers I’ve been chasing down all the major energy companies on Twitter and asking them what their emergency provisions are for people unable to go to a shop to top up an energy card or key.

It’s a very important issue because so many of us, myself included are stuck on prepaid meters. If we don’t top up we get cut off and then what are we supposed to do?

Are we expected to just put up with being cut off from everything or is there help out there?

So to find out I started tweeting the major energy companies straight away. It was extremely eye opening to see that so many people didn’t even think about this being a problem. On the other hand many people were concerned and have shared my tweets.

So far these are the responses, the response from British Gas has to be the worst. The best response so far has to be from Bulb Energy. EDF came second in both response time and gave a decent answer to my question.

Listed below are all the responses that I’ve had so far. If I get anymore responses I shall add them to this blog post.

EDF

Hi Charlotte, thanks for getting in touch. The current advice from Public Health England for people who are self-isolating is to ask friends, family members or delivery services to carry out tasks such as getting groceries, medications or other shopping. These tasks would include the topping up of non-smart prepay energy meters. In circumstances where this is not possible, we have existing measures in place to make sure ]supply will continue in the short term. We are able to preload keys and cards with credit that can be collected by a customer or someone that is helping them from a local shop or alternatively can be delivered in the post. Any credit provided will be collected back at a suitable rate agreed with the customer. We also operate a friendly non disconnection policy on most meters, this means that if a customer runs out of credit after certain hours the electricity will not go off until 9am the next day. The operates between the hours of Monday to Friday 6pm to 9am, Saturday from 6pm, anytime on a Sunday, until 9am Monday, anytime on a bank holiday, until 9am the next day. Many thanks

BRITISH GAS

Hi Charlotte, customers may have enough emergency credit to last while they’re self-isolating at home. If they think they will run out, they should contact us to discuss their circumstances. We will work with them to find a solution. Thanks, Charlie

BULB

Hi Charlotte – This is a valid concern, we’ve advised prepay members to top up extra. If that’s not possible due to self-isolation or other potential issues we have a supply of keys/cards preloaded with credit. This is a new situation for us so our policy may evolve with time – M

Hi Lou – The preloaded key/card system comes with credit and is intended to help those who can’t have others top up for them. We’re following latest government policy and advice to ensure our own actions are up to date with developments – M

CENTRICA

Hi, you may have enough credit to last you while your self-isolating at home. If you think you’ll run out of credit, contact us to discuss your circumstances and we’ll work with you to find a solution. Thanks, Leanne

Hi Charlotte, we’ll continue to ensure customers get the help and support they need. If you think you’ll run out of credit, contact us to discuss your circumstances and we’ll work with you to find a solution.

E-ON

SCOTTISH POWER.

Army recruiting, Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

All DWP face to face interviews cancelled as of this morning.

Well at least it appears that the DWP have at last seen sense and have cancelled face to face appointments this morning.

If you are unsure or the DWP hasn’t messaged you yet please contact them to confirm this. It’s always good to double check.

If you have still been asked to attend your appointment please let me know.

Now let’s see if sanctions are lifted.

I’ll keep you updated as further news comes to light.

Army recruiting, Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

My apologies comments are blocked for now.

Dear readers I do everything that I can to ensure that my blog is a safe space for you to use, read and comment.

This week the DWP have taken it upon themselves to attempt to troll my blog, call me a liar and are telling people that Jobcentres are wonderful places and work will cure us of all ills.

I won’t tolerate their bullying anywhere so comments are blocked for now until they calm the hell down.

I hope that you understand my reasons for doing this.

If anyone would like to comment please email me at seercharlotte@gmail.com and I can add your comment to this blog piece.

Peace and much love to you all.

Army recruiting, Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

Disabled man told to apply for work at the same place he used to work.

Dear readers its Thursday again and it’s another cold, windy day. My thoughts are with everyone that are street homeless or are living in cold homes because they can’t afford to heat them. Fuel poverty is real and its only going to get worse.

You can bet that hypothermia related deaths will increase this year because so many more people are living in poverty, and it isn’t just elderly people either. Indeed this morning I topped up a young couples electric key for them because they’d ran out of electric. Life with pre payment machines is no fun at all. I’m talking from experience though because I’ve always had pre payment machines.

Winter with it’s dark mornings and dark evenings really takes it’s toll on many people so please be kind to each other, times are hard.

Like I said this morning started with being freezing cold but then a cold breeze became stronger and stronger so we had to finish early. I need to find some thermal clothes to wear.

Anyway, all the food parcels bar one were taken straight away. This week we were able to give people a packet of doughnuts with their food parcel. Doughnuts might not be nutritious but they do cheer people up, so does a packet of biscuits etc. Never underestimate the value of this type of food.

I bet you’re fed up of me writing that so many people are dressed in clothing not suited to the cold winter weather. This was the case today, so many people were walking in and out of the Jobcentre and council offices looking freezing cold.

Can I please have a magic wand to change this? I’ll be eternally grateful.

Noted today was the amount of young people going into the Jobcentre to make their first claim. Luckily I was able to give them a leaflet and some advice. Having to cope with the whole universal credit system can be so daunting and stressful for young people at the start of their adult life.

We spoke to a lovely man who has several disabilities, a brain condition,a completely knackered knee that he cant use for standing for any period of time and a back condition.

He explained that he was disgusted that he’s forced to attend the Jobcentre on a weekly basis even though he’s disabled and is handing in fit notes. Today his advisor told him that he needed to apply for a job at the very same factory that he was previously working at.

He had to end his employment because of his disabilities, the work is heavy going, on foot all of the time and moving heavy equipment etc around. At first he thought that they were joking but his advisor wasn’t and was deadly serious.

Obviously he was extremely frustrated at this, they’re setting him up to fail because they just don’t care. If they did care they wouldn’t be doing this to him in the first place, and you can bet that they’ll try to punish him if he doesn’t.

This is the side of the DWP that many people don’t see. They don’t understand that the DWP can, and often does behave like an abuser gaslighting its victim until they give up.

Don’t let them do this to you, appeal any decision that they make, you do have the right to do this.

I had a lovely conversation with a man that used to be street homeless in Manchester, hes now housed in a flat and is doing well. He told me that he used to be a solider in the army but once he left they ditched him and didn’t care about him one bit. I’ve heard this story so many times and it’s awful.

Luckily he eventually found support and he now helps other street homeless people. He told me how dangerous Manchester is for street homeless people and how concerned he is about this.

Gordon spoke to a man that had walked miles to the Jobcentre only for his appointment to last for the maximum of five minutes. I’m not wrong when I say that they do this to control people.

Last but not least we were told of the plight of someone having terminal cancer only for their claim for PIP to be rejected. They’ll be appealing this decision, but will they live long enough to see this through? I hope so, but no one in their position should have to go through this.

Sadly like I said earlier, we had to leave early but we spoke to lots of people, and helped many of these. We will be back next week as usual.

Please can I ask you a favour? Can you read, share, tweet and email my blog? I really need to get the word out there that the DWP system is cruel beyond belief.

Also I have a donate button at the side and the top of my blog. For anyone not able to see this my PayPal add is seercharlotte@gmail.com

I live on virtually nothing and every penny helps me to continue blogging and campaigning. Thank you to everyone that have done already.

I’m also in the process of writing a book based upon my blog. If you’re interested in this please email me via my blog.

Army recruiting, baby, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

They stopped my benefits because I was seen carrying a food parcel.

Dear readers I’m back and winter has definitely arrived. This morning was a tough one, it’s never easy seeing people leaving the Jobcentre in tears. The DWP might like to portray themselves as being saint-like, compassionate people but the reality is that they’re the complete opposite.

The weather was awful this morning, raining and cold, a terrible combination for anyone that is street homeless or living in a home that they can’t afford to heat. Most of the people that I speak to dread winter for this reason. What sort of society do we live in that makes people go hungry and to be cold. It’s sickening.

We handed all of the food parcels out and they were gone as soon as they arrived. I really hate the fact that theres a need for them in the first place.

As I was waiting for the food parcels to arrive I had a conversation with a woman who usually collects a food parcel from us. She’s had a really hard time with the DWP and it’s not getting easier.

I asked her how she was and she told me that her boyfriend has had his benefits stopped. I asked her why and she told me that someone had reported him because he was carrying a food parcel.

Her boyfriend is disabled and he does collect a food parcel from us, but how on earth is he supposed to take it home? He doesn’t have a car, he has no choice but to carry it even though it hurts him to do so.

The government and some members of the public expect disabled people to stay indoors at all times, if they go out they must be fit for work and if they’re claiming disability benefits then they must be stopped.

Society has become very cruel towards the most vulnerable. It really shouldn’t be like this.

And guess what.. Now he’s even more dependent upon food parcels because he has no income at all. This is the price that so many people living with an illness and or disability pay everyday.

As we were chatting she handed me an envelope, in it contained a Christmas card for me. I honestly nearly started to cry. Even though she and her partner are going through really tough times at the moment she took the time to buy me a Christmas card. I’m going to treasure it forever.

Gordon then spoke to a chap that has been sanctioned for thirteen weeks.

He’s not sure of the exact reason for his sanction, but what he does know is that he’s hungry and is in danger of loosing his home.

As Gordon handed him a leaflet and gave him some advice it was clear to see the desperation in his eyes. I don’t suppose that he ever thought that this would happen to him.

It wasn’t long until we spotted a woman leaving the Jobcentre in tears. I handed her a leaflet and she told me that she wanted to ‘get away from here now’ because she was so upset.

Whilst she was leaving she shouted towards the Jobcentre saying ‘They’re nothing but a load of w#####s in there’. While I don’t know the exact reason for her anger I can totally sympathise with her feelings.

No one should be made to feel like this, but the DWP don’t care. They just send a G4S security guard to ‘escort’ you out.

I then had a conversation with a chap that I’ve spoken to before. Last week he was really angry with himself because he thought that he was to blame for his situation. He isn’t and he now realises this.

Sadly he had arrived too late for a food parcel but I signposted him. I also gave him some money to help him put his electricity back on.

I’m so glad that I was able to help him but I know that it’s not enough and I do feel guilty for that.

It wasn’t long until another woman walked out of the Jobcentre crying. I handed her a copy of our survival guide but she was obviously in a rush to get away.

So two people crying and the DWP say that they care? Do they heck, they only care about themselves.

I had a conversation with a chap that’s working and was previously claiming Universal credit. His universal credit has been stopped because the DWP told him that he has earnt too much. Now he’ll have to reapply next month when his wages are lower. Its complete madness.

Whilst he reapplies he will still have to wait the standard waiting time. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

I noted that the DWP are still trying to flog their utopian self employment scheme to people.

If people sign up to become self employed they aren’t eligible for the minimum income floor for the first twelve months.

You might say that this is wonderful but heres the catch. As I’ve reported before after twelve months they have to reach the minimum income floor. If they don’t they won’t receive a penny from the DWP.

Guess what… The DWP don’t tell them this. Please readers, if you’re tempted to do this please do a lot of research first.

We then had a conversation with a woman that had to come outside to drink a carton of Ribena. As you will most likely already know, drinking and eating is forbidden in most Jobcentres.

It’s absolutely ridiculous, and it just adds to the punishing culture of the DWP. There are many reasons why people need to have a drink available at all times. But hey, the DWP obviously know more about this than us (NOT)

Today was awful really, we try to help people to the best of our abilities even though we know that it’s not enough.

The DWP is a monster that we have to conquer, and I’m confident that we will do this one day.

For anyone suffering because of the DWP and the government’s terrible austerity measures remember this. You are important, you are loved by so many of us. Keep going because you are important xxxxx.

A huge thank you my readers for enabling me to continue with my blog on this platform. I was so scared that I would loose my blog. The DWP would love that wouldn’t they.

Please read, share and tweet my blog. This makes a massive difference, people still need to know the reality of what’s happening to people under the DWPs cruel, heartless watch.

For anyone wanting to donate there’s a donate button at the top and side of my blog. Thank you so much.