Category: Army recruiting

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Universal Credit Sanctions At A Record High

As to be expected the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) has taken full advantage of their new ‘way to work’ campaign and the return to normal service after lockdowns during the pandemic.

It is estimated that nearly 110,000 people claiming Universal Credit were sanctioned in May. This figure has more than doubled in six months . It’s also important to remember that this is despite the cost of living crisis whilst people are struggling more financially than they ever have done in recent times.

Sanction levels were however rising steadily through autumn and winter, but increased dramatically after the DWPs Way to Work was implemented was in February. Compared to 74,746 people that had been sanctioned in January rising to 93,479 March compared to 106,710 in April.

The governments ‘Way To Work’ programme forces every claimant eligible to apply for every job available rather than jobs suited to them because of work experience and qualifications.

Not only is this damaging emotionally and physically to each claimant forced to do this I fear it’s equally as frustrating for employers as well leaving them forced to trawl through job applicants that aren’t suitable for the jobs advertised, after all. Doesn’t every employer want applications from people that not only aren’t qualified for the work advertised? They’ll most likely be very unenthusiastic about applying for said jobs but are forced to do so or else face a DWP sanction.

Not only are the job vacancies are often not local to where they live, the DWP fails to take into account that public transport is expensive and not always available. The cost of travelling to work using their own transport being equally as such.

Basically if a claimant doesn’t follow the DWP’s orders for legitimate reasons and concerns they will undoubtably face being sanctioned.

Whilst implementing this new ‘Way To Work’ programme the government and DWP are totally failing to recognise that the UK is going through a cost of living and energy price crisis.

Claimants are already struggling to feed themselves and their families, which to be honest is near impossible as it is and to be faced with a sanction will undoubtedly leave them destitute without any hope for the future.

Can you imagine not being able to turn a light on in your house ,not able to cook any food, unable to use any electrical equipment that aid your day to day living such as powered wheelchairs, stairlifts, fridges and suchlike?

The DWP by continuing with their cruel sanctioning system and low benefit payments is knowingly forcing people to become destitute, left in the cold and dark, unable to travel anywhere to find work or access help.

It is inevitable that many people will fall under the radar for any assistance that may be available. There will be deaths, possibly many deaths without a care for their welfare from the government and of course the DWP.

It’s also important to remember that many claimants have been refused the cost of living payment due to being sanctioned with guidance to DWP employees telling them to refuse the payment to certain claimants if their benefits were stopped.

According to Dan Bloom from The Mirror, the DWP internal website said that people weren’t eligible if they had a “nil award” due to their earnings, however it made no mention of benefit sanctions, and said if people had a nil award due to rent or debts being deducted, they “might still be eligible”.

To put it clearly the decision is made by the DWP and often, as we have seen throughout the years, their own personal opinion and pressure put on them by their supervisors and managers.

I predict that thousands of people will have undoubtably missed out on the payment, without the strength or the knowledge that’s needed to appeal against DWP decisions such as these.

With Rishi Sunak announcing during his leadership campaign that he will be “much tougher” on the benefits system saying “if there are hours to do and there’s a job going people should have to take the job.” The future for people claiming Universal Credit and disability benefits looks even bleaker than before.

Anyone claiming benefits for whatever reason should not be bashed in such a manner especially during an election campaign.

They deserve kindness and respect after-all they’re fighting a battle that no politician will ever have to fight, without not knowing if they’ll be able to survive the next day never mind the next year.

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Energy Prices To Rise Again. Are We Heading For A winter Of Discontent?

Martin Lewis recently announced that energy costs are predicted to reach an all time high both in October and January. This will leave thousands of people that are struggling to pay their energy costs unable to do so.

This raises the questions:

How will disabled people live?

How will low income families live?

How will the elderly live?

How will children live?

How will single people live?

How are we all supposed to survive this?

One thing I do know is that the government aren’t in any rush to help the public, they’d rather be scrapping amongst themselves to be the next Conservative Party leader than to help the public with an ousted Prime Minister at the helm.

As soon as the predicted energy price rises were announced both Martin Lewis and campaigners such as myself have requested that the government provides more help to everyone that is eligible after October and in January.

The response was silently deafening….Radio silence, not a word and absolutely no reasoning as to why they’re allowing energy prices to rise to an unbelievable high. It doesn’t matter how much people are told to budget it’s impossible to budget with zero money to budget with.

Winter in the UK can be pretty brutal, cold and unforgiving. I predict households will be forced into desperation to heat their homes. Some might see no option other than opening up disused fireplaces, forced to do so because of the rising cost of energy bills leaving them no longer able to use their central heating.

Desperate times result in desperate measures.





Meanwhile whilst vulnerable people are already struggling theres news from the US bank Citi and Centrica the British Gas owner.

According to Centrica, the British Gas owner will be announcing a return to giving dividends. They are also planning to return £0.5-£1bn to shareholders either through shares or repayment of debt.

These plans will go ahead at the same time as energy bills are predicted to hit £3,300 in January compared to £1,971 at present. This is due largely to soaring gas prices. Citi bank also sees scope for profit from both the company’s nuclear, energy markets and trading divisions. This will be reflected in the production volumes and volatile commodity markets.

This could result in a half-year dividend of 1.1p which is expected by the bank with a 3.8p payment for the full year.

Whilst the public are struggling to pay their energy bills and keep up with the increasing cost of living crisis, Centrica have decided to give each other a pat on the back for a job well done. It’s Machiavellian and cruel beyond belief.

You couldn’t make this shit up.

This winter will truly be a winter of discontent for millions of vulnerable people. We need a general election and a Labour Party government and it can’t happen soon enough.

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A huge thank you to everyone that has supported my blog and campaign in the past. I really couldn’t have got through the past two years without you.

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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.

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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.

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£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.

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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.

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

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.