At last the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) has revealed the details of their appalling new system that assess claimants that are in the severe disability group.
As we know every person’s circumstances are different depending upon their diagnosis and entry to this group may be based on and is not exclusively
Having medically precise definitions that are not connected with the benefits system :
Having information that only a claimant or carer will know however a specialist will still have to provide details:
Having availability of specialist services and access to said services where the claimant lives
And unbelievably no clear criteria given at all.
There is also great concern that their distinct lack of clarity on the overlap between the Severe Disability Group and the light-touch review system for PIP will cause claimants to be wrongly assessed and treated.
We can only imagine how disastrous this will be for severely disabled people which gives me great concern for their well-being.
God help us they certainly have no regard for the lives and well-being of extremely vulnerable people.
Many claimants and disability charities are sharing their concerns that the creation of their planned separate group of severely disabled claimants will be directed purely at reducing future payments for those that they allege are not as severely disabled.
And there lies the real reason for the creation of this new group. It’s all about the money and how to take away as much as they can take away from vulnerable people to line their own greedy pockets.
Hi folks sadly they won’t be a blog this week I’ve had a really stressful busy week
I don’t like doing this but I do need a clear head because I don’t want to write a rubbish blog post.
I’m struggling to pay my home internet bill which is essential for blogging, researching and helping people which I’ve been busy with this week.
Thanks to all of my supporters every share helps to raise huge public awareness of how life is for so many of us. Believe it or not some people aren’t aware of how people are suffering under this Tory government.
If you like my blog and can afford to there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.
It comes as no surprise that the DWP has announced that they will spend approximately £30 million a year for them to investigate supposed benefit fraud. This apparently will be identified by their new system. It is also estimated that they will save £500 million a year through as a result of this.
The DWP have also estimated that over the first ten years their new surveillance powers which will potentially result in 74,000 prosecution cases and 2,500 custodial sentences.
As we all know the DWP intend to use their new powers much more widely and as a tool to financially attack innocent social security claimants.
The impact assessment for the new powers states:
“The power is not limited to a specific type of data or type of institution/Third-Party to allow us to fight new fraud and error issues as they emerge and engage with new institutions as efficient opportunities become available to us.”
Also:
“This measure is drafted broadly . . . to enable DWP to apply this measure to non-financial organisations in future if it is deemed appropriate and proportionate”
However the DWPs new surveillance powers appears to have been welcomed in parliament having gained cross party support.
Sadly only 51 MPs voted against the amendment, with 30 of those being SNP and just 7 each from Labour and the Lib Dems. This is so frustrating because anyone with any experience of the DWP and their operations will know that they will use their new powers for nefarious reasons. They won’t use them fairly and will use them to target already financially vulnerable people.
It angers me even more that hardly anyone in parliament are concerned about their well-being. Of course Tory MPs would vote for it because it will ‘save’ the government money resulting in more money for them and their friends.
However they fail to remember that the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act was introduced to combat terrorism and organised crime but in reality was used to spy on people dropping litter, dog walkers not cleaning up after their dogs and so the list continues
In my opinion it was used very unfairly and for the wrong reasons. Will the same thing happen when the DWP introduces their new powers?
You can bet they will, I can imagine the DWP are already rubbing their hands with glee. Any excuse to intimidate social security claimants.
However in reality capital and abroad fraud account for less than 15% of benefits fraud and error, yes less than 15%.
Of course the DWP will use this as an excuse to unfairly delve into all aspects of claimants lives in order to identify the other innocent 85%.
This is extremely worrying because social security claimants shouldn’t have their privacy and confidentiality taken away as a default for claiming benefits.
Of course the government has no intention of investigating their pals in high places for their blatant fraudulent behaviour and lies. This is exactly why the government is losing money, not a few hundred quid but millions of pounds.
It deeply sickens me that the DWP will be given these powers which will undoubtedly be used to intimidate and harass vulnerable people.
Also knowing that they’ve got hardly anyone in parliament that will stand up and fight against such measures.
Keep safe and warm if you can, the recent storms have been very worrying especially for those without a home to live in and everyone that can’t afford to heat their homes.
A huge thanks to everyone that reads and has supported my blog for all these years it means the world to me.
If you like my work and would like to contribute towards it there’s a few PayPal donation buttons on this blog page.
It seems from years of experience in such matters that the DWP like nothing more than handing out sanctions during the festive period.
If that isn’t bad enough their reasoning for sanctioning people is mostly totally unreasonable, giving claimants targets that they can’t reach.
In my eyes sanctioning a person is the cruelest thing to do to a claimant. No regard is given as to the health and wellbeing of them either, once the decision is made by their DWP work coach and sent off for approval it’s down to the claimant to appeal the sanction.
Appealing a decision to sanction isn’t easy, it’s difficult and directly impacts their mental and physical health and a direct correlation between the two can be found. Please see my previous blog posts.
Here are some examples of the reasons why claimants have been sanctioned. It’s gaslighting at its worst but hey the DWP has targets to reach.
I’ve helped many people with sanction decisions. You might think that these are made up but they aren’t they’re the real deal.
Sanctioned because claimants father had just died.
Sanctioned because a claimants father had just passed away half an hour before the signing on appointment.
They phoned their advisor up and were told that they had to attend their appointment. The claimant was waiting for the doctor to certify the death.
Sanctioned because their baby died.
A claimant sanctioned because they couldn’t attend their appointment due to their baby dying. They asked their work coach if they could rearrange their appointment but was refused. Instead they were told to bring the death certificate in to prove it.
Sanctioned because a work coach made a mistake.
Sanctioned because a work coach made a mistake in their records for an upcoming appointment. Luckily the claimant had kept the proof on their appointment which was given on an appointment card showing the time and date that they were given to attend
The case of the missing letters
Here’s a very common reason for sanctioning people.
Sanctioned for not attending an appointment that they had supposedly been sent a letter for.
The letter was never sent.
The onus is on them to prove that the claimant recieved it. They couldn’t because they didn’t. Watch out for this one folks
Sanctioned for attending a job interview.
Sanctioned for attending a a job interview at the same time as a signing on appointment.
They requested that their appointment be changed so they could attend their interview but their advisor refused.
Important to know that they’d also sanctioned for not attending their interview.
It’s a catch22 a no win situation except for the DWP
Any reputable organisation would not threaten to sanction or indeed sanction people for the above reasons. They’d actually care about the people that they help.
The DWP do neither, they don’t even care for their staff and it’s scandalous that they’re allowed to get away with this.
As I’ve previously posted sanctioned rates are rapidly increasing.
It’s important to remember that sanction decisions can be appealed and you must do this.
A huge thank you to everyone for reading and sharing my blog posts. You make a huge difference when you do this and I can’t thank you enough.
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Like you I’m struggling to manage everything, I was hoping to be able to turn my heating on for a few hours on Christmas day for my daughter but that’s impossible now. Nor will I be able to provide a decent Christmas dinner.
If you can afford to and would like to donate to keep my blog going and myself there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.
I’m so sorry to have to tell you that our good friend and comrade Christine Clarke passed away earlier this week.
Christine was a huge supporter of my blog and our campaign and was a constant support not only to me but to others.
She had a very kind heart and was a long time protector of our planet having been a long term member of the green party. Christine was also a campaigner at Greenham Common and other campaigns.
Her kindness knew no bounds and this radiated to others always there to comfort people especially at Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre demos. Always there to help and advise others in their time of need.
Christine, you will be sadly missed by so many thanks for the memories and good times. I shall miss you dearly.
My photo that was taken on one of our Universal Credit demonstrations.
Well it appears that the DWP have been busy conducting a survey about the concerning list of proposed new powers they’re wanting to implement.
These include:
Trained DWP investigators having arrest powers
Trained DWP investigators having search and seizure powers
Collecting information about where claimants are spending money
Apparently the DWP research findings reveal that a majority of the public questioned were in favour of every one of these measures being introduced.
Combine this with the constant failing of the DWP system, it’s dire incompetence, lack of any unaccountability and data leaks the very suggestion that staff could arrest claimants and seize their possessions is likely to worry and cause distress for thousands of people.
The draconian suggestion that the DWP could start looking at how claimants spend their money is also going to cause distress.
George Orwell wasn’t wrong was he.
This week the first King’s Speech promised proposals to “reform welfare and support more people into work” whilst giving no details of how they’re going to do this.
It makes me wonder if the above are included in these supposed reforms but I hope they aren’t.
I’d like to question the legality of their proposed plans, is it within the law for the DWP to access claimants bank accounts without permission? Would that in itself be a serious data leak?
If this is allowed will people be sanctioned for spending their money on what the DWP could regard as being ‘wrong’, will they have a list of items that claimants won’t be allowed to purchase?
I’d like to see these proposals being challenged by those that can do this.
It’s hard enough having to live whilst claiming social security, the cost of living and rising energy costs have made everyday living much harder.
Every day more people are forced to access foodbanks for help because they can’t afford to eat.
Winter is also on it’s way and it’s pretty cold where I live, this will result in more people forced to live in cold damp homes
Having a decent quality of life has become a long forgotten thing, a dream of the past and we deserve so much more than this.
The sooner this corrupt government is out of power the better because the public can’t take much more.
Thanks to Benefit And Work for their original reporting of this.
3.8 Million people in the UK have experienced destitution In 2022 including One Million Children new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds.
This is almost two and a half times the number of people in 2017, and nearly triple the number of children. There is a desperately urgent need for action to tackle destitution in the UK.
The legal definition of destitution is ‘the inability to afford the absolute basics required to maintain a healthy life: food, shelter and warmth’. Let this sink in… 3.8 million people and 1 million children are forced to live like this through no fault of their own and I expect these figures to rise every year until a politician, maybe even a future prime minister is actually brave enough and committed to tackle this and do something about it.
I say brave because from where I’m sitting save but a few opposition politicians that are brave and committed enough to challenge and to stand up and speak about it, many of the others continue to drone on about ‘working people’ whilst ignoring those most in need.
It’s totally shameful, a true reflection of how the government regard the people living in the UK, you know the ones that don’t have huge trust funds, have friends in high places and the ability to avoid paying tax. Instead theres an ever increasing number of people struggling to afford to meet their most basic physical needs to stay warm, dry, clean and fed.
Not only does this have deep and profound impacts on health, mental health and people’s prospects, indeed mortality, it also puts strain on already overstretched services. Nearly three-quarters of people experiencing destitution are in receipt of social security payments, further evidence of benefit inadequacy. Ad-hoc and totally unrealistic support from the Government, first during the pandemic and now to help with the cost of living, hasn’t halted the rising level of destitution, namely because this help doesn’t even touch the sides. What is needed is to actually admit that this is happening and an outstanding ambitious programme of action to address destitution and its corrosive impacts that doesn’t pander to those that have caused these increasing figures. It comes as no surprise that Rishi Sunack has decided to give bankers another a massive windfall for Bankers.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation that conducted this report have several recommendations that would help to take people out of destitution and they are as follows;
Universal Credit should have an ‘Essentials Guarantee’ to ensure everyone has a protected minimum amount of support to afford essentials such as food and household bills. An independent process should determine the Essentials Guarantee level, based on the cost of essentials. Universal Credit’s basic rate would need to at least meet this minimum amount, and deductions would not be allowed to reduce support below that level.
Undertake wider reforms to social security, including: lowering the limit on deductions from benefits to repay debts; reforming sanctions so people are not left with zero or extremely low income; and ensure people can access disability benefits they are entitled to.
Ensuring cash-first emergency financial assistance is available in all areas, along with free and impartial advice services to address the crushing debt, benefits and housing issues that keep people destitute.
Enable everyone in our communities to access help in an emergency whether they have ‘no recourse to public funds’ or not – and resource local authorities to meet this additional need. Local authorities, charities, independent funders and housing providers should also work together to prevent destitution and homelessness for people with restricted entitlement.
Of course more than this is needed but it’s a start, sad to say that unless theres a change of government and the future labour government actually putting those in most need first because at the moment people aren’t living they’re existing until they die.
Hiya I know times are really awful for us all at the moment but I just wanted to pop on here to thank you all for your help and support over the past 9 years.
I never expected to be blogging for as long as I have been although at the time of creating this blog I knew it was going to become a whole lot worse.
Truth be told I had already been protesting and campaigning for a while when a friend of mine suggested that I should write a blog about my experiences.
I remember saying to him that I didn’t expect anyone to read it and I’d give it a month and then stop.
I couldn’t have been more wrong if I tried. It immediately got read and shared and the media started to read it.
Back then matters such as I write about weren’t being discussed by many, it was like speaking to a brick wall. They did however have a good interest in the blog and matters started to be discussed in newspapers and the media online and offline.
I’m not saying that I was totally responsible for this because I wasn’t, it’s down to the hard work of DPAC, Black Triangle and other groups as well. They’ve worked extremely hard and deserve credit for what they’ve done.
At first I was called a liar, an extremist and I shouldn’t be listened to. They tried everything to try and get rid of me from weekly visits, sometimes 3 in two hours from the local police trying to move us from outside the Job Centre.
Luckily we know where we stood in regard to the law and we didn’t move.
They even criticised my appearance, that was rather boring.
I can’t say it’s been easy, far from it but I know that myself and others have helped hundreds of people and this blog has done and still continues to raise awareness.
A massive thank you to everyone that has and does support my blog and everyone that reads and shares it.
So what’s the future for this blog?
I’d like to be able to continue blogging for as long as possible, it’s my baby and I don’t want to see me ending it.
Personally I’ve gone through a lot over the past few years and I don’t want to dwell on it but I’d like to thank you for being there for me when I needed it.
Carrying on blogging is hard though, I can’t afford to pay my broadband bill and I don’t have credit on my phone either. Not unlike many of you reading this.
I haven’t got a clue how I will continue but I shall find a way.
Remember there’s more of us than there is of them, they know this that’s why they’re so bloody scared of us.
Keep holding them to account is extremely important.
Hiya I know times are really awful for us all at the moment but I just wanted to pop on here to thank you all for your help and support over the past 9 years.
I never expected to be blogging for as long as I have been although at the time of creating this blog I knew it was going to become a whole lot worse.
Truth be told I had already been protesting and campaigning for a while when a friend of mine suggested that I should write a blog about my experiences.
I remember saying to him that I didn’t expect anyone to read it and I’d give it a month and then stop.
I couldn’t have been more wrong if I tried. It immediately got read and shared and the media started to read it.
Back then matters such as I write about weren’t being discussed by many, it was like speaking to a brick wall. They did however have a good interest in the blog and matters started to be discussed in newspapers and the media online and offline.
I’m not saying that I was totally responsible for this because I wasn’t, it’s down to the hard work of DPAC, Black Triangle and other groups as well. They’ve worked extremely hard and deserve credit for what they’ve done.
At first I was called a liar, an extremist and I shouldn’t be listened to. They tried everything to try and get rid of me from weekly visits, sometimes 3 in two hours from the local police trying to move us from outside the Job Centre.
Luckily we know where we stood in regard to the law and we didn’t move.
They even criticised my appearance, that was rather boring.
I can’t say it’s been easy, far from it but I know that myself and others have helped hundreds of people and this blog has done and still continues to raise awareness.
A massive thank you to everyone that has and does support my blog and everyone that reads and shares it.
So what’s the future for this blog?
I’d like to be able to continue blogging for as long as possible, it’s my baby and I don’t want to see me ending it.
Personally I’ve gone through a lot over the past few years and I don’t want to dwell on it but I’d like to thank you for being there for me when I needed it.
Carrying on blogging is hard though, I can’t afford to pay my broadband bill and I don’t have credit on my phone either. Not unlike many of you reading this.
I haven’t got a clue how I will continue but I shall find a way.
Remember there’s more of us than there is of them, they know this that’s why they’re so bloody scared of us.
Keep holding them to account is extremely important.
Figures released by the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) in June have revealed that 25.5% of PIP AR1 review forms were returned late or not at all in the 12 months to February of this year (2023)
According to Viscount Younger, 5th Viscount Younger of Leckie, an elected hereditary peer who sits on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords), only 7% of claimants who received an AR1 form were disallowed for non-return.
Some claimants already have an additional support marker which means that decisions can be made without the form being returned.
Other claimants may have been granted an extension of time for returning the form.
However returning a PIP form can be extremely difficult to say the least due to the DWP’s telephony chaos and their lack of urgency to resolve it.
Alternatively claimants have also reported receiving their renewal forms with only a week remaining to fill it in and post it.
This then results in the claimant trying to phone the PIP line up to get an extension and not able to get through to any help.
Other claimants have also reported receiving less time to complete and return the form also confirming that when they try to phone up to request an extension their calls are being cut off.
I suspect that thousands of PIP claimants are being refused their payments because they are prevented from requesting an extension as a result of not being able to talk to anyone on the PIP line.
If this happens to you you can appeal their decision.
The amount of already vulnerable people forced to suffer even more because of the government’s incompetency is immense and shouldn’t be ignored.
These people are your neighbours, friends, relatives and each and every one of them deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. They all deserve to receive their PIP payments to help them cover their everyday needs.
It’s a scandal that this is happening and I urge to contact your local MP and voice your opinion on this. If you don’t tell them they won’t know the impact that this is having on you.
The poor side of life 