Tag: anti social behaviour,

Unpaid Carers Forced To Pay Back Thousands

And so the DWP cruelty continues and we shouldn’t be surprised.

Unpaid carers have been told by the DWP (Department Of Work And Pensions) to repay thousands of pounds of benefits after unknowingly earning too much money years ago.

Not only is this cruel it was entirely preventable if the DWP had done their jobs correctly. But forcing unpaid to pay back thousands is unbelievable especially when they save the government millions every year.

The DWP system shows when carers have gone over the earnings limit but they failed to inform claimants instead allowing their claims to continue for months or even years before recovering the full amount owed.

This has also been highlighted in a series of articles by Patrick Butler in The Guardian which shows exposing the cruelty in how they treat unpaid carers

Along with this the folks over at Benefits And Work have raised the reasons why the DWP should never get the police powers they desperately want.

This also proves why the DWP should never be given police powers.

This has resulted in the DWP given free reign to threaten  carers with jail terms.
They have also used laws that were  designed to strip drug dealers of their property to take  money from carers.


The DEP have unlawfully ignored judges legal directions in order to increase the amount they can take back from carers.


The DWP have been shown to misleed MPs for years by promising that new technology meant large overpayments would no longer happen.


Alongside this they are refusing to publish a report on the effects of overpayment recovery on carers which was completed years ago.


Take for example the heart breaking  case of Vivienne Groom who cared for her elderly mother who had dementia and suffered from a stroke is a disturbing example of how the DWP treat carers.

Vivienne was given incorrect advice from a  social worker that she didn’t need to declare her part-time minimum wage at the  Co-Op job to the DWP whilst still receiving carers allowance.

When her hours increased she did inform the DWP, who said they would get back to her.

Unsurprisingly they never did reply to her.

Years later she was threatened with prosecution and began repaying the overpayment at £30 a month.

This is a large amount of money for her to replay each month but she did so.

Her mother sadly died and left her a £16,000 inheritance. The DWP went on to  prosecute  Vivienne using the Proceeds of Crime Act.

This was created to take expensive cars and large houses from drug dealers, not people who have cared for loved ones

They also threatened her with up to seven years in prison in order to steal her inheritance.

Vivienne decided to take legal action and was refused legal aid because she had £16,000 in capital even though she couldn’t access it because the DWP had her account frozen the day the money went into her bank account.

The case ended with the DWP legal team ignoring judges directions on three separate occasions to make calculations that may have reduced the amount Vivienne owed and, instead, getting the whole of her inheritance.

It’s extremely disturbing that the possibility that  a vengeful organisation as is the DWP could be given the power to search claimants homes, seize their possessions and prosecute them or impose fines upon them must be challenged whenever it is raised.

As proven time after time the DWP will ignore a judges ruling and will appeal any decisions made in a court of law.

It’s wrong, beyond cruel . The government should be thanking unpaid carers for the work that they do because ultimately they save the government millions of pounds each year.

It’s our job to challenge this whenever possible and share articles to raise awareness because believe it or not there are people that aren’t aware that this does and will continue to happen.

A huge thank you to Patrick Butler for his hard work in producing these interviews

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/07/unpaid-carers-allowance-payment-prosecution-earnings-rules

Also thanks to the folk over at Benefit And Work for the hard work that they do to help people.

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA on Pexels.com

Thanks to my partner for sending me the article as soon as it was published.

This time of the year is especially hard for me because of the anniversary of my son’s passing and everything that went along with that.

This is why I’ve been absent from social media because it’s tough for me to handle but I will be back to normal soon

Thank you for your patience

Jobcentres Told To Stop Referring Claimants To Food banks


Jobcentres have given claimants referrals  food banks for many years and on the whole it’s worked quite well. It’s helped possibly millions of people throughout the years.

This referral comes in the form of a referral slip which contains some personal details about the claimants for example if they have children and any other essential details.

Some food banks will only accept people if they’ve been referred by outside organisations such as the DWP, social services and so on.

For no apparent reason the DWP aren’t happy with handing out food bank referrals stating that it’s and have decided that it’s now an  “inappropriate use of personal claimant data” and referrals need to be stopped.

Thousands of claimants rely upon these referrals and often request them when they’ve had their benefits sanctioned or are  waiting weeks for their first benefit payment, they’ve literally kept people alive as they are unable to buy food.

The DWP have decided that claimants now have to approach another agency, such as their doctor, housing association, social worker to obtain a food bank referral.

This then automatically puts another barrier to receiving much needed food from a food bank.



I dont for one minute believe the DWP’s data protection argument is valid,  after all they don’t have a problem with sharing claimants details to other organisations and agencies that work alongside them. Nor do they respect a claimants privacy when they’re looking up a claimants details and activities on social media etc.

That’s apparently ok.

Contrary to the DWPS depiction of  claimants they are intelligent enough to read the contents of the slip and realise that they will be handing over their personal details. to food banks, it’s ridiculous to think otherwise.

However the real reason that the DWP don’t want food banks to be able to publish their statistics showing that massive amounts of claimants are being forced to access food banks 

This is as a direct  result of the benefits system completely failing claimants and pushing them further into poverty.

Unbelievable aren’t they willing to put a claimants basic human rights at risk  in order to save themselves and hide essential details.

Their benefits systems were created to make people suffer afterall how dare they ask for help.

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A huge thank you to everyone that reads and shares my blog it is appreciated.

If you like my work and would like to donate to keep it and myself going there’s a donation button at the top and side of this blog post.

DWP Intent On Creating Own Anti-fraud Police Force

As we know the DWP are pushing a bill which will give them access to approximately nine million claimants bank accounts through parliament.

They are already pushing for additional powers of arrest, search and seizure additional to having access to bank accounts and it’s a scary thought.

If they are successful with their aims the DWP will therefore have its own anti-fraud police force. With this they could also be able to impose huge fines without going to court.

This is extremely worrying considering if they are successful they won’t have any real accountability by anyone but themselves and we know what that means.

By default the accountability given to their actions will be very low if any at all. Yes they make claimants follow their rules when they often don’t follow them themselves.


Whilst this  legislation hasn’t been given to  the DWP yet it’s vital to be aware that this could happen and to prepare for it if it happens.

Keeping good records of everything that you do and have done. Double check everything and keep everything safe.

Please note this hasn’t happened yet so don’t worry and I will be sharing more about this and what you can do as and when more information comes out.such immense powers does appear,

Please don’t panic this hasn’t happened yet and it might not go through parliament yet and I’ll keep you updated.

To be forewarned is to be forewarned.

Keep safe and warm and  love to everyone

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DWP To Spend Estimated £30 Million To Investigate Benefit Fraud

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.

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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.

Thank you x

DWP Enforced Volunteering Schemes (Workfare) Are Awful. Here’s Why.

It’s been a long while since I’ve focused upon the DWP’s enforced volunteering (Workfare) schemes so I thought I’d revisit it.

Myself and many others have been protesting against them for many years for the reasons below.

Enforced volunteering goes against everything that actual volunteering stands for and it’s so bloody wrong.

Here’s a list of reasons why Workfare is wrong, and what the knock on effects are for people employed at these work places.



Workfare actually puts claimants at an increased risk of sanctions If they can’t attend their Workfare placement for any reason albeit disability, Illness, childcare etc their DWP work coach can refer them to be sanctioned.


Enforced volunteering criminalises the unemployed, setting the so called deserving and undeserving poor against each other after all how dare people not work for nothing. (I’m being sarcastic)

Of course everyone should be paid a wage for the work that they do.


Work for nothing schemes perpetuate poverty and inequality. It’s soul destroying being forced to work for nothing whilst doing the same things as paid employees are.


Workfare schemes have displaced paid workers and workers. I’ve written about previous employees being forced to volunteer at their previous employment doing the same job.


They provide free labour for private companies. Why pay someone when they can fill those positions with unpaid workers. It’s a win win for them.


Workfare undermines the fundamental rights to social security, which gives the claimant free choice of employment, equal days pay for an equal day’s work.


It undermines a workers basic rights to pay and fair working conditions by introducing a claimant workforce doing the same job without the legal status as workers.


Workfare drives down wages and conditions for all workers by undercutting the labour market and undermining bargaining power. Once again why should they pay employees when they can get free labour.

It doesn’t help people into paid employment despite this being the premise of the reason why Workfare was created.


Enforced volunteering actually prevents claimants from doing their own job searches based upon the work that they’re qualified to do.


For a long time now Workfare schemes create false employment statistics because claimants undertaking workfare are counted as in employment.


Workfare undermines the values and practice of volunteering. It can’t be called volunteering if it’s not voluntary.

It’s shocking that this is still happening and that no one is talking about this anymore. I’ve called Universal Credit being a digital workhouse, claimants having to do everything their work coach says or face being sanctioned.

No one should ever have their main means of survival taken away from them. Every person deserves to have the ability to buy food to eat, to keep warm and have somewhere decent to live.

Sanctioning people is totally unacceptable, a sadistic way of punishing people especially taking the cost of living and energy cost crisis.

As I write this the temperature outside is -4 and I worry about everyone that is now chasing warmth every day. Job searching is extremely hard when your main focus is hunger and cold.

My thoughts are with everyone that can’t get out and can’t access warm spaces, not can they access food banks.

Whilst although I’m glad that these warm spaces have been created for people to use we should be protesting about the need for them in the first place.

They say ‘The greatness of a nation can be judged by how it treats its weakest member’. The UK is clearly failing those most in need. The only way of rectifying this would be a general election and a new government that would prioritise those most in need first.

Will this happen? I’m not sure but I hope that they do.

EDIT I forgot to thank Boycott Workfare for their hard work and campaigning which resulted in some charities from using unpaid workers.

Please take care everyone my thoughts are with you.

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Happy New Year.HMRC To Investigate Accounts Of People Selling On Vinted And Ebay

I approached the new year with great trepidation thinking about what horrors the government could inflict on us. I didn’t have to wait long.

It has been officially announced that HMRC are going to look into the accounts of people that sell their old clothing and belongings on Vinted and EBay.

HMRC are also going to investigate Air B&B hosts and people that work for Uber, Deliveroo and suchlike.

The majority of people that sell on platforms such as Vinted and EBay are just ordinary folk struggling to pay bills etc and are doing this as a last resort.

Whilst I accept that there are some that make a fair bit of money doing this and they should pay tax on what they earn the majority don’t.

For example they might be selling things to pay for a funeral of a loved one, to buy the basics such as food and energy and just to get by.

As the cost of living crisis continues to worsen the amount of people forced to sell their much loved things and aren’t doing this with joy.

Let’s look at it another way, it’s easier for the government to financially attack poorer people because it’s easier for them to squeeze money from them. They like to kick a working class person whilst they are down and not give them any help I mean how dare they.

This will undoubtedly scare people from selling their unwanted clothing etc on these sites not because they want to avoid paying tax but because of the massive invasion of privacy granted to HMRC.

I’m not a paranoid person, far from it but I’m extremely worried about the amount of powers given to HMRC and the DWP. At the touch of a button they can learn everything about us and this does make me very concerned.

At the same time they don’t investigate their tax evading millionaire and billionaire friends though, they don’t intend to either.

This comes at a great cost to the country as a whole and our economy isn’t going to improve until this is tackled.

Money makes money something they still fail to recognize.

So why are they doing this?

It’s classic Tory handbook stuff, distracting the public from their wrongs by attacking the poorest in society. They do it time and time again it’s what they do best.

We need to stop this rot from the top and the constant attacking of working class people. Investigations of the governments involvement with their tax avoiding multi million pound business pals.

Can you imagine how much better off the UK would be if they actually paid their taxes.

One thing for sure, Tory corruption won’t stop any time soon but we need to take away their governmental power and start rebuilding the mess that they’re going to leave behind.

I truly hope that this year treats you better than the previous one, you deserve better, we all do

Goodbye Christine

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.

Taking This Week Off

Hi folks I hope you’re as ok as you can be.

This week’s been pretty rough for me so I’ve made the decision to have a break from blogging this week.

I don’t do this often but I feel that all things considered it’s the best decision for me.

My thoughts and prayers are with Tony Husbands family who passed away unexpectedly this week.

His work was amazing always funny and spot on and I’m sure he’ll be missed by his colleagues over at Private Eye.

Here’s one of his cartoons.

Government Plans to Impose Stricter Sanctions For Benefits Claimants

The government is planning to impose stricter sanctions for benefits claimants, the chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed

As this year’s Conservative Party conference ends Jeremy Hunt revealed plans to impose tougher benefit sanctions. Saying that it will encourage people to look for work.

However research has shown that sanctions cause destitution and worse for already financially vulnerable people.

Punishing people even more because they can’t find work doesn’t help people find work and combined with the cost of living crisis it will push thousands of people into even more poverty causing extreme distress and harm.

When speaking at the Conservative Party Conference, chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that 100,00 people are leaving the labour market every year for a “life on benefits”. He also said that this is why the government is replacing work capability assessments and examining the sanctions regime.

Hunt neglects to tell his audience that one of the reasons why unemployment is rising is because business such as Wilkos and small businesses are being forced to close. They find themselves unable to trade anymore because of the financial crisis.

Hunt went on to say “It isn’t fair that someone who refuses to look for a job gets the same as someone trying their best.”

This isn’t true though, people claiming universal credit working or not working have to adhere to strict job searching rules as stated in their claimant commitments.

Pitching claimant against claimant isn’t a new trick by the Tory party. They’ve been doing it for years under their ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor ideology.

Their remit has however changed as it’s clear to see that they regard everyone as not deserving of help especially disabled people who always bear the brunt of the government’s cruel policy changes.

Instead further punishments will undoubtedly force vulnerable people to look for unsuitable low paid work which could damage their health and plunge them into even more poverty than they’re already in.

Anela Anwar, Chief Executive of the anti-poverty charity Z2K, said: “The government needs to stop scapegoating people in poverty. More people are claiming disability benefits because more people are seriously ill or disabled – not because people have suddenly become lazier.

“The punitive and trigger-happy benefit sanctions system already leaves hundreds of thousands of people without the money they need to survive every year. And it doesn’t work: evidence tells us that sanctions leave people sicker and even further from the labour market.

“Further tightening the screw will only cause more destitution, prevent people re-engaging with DWP, and no matter the safeguards in place, will inevitably affect some of the most vulnerable.”

Indeed it will and life is going to become a great deal harder for vulnerable people that need help and support rather than even more punishment from a cruel uncaring government.

Personally I’d like to see them all live as we have to, with no access to funds and forced to live in damp, substandard housing. I’d like to see if they could survive this for over a year, but it won’t happen.

One thing they’ve managed to excel at is totally destroying the UK, its foundation, reputation, people, industry, businesses.

The current state of the stock market proves this, when big businesses and major players from around the world stop investing in the UK there really is no future for it. No one wants to invest in a country that’s failing everything and everyone.

We need a general election asap because the Tory government will stop at nothing to continue to feather their own nests, even when they put the future of the UK at great risk.

My photo.
It totally reflects the state of the UK at the moment.

If you like my blog please can you share it. It makes a massive difference and raises much needed awareness.

I don’t get paid anything for the work that I do and it’s a huge struggle for me.

If you’d like to contribute towards keeping it going there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

Any donations made will be used to pay my internet bill and make it possible for me to continue blogging these important issues.

Braverman Claims £25K For Energy Bills For House She Doesn’t Use

Whilst most of us are struggling to keep warm this winter because of the ever increasing energy costs Braverman has claimed £25K for energy bills for a house that she doesn’t use.

Scandalous isn’t it, completely brazen such is their attitude towards the cost of living and energy cost scandals.

Meanwhile, the energy bills support scheme which saw households getting around £66 taken off their bills each month has come to an end in March 2023.

This will undoubtedly result in vulnerable people unable to turn their heating on which is still very important because it’s still cold.

As stated in the above photo people have died or become ill from hypothermia and hypothermia related illnesses and will continue to do so.

Not everyone can travel to organised warm places, they’re not a solution because their homes will still be cold upon returning.

Thousands are dependent upon food banks to be able to eat a meal, many are unable to cook meals because of high energy costs.

Mortality rates are almost definitely going to increase and the government yet again want to force disabled people into work.

God help us, there’s no levels the government won’t go to to punish the working class for simply existing.

They’re monsters of the worst kind with not an ounce of dignity, compassion and honesty between them all.

Like all monsters they’ll continue to do so until they’re defeated and we must do this.

Everyone needs to remember their cruelty at the upcoming local elections. Not voting will enable them to continue as they are doing now.

It’s been predicted that the Tories could lose up to 1,000 seats. Let’s hope this happens..

Check on your friends and neighbours to see if they’re ok because at the moment we have only each other to rely on.

Take care.

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