Tag: BBC

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Shoplifting Offences In England and Wales At Highest Level In 20 years

According to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shoplifting offences in England and Wales in 2023 have risen to the highest level since records began in 2003.

According to the data there has been more than 430,000 recorded cases last year which had increased by 37% in the year ending 2023 when compared to 2022. This makes it the highest levels recorded since records started being kept in 2003.

James Cleverly responded by saying that although the police record it as a ‘sub threshold crime’ and it has a so called ‘corrosive effect’ on peoples confidence in the police. Its not surprising that he appeared to have zero sympathy for those effectively forced to shoplift due to various circumstances.

Julian Heyes, criminal defence lawyer and partner at Berris Law LLP went on to say ” The release of the recent shoplifting figures simply demonstrate that the years of austerity and cuts in policing have meant that the investigation of these so called minor offences have long since been neglected and ignored”

“The police cannot be blamed for this as they, much like the rest of the criminal justice system are on their knees. The cost to the high street is immeasurable and causing shops and businesses to close or restrict access to customers, not to mention the horrendous risks that members of staff have to take when challenging shoplifters”

The truth is that shop lifting is rising for various reasons including and not excluding others: The increasing cost of living, high energy bills, low wages, less than adequate social security payments, increases in mortgage repayments, social security payments being too low and badly paid employment.

Whilst many people with addictions shoplift to fund their habits there’s very little support given to them to conquer their addictions thus the circle of offending continues.

Let’s be clear, very few people actually want to shoplift its a situation they find themselves in through desperation and is usually the last option that they can take after exhausting other avenues, they’re desperate and see this as a last resort.

We all appreciate and acknowledge that there are foodbanks that help people but not everyone can access them or can wait until the next time they’re open. People are driven by hunger and distress and we live in desperate times which is entirely the governments creation.

The UK has a government hell bent on lining their own pockets and their business and personal friends with money that has been taken from the public purse. There’s been a sharp decline in the physical and mental wellbeing of the working class and mortality levels are rising. The constant stripping of funding to local councils has also paid a huge part in this and town centres aren’t being cared for like they should be because theres no longer the financial means to do so. This has a direct impact upon the high street.

The solution to this is quite simple and to be honest basic economics. For a society to succeed and thrive there has to be financial investment into the public, the more money they have to spend undoubtably benefits their general health it also helps to transform the areas that they live.

It’s easy to blame a shoplifter for shoplifting, and I don’t condone violence towards retail staff. The blame lies totally at the governments feet. Society as we knew it has been broken by the current government, the amount of desperate and hungry people are at their highest in modern times, desperate people are forced to take measures that they would previously have never dreamt of doing.

Hurl your anger at the government and not Joe Public.

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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.

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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

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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.

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Cruel Severe Disability Group Assessment System Exposed

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.

    It’s vile and inhumane.

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    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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    New Claimants With Mobilising Issues To Be Hit Hard By Proposed Changes To Work Capability Assessmets

    New claimants with mobilising issues will be the largest group hit by the proposed changes to the work capability assessment (WCA) planned for 2025, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has predicted.

    Those that have severe mental health conditions will also be hit hard.



    The OBR has estimated that by 2028-29 there will be;

    Approximately 371,000 additional claimants placed in limited capability for work (LCW) group and not the limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) group. This is happening because of changes being made to the mobilising descriptors.

    Approximately 230,000 additional claimants will be placed in LCW group rather the LCWRA group because of the upcoming changes to the substantial risk regulations.

    Approximately 29,000 claimants will be placed in the intensive work search group rather than the LCW group because of the future changes that are being made to the ‘getting about’ points score.



    It was confirmed as evidence to the Commons Work and Pensions Committee in parliament last month that the DWP is still intending to introduce the changes to the WCA in 2025 and that they will only affect new claims.



    It is also estimated that by 2029, over 600,000 people will miss out on the additional payments that they would have if they were still in the LCWRA group.

    As a result of these changes it has been reported that almost a quarter of a million claimants many of the those with mental health conditions, will knowingly have their health and wellbeing put at risk.

    It has also been estimated that only one or two percent of these claimants will actually be able to find work because most of these claimants either aren’t well enough. Also many workplaces cannot make the required alterations to their workplace to make it disabled friendly.

    These changes have been implemented to save them money, to give more tax cuts to those that are already getting a good deal.

    To take away a person’s vital payments and to make them look for work that they won’t be able to do is unbelievably cruel.

    How many of these already extremely vulnerable people will be sanctioned or forced to do tasks that they aren’t capable of.

    It’s unacceptable to treat people like this and all of us should be angry about this I know that I am.

    There’s no price that can be put on a person’s life but this cruel and calculated government will continue to throw as much hatred as they can before the next general election.

    They don’t care and no one should expect them to either.

    Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

    Many thanks to the team at Benefits And Work for their original reporting of this.

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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

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    Benefit Sanctions Cause Poverty And Destitution

    I’ve been writing about benefit sanctions for years but I thought that I’d write a timely reminder of the harmful affects that imposed sanctions cause.

    Here’s a list including and not excluding others:

    Harm to mental health
    Harm to relationships
    Increased debt and reliance on credit cards and loans
    Food poverty and fuel poverty
    Survival crime
    Increased risk of domestic violence

    Also increased risk of homelessness, suicide and harm to physical health.

    Not to mention that being sanctioned has a large detrimental effect on actually being able to actively look for work.

    When a person is cold and hungry their priority becomes keeping warm and survival which doesn’t leave much time for job searching.

    Combined with the cost of living and energy crisis it’s a complete nightmare. Already people are struggling financially with the ever increasing cost of living and energy costs. Combine this with being financially sanctioned will push even more into destitution and poverty.

    Benefit sanctions have been and will continue to be one of the main reasons why there’s been a huge increase of foodbanks and people that are reliant upon them. Whilst they do help Foodbanks often offer short term support only whilst sanctions can last for months.

    Where do they get food from if they’ve already had their allowed amount from a foodbank? Thankfully many do offer continued support but many don’t.

    This unfortunately leads to survival crime, shoplifting food and other essentials.

    We also can’t forget the distress that living with the constant threat of sanctions has upon claimants. Being forced to live with extreme levels of anxiety and stress causes a huge increase of people having mental illnesses of which it’s hard to get professional support for.

    Sadly as sanctions are yet again on the increase all the above will be exasperated by the constant attack upon working class people by the government, and demonized in theright wing press.

    The only way to hopefully stop this is to have a change of government and the future government listening to and acting upon these issues.

    We need to continue to talk about benefit sanctions and the damage that they do. No one should have their very means of survival taken away from them by those that have plenty.

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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

    Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, child poverty, confidence, conservative government, Cookery, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, disability, DLA, domestic violence, domestic violence,, DPAC, DWP blog,, dwp debt, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, food poverty, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, funeral plans,, G4S, government, Green Party, high street retail, Homeless Manchester, Homeless women, homelessness, homelessness,, Housing, hunger, Hygiene Poverty,, International Women's Day, Ireland budget 2024, Ireland,, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, liz truss, Manchester, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, NHS, NHS dentist, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, PIP claim, poverty, pre paid funeral plans,, pre paid funerals,, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, prime minister, public transport, republic Ireland Budget, Republic Ireland budget 2023, republic Ireland Budget 2024, Republic of Ireland,, rishi sunak,, safe hands,, 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, wilkos, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

    Sanctioned At Christmas

    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.

    Please share my blog posts it does help lots!

    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.