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.
I hope you all enjoy the festive period even though I know it’s tough for so many of us.
Here over at The Poor Side Of Life HQ it’s going to be a quiet one, to be honest I’m not really celebrating it.
Of course I’ll make sure that my daughter enjoys Christmas but as a single parent and having no family etc to celebrate with it’ll be quiet.
I’m going to take the time to reflect and maybe get some rest, it’ll be a welcome change.
Don’t feel pressured into celebrating Christmas if you don’t want to. Christmas is a tough time for so many of us, remembering times past and people long gone.
I’m here if you’re on your own and want to chat.
A huge thanks to everyone that reads and shares my blog posts it really does mean the world to me.
And as for the Tories they can get to feck. I have zero time for them.
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.
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.
As Ireland announces their 2024 budget today they show in detail how it intends to use one of the strongest public finances in Europe.
This budget intends to cut future pension and climate costs whilst at the same time introducing more measures to ease the public’s cost of living stresses.
Having a budget surplus in Europe whilst unusual, should be something that the Irish government should be proud of. It’s quite an achievement considering there was after a rise in public spending during the pandemic.
The rather savvy decision to increase Irish corporate taxes paid by a small number of foreign firms has resulted in them having a surplus amount of 2.9% of gross national income last year.
Budget details are as follows and doesn’t exclude others:
1. A mortgage tax break worth up to €1,250 for homeowners. It will be given to those with a home loan of between €80,000 and €500,000 at the end of last year. Those who qualify will get 20 per cent relief on the increased amount of interest paid on their mortgage between 2022 and 2023.
2. At the moment working people start paying tax at the top 40 per cent rate once they earn €40,000. This rate will be increased to €42,000.
3. There will be three energy credits of €150 each – one before Christmas and two after it.
4. A double payment of child benefit will be made before Christmas, and a double welfare payment after Christmas.
5. The Qualified Child Increase is to rise by €4 to €46 per week for under 12-year-olds and to €54 per week for over 12-year-olds.
6. The successful hot school meals programme is to be extended to a further 900 primary schools in April and parents benefit is to be extended to nine weeks from August.
5. The monthly Domiciliary Care allowance is to increase by €10 and Child Benefit is to be extended to 18-year-olds in full-time education.
6. All social welfare payments are to rise by €12 a week.
7. The budget will also include the establishment of new savings funds where excess corporation tax revenues will be lodged.
8. Tax credit for renters is likely to climb from the current €500 to €800.
9. The free schoolbooks scheme will be extended to students in the first three years of secondary school.
10. There is an agreement to reduce childcare fees by another 25 per cent but that it would occur “later” in 2024.
14. Theres also help for small business and farmers and also a social welfare package put together by minister Heather Humphreys.
15. Finance Minister Michael McGrath will lay out how much the government intends to invest in a sovereign wealth fund that his department says could cover much of Ireland’s age-related costs to 2035 if enough of the corporation tax receipts are saved
16. A second, smaller 14 billion euro ($14.8 billion) infrastructure and climate fund, available to catch up on targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and act as a buffer against capital spending cuts in any future downturn.
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17. This will involve help for pensioners, people in receipt of social welfare payments with the focus being on children and families thus making it easier to raise a family and helping to reduce and an aim to end child poverty.
18. Donohoe announces funding for over 2,500 additional beds in hospital and community settings, along with an increase of more than 22,000 staff through additional recruitment.
Mr Varadkar said the budget will be “a little bit different to last year because inflation is moderating
He also said: “The nature of the tax system is that middle income and higher income people pay the most income tax so therefore any income tax package is going to benefit middle income people and more affluent people more.
“But that’s why you have to see the budget in the round and there will be other measures for example around the cost-of-living, around social welfare and around the cost of childcare and the cost of school and college. They will benefit everyone. People who aren’t working for example will benefit a lot from them.”
Whilst I’m not saying this budget is perfect and I’m sure there’s some that will criticize it but it’s a world away from what the UK is offering at the moment.
The huge difference between that the UK’s budget announcements and those of Ireland is alarming and shouldn’t be ignored.
In the UK unemployed and disabled people are demonized for claiming benefits and the government continues to attack most vulnerable with cuts to benefit payments and extremely harsh DWP compliance requirements and rules.
What this does show is that Ireland clearly understands the importance of investing financially in the well-being of it’s people. They know that this helps their economy a great deal.
The UK will never have a healthy economy like Ireland until they do the same, it’s extremely short sighted not to do so. Common sense shows that this helps to grow both local and national economies.
Huge changes are needed in the UK as well as creating policies with aims like those of Ireland.
The question is will this happen with future UK governments? I won’t hold my breath.
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.
Back in the day I remember when the UK had a fully functioning NHS dentistry system that many in the UK were entitled to be given treatment by an NHS dentist.
People are still entitled to this and it is dependent on certain benefits, pregnant women, women who had recently given birth and some pensioners had access to the NHS free service.
As a whole the system worked well and appointments to see a dentist and to get treatment was fairly easy. If you had a toothache or dental abscess it was also easy to get a dentist to treat you before complications set in.
Roll forward to 2023 it’s near impossible to find a dentist that’s willing to take on NHS patients and a person’s condition isn’t taken into account.
Many NHS dentistry patients have also unknowingly found themselves taken off their dentists patient lists. This happened to me, if you get a toothache like I get often or a dental abscess it’s tough and difficult to cope with.
Finding an NHS dentist is near impossible though.
Most doctors and a&es won’t treat people with dental problems and trying to find a local dentistry hospital can be near impossible.
It’s become very clear that the government is actively destroying the few NHS dentistry services that are still available. They clearly don’t care about the public’s health.
Basically as stated by George Monbiot the state of our mouths truly does reflect the state of the nation.
Many people find themselves without an NHS dentist because their circumstances change such as house moves and relationship changes and dentists take NHS patients off their lists.
I live in an area of the UK where there are hardly any, if any at all dentists accepting adult NHS patients. I was lucky enough to find a dentist to treat my teenage daughter who needs extensive surgery in the near future. My fear is that she’ll age out before any date for the operation becomes available. She was one of the lucky ones.
Currently at the time of writing 80% of practices in the UK are no longer taking on new child NHS patients, and about 90% are refusing new adult patients.
Sounds horrific doesn’t it and it gets worse. Some dentists do offer a waiting list for NHS appointments but they’re years long and of no use for urgent appointments.
Often accessing emergency services requires finding a dentistry hospital, being able to travel a long distance and being able to afford to do so.
I don’t know anyone can afford to pay for private treatment. Those that have in the past can’t afford to do so again.
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However the reasons why dentists are refusing to treat NHS patients are pretty simple and it’s easy to understand why.
When dentists treat patients on the NHS, they actually lose money, because the government funding package doesn’t cover their costs of doing so.
Since 2006, dentists have worked for the NHS under contracts that are shockingly designed to fail NHS dentists.
Dentists undertaking NHS work are paid in units of dental activity’ which is shortened to( UDA). This method of payment doesn’t take into account the cost of treatment which bears no relation to the costs of treatment. Under this system treating a patient earns a dentist three points regardless of the length and expense of each procedure.
Under this contract each and every NHS dentist also has to meet annual UDA targets
Absolutely no regard is given to dentistry prevention work which is in great need.
Dentists are paid at the UDA rate no matter how skilled they are and their experience.
Add the above to the government cuts that are hitting hard.
In reality NHS dentists as well as other health systems and the NHS as a whole requires approximately 4% a year to keep up with it.
However NHS dentist services receive 1.2%. Add this up that they are requiring 4% to function but funding for NHS services have been cut by 4% a year.
It’s also important to take into account rising costs of energy, , energy, wages and materials which accounts to about 11% a year.
Dentists working for the NHS simply cannot stay in business unless they use their income from private practice to subsidise their public practice.
Parliament’s health and social committee stated in 2008 “it is extraordinary that the public health department did not pilot or test the UDA payment system before it was introduced.”
Rather typical isn’t it.
Since then successive governments have apparently tried to change an already broken system but haven’t made any improvements.
In 2022, the government produced a so-called reformed contract in England. This was apparently supposed to allow better access to NHS dental services. This however hasn’t prevented the decline of NHS dentistry because they’re still going to be losing money when treating NHS patients.
Rishi Sunak recently told parliament that there are now more NHS dentists across the UK with more funding, making sure people can get the treatment they need.
He’s got the nerve to even suggest this. The number of NHS dentists is decreasing daily. If you need a dentist you’ve got virtually no chance of seeing one.
As a result of this most if not all dental practices treating NHS patients have found themselves unable to reach NHS contract targets. . If dentists deliver fewer than 96% of UDAs that they are contracted, they find themselves in a position similar to being fined by the government.
It look’s as if they will take a record hit. The dentists undertaking NHS work were forced to pay back as much as £400m from a total English dentist budget of some £3bn.
This is effectively destroying remaining NHS dentistry, obviously they can’t afford to work at a loss and on top of having to pay back the government.
It’s hard to believe that as the UK is in one of richest nations that people can’t access dentistry services.
It’s horrific that people are so desperate to get rid of their pain they’re resorting to pulling their own teeth out, buying temporary fillings and suffering in pain.
People are also accidentally overdosing on painkillers which is very dangerous both to health and life. We must also take into account the adverse health effects of dental abscess and suchlike which at worse can cause death.
Cruelty is what the conservative government does best though, most of their systems are designed to punish working class people for their very existence. How dare they ask for dental treatment.
Something needs to change and soon before more people suffer and also unfortunately die.
Will this happen though? No not a chance and it’s pointless trying to appeal to them for sympathy and help because the government clearly don’t care.
This is Mike’s comment about his quest in finding an NHS dentist.
There are two dentists where I live but, after extracting all of my own teeth and wanted dentures, I could only find one NHS dentist within 20 miles that accepted new patients. York and Leeds are both within 20 miles! Reason I wasn’t previously registered was returning from Australia where I didn’t need to register.
Thanks for telling me about your experience Mike and for your continued support of my blog also sharing it. I appreciate it.
After many months of waiting and pressure from organisations and campaigners the DWP finally relented and published the secret sanction report that I’ve reported on previously.
This report concerned itself into the effectiveness of DWP (Department of Work and Pension) sanctions, afterall it’s a cruel tool used by them for a long time.
However in true DWP style they released it hours before the UK was closed to business for the Easter bank holiday.
The report shows that sanctioned claimants do take longer to move into paid employment and when they do so they’re most likely going to accept lower paid jobs than claimants that haven’t been sanctioned.
It also reveals that there’s no evidence that sanctions are effective in any way at all.
According to the report claimants that have been sanctioned also have 8% shorter UC claims than claimants who were not sanctioned.
The report proves that the majority of claimants with shortened claims disappear, they do not move into paid employment which is very worrying.
Claimants who are sanctioned and who eventually move into PAYE work then take longer to do so than those were not sanctioned and earn an average of £34 a month less than those not sanctioned.
The DWP rather unexpectedly argue in a ‘context note’ within the report that the research cannot be relied upon because it did not take into account the value of the ‘deterrent effect’ of the sanctions regime.
The DWPs ongoing theory is that claimants are more likely to meet their obligations because they fear being sanctioned thus sanctions are an effective tool.
In the three years since the draft report was created the DWP have chosen not to commission any independent research to test the truth of their deterrent effect theory.
Instead they intend to introduce a much harsher sanctions regime, when the only hard evidence they have about sanctions proves that they don’t work.
DWP Sanctions can and should be appealed however this takes a great deal of strength and determination of which not many have due to being completely worn down by the system.
So there we have it, the DWP once again ignoring important information that have a direct negative effect upon sanctioned claimants and their well-being.
The amount of people that decide to take themselves off the system when sanctioned is very concerning.
Don’t expect the DWP to care though, this is exactly what they want to happen and a claimants well-being isn’t even thought about let alone be a concern.
How many more deaths will there be as a result of being sanctioned before the cruel sanctioning system is forced to stop.
I predict thousands because not one political party is willing to campaign against this and apart from a few good MPs such as Debbie Abrahams they’re silent
Sanctions do kill and this report needs to be acted upon ASAP. One death is a death too many.
No one should be forced to suffer in this manner it’s inhumane and cruel.
Please read, share and tweet my blog posts. This helps enormously in raising awareness and I can’t thank everyone that does enough.
I really couldn’t do this without you though. To say I’m struggling at the moment is an understatement.
If you like my work, would like to donate to keep my blog and campaign going and can afford to do so there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.
I’ve got my internet bill to be paid as well as my top up for my mobile phone that I rely upon to help people.
This week I’ve heard some truly awful stories of people suffering and I’ve done everything I can to help those that need it.
The poor side of life 