It’s no surprise that the DWP (Department Of Work And Pensions) is continuing to punish universal credit (UC) claimants with their harsh sanction regime afterall it’s their favorite and easiest method of punishment that they use.
The latest official figures show that sanctions rate had remained to above 7% from August through to November of 2023 which are the most recent months of which figures are available.
However in in March 2020, just before the pandemic began, UC sanctions rates were at just 2.5% having fallen steadily since January 2017.
The DWP have unsurprisingly given no explanation for this almost threefold increase in sanctions.
I mean how on earth could this happen?
Sanctions are imposed for various reasons but the most common are for failing to attend or take part in mandatory interviews, indeed 95% are given for this reason.
What we do know from past experience is that sanctions are given for wrongful reasons.
These reasons vary but are often and not excluding others claimant not receiving notification of having to attend a meeting, being ill and notifying the DWP that they were not able to attend or already working at the time given and their employer won’t allow them to leave for their DWP appointment.
We know that sanctions can and should be appealed however many aren’t aware that they can do so and have the energy to fight it.
Sanctions are particularly cruel because not only does the claimant get sanctioned it also affects any dependants that live with them.
Combine this with the cruel benefit caps and this with the three child limit which directly impacts a child’s health and well being.
Are incentives being given for Job Coaches to refer people for sanctions?
I can’t say for sure but we do know that they’ve been using these methods for years now and it’d be very out of character to stop doing this.
I do know that sanctioning people like this is cruel, inhumane and needs to be stopped now before more people fall victim to the DWPs cruel regime of punishment and blame.
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.
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.
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.
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.
According to the latest DWP statistics that have been released reveal that 522,690 UC claimants have been sanctioned in the previous year to July 2023.
They show that in July 2023 49,000 new sanctions were applied.
These figures are very concerning with 6.48% of the claimants sanctioned is now almost reaching the peak rate in October 2022.
According to the statistics 96.5% of sanctions were applied for failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview.
However these statistics don’t reveal the claimants reasons for not attending or participating in mandatory interviews.
One of the most common reasons for the above is not receiving any communication from the DWP that would inform them of these appointments. For more information about this please see a previous blog post titled ‘The case of the missing letters’
Other reasons for non attendance include illness, childcare commitments and not being able to physically attend an appointment.
Of course claimants can appeal these decisions but it isn’t easy to do and many still don’t know that they can do this.
It’s also important to know that sanction decisions are made by work coaches and are often based upon opinion not fact.
For example if they explain to their work coach that they couldn’t attend because of illness, the work coach will decide if this is a good enough reason to do so.
Also in the event that an appointment letter hasn’t been received by the claimant the onus is on the DWP to prove that it’s been delivered.
Of course they can’t prove this, indeed I’ve helped in cases when the letters hadn’t been sent in the first place and I actually saw them still in a claimants paperwork.
It’s especially concerning that we are going through a cost of living and energy cost crisis. The prices of everything appear to be rising daily and many essentials are no longer affordable.
The cost of turning heating on is also impossible for many, and as we are heading towards what will be an extremely cold winter being sanctioned is unnecessarily cruel.
Despite the right wing media portraying the amount of Universal Credit is too much in reality payments are already barely enough to survive on.
It’s also vital to know that debts such as council tax debt repayments and suchlike are garnished from UC payments before they receive them. This leaves claimants with barely enough to buy the very basics needed.
As a result of this an ever increasing amount of people, working and not working are becoming dependent upon food banks. Food banks are also struggling to keep up with the increasing demand because of the cost of living crisis, leaving many that used to donate food unable to do so anymore.
Sanctioning already vulnerable people in the midst of a very serious cost of living crisis and a cold winter is beyond cruel.
Taking away a person’s very means of survival is totally unacceptable, with the ramifications of this lasting a long time, some never recover from it.
We need to start campaigning against sanctioning again because there’s never been a more important time to do so.
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.
Northern council leaders have warned that 27,000 new jobs would not be created if HS2’s northern leg is scrapped
Recently Cheshire and Warrington’s council leaders and the region’s LEP have written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressing their deep concern over the rumours that the government is seriously considering scrapping of HS2’s northern leg.
The letter has been signed by Cllr Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council, Cllr Craig Browne, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council, Cllr Louise Gittins, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cllr Russ Bowden, leader of Warrington Borough Council and Clare Hayward, chair of Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership.
In it they say that scrapping the northern leg will undoubtably worsen the north-south divide thus effectively leaving the government’s so called levelling up agenda meaningless.
However Rishi Sunak is reportedly reviewing how the cost of HS2 can be ‘controller’s he states that the cost of delivering it has apparently crippled since its conception. Sunak appears to have no qualms in cancelling the northern leg, after all the fact that he’s considering it speaks volumes in itself. For those in Greater Manchester it’s the worst scenario after putting years of hard work into plans and policies and vast amounts of money.
Once again the north has been promised the earth, but all it seems we’ll get is scorched earth,” said one council leader “For the government to even be thinking about scrapping the northern leg is just madness and I find it difficult to comprehend the logic behind it.”
Another added ominously: “If the north of England is largely left out of the HS2 loop, the north-south divide is almost certainly going to grow wider.”
The HS2 project was created by Gordon Brown’s Labour government in 2009 and was envisaged to link some of the country’s largest cities and towns to London, though the Midlands up to Manchester from Euston.The 225mph railway was originally planned to run from Euston to Manchester and Leeds via Birmingham.
However the planned HS2 extension to Leeds was ended in November, 2021 then followed in the following March that the planned construction between Birmingham and Crewe would be delayed by two years, and that promised services might not reach central London until the 2040s.
But it’s not just about the physical creation of providing high speed train travel. It came with the promise from the government that this project would help Greater Manchester to level up and help to realign regional imbalances after the government acknowledged that the north is neglected north.
Along with this came the promises of what HS2 could bring to Manchester and the north. Amongst these and not excluding others, reduced journey times as intercity trains currently operated by Avanti West Coast would be taken off the West Coast Main Line and better capacity and links around the region and other counties through NPR.
A new Manchester Piccadilly HS2 station was also proposed which would also will incorporate Northern Powerhouse Rail links that would importantly unlock east-west journeys thus potentially boosting the UK’s economy and productivity, as well as Manchesters.
The leader of Manchester city council, Bev Craig, gave an impassioned plea to government in June, urging HS2 to be built right – and built once – here, with a four-platform underground station rather than a station above ground running into Manchester on concrete stilts, as proposed by HS2 Ltd. HS2 in Manchester, she said, would result in subsequent regeneration bringing in more jobs, residents and visitors to the city centre – plans she described as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’.
The government has always rejected the underground argument for Manchester as too costly. But reports suggest Mr Sunak could offer an underground station for Piccadilly and reallocate savings made on HS2 to rail in the north in a bid to placate local leaders – that or a HS2 delay to Manchester of many years, saying that scrapping HS2 to Manchester, she said, would mean levelling-up ‘is dead’.
“The government has not officially communicated any intention to us about what they plan to do around HS2 to Manchester,” Coun Craig said. “As of yet, there is no clear indication from government as to what action will be taken.
That’s why Andy Burnham and I have written to the Prime Minister demanding a meeting to get an update on the current status of the line and to continue to make the strong case that HS2 should not be scrapped to Manchester because to do so wouldn’t just bring long-term financial consequences for the country, but would also be the final nail in the coffin for levelling-up.”
She said there’s been no response – and there was no prior warning. “What you would be ending up with from a north to London line is something that runs from outer London to the Midlands, and doesn’t even go into the capital,” she added.
“One of the reasons that we are so committed to pushing HS2 to Manchester is not just for the economic growth that it brings, but also the huge opportunity that it offers. Because HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail – HS2 north to south, NPR getting across the north, connecting towns and cities – they need each other.
“Network Rail has said that if you were to scrap HS2 to Manchester, NPR would cost an extra £15bn. HS2 would provide the platform that NPR needs.”
She described HS2 as the ‘building blocks’. “It’s about faster trains, but it’s also about capacity. Manchester’s railways are full,” said Coun Craig. “HS2 would take all of the London trains and put them on a separate line, and that gives more capacity for the other lines to use existing tracks.
“NPR – fast connections east to west in the north of England – would also use some of that same track, they would use the track that is currently planned between Manchester Piccadilly and the airport.
“Political short-termism shouldn’t be creating long-term decisions that will create long-term economic harm. The government needs to give absolute certainty that the investment that was promised to the north will not be reneged on. We see time and time and time again commitments falling away. Where in the north of England, Greater Manchester, we are promised something, and it doesn’t follow through.
“If they do scrap HS2 and there isn’t a coherent plan, it’s for the people of Greater Manchester to drawn their own conclusions. But the conclusions that I am hearing from many Mancunians is that it gives a sign that the government simply don’t care what they think, or don’t care what the needs of businesses are, many of which are also very frustrated at the moment.
This is extremely important for the people of the north west who are desperate for job creation and future funding for already run down council budgets. As more people are losing their jobs due to previously solid department stores such as Wilkos there isn’t enough decently paid employment to cover the need.
As the public in the north west complain that their town centres are run down with shops and markets closing, the blame clearly lies with the government for taking away obscene amounts of council funding and preventing possible job creation such like those above.
While this governments in power I can’t see that any so called levelling up will happen, its just another meaningless term created by the government to keep the public quiet.
Lastly I have a big ask, one which I don’t like making.
To say I’m struggling financially at the moment is an understatement, as it stands I can’t afford to pay both my home internet bill, my mobile phone credit top up and also the everyday things that we need to continue.
I don’t want to have to give up blogging but I may have to considering the above.
Sadly I’m also still living with long covid which is physically and mentally exhausting and my anxiety is really bad on some days.
Any help will directly help me to continue with my work.
Rather unsurprisingly the government has recently announced their proposed plans to reform work capability assessments. Using the guise of their new so called “mission to “support people into work”.
Why will these changes cause distress and harm?
Putting even more pressure upon already vulnerable disabled people causes an anxiety like no other. Imagine having the fear that you could be sanctioned for being physically or mentally unable to comply to job search requirements constantly hanging over you.
It’s already hard enough trying to cope with day to day life when disabled and putting more pressure upon them will, I fear push many into illness or worse.
Disability charities and campaigners have been calling for reforms to work capability assessments for a long time now. These assessments cause huge distress for disabled people as a whole and those with mental health conditions.
The DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) announced earlier this year that they planned to scrap said health assessments by 2028. Instead they’ve pushed forward these changes with gusto.
According to prime minister Rishi Sunak said: “Work transforms lives – providing not just greater financial security, but also providing purpose that has the power to benefit individuals, their families and their communities.
He went on to say “That’s why we’re doing everything we can to help more people thrive in work – by reflecting the complexity of people’s health needs, helping them take advantage of modern working environments, and connecting them to the best support available.
He also forgot to mention the truth that work does not transform lives for disabled people, it’s not a cure for disabilities and these plans will make life as a whole worse because of the added pressure that will be put upon them to comply.
Despite what Sunak claims minimum wage and zero hour employment do not give people financial security. They barely earn enough money for able bodied people to live on let alone disabled people who need more financial support to survive from day to day.
Sunak talks about ‘modern work environments’ whatever they may be as if they’re the answer to everything but in reality it’s very different.
I doubt he knows what these ‘modern work environments’ are after all he’s never had a real minimum wage job himself. He hasn’t got a clue.
I suspect that once in operation the DWP will ram up the pressure for job search requirements for disabled people to a level unseen before.
What support will the government supply for disabled people?
From experience not much if any at all. The government and DWP like to spin proposals like these round using fancy words and language which is meaningless and nothing but word salad.
To be honest I don’t know anyone that has a minimum wage or zero hour contract that can positively say that their work has provided them more financial security.
Thousands of people that are forced to claim Universal Credit (UC) are dependent upon food banks and the kindness of family and friends to survive.
The UK now has more children living in poverty than we have seen in modern times. We also have more disabled people having to go without meals or care that they desperately need.
NHS hospitals and services are being run to the ground, we have schools at risk of collapsing because the government failed to fix the concrete problem years ago and they expect us to believe that they care about disabled people.
Truth is as I’ve said many times before they don’t care. All the government cares about is saving money and not spending any on disabled people.
The government also likes to throw around ‘benefit fraud’ especially when related to disabled people. It’s extremely hard to qualify for disability benefits in the first place and even more so trying to ‘fool’ the system.
They need to concentrate on their tax dodging pals instead.
Not all disabilities are visible and everyone with a disability should be treated with kindness and support both emotionally and financially.
I know that this will never happen but I can dream can’t I.
Anela Anwar, chief executive of the anti-poverty charity Z2K told the Big Issue “Disabled people are already disproportionately likely to be in poverty, and these proposals will only make this worse. The Health and Disability White Paper recognised that the work capability assessment is not fit for purpose – yet DWP is now consulting on plans to make it even stricter.
“This will inevitably lead to seriously ill and disabled people losing vital income, and being forced to look for work they can’t do or be sanctioned. Government must think again and provide financial stability and support to seriously ill and disabled people on low incomes, not yet more cuts and threats.”
The consultation’s proposals include reflecting “improved employer support in recent years for flexible and home working” – meaning a person with a disability is more likely to be approved as ‘fit to work’ during a work capability assessment.
These proposed changes are due to come into force in 2025. Soon after the government will proceed with their plans to scrap the work capability assessments. People will instead be assessed for a new health element of universal credit during personal independence payment (PIP) assessments.
Thanks to the Big Issue and DPAC and DNS for previously reporting upon this.
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The government has been found to be still deducting money from people’s Universal Credit to pay their utility bills, despite them losing a legal case concerning deductions being taken from other benefits.
Roll back to 2022 High Court judges judged that this payment scheme which allows money to be taken from people claiming benefits to pay energy bills, was unlawful if the claimant had not been consulted first.
However it comes as no surprise that the ruling did not cover people claiming Universal Credit. Thousands of people are are still having money taken from their payments without consulting with claimants to see if they can afford to pay them.
This leaves them with far less money to cover their bills and everyday expenses.
The government unsurprisingly says the policy is fair after all their not struggling financially are they.
The government said that the repayment scheme protected people from the potential consequences of not paying bills which includes and is not exclusive to homelessness, service disconnections, potential court actions.
All of which will still occur because taking payment deductions without consulting the claimant will still result in all of the above.
It’s totally unfair, the repayment decisions don’t take into account a person’s ability to afford this and undoubtedly push people further into poverty.
Under the governments repayment policy, private utility companies and others can apply to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for up to 25% of a person’s benefits to be paid directly to them – to repay a debt and meet ongoing usage costs.
That’s a hell of a lot of money to be taken from a persons payments. Many claimants have more than one debt being taken from their payments.
It’s unfair and cruel, it’s already a struggle to get by due to the cost of living and energy payment crises.
Court Ruling
In september last year (2022), a disabled former Leicestershire police constable won a High Court case against the government scheme.
The court ruling is applied to some claimants on legacy benefits eg jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) and income-related employment and support allowance (ESA).
But the devil’s in the detail isn’t it. The ruling does not apply to people claiming Universal Credit.
No surprise really, there’s no way they’d want this to apply to UC claimants. It’s a cruel, harsh system and they don’t want it making life easier for them.
However following another separate legal change, which took effect in April 2022, households receiving Universal Credit. This legal change states that claimants must now be asked to agree to new deductions for ongoing usage costs for electricity or gas.
But once again the DWP is taking full advantage of this decision. It’s a request and not a legal requirement to ask for consent for new deductions for electricity or gas and water bills that are in arrears.
So they give with one hand and take more away. Surprise surprise.
In figures released in November 2022 to the BBC show that around 431,800 automatic deductions were in place from households receiving Universal Credit for utilities bills. A Freedom of Information request by BBC News has found 221,000 of those were for arrears.
In June, the DWP lost an appeal against the High Court ruling and is now allowing people the chance to submit representations before new deductions are made from legacy benefits.
It says it doesn’t plan to retrospectively seek consent from anyone already having money deducted.
The DWP have told BBC news that they don’t make any money from administering third party deductions.
The final costs of contesting the judicial review and appeal with Ms Timson were not yet known.
I expect the government to continue to contest this decision at every step, after all their priorities don’t lie with people living in poverty. There’s always enough money for this
The poor side of life 