Tag: community

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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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GPs Won’t Be Responsible For Issuing Sick Notes Under Rishi Sunaks New plans

Every now and then I get so angry when the government reveals new plans for disabled people I have to delay writing this blog. Today is one of those days.

I’ve been writing this blog for over 10 years now and since then it’s been an endless onslaught of changes to the social security system that willfully marganalises and causes an immense amount of suffering to those already struggling and in need.

No one chooses to be disabled and neither does anyone choose to become ill, it’s an awful situation to be in however the government clearly believes that they do.

The difference between the haves and have nots is becoming much bigger as each day progresses. For example if a Tory government minister or indeed a prime minister becomes ill they can afford to pay privately for the best care to recover or manage their situation. An everyday regular person cannot afford to do so.

Some people never fully recover from an illness because they can’t afford to access the care that they need and they manage the best that they can.

Imagine being such a vile, awful person that constantly attacks those in need whilst smiling at the same time… Well Rishi Sunak did just that in an interview on Radio 5 this morning  April 19th 2024.

Sunaks clearly is not happy with doctors and consultants rightfully declaring that people are unfit to work. They do this having extremely good medical knowledge. They want the best for their patients.

Sunak plans to stop this and has declared that if his ideas come into fruition GPs will no longer be in charge of issuing sick notes. So basically a person with zero medical training will do so, most likely a DWP sadist that has no qualms doing this.

In the interview Sunak declared that  claim Britain has a ‘sick note culture’ and  people are being ‘unnecessarily’ written off work.

Sunak announced that there would be a review of the fit note system to reduce the number of people being declared not fit for work and that doctors shouldn’t be ‘over medicalising everyday challenges and worries of life’.

Reading this you’d have thought that he  has had some medical training to come to this decision but he hasn’t. He probably sat in a meeting with colleagues discussing how they can continue to hurl more punishment to already marginalized people afterall they regard disabled and ill people as ‘useless eaters’

He most likely sees this as a vote winner and back in the day it probably would have been, but people have clearly had enough of this now. There’s only so many times you can kick a person whilst they’re down without some retaliation.

And people will definitely rebel against these evil plans. I can bet there’s more in disgust at these plans than think they’re a good idea.

The ‘scrounger against scrounger’ way to manipulate the public isn’t working as well as it was before. Many of those that had this view now find themselves at the recieving end of it now

A Lot more people can see right through it and thank god they can.

What Sunak needs to do is to acknowledge that nobody chooses to be disabled and ill, it can literally happen to anyone at any time. He won’t and he never will.

His kind hates working class people especially those that are disabled.

One thing that I do know is that if you think these plans are dreadful they’ll become a whole lot worse if they win the next general election. Let’s vote them out.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/gps-no-longer-charge-issuing-32617749

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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, 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, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

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

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, loose women, 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

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.

baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, 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, Uncategorized

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

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

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

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

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



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


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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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

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


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please take care everyone my thoughts are with you.

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I don’t get paid for any of the work that I do. If you like my work and would like to donate to keep both myself and this blog going you can find a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

anti social behaviour,, 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, loose women, 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

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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Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, 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,, 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 Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, wilkos, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

DWP Threatens Powers Of Arrest Also Wanting To Monitor Claimant Spending

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.

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Thanks to everyone that reads, shares and has supported my blog and campaign throughout the years.

Unfortunately I might have to finish blogging because I can’t afford to pay my website fees this year.

I need to use the web host and plan that I use because it includes everything that my readers and subscribers like.

It’s simple to use and is stress free for myself and of course you.

Any help towards keeping my blog going will be very welcome, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t having sleepless nights worrying about this.

Thank you.

https://gofund.me/abea8764

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, 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

Ireland Budget 2024 A Budget For The People

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.


11.Cigarette price increases by 75c

12. Minimum wage to increase to €12.70 per hour.

13. Rent tax credit to rise to €750

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.

Time for a revolution folks!!;

Photo by Mark Dalton on Pexels.com
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Proposed Stricter Work Capability Plans Set To Cause Distress And Harm To Disabled People

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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PIP Telephone Chaos Set To Continue Until End Of Summer

It appears that a lot of people have been contacting their MPs to raise their concerns about not being able to get their calls to the PIP enquiry line.

As a result of taking action like this an increasing number of questions from MPs to ministers about problems with the line.

Bravo everyone!

One of the questions recently asked was from Labour MP Kerry McCarthy, this then resulted in Tom Pursglove, minister for disabled people who actually actually admit that the waiting times for PIP and ESA enquiry lines have been too long.

Who’d have thought this… We’ve known this for a long time but ministers and MPs had previously been ignored.

This in my opinion is a result of the action that you’ve taken, well done everyone.



However Pursglove claimed that ESA call waiting times have begun to improve. He went on to say that the delays and chaos is set to continue until the end of the summer.

Keep in mind that the proposed 600 new staff to be employed by the DWP could well have no medical training at all which if not will cause distress and harm.

If this is the case we will have to continue to campaign for fair treatment and understanding for all disabled and ill people.

The blatant discrimination which is constantly metered towards disabled and ill people is in my eyes horrific. No one should be treated like this let alone vulnerable disabled people.

It’s vitally important to continue to contact your local MPs it can make a huge difference.

It’s vitally important that we continue campaigning against this though, it raises awareness and can in some cases result in change.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Huge thanks go to the team over at Benefits and Work for their hard work for original reporting of this.

Thanks goes to everyone that reads and shares my articles it raises much needed awareness.

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