Tag: cost of living

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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Cruel Universal Credit Sanction Rates Continue To Increase


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 Told To Stop Referring Claimants To Food banks


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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

That’s apparently ok.

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

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

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

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

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

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DWP DENIES BONUSES TO FRAUD STAFF WHILST STILL ALLOWING REWARDS OR BONUSES FOR DETECTING FRAUD

How can you tell if the DWP lying? When they deny something but then also allow it at the same time….Here we have an example of their hypocrisy and they never fail to disappoint do they.

The team over at Benefits and Work submitted a freedom of information request asking the DWP if they are paying bonuses for detecting benefit fraud and if staff have to reach targets for criminal prosecutions. Rather predictably they denied both in a statement given in response to the FOI;

“The DWP does not operate any bonus or incentive schemes aimed specifically at staff who are involved in detecting and investigating benefit fraud and overpayment cases. There are also no targets for Investigators to achieve a prescribed number of criminal outcomes.”

Adding:

“I can confirm that DWP operates an in-year reward and recognition scheme for all DWP teams and Individuals to be recognised for displaying exemplary behaviours or making a significant contribution to team performance. This applies to all colleagues across DWP.”

Their response does appear to rule out that there is a formal bonus system for detecting fraud or recovering money.
But it does not rule out the possibility that teams or individuals can receive rewards for recovering large amounts of money for the DWP or prosecuting large numbers of claimants.

We await further details of this.

However we are wise to their lying ways, knowing that if they can get away with doing something by simply changing the wording they will.

It is not acceptable in any way shape or form to issue bonuses or rewards for targets such as these. They create a system when a bonus or reward becomes more important than the wellbeing of already vulnerable claimants. They lead to false accusations, sanctions based upon lies knowing at the same time that many are unable to challenge their decision because they’re not strong enough to do so.

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Thank you

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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



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


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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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

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


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please take care everyone my thoughts are with you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Money makes money something they still fail to recognize.

So why are they doing this?

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

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

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

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

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

Seasons Greetings To All…. Except The Tories.

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.

Lots of love

Charlotte xx

Sanctioned At Christmas

It seems from years of experience in such matters that the DWP like nothing more than handing out sanctions during the festive period.

If that isn’t bad enough their reasoning for sanctioning people is mostly totally unreasonable, giving claimants targets that they can’t reach.

In my eyes sanctioning a person is the cruelest thing to do to a claimant. No regard is given as to the health and wellbeing of them either, once the decision is made by their DWP work coach and sent off for approval it’s down to the claimant to appeal the sanction.

Appealing a decision to sanction isn’t easy, it’s difficult and directly impacts their mental and physical health and a direct correlation between the two can be found. Please see my previous blog posts.

Here are some examples of the reasons why claimants have been sanctioned. It’s gaslighting at its worst but hey the DWP has targets to reach.

I’ve helped many people with sanction decisions. You might think that these are made up but they aren’t they’re the real deal.

Sanctioned because claimants father had just died.

Sanctioned because a claimants father had just passed away half an hour before the signing on appointment.

They phoned their advisor up and were told that they had to attend their appointment. The claimant was waiting for the doctor to certify the death.

Sanctioned because their baby died.

A claimant sanctioned because they couldn’t attend their appointment due to their baby dying. They asked their work coach if they could rearrange their appointment but was refused. Instead they were told to bring the death certificate in to prove it.

Sanctioned because a work coach made a mistake.

Sanctioned because a work coach made a mistake in their records for an upcoming appointment. Luckily the claimant had kept the proof on their appointment which was given on an appointment card showing the time and date that they were given to attend

The case of the missing letters

Here’s a very common reason for sanctioning people.

Sanctioned for not attending an appointment that they had supposedly been sent a letter for.

The letter was never sent.

The onus is on them to prove that the claimant recieved it. They couldn’t because they didn’t.
Watch out for this one folks

Sanctioned for attending a job interview.

Sanctioned for attending a a job interview at the same time as a signing on appointment.

They requested that their appointment be changed so they could attend their interview but their advisor refused.

Important to know that they’d also sanctioned for not attending their interview.

It’s a catch22 a no win situation except for the DWP

Any reputable organisation would not threaten to sanction or indeed sanction people for the above reasons. They’d actually care about the people that they help.

The DWP do neither, they don’t even care for their staff and it’s scandalous that they’re allowed to get away with this.

As I’ve previously posted sanctioned rates are rapidly increasing.

It’s important to remember that sanction decisions can be appealed and you must do this.

A huge thank you to everyone for reading and sharing my blog posts. You make a huge difference when you do this and I can’t thank you enough.

Please share my blog posts it does help lots!

Like you I’m struggling to manage everything, I was hoping to be able to turn my heating on for a few hours on Christmas day for my daughter but that’s impossible now. Nor will I be able to provide a decent Christmas dinner.

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