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New Cruel Universal Credit Sanction Traps Exposed

I’d like to say I was surprised upon hearing about a new sanction trap for Universal Credit (UC)) claimants but I’m not, afterall it’s not exactly the first time they’ve done this to unsuspecting claimants.

This time it’s been disguised as supposed help to move claimants into work.

The new scheme which has surprisingly been condemned by members of the DWP staff union PCS despite jobcentre workers are being offered a £250 ‘incentive’ to implement it.

The newly named Additional Jobcentre Support scheme requires UC claimants being forced by the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) to attend their allocated Jobcentre 10 times over a two week period.

Claimants that are unable to attend or failing to participate in one session will highly likely to lead to a sanction.

Undeterred however by the cruelty of this new scheme the DWP are being ‘trialed’ at 60 jobcentres across England and Scotland.

As already proven by myself and many other like-minded campaigners these so called trials are usually the start of a national roll out regardless if they’re successful or not.

To add incentive to roll out this terrible scheme the DWP are offering a £250 bonus in the form of a voucher “to recognise and reward jobcentre teams who furthest exceed their aspirational targets.”

These vouchers will be given to each member of staff in the best performing jobcentres.

No explanation has so far been given as to what the alleged “aspirational targets” consist of and if this involves taking people off benefitif claimants have failed to comply for whatever reason. Nor has the DWP commented if it involves sanctioning claimants or forcing claimants into unsuitable and insecure work.

The PCS union, which represents DWP staff commented saying that they have no doubt that the main purpose of the scheme is to make life harder for claimants, saying:

“Our members will see through this pilot for what it is – a government hellbent on making it more difficult for people to claim benefits and which will increase the risk of poverty for those customers who fall foul of this pilot. Asking more customers to travel more often into jobcentres does nothing to help our staff or their workloads and does nothing to help the customers find the work that they need.”

However as I have already stated this isn’t the first time that the DWP have issued financial targets to incentivise cruelty.

Previous examples of this are ‘Sandras Stars’ which consisted of a Jobcentre manager giving DWP employees a star on a leaderboard for every employee that ‘offloaded’ sanctioned a claimant.

https://wp.me/p1Awq-2cd Sandra’s Stars

And who could also forget this example back in 2015. Of course they denied that this happened but the truth was all too obvious.

If there’s one thing that the government likes doing the most is implementing cruelty to the poorest and most vulnerable the very people.

The government and their henchpeople the DWP target social security claimants the most because they’re less likely to fightback and demand they’re treated fairly.

Most are worn down with the constant compliance requests that they’re hounded with.

They know that people claiming any form of social security are already paying the highest price for the cost of living and energy bills prices.

Many are primarily focused upon trying to get by from day to day and are less likely to know their legal rights and how to appeal DWP decisions.

Let’s hope that the PCS DWP staff members rebel against the mandate given to them from the government and their managers. If they do they deserve our support.

Please read, share, tweet and email this blog post. It’s vital that we raise awareness on this subject and many of the others that I have published previously.

Also a huge thanks for the support that you my subscribers and readers have shown me in the last week. I really can’t thank you enough, I couldn’t do this without you and I appreciate it.

Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, 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, Housing, hunger, Hygiene Poverty,, International Women's Day, Ireland,, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, liz truss, loose women, 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, public transport, Republic Ireland budget 2023, Republic of Ireland,, safe hands,, sanctions, 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 February 9, 2023

I Struggle To Feed And Keep My Kids Warm. Real Life Stories From The Public.

As the never ending cold winter and the ever increasing cost of living and energy costs continues once again I took to the streets and interviewed several people in my local town Ashton Under Lyne.

Ashton Under Lyne is a typical northern working class town, drained of money by the government and the majority of people living in differing stages of poverty.

Mortality rates are amongst the highest in the UK and there’s a higher rate of people either being unwell or living with some type of disability.

Like any other northern working class town it doesn’t have a lot for people to aspire to despite the positive changes that Tameside Council are implementing and trying to introduce.

Years of government forced austerity policies has been and continues to cause a lack of funding for essential services with most things already stripped to the bare minimum.

As I headed off into the cold I spoke to a young woman that had two young children with her. I introduced myself and asked her how she is coping with the cost of living and the ever increasing energy crisis.

As I asked her this I could see that she was upset, telling me that she thinks that she’s failing her children because she can’t give them the things that she used to be able to do.

“We’re living in a cold house trying to keep turning the central heating on at a bare minimum. I usually turn the heating on for an hour in the morning and again in the evening at bedtime, that’s if I’ve got credit because I’m on a prepaid meter”

She went on to say that her health is suffering most likely because she’s cold and because she often doesn’t eat meals, if she does it’s a bare minimum. “I can’t afford to eat as well as my children and they always come first”

I asked her how she keeps warm when the heating isn’t turned on. “I wear layers of clothing and I have a thick blanket that we all snuggle under. I’ve got a little fan heater that I use just to keep the chill off because I don’t want the children to become ill and even that’s a struggle. Once I run out of credit on my meter that’s it it’s gone and I can’t afford for that to happen”

She told me that she often takes the children to the library that has a warm area and her children can have a look at some books and she can have a free cuppa.

However she continued to say that sometimes she found this very difficult because she doesn’t always want to be around other people..

I asked her if she had visited a food bank recently and she said yes she has and is now dependent upon them even though it’s still a struggle saying that they’ve been a lifeline for her and her children.

But despite getting help from food banks they don’t cover all of her food and every day living costs so she has to try and fill the gaps in.

“I’m always topping up my energy meters, I’ve never had this problem before. It’s bad, really bad I just wish that it wasn’t like this”

I signposted her to several organisations that might be able to help her but this is only a sticking plaster.

Whilst the government sits back and causes the suffering of those most vulnerable her experience is going to be repeated time and time again

Their inhumane policies will undoubtedly cause malnutrition and hypothermia related illnesses and worse.

Undoubtedly there will be recorded deaths of those suffering like this but how many will actually be reported as so.

Every death related to this needs to be reported and spoken about in parliament. The government is knowingly causing the suffering of thousands if not millions and they need to be reminded of this every single day.

This shouldn’t be happening at all.

I will continue to share the experiences of those that I interview in future blogs, hopefully weekly.

If you would like me to use your story get in touch I’m happy to do so.

Let’s be clear no one should be forced to live like this.

Please read, share, tweet and email this blog, it’s vitally important that we get these stories out there in the public domain.

Believe it or not there are still people that aren’t aware that this is happening.

A huge thanks to everyone that does share my blogs it makes a tremendous difference.

I don’t get paid for any of the work that I do and I would like to continue to report on these stories.

If you would like to contribute to keep my blog and campaign going there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

By doing so I will be able to help others more.

Thank you xx.

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, cost of living, covid 19, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, DLA, domestic violence, DPAC, DWP blog,, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, eugenics, Family, Food, Food bank, food poverty, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, funeral plans,, G4S, government, Housing, hunger, Hygiene Poverty,, International Women's Day, Ireland,, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, liz truss, 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, public transport, Republic Ireland budget 2023, Republic of Ireland,, safe hands,, sanctions, 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 December 29, 2022December 29, 2022

Universal Credit Sanctions Back With A Vengence

It was recently announced during a Commons debate in parliament that Universal Credit sanctions (UC) are “back with a vengeance”. This comes after the figures for the last quarter have been revealed.

According to the released figures the sanction rates are now 250% higher than they were for the three months before the pandemic.

It’s extremely worrying that the figures have risen so much in such a short amount of time makes me very concerned about the welfare of UC claimants.

The huge increase allows for the ever increasing number of UC claimants. In layman’s terms it amounts to 2.5% of UC claimants being sanctioned each month which is almost double the amount when compared to 1.4% before the pandemic.

Let’s not forget that in June 2022 £34 million was taken away from claimants as a result of being sanctioned. This was followed in July 2022 by £34.9 million and then in August taking the total to over £36 million.

When you do the maths this totals to £100 million which has literally been taken from vulnerable claimants that were already struggling to pay for basic necessities.

Upon questioning these figures Guy Opperman minister for employment speaking on behalf repeatedly avoided answering a question which asked why the number of sanctions had increased so rapidly.

The only other possibility being that the DWP may have changed its policy on applying sanctions but neglecting to inform everyone that would be affected by this. After all it’s not the first time that they’ve done this.

The only answer that Opperman eventually gave was “The hon. Gentleman asked specifically about the rise in the number of sanctions. Some 98.2% of sanctions are for missing a meeting with a work coach.”

Opperman declined to give an explanation as to why twice as many claimants are now supposedly choosing to miss appointments with their DWP advisor.

Of course this makes no sense because claimants are desperate to receive their UC payments. Methinks Opperman’s not being honest which comes as no surprise at all.

However Anne McLaughlin, SNP MP for Glasgow North East didn’t hold back from being honest in informing the commons the advice that she gives every UC claimant that has come to her after being sanctioned.

She went on to say;

“If you have your benefits sanctioned, do not take it lying down. Contact me and I will fight this for you, because this is wrong and nobody should have to live on less than the minimum income.”

This is of course correct, everyone that finds themselves in this position should fight it. The reality is that many don’t because they don’t have the strength to do so.

I have spoken to many people that had taken the decision to stop claiming UC because they can’t cope with it leaving them with little or no income to live on.

More MPs need to speak up about this in parliament but I won’t hold my breath. Only a few MPs including Debbie Abrahams actually speak up about this but others need to follow.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

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A big thanks to everyone that does so.

A huge thanks to everyone that has and does support my blog and campaign. I don’t receive any payment for the work that I do and every penny enables me to continue with my work.

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, DLA, domestic violence, domestic violence,, DPAC, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, food poverty, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, funeral plans,, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, International Women's Day, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, NHS, NHS dentist, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, pre paid funeral plans,, pre paid funerals,, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, 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 August 30, 2022

Good Law Project To Sue Ofgem

I’m a bit late publishing this my apologies.

I wish the Good Law Project every success. Ofgem have acted terribly and have failed in their duty to protect the consumer and to file important reports that should have been submitted before their announcement last week.