Tag: debt

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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.

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA on Pexels.com

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.

anti social behaviour,, Army recruiting, 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, liz truss, Manchester, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, Myra Hindley, 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,

No Blog This Week

Hi folks sadly they won’t be a blog this week I’ve had a really stressful busy week

I don’t like doing this but I do need a clear head because I don’t want to write a rubbish blog post.

I’m struggling to pay my home internet bill which is essential for blogging, researching and helping people which I’ve been busy with this week.

Thanks to all of my supporters every share helps to raise huge public awareness of how life is for so many of us. Believe it or not some people aren’t aware of how people are suffering under this Tory government.

If you like my blog and can afford to there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

Thank you so much

Charlotte x

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.

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

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.

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, 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

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

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,, 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

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

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, 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

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.

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

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, 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, 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 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

Autumn Budget Social Murder By Design

After writing last week’s blog their cruel plans were confirmed and I fear it’ll be worse than I initially thought.

Please read my previous blog post for more details.

I’m angry, well I’m beyond angry and I’m scared for every single person that will be affected by these proposed changes myself included.

I wrote this on X, formally known as Twitter, #autumnbudget #budget social murder by design.

Honestly I don’t believe I’m wrong about this I wish I was. I couldn’t publish my blog yesterday because I was finding the enormity of this too much. I went from anger to worry and back to anger.

I can imagine you doing the same.

Let’s be honest it’s already horrendously difficult for disabled and unemployed people. If they don’t appear to satisfy their overlords the DWP potentially could be sanctioned or worse.

Disabled people being diagnosed as ‘fit’ for work by medical professionals not qualified to do so which causes immense distress and often a decline in their health.

The government’s proposal to take claimant’s ability to access medication and other benefits will undoubtedly cause many deaths. No one takes medication when it isn’t needed and it’s essential to their well- being.

It’s horrifically cruel but I don’t need to tell you that.

They shouldn’t be forced into jobs when they’re not fit for work and employers shouldn’t be expected to employ people that can’t do the work in the first place.

They also proposed that disabled people can work from home for telephone work and suchlike.

Not every disability is visible and not everyone can do this work. It would cause them great distress and physically and mentally they can’t do it.

Of course they suggest this under the assumption that everyone has access to the internet at home already having everything they need to do this work. You can bet the DWP won’t offer them any support either.

It’s important to remember that these changes will not affect existing claims and will only affect new claims. However they will be moved to the new regime in 2025.

Am I still angry? Yes I am because they’re literally handing a death sentence to the most vulnerable people and they can never be forgiven for this.

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.co

Sorry for the change in blog post style today, I had previously blogged about these changes last week and felt that I didn’t need to repeat myself.

A huge thanks to everyone that reads, shares and has supported my campaign and blog for all these years.

For those that called myself and other campaigners liars that we were scaremongering we weren’t wrong were we. It pains me to say this.

Take care everyone, try and keep warm. We need to look out for each other because the government won’t.

https://gofund.me/6745fbc7

anti social behaviour,, Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, child poverty, confidence, conservative government, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, disability, DLA, 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, high street retail, Homeless Manchester, Homeless women, homelessness, homelessness,, Housing, hunger, Hygiene Poverty,, 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 2023, Republic of Ireland,, rishi sunak,, Uncategorized

Government Plans to Impose Stricter Sanctions For Benefits Claimants

The government is planning to impose stricter sanctions for benefits claimants, the chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed

As this year’s Conservative Party conference ends Jeremy Hunt revealed plans to impose tougher benefit sanctions. Saying that it will encourage people to look for work.

However research has shown that sanctions cause destitution and worse for already financially vulnerable people.

Punishing people even more because they can’t find work doesn’t help people find work and combined with the cost of living crisis it will push thousands of people into even more poverty causing extreme distress and harm.

When speaking at the Conservative Party Conference, chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that 100,00 people are leaving the labour market every year for a “life on benefits”. He also said that this is why the government is replacing work capability assessments and examining the sanctions regime.

Hunt neglects to tell his audience that one of the reasons why unemployment is rising is because business such as Wilkos and small businesses are being forced to close. They find themselves unable to trade anymore because of the financial crisis.

Hunt went on to say “It isn’t fair that someone who refuses to look for a job gets the same as someone trying their best.”

This isn’t true though, people claiming universal credit working or not working have to adhere to strict job searching rules as stated in their claimant commitments.

Pitching claimant against claimant isn’t a new trick by the Tory party. They’ve been doing it for years under their ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor ideology.

Their remit has however changed as it’s clear to see that they regard everyone as not deserving of help especially disabled people who always bear the brunt of the government’s cruel policy changes.

Instead further punishments will undoubtedly force vulnerable people to look for unsuitable low paid work which could damage their health and plunge them into even more poverty than they’re already in.

Anela Anwar, Chief Executive of the anti-poverty charity Z2K, said: “The government needs to stop scapegoating people in poverty. More people are claiming disability benefits because more people are seriously ill or disabled – not because people have suddenly become lazier.

“The punitive and trigger-happy benefit sanctions system already leaves hundreds of thousands of people without the money they need to survive every year. And it doesn’t work: evidence tells us that sanctions leave people sicker and even further from the labour market.

“Further tightening the screw will only cause more destitution, prevent people re-engaging with DWP, and no matter the safeguards in place, will inevitably affect some of the most vulnerable.”

Indeed it will and life is going to become a great deal harder for vulnerable people that need help and support rather than even more punishment from a cruel uncaring government.

Personally I’d like to see them all live as we have to, with no access to funds and forced to live in damp, substandard housing. I’d like to see if they could survive this for over a year, but it won’t happen.

One thing they’ve managed to excel at is totally destroying the UK, its foundation, reputation, people, industry, businesses.

The current state of the stock market proves this, when big businesses and major players from around the world stop investing in the UK there really is no future for it. No one wants to invest in a country that’s failing everything and everyone.

We need a general election asap because the Tory government will stop at nothing to continue to feather their own nests, even when they put the future of the UK at great risk.

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It totally reflects the state of the UK at the moment.

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Government Allows Utility Bill Deductions From Universal Credit Despite Court Ruling Saying It’s Unlawful

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

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