Tag: disability news service

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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

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Cruel Severe Disability Group Assessment System Exposed

At last the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) has revealed the details of their appalling new system that assess claimants that are in the severe disability group.

As we know every person’s circumstances are different depending upon their diagnosis and entry to this group may be based on and is not exclusively

Having medically precise definitions that are not connected with the benefits system :

Having information that only a claimant or carer will know however a specialist will still have to provide details:

Having availability of specialist services and access to said services  where the claimant lives

And unbelievably no clear criteria given  at all.

    There is also great concern that their distinct lack of clarity on the overlap between the Severe Disability Group and the light-touch review system for PIP will cause claimants to be wrongly assessed and treated.

    We can only imagine how disastrous this will be for severely disabled people which gives me great concern for their well-being.

    God help us they certainly have no regard for the lives and well-being of extremely vulnerable people.

    Many claimants and disability charities are sharing their concerns that the creation of their planned separate group of severely disabled claimants will be directed purely at reducing future payments for those that they allege are not as severely disabled.

    And there lies the real reason for the creation of this new group. It’s all about the money and how to take away as much as they can take away from vulnerable people to line their own greedy pockets.

    It’s vile and inhumane.

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
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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.

    Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

    If you like my work and would like to donate towards keeping my blog going there’s a donation button at the top and side of this blog post.

    Thank you

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    DWP Intent On Creating Own Anti-fraud Police Force

    As we know the DWP are pushing a bill which will give them access to approximately nine million claimants bank accounts through parliament.

    They are already pushing for additional powers of arrest, search and seizure additional to having access to bank accounts and it’s a scary thought.

    If they are successful with their aims the DWP will therefore have its own anti-fraud police force. With this they could also be able to impose huge fines without going to court.

    This is extremely worrying considering if they are successful they won’t have any real accountability by anyone but themselves and we know what that means.

    By default the accountability given to their actions will be very low if any at all. Yes they make claimants follow their rules when they often don’t follow them themselves.


    Whilst this  legislation hasn’t been given to  the DWP yet it’s vital to be aware that this could happen and to prepare for it if it happens.

    Keeping good records of everything that you do and have done. Double check everything and keep everything safe.

    Please note this hasn’t happened yet so don’t worry and I will be sharing more about this and what you can do as and when more information comes out.such immense powers does appear,

    Please don’t panic this hasn’t happened yet and it might not go through parliament yet and I’ll keep you updated.

    To be forewarned is to be forewarned.

    Keep safe and warm and  love to everyone

    Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com
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    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

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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

    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, 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, 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 2023, republic Ireland Budget 2024, 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

    Half A Million Universal Credit Recipients Sanctioned In Last Year



    According to the latest DWP statistics that have been released reveal that 522,690 UC claimants have been sanctioned in the previous year to July 2023.

    They show that in  July 2023  49,000 new sanctions were applied.

    These figures are very concerning with 6.48% of the claimants sanctioned is now almost reaching the peak rate in October 2022.

    According to the statistics 96.5% of sanctions were applied for failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview.

    However these statistics don’t reveal the claimants reasons for not attending or participating in mandatory interviews.

    One of the most common reasons for the above is not receiving any communication from the DWP that would inform them of these appointments. For more information about this please see a previous blog post titled ‘The case of the missing letters’

    Other reasons for non attendance include illness, childcare commitments and not being able to physically attend an appointment.

    Of course claimants can appeal these decisions but it isn’t easy to do and many still don’t know that they can do this.

    It’s also important to know that sanction decisions are made by work coaches and are often based upon opinion not fact.

    For example if they explain to their work coach that they couldn’t attend because of illness, the work coach will decide if this is a good enough reason to do so.

    Also in the event that an appointment letter hasn’t been received by the claimant the onus is on the DWP to prove that it’s been delivered.

    Of course they can’t prove this, indeed I’ve helped in cases when the letters hadn’t been sent in the first place and I actually saw them still in a claimants paperwork.

    It’s especially concerning that we are going through a cost of living and energy cost crisis. The prices of everything appear to be rising daily and many essentials are no longer affordable.

    The cost of turning heating on is also impossible for many, and as we are heading towards what will be an extremely cold winter being sanctioned is unnecessarily cruel.

    Despite the right wing media portraying the amount of Universal Credit is too much in reality payments are already barely enough to survive on.

    It’s also vital to know that debts such as council tax debt repayments and suchlike are garnished from UC  payments before they receive them. This leaves claimants with barely enough to buy the very basics needed.

    As a result of this an ever increasing amount of people, working and not working are becoming dependent upon food banks. Food banks are also struggling to keep up with the increasing demand because of the cost of living crisis, leaving many that used to donate food unable to do so anymore.

    Sanctioning already vulnerable people in the midst of a very serious cost of living crisis and a cold winter is beyond cruel.

    Taking away a person’s very means of survival is totally unacceptable, with the ramifications of this lasting a long time, some never recover from it.

    We need to start campaigning against sanctioning again because there’s never been a more important time to do so.

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    Thanks to everyone that reads and shares my blog posts, without you this wouldn’t be possible.

    Please share this post because it raises awareness which is much needed at the moment.

    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

    Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, child poverty, conservative government, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, 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, 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, Payday loan, PIP, PIP claim, poverty, pre paid funeral plans,, pre paid funerals,, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, prime minister, public transport, sanctions, 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

    Taking This Week Off

    Hi folks I hope you’re as ok as you can be.

    This week’s been pretty rough for me so I’ve made the decision to have a break from blogging this week.

    I don’t do this often but I feel that all things considered it’s the best decision for me.

    My thoughts and prayers are with Tony Husbands family who passed away unexpectedly this week.

    His work was amazing always funny and spot on and I’m sure he’ll be missed by his colleagues over at Private Eye.

    Here’s one of his cartoons.