Tag: disabled

Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, child poverty, confidence, conservative government, Cookery, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, disability, DLA, domestic violence, domestic violence,, DPAC, DWP blog,, dwp debt, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, food poverty, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, funeral plans,, G4S, government, Green Party, high street retail, Homeless Manchester, Homeless women, homelessness, homelessness,, Housing, hunger, Hygiene Poverty,, International Women's Day, Ireland budget 2024, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, liz truss, Manchester, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, NHS, NHS dentist, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, PIP claim, poverty, pre paid funeral plans,, pre paid funerals,, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, prime minister, public transport, republic Ireland Budget, Republic Ireland budget 2023, republic Ireland Budget 2024, Republic of Ireland,, rishi sunak,, safe hands,, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Television Licence, Television Licence fines, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

Unpaid Carers Forced To Pay Back Thousands

And so the DWP cruelty continues and we shouldn’t be surprised.

Unpaid carers have been told by the DWP (Department Of Work And Pensions) to repay thousands of pounds of benefits after unknowingly earning too much money years ago.

Not only is this cruel it was entirely preventable if the DWP had done their jobs correctly. But forcing unpaid to pay back thousands is unbelievable especially when they save the government millions every year.

The DWP system shows when carers have gone over the earnings limit but they failed to inform claimants instead allowing their claims to continue for months or even years before recovering the full amount owed.

This has also been highlighted in a series of articles by Patrick Butler in The Guardian which shows exposing the cruelty in how they treat unpaid carers

Along with this the folks over at Benefits And Work have raised the reasons why the DWP should never get the police powers they desperately want.

This also proves why the DWP should never be given police powers.

This has resulted in the DWP given free reign to threaten  carers with jail terms.
They have also used laws that were  designed to strip drug dealers of their property to take  money from carers.


The DEP have unlawfully ignored judges legal directions in order to increase the amount they can take back from carers.


The DWP have been shown to misleed MPs for years by promising that new technology meant large overpayments would no longer happen.


Alongside this they are refusing to publish a report on the effects of overpayment recovery on carers which was completed years ago.


Take for example the heart breaking  case of Vivienne Groom who cared for her elderly mother who had dementia and suffered from a stroke is a disturbing example of how the DWP treat carers.

Vivienne was given incorrect advice from a  social worker that she didn’t need to declare her part-time minimum wage at the  Co-Op job to the DWP whilst still receiving carers allowance.

When her hours increased she did inform the DWP, who said they would get back to her.

Unsurprisingly they never did reply to her.

Years later she was threatened with prosecution and began repaying the overpayment at £30 a month.

This is a large amount of money for her to replay each month but she did so.

Her mother sadly died and left her a £16,000 inheritance. The DWP went on to  prosecute  Vivienne using the Proceeds of Crime Act.

This was created to take expensive cars and large houses from drug dealers, not people who have cared for loved ones

They also threatened her with up to seven years in prison in order to steal her inheritance.

Vivienne decided to take legal action and was refused legal aid because she had £16,000 in capital even though she couldn’t access it because the DWP had her account frozen the day the money went into her bank account.

The case ended with the DWP legal team ignoring judges directions on three separate occasions to make calculations that may have reduced the amount Vivienne owed and, instead, getting the whole of her inheritance.

It’s extremely disturbing that the possibility that  a vengeful organisation as is the DWP could be given the power to search claimants homes, seize their possessions and prosecute them or impose fines upon them must be challenged whenever it is raised.

As proven time after time the DWP will ignore a judges ruling and will appeal any decisions made in a court of law.

It’s wrong, beyond cruel . The government should be thanking unpaid carers for the work that they do because ultimately they save the government millions of pounds each year.

It’s our job to challenge this whenever possible and share articles to raise awareness because believe it or not there are people that aren’t aware that this does and will continue to happen.

A huge thank you to Patrick Butler for his hard work in producing these interviews

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/07/unpaid-carers-allowance-payment-prosecution-earnings-rules

Also thanks to the folk over at Benefit And Work for the hard work that they do to help people.

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, child poverty, confidence, conservative government, Cookery, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, disability, DLA, domestic violence, domestic violence,, DPAC, DWP blog,, dwp debt, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, food poverty, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, funeral plans,, G4S, government, high street retail, Homeless Manchester, Homeless women, 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 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

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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    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

    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

    DWP Work Coach Shortage Unable To Cope With Increasing Unemployment. Safestyle Goes Into Administration.



    The PCS union that represents DWP workers have recently warned that there’s a “staffing chaos” at the DWP, with work coach roles being particularly affected. Meanwhile the government apparently seeks to hire thousands of new staff despite having just made hundreds of workers redundant.

    As a result of this unmitigated staffing chaos, additional “support measures” are supposedly being put in place in Jobcentres to manage the workload of work coaches.


    The support measures include reducing the frequency of work coach contact with some claimants from fortnightly to monthly and shortening some meetings from 50 minutes to 30 minutes.

    This will be welcomed by claimants that might have to travel quite a distance to their nearest Jobcentre.

    However here’s the kickback which effectively wipes out any supposed help offered. The Chancellor has announced an end to civil service expansion, with an immediate cap on the civil service headcount, with a view to reducing it to pre-pandemic levels.

    Go figure, it’s a disaster something that the government is very familiar with. They’ve proven time and time again that they’re incapable of managing anything with efficiently.

    With the DWP failing to manage its current workload with no let up in the foreseeable future, the very idea that tens of thousands of additional claimants can be removed from the LCWRA group and given effective support to help them into work is rubbish, a bare faced lie that they will be reminded of in the future.

    Basically it’s very clear to see  that the sole purpose of making the WCA much harsher is to save money and not to help claimants.

    Think about it, they don’t care about claimants especially disabled ones that are already in an extremely vulnerable position.

    Let’s take for example, approximately 680 staff have recently been made redundant by the window and door manufacturer and seller Safestyle.

    The business has gone into administration with no warning to its employees and the GMB union  expects up to 600 job losses.


    However on Monday, administrators Interpath Advisory said the number of redundancies was about 680.

    Sadly only 70 of the roughly 750 staff have been retained.


    Appallingly saff were unexpectedly texted to “down tools” on Friday evening and received news of the appointment of administrators on Monday in the car park of the company’s headquarters in Bradford, GMB said.

    They’ve been made redundant with immediate effect and told they won’t get another penny from the company.”

    GMB organiser Bob McNeill added: “Bosses didn’t even have the decency to let them into the building out of the pouring rain”

    This will result in at least another 680 people being made unemployed due to no fault of their own. As pointed out above they aren’t going to receive any more payment from the company.

    This is another 680 people that will put increased pressure on an already failing system that can’t cope with the demand.

    It’s clear to see that despite the government’s denial, the UK is going through a recession which combined with the cost of living and energy cost crisis is very concerning for everyone that owns a business, big or small.

    Every day more companies and small local businesses are forced to shut their doors which will also put even more pressure on the DWP system.

    It’s a disaster, heartbreaking for everyone affected but the government is doing what they do best, causing chaos and even more suffering for the poorest and most vulnerable.

    They need to go as soon as possible. I fear that they aim to cause as much chaos and confusion as they can before being forced to leave number 10.

    The damage they’ve done to this country is irreparable, it’s hard to come back from this if not impossible.

    https://gofund.me/abea8764

    Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, child poverty, conservative government, Cookery, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Decision maker, disability, DLA, DPAC, DWP blog,, dwp debt, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, eugenics, Food, Food bank, food poverty, frugal, fuel poverty, funeral plans,, government, homelessness, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, liz truss, Manchester, Mandatory reconsideration, NHS, PIP, PIP claim, poverty, sanctions, suicide, targets, Tax credits, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, wilkos, Workfare, young people

    DWP Begins Consultation On Cutting Back WCA Support Group

    The DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) have recently announced that they have begun a consultation concerning changing the WCA (Work Capability Assessment).

    The DWP would like to make it harder for claimants that are found to have LCWRA) Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity for universal credit.

    They also want this to apply to claimant’s that qualify to be in the support group of ESA.

    The consultation document declared that the proposed alterations would apply to four activities:

    How a claimant mobilises

    How they control their bladder and bowels.


    How they cope with social engagement and their ability to go out and manage daily life.


    Out of all the proposed alterations by far the worst has got to be their plans to stop all of the above activities as well as the substantial risk rule.

    Whilst the government doesn’t regard this rule to be important it’s in many cases the only way that people with severe mental health conditions can enter the LCWRA group.

    The DWP’s reasoning for these for these cuts is that since the pandemic employment has changed and there are more opportunities to work from home.

    They then argue that if claimants no longer have to travel or mix with other people in order to work they will be able to manage their health conditions at home whilst also earning a living.

    Yeah working from home isn’t going to be a miracle cure is it.

    The DWP also conveniently fails to recognize that at the time of writing claimants that are in the LCWRA group don’t get any support when looking for work.

    The DWP however reveals how cruel and sick they are. In what could be likened to the Charles Dickens character Scrooge they regard taking away the additional and vital £390 a month they receive as a kindness.

    If this isn’t bad enough they also plan to move them into the limited capability for work group and therefore put them at risk of being sanctioned and great distress.


    The DWP try to explain this in their consultation document:

    “It is not right that so many people are left without support, and we must not hold people back from opportunity.”

    According to the consultation document, any changes will be legislated in 2024 and come into force in 2025.

    They will affect new claimants from 2025 and existing claimants when their award is reviewed from 2025 onwards.

    These proposals are also separate from the plan to entirely abolish the WCA from no earlier than 2026/27 for new claimants and 2029 for existing claimants.

    The timetable for slashing the support group would allow any proposed savings to be included in the government’s future spending plans and could be announced in the Autumn statement.

    This would then enable the Tories to offer tax cuts for the already wealthy which will be funded by welfare savings as part of their forthcoming election manifesto.

    The consultation on the proposals lasts until 30 October.

    It’s important to take part in this consultation because they need to see that there is a strong opposition to their plans and will show that there isn’t public support for them also.

    It could possibly help to stop or show them that their continuation of their hateful treatment of disabled people isn’t popular and is the wrong thing to do.

    Photo by Kat Smith on Pexels.com

    Please like, share and tweet my blog posts even the old ones. It’s vitally important to raise awareness of such issues and doing so helps enormously.

    Thanks to everyone that has and already does this!

    covid 19, Decision maker, disability, DLA, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, food poverty, Free, government, high street retail, Homeless Manchester, Hygiene Poverty,, Ireland,, Ken Loach, liz truss, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, PIP claim, poverty, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, wilkos, womens rights

    Life in a northern town.

    Hi there I hope you are all ok and are trying to cope in these godforsaken awful times. Just when you think it’s got as bad as it can be the government comes up with something else to torment us.

    I’ve decided to write a blog similar to the ones that I used to do when I started out all those years ago. Back in the day things were bad but it’s a whole lot worse now.

    Life has certainly changed beyond recognition, services that we had to support people and communities are long gone, working class labour controlled local  authorities have had their funding stripped and it’s now virtually impossible to heat and eat.

    I often find myself walking around my local town remembering how lovely it used to look compared to now.

    It’s run down in parts mainly because the funding that used to be available isn’t available any longer. The government has provided some funding but it can only be spent on designated projects and not urgently needed ones. 

    It’s the same in most working class towns. Shops are shutting because people no longer have any spare money and have to concentrate on essential things.

    A good economy can’t be created by not investing in communities something the government fails to realise

    It’s easy to be quick to blame local authorities for the decline of our town centres whilst forgetting that it’s essentially the governments fault for denying much needed funding. If they don’t have the money it can’t be done can it.

    Anger should be directed towards the government for their part in the destruction of local communities.

    It’s a class war for sure.

    Back in the day myself and fellow campaigners DPAC and Black Triangle predicted that things would get bad and we weren’t kidding. I remember being called an extremist and I was making it up.

    We weren’t wrong were we.

    One thing I do know is that we’re all struggling at the moment and with autumn quickly approaching the worry of keeping warm is upon us.

    How will we manage? God knows but I predict there’ll be many casualties this year. It’s soul destroying but I fear that this too is becoming normalised just like foodbank usage has been.

    Despite all of the above I like the town that I live in, I can escape to the countryside by walking up the road and I appreciate it now that I’m able to do this.

    Keep strong everyone we can get through this because we’ve got each other and they can’t take that away from us.

    My photo
    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, 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,, 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,, safe hands,, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Television Licence, Television Licence fines, Teresa May, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, wilkos, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

    Life in a northern town.

    Hi there I hope you are all ok and are trying to cope in these godforsaken awful times. Just when you think it’s got as bad as it can be the government comes up with something else to torment us.

    I’ve decided to write a blog similar to the ones that I used to do when I started out all those years ago. Back in the day things were bad but it’s a whole lot worse now.

    Life has certainly changed beyond recognition, services that we had to support people and communities are long gone, working class labour controlled local  authorities have had their funding stripped and it’s now virtually impossible to heat and eat.

    I often find myself walking around my local town remembering how lovely it used to look compared to now.

    It’s run down in parts mainly because the funding that used to be available isn’t available any longer. The government has provided some funding but it can only be spent on designated projects and not urgently needed ones. 

    It’s the same in most working class towns. Shops are shutting because people no longer have any spare money and have to concentrate on essential things.

    A good economy can’t be created by not investing in communities something the government fails to realise

    It’s easy to be quick to blame local authorities for the decline of our town centres whilst forgetting that it’s essentially the governments fault for denying much needed funding. If they don’t have the money it can’t be done can it.

    Anger should be directed towards the government for their part in the destruction of local communities.

    It’s a class war for sure.

    Back in the day myself and fellow campaigners DPAC and Black Triangle predicted that things would get bad and we weren’t kidding. I remember being called an extremist and I was making it up.

    We weren’t wrong were we.

    One thing I do know is that we’re all struggling at the moment and with autumn quickly approaching the worry of keeping warm is upon us.

    How will we manage? God knows but I predict there’ll be many casualties this year. It’s soul destroying but I fear that this too is becoming normalised just like foodbank usage has been.

    Despite all of the above I like the town that I live in, I can escape to the countryside by walking up the road and I appreciate it now that I’m able to do this.

    Keep strong everyone we can get through this because we’ve got each other and they can’t take that away from us.

    My photo
    Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, 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, Homeless Manchester, Homeless women, homelessness, homelessness,, Housing, hunger, Hygiene Poverty,, International Women's Day, 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,, 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

    PIP Telephone Chaos Set To Continue Until End Of Summer

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

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

    Bravo everyone!

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

    Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

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

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

    If you’d like to keep updated with new blog updates click the button and subscribe. It’s free!

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

    Currently I’m trying to obtain photo ID and it’s impossibly expensive.

    Ashton Under lyne, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, child poverty, conservative government, cost of living, covid 19, Damien Green, Decision maker, DPAC, DWP blog,, dwp debt, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, Food, Food bank, food poverty, fuel poverty, government, homelessness, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, Manchester, Mandatory reconsideration, NHS, NHS dentist, PIP, PIP claim, poverty, prepaid energy, rishi sunak,, sanctions, suicide, targets, Tax credits, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

    Almost Half Million PIP Helpline Calls Deliberately Disconnected In April

    Almost half a million PIP ( Personal Independence Payments) deliberately disconnected by the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) in April revealed in freedom of information request by Benefits And Work

    Most of these callers were disconnected before they were able to wait in a call queue.

    Benefits and Work submitted a freedom of information request asking the DWP to reveal the amount of calls made to the PIP Enquiry Line that were cut-off before being placed in the queue and those that were in the queue but didn’t manage to connect with an operative.

    The DWP then answered providing the following statistics:

    February

    Calls put in queue 415,552

    Calls blocked 34,860

    March

    Calls put in queue 488,965

    Calls blocked 306,865

    April

    Calls put in queue 388,265

    Calls blocked 494,044

    It’s worth remembering that even though they might have managed to get a spot in the queue this doesn’t guarantee that their calls will be connected to an operative.

    Thousands of calls also get disconnected when placed into the queue. that just because you get into the queue.

    Of course the DWP aren’t addressing these problems, I personally think that the could be deliberate because many callers will give up and try to manage without their PIP payments.

    I cannot stress enough how dangerous this is for already vulnerable people claiming PIP, they need their payments so they can manage from day to day.

    How will they manage without their payments or without the answers they required upon phoning the hotline?

    I strongly suspect that thousands will go without essential meals, will be unable to get out to do everyday tasks and to attend appointments etc.

    These payments are essential to their well-being and treating their calls like this will also cause thousands to become distressed or worse.

    The government needs to stop treating disabled people as some sort of subhuman community and not worthy of any help or assistance.

    We need to fight back and challenge this blatant discrimination. Everyone is entitled to a good quality of life and this needs to stop.

    Please read, share and tweet my blog this is essential to raise awareness of these very important issues that are often hidden in plain sight.

    I don’t receive any payment for my work and to keep my blog going and it’s a massive struggle to keep it going.

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    Telegraph Leads Hate Campaign Against Disabled People

    Rather unsurprisingly a new media hate campaign against disabled people has begun and it’s one of the worst that I’ve seen for a while.

    It comes as no coincidence that this started alongside government plans  to abolish the WCA (Work Capability Assessment).

    These plans will allow unqualified jobcentre work coaches to decide whether claimants are capable of work.

    The government’s answer to this sadly is text book for them, demonizing vulnerable disabled people portraying them as the enemy and the usual scrounger rhetoric.

    The Telegraph however was the first to start this campaign of hatred stating in an article

    “Millions are claiming benefits without ever having to look for work, helping to push the tax burden to hit its highest point since the Second World War . . . It raises the question, just how much of our hard-won salaries are spent on the benefits of those who do not work? With the calculator below, Telegraph Money can now reveal how much of your salary goes towards bankrolling the welfare state.”

    However this hasn’t gone unnoticed though with many commentators on Twitter comparing the language of this campaign with a  poster issued in 1938 supporting Nazi eugenics.

    This read  “This person who suffers a hereditary disease has a lifelong cost of 60.000 Reichsmarks to the National Community. Comrade, that is your money too.”

    Next to join the hate campaign was The Spectator magazine writing  “When will the Tories face up to Britain’s benefits scandal?” They were quick to spout their venom against disabled people claiming that whilst UC (Universal Credit) is an improvement “the problem now is people, often citing mental health issues, claiming sickness and disability benefit.”

    It went on to say:  “The UK system seems to have been thrown into crisis by such claims and has no idea how to properly process a mental health claim. So we end up with 5,000 claims a day – a day! – for sickness benefit . . . The waste of lives is one thing, but then there’s the waste of money.”

    This strongly implies that all disabled people with depression are making it up and they should be working.


    Last to the hate campaign was Jeremy Vine asking in a tweet viewed by thousands asking;

    “Is it time to crack down on jobless benefits?

    “Nearly four million people in the UK are being supported by the state without ever having to look for a job.

    “That’s because they’ve been deemed too sick to work.

    “Is it wrong for taxpayers to fund them indefinitely?”

    However Vines team wasn’t prepared for the outrage that it caused on Twitter which resulted in them deleting their tweet but their scheduled programme still going ahead.

    None of this is a coincidence it’s the typical Tory tactic to demonize vulnerable people before they commence with their plans, this time being to abolish the WCA.

    They know that this won’t be popular and they will be of considerable resistance to their nefarious plans.

    They counteract this by feeding lies to the public which will continue the scrounger rhetoric which we have seen many times previously.

    Disabled people already face enough judgement from the public. People with mental health issues should never be judged in this manner.

    Pitching disabled people as being scroungers is not only awful it’s also dangerous. Making a claim for a disability is far from easy, it causes great distress and judgement from others.

    No one should be judged for their disability, people can’t just ‘get over it’ and being forced to find work will be extremely distressing to say the least

    Let’s make it clear, no one chooses to be disabled like Vine and The Telegraph suggests and we need to campaign hard against the government’s proposed plans.

    Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

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