Tag: Elections

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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!

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, covid 19, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

Covid 19. What happens to the survivors and the families of those that have died?

Dear readers and subscribers it appears to be Thursday once again. I hope that you are all ok and as well as you can be.I’ve had a pretty busy week having a telephone consultation with my respitory consultant, blood tests and talking to my GP.

For covid survivors I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a doctor that listens to me and echoes mine and my consultants concerns. This is a rarity though.

Why is this a rarity you might ask, everyone should be treated this way. The sad reality is that they aren’t.Helping a patient with Covid 19 is extremely hard because they’re dealing with the unknown. Covid also presents itself differently with each and every person that catches it.

There isn’t any real ‘normal’ symptoms with Covid 19 because of this.For me, covid hit my lungs pretty hard, most likely because I already had mild asthma.

Covid likes to find a person’s weak point and attack there.

For other people they can get more neurological symptoms and not the classic symptoms. For them getting help is extremely hard.

Like my doctor said, so many doctors haven’t got a clue about how to deal with it unless they’ve had the time to research it themselves. I can imagine that finding the time to do this would be hard for them.

This leaves us with a massive problem though. Thousands of people with long covid symptoms are being ignored,some are being told that there’s nothing that can be done for them when that’s not true.

I was both unlucky and lucky enough to be admitted into hospital and this fast tracked me to the follow up care that I need. This is why I consider myself lucky in this respect.

But still thousands of people that are suffering with delibatating symptoms are being ignored, left on their own with no support at all.

Every covid survivor deserves to be listened to and to have their symptoms investigated. It’s vital that this happens. The fact that it isn’t happening is a complete travesty.

Then we have the families of loved ones that have died from Covid 19.They’re not being listened to at all.

The government is so far refusing to meet with them to discuss their needs and concerns.

Why the government refuse to meet them is unknown as of yet, but I do believe that they’re avoiding any contact with the public but my be is that they don’t want anyone challenging their extremely bad decisions

.Also add into the mix the farcical second lockdown. This lockdown won’t be successful because schools are still open etc. Unbelievable isn’t it.

We’ve also as a result of this got the real possibility of a lockdown over the Christmas period. To be honest I don’t mind this because we need to get this virus under control but so many people will suffer as a result of this possible decision.

Basically the government has done what it does best… Mess everything up, ignore the public and walk away.

This leaves the public to do the best that they can with very few resources if any.We are facing very bleak times and are going to do this with little or no Government help and it’s extremely worrying.

We have thousands of people that will be facing destitution in the coming months and they need help and representation.

We then have the terrible decision to remove Jeremy Corbyn from his position. They then allowed him to return but without the whip.

This is exactly what we don’t need at the moment. Jeremy deserves to be given the whip etc back.

The labour party should be united to fight the Tories against their terrible decisions that they’re making about the pandemic etc.

Instead it’s divided the party and members are leaving. Would it be too much to ask for some real united opposition?Can they please stop this witch hunt and focus on the government’s faults instead?

I urge them to think about this.

Thousands of people have died as a result of contracting covid and their families need help and support.

Thousands of people are ill with Covid and they need support.Thousands of people suffering from long covid need support.

They all need this support to come from the government’s opposition.We need this now.

I’m eight months into my long covid battle and it’s been awful. I’m trying to keep strong and fight back but it’s hard at times.

I don’t think that I could have done it without the help and support from my online friends

.For those without this online support it can and is a very dark and lonely place to be. Please spare a thought for them.

I’m going to end it there because I have to go and collect my meds.
Please keep safe you are important and I do care about you all.

Please read, share, tweet and email my blog.
I don’t get any funding for anything that you do.

Having covid has put an enormous strain on my finances.

For anyone that would like to donate there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog.

Thank you to everyone that reads and supports my blog and campaign.

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, covid 19, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

DWP increases its spending on fighting PIP and ESA appeals.

Dear readers I hope you are OK and keeping safe.

Let’s talk about my week.

It’s been a tough week for me but it is what it is.

I’ve finally finished my latest lot of antibiotics and at the time of writing this blog I am feeling a bit brighter.

Long covid is awful, but yesterday I walked the furthest that I’ve been able to for a long time.

I walked to the bottom of my street and back. Its a fairly long street and I’m proud of myself for doing it.

In other news I still feel like a failure for not being able to be a better parent for my daughter.

I do my best but health and finance prevents me from being able to take her out like I used to.

I’m alive though and I survived Covid 19. I’m very proud of this. My body was strong enough to fight this horrible virus, and I daily think about everyone that has died from covid 19 and their families.

Lets talk about the DWP

For years we have been saying that the DWP and government has created the ES and PIP system to punish people for being disabled and ill.

So many people have called us liars and suchlike, but thanks to Works And Pensions we now have the evidence.

The DWP has an endless pot of money to fight ESA and PIP appeals. They’re pretty blatent about this now, hell they don’t even deny it anymore.

They are spending this money even though they loosing an increasing amount of cases.

They don’t care if they loose, its all about punishment, making people feel like giving up and worse.

It’s obvious they see us as surplus to requirements. If they can’t profit from us then they will continue to persecute us to our very last breath.

No one should have to live like this. The government doesn’t have a heart, they don’t care and they don’t want us to fight back.

Luckily we are a savvy group of people and we have formed our own support groups via Facebook, Twitter and via local communities.

We care for each other and this is something that government officials haven’t got a clue about. They’re selfish morons. I could say more but I’m being polite.

Despite their appeal loses the DWP have increased its spending on fighting PIP and ESA appeals.

Remember it’s all about punishment and there’s an endless pot of money for that.

Figures obtained by the Independent, show the DWP spent £121m between 2017-19, with £58m spent on mandatory reconsiderations and £63m spent on tribunal appeals.

When broken down annually over three years, it shows that the amount spent on mandatory reconsiderations increased by 19% between 2016-17 and 2018-19, and the cost of tribunals surged by an extraordinary 64%.

The DWP is actually losing more and more appeals, with the success rate for PIP claimants now at 76%.

The DWP can’t just buy off tribunals with cash incentives.

Tribunals trust claimants and their evidence rather than the DWP and their obvious lies. They can’t be bought off like other organisations have been.

Thanks to Benefits and Work for your hard work and for keeping us informed. Check them out if you can.

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/4273-9-september-update?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=benefits-and-work&utm_content=9+September+2020+newsletter

More about covid 19.

As children go back to school, the infection rates are dramatically increasing.

Combine this with the re opening of pubs etc it’s not going to get better any time soon.

As usual the government are failing to give any direction and proper leadership.

The public are confused and I’m sure that this is why so many people are ignoring the rules.

How can you abide to the rules if you don’t know what they are?

Anyway yesterday Johnson informed the public about his latest lockdown rules.

It’s farcical saying that people can only mix with six people whilst schools are back in and they have more than six pupils.

Yesterday I read that arough estimate shows that teachers can have on average contact with about 200 households.

Does the government think that teachers and pupils can’t catch Covid 19?

It’s unbelievable isn’t it. Johnson and his ilk are liars, but I don’t need to tell you that.

This week has certainly been eventful. The town that I live in is now in double red alert and I’m expecting a local lockdown like Bolton.

It’s awful but if everyone took it seriously and wore masks etc it really would help.

I’m scared of catching it again and I know that thousands of people are as well.

Please keep safe, wash your hands, wear a mask and keep your distance from people if you can.

Lots of love to you all. I do think about you.

Please read, share, tweet, email my blog.

I really appreciate everyone that already does this.

A huge thank you to everyone that supports my campaign and my blog.

It’s been touch and go as to if I can continue writing my blog. Financially its a massive struggle because I don’t receive any funding from anyone.

For anyone who would like to donate there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog.

My PayPal ad is seercharlotte@gmail.com

Thank you!

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, covid 19, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

Government eases covid 19 lockdown conditions whilst mortality levels are rising. Complete madness

Dear readers I hope that you are well as you can be and I hope that you’re safe.

I thought that I was getting better but now I’ve developed a chest infection probably as a result of having covid 19 symptoms. I’m sick of struggling through this but I’m also angry, well very angry to be honest.

Why am I angry you might ask. I’m angry because the government is easing the lockdown conditions whilst giving not one ounce of clarity whilst doing so.

I’m also angry because he’s doing this whilst the mortality rates of covid 19 related deaths are rising. Indeed they’ll increase again and most likely will cause a second wave of this awful disease.

Thousands of people could die, many of them will be known to us, our friends and families.

We have a prime minister who appears to be unable to do his job properly, even turning up for work is a massive effort for him and I’m sure that he’s resentful for actually having to work.

When the Prime minister does turn up for work and attempts to give a speech he makes a complete mess of it and no one really knows what to do.

His guidance is abismal, even fellow politicians are left puzzled yet some people have had to return to work with little or no protection from catching covid 19.

The government issued a statement saying that public transport should be monitored to ensure that people adhere to the quarantine conditions. This isn’t happening though and the government doesn’t care.

The government also said that people shouldn’t use public transport but they failed to realise that many low paid workers don’t have cars because they can’t afford the upkeep.

But still the mortality rates are rising and the government doesn’t care.

Covid 19 is deadly, if you are lucky enough to survive from having it you are almost always left with the side effects that last for ages.

I can attest to this myself. I had all the symptoms of covid 19 at home. I self isolated, I thought that I was recovering well.

But I thought wrong. I had accepted that the breathlessness and tiredness would stay with me for a long while but what I didn’t count on was developing a chest infection. So I’m now once again unwell.

But I’m lucky, many people have had far worse side effects of contracting covid 19.

Pneumonia, heart problems, eye problems all sorts of health issues can develop as a result of developing covid 19.

It’s no joke but the government is guilty of not taking it seriously enough. They don’t appear to care as long as they’re OK.

Boris Johnson denied that he was pushing forward with his herd immunity plans, but here we have a prime minister easing lockdown conditions whilst the mortality rates are still rising. Any concerned prime minister certainly wouldn’t be doing this.

You see in his mind commerce comes first before the well being of the people of the UK. They regard working class people with enormous disdain and if we die it doesn’t really matter to them. The less of us the better.

Herd immunity is a very attractive option to them meanwhile in New Zealand they’ve done the exact opposite. Their prime minister actually cares about the people of New Zealand and I wish we had the same over here.

So what do we do now?

Well the best advice that I can give is to continue self isolating, if you have to go out wear a mask and use hand sanitizer etc. You can never be too careful.

Check in with friends and family, keep to the social distancing rules and keep safe.

As for me I’m much the same as I was last week. I’m taking each day as it comes but now with a chest infection I feel awful.

I’m hoping that soon I’ll be back to normal because I hate complaining about myself on here and I apologise for doing so.

I’ve been doing what I can at home but with limited health and funds I’m stuck waiting to get better.

Please keep safe everyone, I’m thinking of you all. We can get through this together supporting each other.

Please read, share, tweet and email my blog.

I run this blog and the campaign on a very low income. There’s a donate button for anyone who would like to donate at the side and top of this blog post.

A massive thank you to everyone who reads, shares and supports this blog. I can’t thank you enough for this. It means the world to me. 1

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

Forced to attend DWP course dispite having multiple disabilities.

Dear readers and supporters once again I have to apologise for publishing this blog late. I’ve been out campaigning for my local Labour Party.

Anyway today was pretty dire, it was raining, in fact it still hasn’t stopped.

It was also cold, deadly weather for street homeless people and anyone that can’t afford to heat their homes.

Once their clothes become wet, they can’t dry them so they become very cold and hypothermia can set in. This can be deadly so please spare a

thought for people in this situation.

As usual all the food parcels were gone as soon as I handed them out. Most of them were needed by people having problems paying their council tax and extra top up rent. If they can’t pay the council will take the money directly from their universal credit payments. Their social housing landlord will also threaten to evict them even though the person that I spoke to owed less than £100.

New Charter housing certainly don’t give a toss about their tenants but that’s another story.

We spoke to lots of people today but sadly we had to end the demo early because we were drenched and cold.

I had a conversation with a man that has several disabilities which prevents him from applying for many of the jobs on offer.

Dispite this his job coach has told him that it would be in his best interests to attend a so called wellbeing course.

Wellbeing is the latest buzzword being used by the DWP. They like to pretend that these rubbish courses will help people, especially disabled people.

They don’t however tell the person being forced onto these courses that they (the DWP) gain financially from sending people on these courses as do the course providers.

We are seen as a pound sign, a number of which they can profit from.

What they forget is that most people have enough commonsense to realise that no one can ever be cured by attending a course. They’re another reason to harass a person more, to sanction them if the course provider advises them to.

The whole system is crooked, people are being harassed so much by the DWP that they can’t see a future for themselves and they take their own life. Meanwhile the DWP will still send letters out to the families of the deceased.

It’s Orwellian in nature, they control a person’s life to the extent that they can cut off their very means of survival with the click of a button on a computer.

I spoke to three people that are having problems with their housing benefit claims. Our local housing benefit department at Tameside Council aren’t the best.

Please can they start talking to people as if they’re human beings, with respect and not disdain? It’s not too much to ask is it.

I spoke to a single parent that had been asked to attend their first back to work interview because their child is now two years old.

They were understandably nervous and had no idea of their rights regarding job searching etc. Thankfully we were able to help them and we handed them a copy of our survival guide.

Call me old fashioned but I’m a firm believer that a parent or carer should be able to stay at home with their child until their child reaches school age or older. Obviously parents that want to work should do so but the option should be there.

Children need their parents, it’s vital for their development.

Children also need to be able to eat good, healthy food and live in a warm house. These very basic things are denied by this cruel government.

I write this on the eve of the general election, the most important General election in many years. Let’s hope that we get a good result. If we don’t many of us won’t survive another 5 years of this cruelty. I can’t stress this enough.

We will be back next week for our annual Christmas Demo. I will be making a wreath unless I can get a volunteer to help me. I’m also needing to buy non alcoholic mince pies and other Christmas foods to hand out to the public.

We will also be handing out extra Christmas food parcels so if you need one please contact me so that I can save one for you. If you don’t it’s a first come first served basis.

Also please come and join us it’s at the same time 10-12 outside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre. Please come and say hello and maybe sing an appropriate Christmas Carol or two.

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

This week’s blog might be my last.

Dear readers I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news.

My yearly payment for my blog is due next week and I can’t afford to pay for it.

I upgraded because I had used up most of the free space that they offer. The free plans don’t allow me to do a lot on my blog eg posting PayPal links etc etc.

I upgraded because I had to.

Now I’m afraid that I’ll loose everything, all of my hard work throughout the years because I can’t pay.

I haven’t got a clue about how to set up a website or design one either. I’m not good at things like that.

If you can help me please get in touch.

My bill is £90 which is a lot I know.

I’m sorry for posting this but I don’t want this weeks blog to be the last one.

Thank you

Charlotte

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

This week’s blog might be my last.

Dear readers I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news.

My yearly payment for my blog is due next week and I can’t afford to pay for it.

I upgraded because I had used up most of the free space that they offer. The free plans don’t allow me to do a lot on my blog eg posting PayPal links etc etc.

I upgraded because I had to.

Now I’m afraid that I’ll loose everything, all of my hard work throughout the years because I can’t pay.

I haven’t got a clue about how to set up a website or design one either. I’m not good at things like that.

If you can help me please get in touch.

My bill is £90 which is a lot I know.

I’m sorry for posting this but I don’t want this weeks blog to be the last one.

Thank you

Charlotte

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

This week’s blog might be my last.

Dear readers I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news.

My yearly payment for my blog is due next week and I can’t afford to pay for it.

I upgraded because I had used up most of the free space that they offer. The free plans don’t allow me to do a lot on my blog eg posting PayPal links etc etc.

I upgraded because I had to.

Now I’m afraid that I’ll loose everything, all of my hard work throughout the years because I can’t pay.

I haven’t got a clue about how to set up a website or design one either. I’m not good at things like that.

If you can help me please get in touch.

My bill is £90 which is a lot I know.

I’m sorry for posting this but I don’t want this weeks blog to be the last one.

Thank you

Charlotte

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

This week’s blog might be my last.

Dear readers I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news.

My yearly payment for my blog is due next week and I can’t afford to pay for it.

I upgraded because I had used up most of the free space that they offer. The free plans don’t allow me to do a lot on my blog eg posting PayPal links etc etc.

I upgraded because I had to.

Now I’m afraid that I’ll loose everything, all of my hard work throughout the years because I can’t pay.

I haven’t got a clue about how to set up a website or design one either. I’m not good at things like that.

If you can help me please get in touch.

My bill is £90 which is a lot I know.

I’m sorry for posting this but I don’t want this weeks blog to be the last one.

Thank you

Charlotte

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, Damien Green, Decision maker, DLA, DPAC, Elderly, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, Free, frugal, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, love island, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, 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

Aged 65 and hounded by the DWP to find work. Universal Credit strikes again.

Dear readers I’m back after last weeks absence. I apologise and I hope that it never happens again.

The weather was cold but sunny definitely hat and winter coat weather. My thoughts always go to those that are homeless or can’t afford to put any heating on.

As usual the food parcels went straight away which is awful in itself. A terrible indictment of how the government regards the working class.

As I was walking towards the lift to the Jobcentre I was greeted by a friend from a local town, he noted that I was walking quite quickly. I told him that I was cold and I was trying to get warm. We both laughed at that.

He then went on to tell me that they’d recently found a rough sleeper sleeping in the lift recently. I replied saying that I was surprised that it hadn’t happened sooner. Whilst I know that there’s organisations that he could go to for the night but some people either aren’t ready for that or they fall between the gaps of society. When that happens it’s not easy to find the help that they need.

The first thing that I noted and I do so every week is the complete lack of signing outside the new council building of which the Jobcentre shares. No one knows where they are going, they only know when they’ve visited once before. Tameside Council please can we have some outdoor signing upstairs on the plaza? Also the steps are very dangerous and even I struggle climbing them.

I know that it sounds petty but for anyone suffering from anxiety related conditions will panic when they can’t see where they’re going. Some won’t want to ask for help and will most likely go home in a state of panic.

We can do better than this can’t we.

I had a brief conversation with a heavily pregnant woman who was going to the Jobcentre. She had just claimed the steps and was exhausted. When I told her that there was a lift that she could use she replied saying that she didn’t know that there was one but she was glad that I told her. It’s things like this that can make a massive difference to someones life.

This week we had extra bread to hand out as well as food parcels, they were taken by anyone that needed one. Can you imagine not being able to afford a loaf of bread?

It was then that I stopped to speak to a chap that I have spoken about before. He had been promised that his first universal credit payment would be made on the last week of September. He’s still waiting for that first payment, it’s the 31st of October.

Understandably he’s furious about this but he is also upset. As I was advising him I could see tears in his eyes. Life is shit for him he said saying that he’s got absolutely nothing to look forward to because ‘That lot’ (The DWP) keep lying to him.

How on earth does the government expect people to survive on a zero income? The honest answer is that they don’t. They don’t want us to survive, they want us to disappear off the system or die.

The government doesn’t give a stuff about us and never forget this. Never forget the cruelty that they’ve inflicted upon the poorest and most vulnerable. We can never ever forget and I’ll certainly never ever forgive them either.

I had a chat with a woman who is constantly being hounded to go on the pointless, basically rubbish DWP courses. She has to sign on every week and they never miss this opportunity to tell her about another course.

Last week she was told that it would ‘be good for her’ to go on the latest course offering. When she told them that it wasn’t mandatory so therefore she wasn’t going to attend they replied saying something along the lines of ‘oh but it would have helped you’ Yep right.

I was then asked to speak to an older chap who is finding it hard to cope with the DWP.

He’s 65 years old and has been told that he has to be online for 35 hours a week looking for work.

We all know that there certainly isn’t enough jobs advertised out there to fulfil their expectations of him. He’s been told that if he doesn’t do this then he will be sanctioned.

I always take issue with this. He’s 65 years of age, who in earth is going to employ him. Its hard enough trying to find work when you’re young. There just isn’t enough jobs to go round.

Of course the DWP know this but they’ll take great pleasure in sanctioning a 65 year old man. Speaks volumes doesn’t it.

I spoke to a chap who had been told that he had been given ‘too many’ food parcels and was refused a foodbank voucher. He’d already had three foodbank vouchers.

Luckily I was there to advise him, to give him food etc.

It angers me so much when I hear of people being turned away from foodbank voucher providers because of this. Do they think that poverty ends after three food parcels?

It’s absolutely ridiculous to think so. Some people have a swinging rock in place of a beating heart.

I had a conversation with a woman who was struggling to contact the DWP via their freephone numbers.

Not all mobile phone providers regard the freephone numbers as free making it impossible to contact them.

This needs to be sorted out now.

We ended todays demo knowing that we had helped lots of people. We had given hope, solidarity, food, and a shoulder to cry on.

It’s not been easy doing a continuous demo for as long as we have but helping people makes it all worthwhile.

You might also be aware that we have a general election coming on the 12tb of December. Please can I urge you to use your vote and vote for Labour?

Labour are committed to stopping universal credit, the constant ESA and PIP examinations, sanctions and much more.

As you might hve already heard the Tory government have also got plans in place to sell the remaining parts of the NHS to firms in America.

This will leave us without an NHS and we will be forced to use an insurance based system.

I know that I certainly won’t be able to get or pay for medical insurance. Many of you won’t be able to either.

This is literally a fight for our life’s and we have to win this fight!

We have also made plans for our Christmas demonstration which will take place on Thursday the 19th of December between 10-12. It will be outside of the Jobcentre and we hope to have some speakers, some festive food on offer and hats, gloves and scarfs to hand out.

Please come and join us we would really like to meet you.

I will be making a Facebook event for it but if you don’t have Facebook then feel free to email me.

We’ll be back next week between 10-12 outside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre. Come and say hello!

Please read, share, email, tweet etc my blog. Please subscribe also.

A huge thank you to everyone that supports out demos and who supports my blog.

Without you I couldn’t be able to continue so thank you so much.

For anyone wishing to donate there’s a PayPal button at the top and side of this blog post. For anyone that can’t see this my PayPal address is seercharlotte@gmail.com Thank you so much in advance.