Tag: homelessness

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Sunak Launches New Attack On Private Rent Tenants

It appears that Sunak has been busy creating some extremely worrying new plans, rather predictably yet another so called crackdown on anti-social behaviour, promises to ban the sale of laughing gas and increasing fines for littering.

These plans also include a rather worrying proposal giving police extra powers to move on so called nuisance beggars with no details as to where the police are supposed to move them to and no plans to provide extra funding to give support needed for them once moved on.

I suspect he’s announced these plans to appeal to the ever dwindling Tory voters, after all theres nothing they like better than to attack people more unfortunate than themselves.



Hidden away amongst his list of proposals is an extremely worrying plan that would allow landlords to evict tenants with just two weeks notice if they are found to be disruptive to neighbours through noise, drug use or damage to property. This would automatically apply to all new private rental tenancies which are already becoming more restrictive than ever before.

Two weeks is a far too short amount of time for a tenant to find a new home, if this is indeed possible in todays climate with future private landlords requesting references from potential tenants and an extreme shortage of social housing.

Whilst I agree that no one should have to put up with neighbours that are behaving anti- socially, its extremely concerning that these tenants will suddenly find themselves homeless leaving them totally dependant upon their local authority to provide temporary accommodation.

Anyone that has either experienced homelessness can confidently tell you that getting temporary accommodation from a local authority can be nigh impossible. They’re often met with unfriendly and unsympathetic local authority employees which signpost people to local charities and organisations that are already working at maximum capacity which in turn puts extra strain on social housing.



These worrying proposals were first outlined last summer in a white paper published by the government. This new development proposes that as well as tenants that are found to be causing anti social behaviour, they could also potentially be evicted under the grounds that they might be regarded as being ‘capable’ of annoyance and disruption whilst not actually committing actual anti-social behaviour.



This is an extremely concerning development which is most likely to be published in the Renters Reform Bill, along with policies designed to protect tenants.

This Bill includes a renewed commitment to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions as well as including a ban on landlords increasing rents more than once a year. However it’s not all good news. The private rented sector is heavily biased in favour of landlords, leaving these new proposals to be taken advantage of by landlords using these new proposals to evict tenants quickly and unfairly. After all how is a tenant going to prove that they don’t have the potential to be capable of committing anti social behaviour.

Unscrupulous landlords could use this loophole to evict their old tenant and then put the property up for rent again at an increased rent. Under these proposals theres actually nothing to stop them doing this.

Domestic violence cases are also often reported as anti-social behaviour in the rental sector and tenants with some disabilities or mental health problems could well display behaviours that neighbours or landlords find to be potentially capable of potentially displaying anti social behaviour.This in itself is very discriminatory.

To counteract these potentials the prime minister must make it so that courts are aware of the circumstances of the tenants facing the loss of their homes but will he?

Those evicted from private rentals or social housing due to so called nuisance behaviour are also likely to be classed as intentionally homeless by local authorities and are therefore unlikely to be offered help. However families with children are offered help but those without children and who are not classed as vulnerable will become street homeless. 

 

At this present time there are 1.25 million people on waiting lists for social housing, many of them being children. These proposals of reducing the time tenants have to look for a new home and to challenge upcoming evictions is going to increase the pressure on social housing and massivley increase homelessness. 

Polly Neate, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, said of the developments: ‘Millions of private renters across the country currently live under fear of eviction, which can happen with only a few weeks’ notice and no reason given. It makes renting deeply unstable and turns lives upside down. The government has rightly committed to scrap these Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions in the long-awaited Renters’ Reform Bill.

‘Once these evictions are finally scrapped, we can’t allow new loopholes for unfair evictions to open up. Private renters deserve genuine security in their homes. Without clear guidance and safeguards in place, there is a real risk that the new anti-social behaviour grounds for eviction could be abused by landlords’.

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An Observation Of Life On The Streets Of Manchester

My ramblings.

First published a few years ago but nothing much has changed.

I notice a young homeless girl living on the street. She has her blankets and bags next to her ready for the night ahead.
She should be excited about life but instead she looks lost. She has a can of beer next to her, she says to numb the pain and cold.

She’s sat with a group of men, also homeless but seems detached from them. I ask her if she is ok, and she says that she is and that there’s safety in numbers.
She needs to keep safe. As a woman living on the streets life can be very dangerous. Even if you don’t like the people you are sitting next to you stay with them she says. They are her protection.

She wants to make enough money for a b&b for the night, but says she has given up all hope of finding a permanent home because she has addiction issues and feels unable to deal with them. She will one day she says.
After saying this her facial expression changes as worry weighs down heavily on her mind. A weight that she feels can’t be lifted at the moment.

Whilst we are talking a young man rushes past, earphones on looks anxious. Perhaps late for an appointment. He doesn’t notice the homeless girl sat near him. He’s self consumed with himself and his journey. She says that she sees this all the time.

Her wish, she says is that people would be nice to one another. She would like more people to say hello, but they don’t and she looks down again.

A lady walks past walking her dog. People stop and compliment her on her dog. They don’t notice the young girl, but they notice the dog. I feel that this is rather sad. A vulnerable human life appears to be less important.

A teenage boy stands next to the homeless girl. He says hello to her and asks her if she would mind if he plays some music and starts rapping. She welcomes it.

His rapping consists of the story of his life, that he has encountered prejudice, loss and also some lovely things.
People start to give him money, but instead of keeping it himself he gives it to the homeless girl. He tells her that she is important, that she is loved and not to give up.

He tells her that one day, life will get better because his did. She smiles and thanks him.
Maybe, just maybe that one act of kindness gave her the strength to carry on.
I’d like to think that she kept warm for that night.

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Huge Rise In No Fault Evictions Prompts Request To Reinstate UK ban.

The number of households that rent their homes has risen dramatically since it’s reintroduction after the pandemic.

Figures show that the figures are now higher than pre pandemic levels thus resulting in campaigners and groups to call for the government to ban no fault evictions.

Figures show that up to 20,000 households in England have been made homeless by landlords that used section 21 notices in 2021/22. This has increased from approximately 9,000 in the previous financial year. These figures are not only alarming and are also very concerning.

Housing campaigners have expressed their concerns about no fault evictions for quite some time saying that no fault notices are often used as an excuse to inflict ‘revenge evictions’ using complaints such as essential work needed to be done to their housing or complaints about rent increases and suchlike.

Former head of the civil service, Sir Bob Kerslake former head of the civil service warned of a catastrophic level of people and families facing homeless, this will then put even more pressure on already overburdened and stretched to the limit councils and local authorities that are already struggling to find emergency and temporary accommodation for those in need. homelessness crisis.

Needless to say the Conservative government promised back in 2019 to end no fault evictions but have yet to pass the legislation needed.

The huge rise of people becoming homeless as a result of no-fault evictions is mostly down to the fact that during most of the pandemic. During this time the government had successfully acted to prevent a predicted surge in homelessness as part of its ‘everyone in’ strategy to tackle rough sleeping.

However as the latest figures show that the return of no-fault evictions are now causing more homelessness than they were in 2018/19 and 2019/20.

During the pandemic, the government had introduced a stay on house evictions with the two month notice period extended. The eviction ban was lifted in England in June 2021, and in October eviction notice periods reverted to two months.

Fiona Colley, director of social change at Homeless Link which is a membership organisation stated that the latest figures are ‘alarming.

Colley went on to say “The economic pressures we are facing are pushing more and more people to the edge as the pandemic protections ended,” also expressing her concerns that ‘The cost of living crisis has exacerbated rather than caused this issue.’

Nick Ballard, head organiser at Acorn, a tenants activist organisation is quoted as saying that they have seen a huge increase in the number of members seeking help to fight no-fault evictions.

Ballard saying “It can be devastating. At the ‘better’ end it means uprooting entire families whilst at the more extreme end this is the leading cause of homelessness. People end up in overcrowded temporary accommodation with many forced to rough sleep.”

The figures also show a 24% rise in the number of households with dependant children requesting help from councils and local authorities to prevent them becoming homeless. This is compared with figures for the previous year. Also seen is increases in the number of employed people and black and Asian people forced to present themselves as homeless.

Noting that the number of households threatened with homelessness remained below the pre-Covid level in 2019-20.

Section 21 notices are allowed under the 1988 Housing Act. This permits property owners to evict tenants without giving any reason.

Once again the Conservative government has been criticised by many for blatantly failing to act on its promise to end the practice. In their 2019 manifesto they promised to abolish it saying that it is “a better deal for renters”.

As previously noted the necessary legislation is yet to be passed. As part of  Queen’s speech in May 2022  they had confirmed that a renters reform bill would be introduced in the 2022-23 parliamentary session. Details about this are very unclear also.

The proposal was that a tenancy will only be allowed to end if A, the tenant ends it, or B, if the landlord has a proven valid ground for possession. Also new grounds would be created to allow landlords to sell or move close family members into their properties and action concerning persistent rent arrears and antisocial behaviour will be strengthened.

Matt Downie, chief executive of the homeless charity Shelter said “The prime minister must commit to introducing the renters reform bill, to help give renters proper protection from being hit with a no-fault eviction and set out a clear plan to provide genuinely affordable homes,” He continued to say that “Only through such decisive action can thousands more people be protected from homelessness in the coming months.”

A spokesperson for the governments Department for Levelling Up Housing and communities is quoted as saying “A fair deal for renters remains a priority for the government. We are giving councils £316m to tackle homelessness and make sure families are not left without a roof over their heads.”

However the government are continuing with their failure to act upon these issues and implement the legislation needed to make the changes requested.

Hardly a surprise though, my bet is that its been put in a drawer and forgotten about.

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UK Goods Cost Rise At Fastest Rate For 40 Years. Enough Is Enough!

The UK inflation rate has risen to 9.4% in a year to June 2022. This has therefore resulted in food, petrol and energy costs rise at their fastest rate for 40 years.

This has had a very detrimental affect upon the poorest households who are according to the Resolution Foundation being hit the most by these seemingly never-ending rising costs.

Not only have these price increases hit the poorest, the higher earners that had previously managed to pay their bills, they also find themselves struggling which is undoubtably causing them distress and worry.

At the same time official figures also show that the regular rate of pay is falling at the fastest rate since 2001 when price increases and energy cost increases are taken into account.

The Labour party have announced that they are pushing for urgent action from the government, calling for it to take VAT off energy bills and have accused the government of a decade of economic “mismanagement” and has called for urgent action.

This is far from a good response from the Labour Party. It’s not good enough to just request that the VAT off the cost of energy. Instead they should be demanding that there is a decrees in not only the VAT level but the cost to the consumer for the energy that they use.

It’s unacceptable that the public are to be expected to make these costs and manage to feed themselves and their families, pay the rent or mortgage and bills.

It’s also important to remember that the increasing costs of petrol and diesel is having a massive detrimental affect upon the disabled, poorest and low wage earners, many of which rely upon a car to manage everyday tasks and the ability to get to work.

Already on social media, disabled users are reporting that they are having to make a choice of charging their electric powered wheelchairs and scooters or putting the money towards the cost of feeding themselves and their families.

It’s certainly not good enough that local councils, most of which have already seen a massive cut to their funding are now being asked to provide warm places for the public to sit in during the winter months.

What is really needed is for local authorities, organisations and the public to directly challenge the government in whatever way they can. We must not sit back and allow this to happen.

Many plan to hold a no payment protest which will hit the energy companies hard and it needs too. Non payment is one of the reasons why the Poll Tax was abolished, along with the protests. Back then we saw local communities collectively taking action, standing together in agreement saying enough is enough.

We desperately need to see similar actions like this, more marches and protests, the public, local authorities and organisations saying enough is enough we can’t allow this to continue.

A general election is needed now as a matter of urgency, because if pundits are right and Truss becomes prime minister it could well become a whole lot worse than it is now.

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Council Tax Arrears Rise Dramatically

A recent report undertaken by Money Advice has uncovered that Council Tax arrears are rising dramatically and are expected to grow exponentially.

As detailed inthe report the total amount of arrears owing now stands at over £4.9 billion, this is an increase of £521 million (12%) on last year (2021).



With the ever increasing cost of living costs and energy bills it comes as no surprise that many are struggling to pay council tax.This has been happening for years and it shows no sign of improving.

The analysis conducted by Money Advice suggests that the problem is worsening showing that in the past 5 years the average CouncilTax bill in England has risen by 24%. At the same time arrears have risen profoundly by 74% over the same time period

This leaves an ever increasing amount of households that are struggling to afford their bills and everyday costs therefore falling deeper into arrears unable to meet the payments.

The truth is that the current system of collecting council tax isn’t working, it often costs local authorities more to implement than they actually are able to collect. Households are already struggling to pay and local councils are trying to cope with the deficit of payments whilst trying to keep essential services going as many rely upon council tax payments to provide such services.

The rules that govern council tax collection are approximately 30 years old and are no longer working for today’s financial climate. The whole council tax system needs to be changed for it to work fairly both for households and local authorities.

Money Advice suggests that the Government needs to urgently take a duel approach both for households and councils.

They suggest that:

The government increases and ring-fence funding for Council Tax Support to stop people falling behind enabling more people to get help paying.

Change and reform collection rules so that households are treated fairly and not met with intimidating behaviour from bailiff sent out to collect arrears. This creates distress and doesn’t actually work to help people pay, instead it increases debt due to having to pay bailiff costs as well.

In an ideal world there would be new, fair system created that is affordable and doesn’t cause increasing poverty and spiralling into further debt.

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You can find a full copy of the report here at https://t.co/WT2vQSzLhA

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UK Food Prices Set To Rise Again This Summer

Food prices are predicted to increase by 15% in the UK this summer. This is the highest level in more than 20 years. This is predicted to rise alongside inflation which could last until the middle of next year, according to a report by The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD)

This is a result of the ever increasing prices of meat, cereal, dairy, fruit and vegetable products caused by the rise in costs of wheat prices as a result of the war in Ukraine.

The Ukraine is a big supplier of wheat to the UK, combined with sanctions imposed upon Russia will undoubtably cause a hike in prices and also a probable wheat shortage. Also predicted by the grocery trade body IGD.com is a rise in costs of food items caused by production lockdowns in China and export bans on food products such as palm oil from Indonesia and wheat from India.

What does this mean?

Food costs are going to rise dramatically again making it extremely difficult for low income households to be able to afford to buy much needed food essentials. According to a survey undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) there has been an increase in the number of people spending less on food and household essentials which has risen from 36% to 41%.

This figure is set to rise again in the Autumn when as predicted by The Bank of England inflation is predicted to reach to 11%, which is the highest since the 1970s.

Rising energy costs

Households are still struggling to cope with the rise in energy costs with government payments set to be sent out to household in July. This scheme is not without its faults though leaving some low income households and disabled people exempt from this scheme.

After the second payments given by the government in October there are so far no plans to extend this to the winter and beyond, leaving many forced to live in cold homes unable to cook food.

A recent survey also carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that 52% of low income households are being forced to use less gas and electricity because they can no longer afford the cost. This in turn will also affect a households ability to cook meals.

Why does this matter?

Low income households are already burdened with an ever increasing cost of living that they can no longer afford to keep up with. Already overwhelmed with these costs and the lack of affordable food this will undoubtably cause mental distress and illness as a result of not being able to provide the basics for themselves and their families.

The lack of financial support from the government in helping the public with these costs is sadly lacking. In work and out of work benefits such as universal credit, working tax credits, ESA and PIP have failed to rise with inflation leaving households with a huge financial deficit.

The poorest can no longer be expected to bear the brunt of these ever increasing costs. Permanent financial help from the government needs to be offered before winter, if not thousands will undoubtedly become ill or worse as a result of living in cold homes unable to provide food for themselves and their families.

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DWP To Start Planned Legacy Claimants Migration To Universal Credit

With much celebration yesterday evening the DWP announced that their plans to start migrating people from all legacy benefits to Universal Credit (UC) with a commencement date being May 9th. Their target completion date being December 2024. This will leave approximately 900,000 of households worse off whilst claiming UC.

Not only will thousands of claimants previously claiming legacy benefits be hit with lower payments they’re set to also face a benefit freeze leaving them in a much worse financial situation they are already in. They will also be faced with the distress of being forced to accept this whilst struggling financially to cover the basics.

The DWP claim that legacy claimants will be sent a ‘migration notice’ with a three-month deadline to make a claim for UC. If they don’t accept the migration notice or don’t receive it as is often the case with letters from the DWP their benefits will stop. This will undoubtably leave thousands of already vulnerable people not receiving any help to do so with the majority of people claiming legacy payments being disabled and ill people already struggling with day to day costs.

The DWP are quoted saying that legacy claimants will receive transition payments to ensure their income does not drop, however how many times have we heard the DWP make statements like this and don’t fulfil their promises.

As a direct result of this migration previous legacy benefit claimants payments will be effectively frozen every April with no end date given. This is because their transitional payments will abrade each year as UC rises with inflation whilst waiting for it to match up with what they’re being paid.

This is very concerning especially because 500,000 claimants forced to migrate claim ESA and are disabled and ill, causing extreme distress and worse with predictions being that they will face being much worse off financially.

We already know that UC is a cruel, harsh system that deliberately punishes the most vulnerable leaving thousands in extreme poverty and distress. UC benefits the government alone giving them the perfect opportunity to punish working class people for simply existing.

Whilst the government and the DWP are rubbing their hands in glee we must continue to support each other and campaign against the governments cruelty, it’s the only way that we will survive this.

Combined with the energy price crisis and the ever increasing cost of living I have no doubt that thousand will die as a result of this forced migration.

God help us all.

EDIT: FROM PAULA PETERS. Also will add the UC regs for legacy benefit support group claimants are not in place yet and still being discussed the white paper on work and disability is important to Keep an eye on.

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Huge thanks to Dan Bloom over at The Mirror for being the inspiration for this piece and a Twitter follower rooneygmusic for sending me the info over last night.

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DWP Sanctions Set To Rise Dramatically.

Universal credit claimants are going to be introduced to the DWPs new ‘Way To Work’ scheme in the very near future. The conditions for this new job searching programme will be that claimants will only be allowed to look for work in their own field of expertise cut back to one month. After one month claimants will be forced to look for any kind of job. going to have the time they can look for any Jon including work that they’re not qualified to do.

The DWPs new scheme has been introduced because the government has decided to force half a million people into work of any kind by June. Rather conveniently ignoring the fact that employers won’t just allow anyone to do any job without the relevant qualifications and work experience.

The new Way To Work scheme will apply to people that are declared fit for work and are classed as ready to work.

Instead the blame will fall upon already stressed claimants who don’t comply with the new Way To Work regime. If they refuse to look for work that they aren’t qualified for they will face having their universal credit payments sanctioned. Claimants will be forced to adhere to the new terms and conditions upon making their first claim for universal credit.

Whilst the DWP are in the mood for harassing claimants they’re threatening to ramp up the threat of sanctions. Unsurprisingly at the same time they’re refusing to publish a report which they created in 2019 into the effectiveness of sanctions.
In true DWP fashion they’ve changed their mind about publishing the report because they regard it to be of a “sensitive nature”.
Regardless of wether they publish the report or not there is a hell of a lot of information out there, published by other organisations and agencies that prove that sanctioning claimants only has a detrimental effect upon claimants and their families.



Sanctioning claimants ensures that a person will dive even further into poverty, their health will get worse. Many are left without the ability to buy food, heat their homes and pay their rent. I’ve been writing about this for years now, if you scroll down you’ll see my posts.

Given that the number of UC claimants carrying sanctions has already rose tenfold between June and November 2021, it is extremely worrying about about how many more claimants will face sanctions and how will they cope combined with the massive cost of living crisis that is already forcing people to make the choice between eating, heating or neither.

The truth is this. Sanctioning people and taking away a persons only means of financial support is yet another way that the government and the DWP punish people for being poor, blaming them for their own poverty and ensuring that they’ll have to agree with anything that the DWP tells them to do.

Sanctions also ensure that a person that has been sanctioned won’t have the energy to fight back because they’re either scared of what can happen or are too hungry, tired and worried to think about anything else.

Sadly I suspect that the DWP could also sanction people that have failed to get employment with an employer outside of their field of expertise. Will they blame the innocent claimant for not getting the job? Judging from previous experience you can bet that they could well do this.

The new ‘Way to work’ scheme won’t be welcomed by many employers either. Jobs often require qualifications and experience, sending everyone to apply for all jobs could deter employers from advertising jobs with the DWP. It’ll result in a lot of extra work trying to find suitable prospective employees through masses of applications.

It’s the perfect Tory recipe to shut up the voices of the working class, making them too scared to do anything to upset their overseers (DWP).


This isn’t surprising though, its a tried and tested tory tactic, switching the blame for any financial mess that the government has created upon those that are the poorest. They choose to take the blame away from themselves especially when they’ve been behaving shockingly. It’s impossible to forget the newspaper headline quoting people claiming social security of being benefit scroungers and also the numerous poverty porn tv programmes on channel 5.

The stigma of being poor and forced to claim social security hasn’t gone away, it’s alive and kicking online in local Facebook groups and on the streets. We need to continue to call out Boris Johnson and his cronies for exactly what they are lying scum and they’ll never have the publics best interests at heart.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-sanctions-statistics-to-october-2021-experimental/benefit-sanctions-statistics-to-october-2021-experimental

I know how awful it is to be targeted by the DWP and a very judgemental and unhelpful DWP advisor, I know how worrying it is to be threatened with a benefit section. Thousands of people have suffered as a result of this unnecessary sanctioning system. Sanctions don’t help people to look for work and like I’ve stated above they have a very detrimental affect upon a persons wellbeing.

Solidarity with everyone forced to undergo the cruel DWP regime.

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A huge thank you to everyone that reads and shares my blog posts. It really makes a massive difference and it raises awareness which is desperately right now.

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

If you would like to get some support and solidarity I thoroughly recommend going Disabled People Against The Cuts (DPAC). They are a national voluntary run organisation. Here’s the link to the Greater `Manchester branch https:\\manchesterdpac.com

How am I? To be honest I’m struggling at the moment like many of you are. Being forced to sit in a cold house isn’t my idea of living. I put the heating on for my daughter and that’s it, and its not all the time. I’m dreading the energy price increases in April.

I’m not paid by anyone to do the work that I do and I would like to be able to continue to do so.

If you can afford to donate to help keep this going theres a PayPal button at the top and side of this blog post.

A huge thank you to everyone that has r dos support my blog and campaign, I really couldn’t do it without you.

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Price Of Basic Food Products Rises by 340%

Whilst we are all aware that food prices have increased dramatically over the past few years, how much is a question that I’ve been trying to answer myself. Most people that I help, including myself are struggling to feed ourselves and families. Going without three meals a day is a reality for so many. Buying enough food to make a complete, decent nutritious meal is near impossible.

To be honest I’m pretty useless at maths so you can imagine how engrossed `I was when I saw Jack Monroes tweets concerning this. Jack has been campaigning about food poverty for years, they’re not someone that’s jumped upon the bandwagon, not knowing what it’s like to go without food. Jack has experienced it also and even though their situation has improved Jack continues to help and inspire others.

Below are some tweets posted by Jack yesterday. Jack has been collecting food cost data for years now and the reality of exactly how much the price of food has increased is shocking.

In these tweets Jack reveals the true extent of food price increases and it’s not easy reading.

Supermarket pasta price increases from 29p to 79p. Rice increases from 45p to £1.
Huge price increases for basic supermarket food products.

As you can see this is exactly why buying food has become so damn hard for so many. The price of living has increased dramatically however wages for many haven’t increased nor has social security (benefit) payments. For example the £20 top up payments has been taken away from people receiving Universal Credit. No financial help was offered to disabled people leaving them in a worse position than most.

Whilst we haven’t seen a price increase for luxury meal deals and suchlike, the cost of the very basic food products that literally keep people alive have increased dramatically. This is a true example of class division and hierarchy.

Meanwhile the government and their spokespeople continue to say that food prices have increased by 5% the reality is much different.

The knock off affects of these price rises will once again hit the poorest the hardest. Donations to foodbanks will decrease because the people donating food will no longer be able to afford to do so. The ramifications for both families and people are huge. The government is literally pricing people out of being able to buy food. This needs to be addressed urgently but I very much doubt that it will be.

A huge thank you to Jack Monroe for their hard work campaigning and for supplying this data. Also thanks for giving me permission to share it.

If your’e interested in getting involves with campaigning or need support I can’t recommend DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts0 enough. It’s a fantastic network run by real people experiencing the same difficulties that you might be experiencing.

You can find them both on Facebook and Twitter. If you live in the Greater Manchester area you can join Manchester DPAC here at https:\\manchesterdpac.com

How am I? I’m really struggling at the moment. This week I had to buy some electric and gas leaving me with no money to buy food. I do know that so many of you are also in the same position as I’m in. I hate being forced to live like this.

If you like my work and campaign and can afford to theres a donate button at the top and side of this blog post. Every penny makes a huge difference for both.

A made thank you to everyone that has supported and does support both my blog and campaign. I really could’t do this without you.

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DWP GETS BILLIONS TO FORCE LEGACY BENEFIT CLAIMANTS TO UNIVERSAL CREDIT

DWP SET TO INTRODUCE NEW TAILORING UP APPROACH FOR DISABLED PEOPLE.

The DWP aren’t known for their sympathy towards disabled claimants so it comes as no surprise that they’re now experimenting with a “Tailoring Up” approach to sanctions for disabled claimants.

Their new “Tailoring up” approach will now allow job coaches to make activities such as training or work experience either voluntary or mandatory, entirely at the discretion of the coach. 

You might think that this is a good thing but sadly I fear it isn’t. The DWP aren’t doing any type of monitoring of this new programme therefore the risk of disabled people being discriminated against is high.

This will put disabled people in a terrible situation, leaving them at the hands of a Job Coach that might be sceptical of a persons disability such as mental health issues and other invisible and visible disabilities,

This will leave them at a very high risk of being sanctioned at the whim of a job Advisor based upon their personal opinion. After all theres no monitoring of this scheme leaving Job Coaches apparently answerable to no one.

Also being introduced as part of this scheme is for disabled claimants to attend meetings with job coaches will be a mandatory activity under the scheme. This is being piloted in sixteen areas but we all know what that means.

From years of experience with the DWP and they’re so called pilot schemes I fear that this will be the start of the rollout of this new scheme.

As soon as I hear more about this I will publish it in future blog posts.

It goes without saying but it is very important that you keep a good record of all communications going to the DWP and from them. Having a good paper trail helps enormously to overturn sanction decisions, as does involving a local MP if of course they aren’t a supporter of the whole sanctioning system.

Also very handy for support if anyone is sanctioned are local law Centres, online groups such as Benefits And Work, DPAC and Citizens Advice if you can access them.

DWP GETS BILLIONS FOR FORCED MOVE TO UC AND ONLINE CLAIMS

It also appears that theres always a big pot of money for the DWP to cause more suffering and distress.

The DWP has been given £2.6 billion between now and 2025 for “digital activity to support the delivery of benefits and transform how customers interact with the welfare system.”

They haven’t released any further details of what this transformation will be and what it will entail either. From past experience it’s likely to be spent upon moving as much as possible online, which in itself will cause many problems for claimants.

In the quest to make disabled people now claiming legacy benefits the DWP are set to recieve over half a billion pounds to “support the transition of legacy claimants onto UC” which as it stands will apparently be completed by March 2025.

However DWP will be focusing trying to make disabled people to move “voluntary” from legacy benefits such as ESA onto UC throughout the rest of this year and 2022. This will probably entail putting a lot of pressure onto disabled people to move their claims over, also possibly lying to disabled claimants to force them to move over to Universal Credit.

Unsurprisingly from 2023 onwards the DWP and government will be focusing on forcing the remainder of legacy benefits claimants onto UC, most likely by any means possible.

I know that this is easy for me to say but if you are told that you have to move your claim over to Universal Credit under the guise of it ‘being better’ for you stand your ground and refuse. In absolutely no way would this be beneficial for you at the moment.

No matter how much glitter Job Coaches and the DWP try to throw on the shite that is Universal Credit it will not make it shine.

The DWP are becoming more brazen with their obvious hatred of disabled and poor people. We must try to hold them accountable at every single opportunity that we are given.

You can do this by commenting and calling them out online, helping others and joining campaigns like mine and DPAC and Manchester DPAC over at https:\\manchesterdpac.com Also local branches of Unite Community join.unitetheunion.org

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Please read, share and email my blog to help raise as much awareness as possible. Remember there are more of us than there are of them and sharing online helps enormously to raise awareness.

A huge thank you to everyone that has and does support my blog and campaign. I really couldn’t do this without you.

It’s been a horrible year for me, my son died and both myself and my daughter have been ill quite a lot. I’m recovering from Long Covid and another bout of pneumonia. My daughter recently caught Covid and she’s now ill with tonsillitis.

This has left me struggling more than usual which is a complete nightmare as you can probably understand.

For anyone that would like to donate either to my blog or my campaign there is a donate button at the top and side if this blog post.

A huge thank you to everyone that has and does support my work. I don’t receive any payment for my work and I’m really grateful to you xx.