Showing posts with label Benefits. Show all posts
Bedroom tax impact on grant allocations
Bedroom tax impact on grant allocations
Picture above displayed by Street Democracy UK.
Housing providers have warned that the government is ‘storing up future problems’ because more than three-quarters of its grant funding programme will be used for the development of one and two-bedroom homes.
Of the 62,000 homes to be developed with the 2015-18 affordable housing grant allocation, 77% will be one and two-bedroom properties after the government requested that providers focus on smaller-sized properties.
The allocation has been widely interpreted as a reaction to under-occupying tenants needing to downsize to avoid the bedroom tax.
Melanie Rees, policy and practice officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: ‘It is quite short-termist, and a response to a policy that may not be around in eight months’ time, depending on the outcome of the election.’
Karen Buck, the parliamentary private secretary to Labour leader Ed Miliband and a member of the work and pensions select committee that scrutinised the bedroom tax before it was passed, said: ‘[The government] should be trying to provide for housing need in all parts of the country, not floundering around with a knee-jerk reaction to one specific policy.’
‘It was warned that there weren’t enough small houses for the policy to work during the passage of the bill, but the warning was rejected.’
Housing providers told Inside Housing that civil servants from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had contacted them to scrutinise why they had included bids for funding to build family-sized homes.
For more click here for Inside Housing:
Bedroom tax impact on grant allocations
64% more sleep on London streets due to coalition neglect by joehalewood
64% more sleep on London streets due to coalition neglect
by joehalewood Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
Grant Shapps the Conservative Party Chair used to be the minister for housing and in 2009 when shadow minister in opposition constantly attacked the numbers of rough sleepers in London that Labour has allowed to happen. On taking office a press release said: As you can see Grant Shapps was a man of his word […]
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Tories and Lib Dems engineer fastest fall in wages since Victorian times by Mike Sivier
Tories and Lib Dems engineer fastest fall in wages since Victorian timesby Mike Sivier Pictures displayed by Street Democracy UK
David Cameron must be so proud. He wanted a return to the Victorian era and that is exactly what he has achieved. Wages have nosedived, meaning the gap between the richest and poorest is larger than it has ever been; we already know that diseases once thought long-gone are stalking our streets once again while the […]
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Confirmed – The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face by samedifference1
Confirmed – The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face
by samedifference1 Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
Cross posted from here at the request of Sue Marsh.
"Since the coalition came to power, sick and disabled people have claimed we are being fundamentally harmed by the coalition welfare reforms. Not scroungers or skivers, but people living with long term serious illnesses like me, or who live with physical disabilities. Adults AND children. Young and old. People with terminal conditions, people with kidney or heart failure, people waiting for transplants and even people in comas. None have been spared. The government repeatedly assure you they have.
The government have of course denied that they are putting an unreasonable share of austerity cuts on us. Repeatedly and often aggressively. This is how they resound to the UN of all people :
Since 2011, almost every main voice involved in the services and systems that support sick and disabled people have argued that we must know how all of the changes TOGETHER have affected us so particularly.
Everything we rely on has been cut severely - in some cases by up to 40%. Disability benefits, sickness benefits, social care services, housing support, legal aid for tribunals, respite care, the independent living fund, council tax relief, higher education funding, everything.
It is very possible that if you were affected by one of the changes, you were affected by several or even all of them.
Whilst the government paid lip service to assessing what impact their reforms would have on sick and disabled people, they only did so one by one. They always claimed it was impossible to assess them all together and specifically, how they would affect disabled people when combined.
It has been a long and dishonest journey. As with so many things, the government have done everything in their power to keep the figures from the public.
They said that it wasn't possible despite a petition gathering over 100,000 signatures calling for what they called a "cumulative impact assessment" or CIA.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.
The government treated the debate it generated in parliament - a debate sick and disabled people themselves worked so hard for - like a Punch and Judy show of partisan nonsense. You can watch it for yourself if you click on the following link :
They said it wasn't "robust" when both the very well respected Dr Simon Duffy from the Centre for Welfare Rerform and the equally well respected think tank Demos produced models they believed were viable.
And finally, just 2 days ago, Lord Freud, the failed millionaire ex-banker who re-designed our entire welfare system in just 3 weeks, wrote an official response to the SSAC, the government's own Social Security Advisory Committee, who also called for a CIA relating to disability, confirming yet again, that he believed it was impossible to assess all of the changes sick and disabled people have faced and claiming that the IFS, the all powerful Institute for Fiscal Studies, agreed with him.
This was yet another lie from Freud - there is no other word for it. As the IFS have confirmed
“We can’t find anything we have written down saying we can’t do a CIA....We do think it is possible to do a CIA of tax and benefit changes for the disabled population as a whole."
As it happens, they did one themselves for Wales
Today, at the request of the European Human Rights Commission, (EHRC) NIESR, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research have produced a definitive CIA and it is shocking equalityhumanrights.
For more click here:Confirmed – The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face
by samedifference1Killed by benefits cuts: Starving soldier died ‘as result of Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reform’
Killed by benefits cuts: Starving soldier died ‘as result of Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reform’
‘A diabetic ex-soldier died starving and skint after officials axed his benefits.
David Clapson, 59, was stripped of the cash after missing an appointment under harsh Coalition reforms.
He died in Stevenage, Herts, with just £3.44 left in his account.’
Sign The Petition For An Inquiry Into The Benefit Sanctions That Killed David Clapson by johnny void
Sign The Petition For An Inquiry Into The Benefit Sanctions That Killed David Clapson
by johnny void
The family of David Clapson - the former soldier who recently died after his benefits were stopped as punishment for missing a meeting at the Jobcentre - have launched a petitioncalling for an inquiry into benefit sanctions.
In his sister's own words:
"My brother, David Clapson, a diabetic ex-soldier, died starving and destitute because he was penalised by the Job Centre for missing a meeting.
"David had his £71.70 weekly allowance stopped meaning that he couldn’t afford food or electricity. He was penniless, starving and alone. His electricity card was out of credit meaning the fridge where he should have kept his diabetes insulin chilled was not working. Three weeks after his benefits were stopped he died from diabetic ketoacidosis – caused by not taking his insulin.
"David wasn’t a “scrounger”. He had worked for 29 years; 5 years in the Army – including two years in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, during the height of the troubles – 16 years with British Telecom, eight years with various other companies, and in recent years was a carer for our sick mother. When mum went into a home, David turned to the state for help, receiving benefits while he looked for work and taking unpaid work placements.
"When he died he had just £3.44 to his name, six tea bags, a tin of soup and an out-of-date can of sardines. A coroner also found he had no food in his stomach.
"People turn to the state when they are in need - that is what the system is for - a safety net for hard working people like my brother when they need a bit of support. That £71.70 a week was his lifeline. To withhold it from him for missing one meeting is cruel. And the heartbreaking thing is that he was really trying. CVs for job applications were found near David’s body. He had been on work placements, passed his fork lift truck certificate and had been on a computer training course."
To read more and sign visit: http://www.change.org/
Please sign, share, tweet and blog this. Let's make sure this tragic story does not go away.
You can also sign the petition calling for benefits sanctions to be scrapped without exceptions.
The bedroom tax DHP postcode lottery by joehalewood
The bedroom tax DHP postcode lottery
by joehalewood Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
If you live in Copeland you have a 6% chance of getting a bedroom tax DHP: Yet if you live in Westminster it is a 169% chance! Yes you read that correctly and below here is a little graph which shows this starkly: Here is the maths bit which is pretty simple so bear with me. […]
David Cameron announces immigration benefits crackdown
David Cameron announces immigration benefits crackdown
‘David Cameron is to announce tough action on immigration that will halve the amount of time foreigners can claim benefits in the UK.
The Coalition will introduce laws to ensure that European Union migrants can only claim out-of-work benefits for three months, Mr Cameron says in an article for The Telegraph.
The Prime Minister also pledges to stop more than 500,000 British jobs being advertised across the EU and announces tough new curbs on colleges offering visas to “bogus” students.’
Wirral’s Labour Council and bedroom tax sophistry by joehalewood
Wirral’s Labour Council and bedroom tax sophistry
by joehalewood Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
The Labour run Wirral Council is patting itself on the back in the local newspaper the Liverpool Echo tonight for finding £75,000 to help the most deserving bedroom tax cases. This is the same council who received £995,795 in discretionary housing payments (DHP) funding from central government and COULD have added £1,493,692 to this....yet it […]
Benefit sanctions hit most vulnerable people the hardest, report says
Benefit sanctions hit most vulnerable people the hardest, report says
Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
Systematic problems in the way the government administers and imposes benefit sanctions, including disproportionate burdens on the most vulnerable, are revealed in a report commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions.
The report found the way in which the DWP communicated with claimants was legalistic, unclear and confusing. The most vulnerable claimants were often left at a loss as to why benefits were stopped and frequently not informed by the DWP about hardship payments to which they were entitled, it said.
It also revealed serious flaws in how sanctions were imposed, with Work Programme providers required to send participants for sanctions when they knew they had done nothing wrong, leaving "claimants … sent from pillar to post".
The independent report was written for the DWP by Matthew Oakley, a respected welfare expert who is widely acknowledged as one of the leading thinkers on welfare on the centre right and as a result his criticisms, couched in careful language, are all the more damaging for a government that has consistently said the sanction regime is fair.
His main recommendations, which have been accepted by ministers, are:
His main recommendations, which have been accepted by ministers, are:
- All correspondence with claimants, including its style and content, should be reviewed
- Claimants must be given personalised information about why they have been referred
- Clear information must be given about the appeals process and access to hardship payments
- A guide to benefit sanctions must be easily accessible in hard copy and online
- Claimants who need particular help in understanding letters must be identified and spoken to
- People should get information through their "preferred channel"
- Procedures should be reviewed to ensure people have a clear understanding of their responsibilities
The DWP responded to the report by saying it would be updating the way it talked to benefit claimants, setting up a specialist team to look at all communications, including claimant letters, and working more closely with local authorities and advice centres to simplify the system.
Read Matthew Oakley’s full report on the government website here
Shameless – Workfare Exploiting Charities Slam The Benefit Sanctions They Are Responsible For by johnny void
Shameless – Workfare Exploiting Charities Slam The Benefit Sanctions They Are Responsible For
by johnny void
In an act of breath-taking hypocrisy, the Salvation Army, along with the YMCA, have both signed a letter to The Times calling the current benefit sanctioning regime unfair and counter-productive.
This comes despite both organisations being involved in 'Mandatory Work Activity' and therefore responsible for reporting unemployed people to the Jobcentre to face sanctions if they don't turn up for unpaid work placements.
The Salvation Army has even been praised by the DWP for 'holding the line' on workfare after scores of charities distanced themselves from the scheme. When peaceful anti-workfare campaigners visited the Salvation Army in protest at their use of workfare, the charity locked them inside and attempted to have them arrested with fabricated stories of staff being man-handled.
The Salvation Army have repeatedly defended their involvement in mandatory welfare-to-work provision and also their operation of a Work Programme sub-contract. Claimants on this scheme, including those on out of work sickness or disability benefits, can be 'mandated' to almost any job search related activity that the charity can dream up, including workfare. If their victims fail to do what they are told then it is the Salvation Army's job to report them to the DWP to have their benefits sanctioned.
Not for the first time some charities are pretending to care about the poor in public whilst stopping their benefits behind the scenes. If the Salvation Army and the YMCA think sanctions are unfair then perhaps they should stop sanctioning people. Until then, these grubby attempts to white wash their own workfare crimes should be treated with the contempt they deserve.
To join the fight against workfare visit Boycott Workfare's website.
Charities and voluntary organisations opposed to workfare can sign the Keep Volunteering Voluntary agreement.
The Salvation Army are on twitter @salvationarmyuk and facebook at:https://www.facebook.com/
YMCA are on twitter @YMCA_England and facebook at:https://www.facebook.com/YMCA.
Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid
Council boss gets £25,000 pay rise while lowest paid offered two per cent by Mike Sivier
Council boss gets £25,000 pay rise while lowest paid offered two per cent
by Mike Sivier Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
Originally posted on UNEMPLOYED IN TYNE & WEAR:
A council chief executive’s pay has rocketed 25 per cent in two years whilst its lowest paid workers have been offered two per cent, prompting calls for more scrutiny on top public sector pay. The head of Hambleton District Council, Phillip Morton, was taken on in 2012…
A council chief executive’s pay has rocketed 25 per cent in two years whilst its lowest paid workers have been offered two per cent, prompting calls for more scrutiny on top public sector pay. The head of Hambleton District Council, Phillip Morton, was taken on in 2012…
Compulsory treatment and benefit sanctions: stoking fear and prejudice for political endsby Mike Sivier |
Originally posted on Sectioned:
Benefits Street arrived on the iPads of Telegraph readers on Saturday night. A story about scroungers refusing help to get back on their feet and the Conservative party’s proposed “tough love” solution provoked strong reactions. And that’s no surprise. People with mental health problems who are unable to work and dependent…
Benefits Street arrived on the iPads of Telegraph readers on Saturday night. A story about scroungers refusing help to get back on their feet and the Conservative party’s proposed “tough love” solution provoked strong reactions. And that’s no surprise. People with mental health problems who are unable to work and dependent…
Council tax rises hit Britain’s poor hardest
Council tax rises hit Britain’s poor hardest
‘More than two million of the poorest people in England are facing rising council tax demands this year because of fresh Government cuts to the benefit system, new figures reveal today. War widows, carers and the disabled are among 2.31 million people who used to be entitled to council tax benefit but have now had their support substantially reduced or taken away altogether.
As a result, significant numbers of families have been pushed into debt, with a survey revealing that nearly 16,000 people in London alone have been referred to the bailiffs for non-payment.’
Nearly One Quarter of American Children in Poverty. Anti-Poverty Measures Scrapped under Obama’s ‘Sequester Budget’
Nearly One Quarter of American Children in Poverty. Anti-Poverty Measures Scrapped under Obama’s ‘Sequester Budget’
‘A total of 16.3 million children live in poverty, and 45 percent of children in the US live in households whose incomes fall below 200 percent of the federal poverty line.
The annual report, tilted the Kids Count Data Book, compiles data on children’s economic well-being, education, health, and family support. It concludes that, “inequities among children remain deep and stubbornly persistent.”
The report is an indictment of the state of American society nearly six years after the onset of the financial crisis in 2008. While the Obama administration and the media have proclaimed an economic “recovery,” conditions of life for the vast majority of the population continue to deteriorate.’
ESA Needs Fundamental Redesign, Finds Report by samedifference1
ESA Needs Fundamental Redesign, Finds Report
by samedifference1 Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK.
The flaws in the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) system are so grave that simply "rebranding" the assessment used to determine eligibility for ESA (the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)) by appointing a new contractor will not solve the problems, says the Work and Pensions Committee in a report published today.
The Committee calls on the Government to undertake a fundamental redesign of the ESA end-to-end process to ensure that the main purpose of the benefit – helping claimants with health conditions and disabilities to move into employment where this is possible for them – is achieved. This will take some time, but the redesign should be completed before the new multi-provider contract is tendered, which is expected to be in 2018.
In the meantime, the Committee recommends that DWP implements a number of other changes in the shorter-term to ensure better outcomes and an improved service for claimants. These include:
- DWP taking overall responsibility for the end-to-end ESA claims process, including taking decisions on whether claimants need a face-to-face assessment, rather than this decision being made by the assessment provider.
- DWP proactively seeking “supporting evidence” on the impact of a claimant’s condition or disability on their functional capacity, rather than leaving this primarily to claimants, who often have to pay for it. DWP should seek this evidence from the most appropriate health and other professionals, including social workers and occupational therapists, rather than relying so heavily on GPs.
- The "descriptors" used to assess functional capability in the WCA being applied more sensitively.
- Placing claimants with a prognosis of being unlikely to experience a change in their functional abilities in the longer-term, particularly those with progressive conditions, in the Support Group and not the WRAG.
Dame Anne Begg MP, Committee Chair, said
"Many people going through the ESA claims process are unhappy with the way they are treated and the decisions which are made about their fitness for work. The current provider of the WCA, Atos, has become a lightning rod for all the negativity around the ESA process and DWP and Atos have recently agreed to terminate the contract early.
"But it is DWP that makes the decision about a claimant’s eligibility for ESA – the face-to-face assessment is only one part of the process. Just putting a new private provider in place will not address the problems with ESA and the WCA on its own.
"We are therefore calling for a number of changes which can be made to improve ESA in the short-term, while also recommending a longer-term, fundamental redesign of the whole process.
"We hope that the new Minister for Disabled People, who was appointed last week, will respond positively to our constructive recommendations for improving the ESA process."
One of the key issues which the Report identifies is that ESA is not achieving its purpose of helping people who could work in the short to medium term to move back into employment.
Read the full report on the Parliament website here
Bedroom Tax for [Twitter] Dummies by Mike Sivier
Bedroom Tax for [Twitter] Dummies
by Mike Sivier Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
Originally posted on UnderOccupied:
Below are some examples of the type of infuriating and generally ignorant Bedroom Tax-related tweets that are repeatedly posted on Twitter by people who are often:
- a] completely ignorant,
b] out for a spot of ‘Leftie-baiting’,
c] Liberal Democrat MP’s or councillors,
d] Scottish CyberNats who don’t believe the truth,
e] Tory councillors,supporters and often MP’s,
f] a few Labour councillors, supporters and occasionally MP’s
g] mixed up UKIP persons, or
h] a combination of the above, generally including ‘a’.
Unfortunately, 140 characters is rarely enough to give a proper, educational reply. However, the average tweeter of observations like those below is normally unable to accept that maybe, just possibly, they are completely wrong.
If a more educated tweeter points out this fact, in many cases their response will be well, perhaps ‘childish’?
So here we go, not in any order, but hey, does it matter?
Its not a tax.
For more click here:
Bedroom Tax for [Twitter] Dummies
by Mike Sivier
Benefit sanctions: review published
Benefit sanctions: review published
Picture displayed by Street Democracy Uk
Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions: review report and 17 recommendations (read online) –Government response - Government to update communications with benefit claimants
Discuss review at: http://unemploymentmovement.com/forum/chat-a-rap/10408-dwp-report-criticizes-sanctions
Guardian: Benefit sanctions hit most vulnerable people the hardest, DWP report says“Claimants not told about hardship system and benefit sanctions imposed when they were not at fault”
SNP: Benefit sanctions rocket at hands of Westminster “Lone parents have been hit the hardest, with a staggering 563 per cent increase in sanction since 2009.”
“4. CPAG is concerned that the terms of reference for this review appear to be narrower than what is required by legislation” http://refuted.org.uk/2014/01/10/cpagonsanctions/
For more click here:
Benefit sanctions: review published
Hundreds Of Disabled People Sent On Workfare Every Week, Is Unpaid Work The New Segregation? by johnny void
Hundreds Of Disabled People Sent On Workfare Every Week, Is Unpaid Work The New Segregation?
by johnny void
Disabled activists protesting in 2007 against Tesco, an early pioneer of unpaid work. Pic from here
The new Minister for Murdering Disabled People, Nick Harper has teamed up with David Cameron this week to boast about huge numbers of disabled people being sent to work without pay, often for profit making companies. The gushing press release forms part of the DWP's cringe-making Disability Confident campaign, the latest gimmick to cover up the endless vicious attacks on disabled people by the department.
According to the figures around 45,000 people registered as disabled with Jobcentres have been referred to an unpaid work placement since 2011. Of those 29,000 were sent on the Work Experience programme and 16,000 on Sector Based Work Academies, which the DWP now appear to be claiming leads to a guaranteed real job. This is a lie, Sector Based Work Academies promise a job interview only as this guidance for employers wishing to scrounge free workers makes clear (PDF).
Both of these schemes are officially voluntary. However with claimants facing benefits being stopped or sanctioned for trivial reasons and seemingly on the whims of Jobcentre staff then little could be said to be voluntary under the current regime. Claimants who refuse could simply be sent on a mandatory workfare scheme instead, and many have been. Almost 22,000 disabled people have been forced onto Mandatory Work Activity since 2011, bringing the total number of known unpaid disabled workers to 67,000 in the last three year. This is more than the 61,000 disabled people who the DWP say have got jobs through the Work Programme - and as ilegal reports this largely represents young disabled people on Jobseeker's Allowance, not those unable to work and claiming ESA, the benefit for people with more serious conditions or disabilities.
For more click here:
Hundreds Of Disabled People Sent On Workfare Every Week, Is Unpaid Work The New Segregation?
by johnny voidGovernment sneaks out report that lays bare damage wreaked by bedroom tax by Kittysjones
Government sneaks out report that lays bare damage wreaked by bedroom tax by Kittysjones
Cabinet reshuffle day is considered the perfect opportunity for government departments to bury bad news. And it’s surely too much of a coincidence that on this of all days, the Department for Work and Pensions has published its much-anticipated 163-page interim report of the impact of the Bedroom Tax. One of the most striking and damning findings is that disabled people are being unfairly and disproportionately affected, with seven out of ten households adversely affected having householders that are caring for someone with a disability.
The report also found difficulties among these 370,000 or so households in successfully claiming discretionary housing payments.The payments were intended to alleviate the effect of the policy among vulnerable groups. This policy is causing devastating hardship for the most vulnerable citizens.
Originally posted on Union-News.co.uk on 16th July 2014:
The TUC has accused the government of yesterday “shamefully” sneaking out a report on the bedroom tax that shows many affected tenants are being pushed into arrears.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The government has shamefully sneaked out a report, under the cover of the reshuffle, that lays bare the damage wreaked by the bedroom tax. It shows how people affected by the tax are simply not able to move and instead are being pushed into rent arrears. As a result, many could end up losing their homes altogether.
For more click here: Government sneaks out report that lays bare damage wreaked by bedroom tax by Kittysjones
Scooby Doo investigates the bedroom tax and IDS by joehalewood
Scooby Doo investigates the bedroom tax and IDS
by joehalewood Pictures displayed by Street Democracy UK
We have stopped the burgeoning welfare benefit spend the country cant afford chirps IDS ad infinitum
We have cut Housing Benefit spend with the Bedroom tax and Benefit Cap (blah blah blah)
It is only workless scroungers who claim Housing Benefit (blah blah blah) Here’s a graph of those in work and claiming HB!
Oh by the way dear reader all the above simple graphs come form figures produced by …Yes you’ve guessed it IDS’s own Department of Work & Pensions. Would you like a few more? Oh ok then!
What about we can’t afford the burgeoning welfare state argument (blah blah blah) How much do we in the UK spend as a percentage of our GDP compared to other European (boo hiss!) countries. The Economist tells us:
Yes those well known welfare benefit spendthrifts the Germans can manage to afford to send 12% more than the UK on their welfare state.
Surely then the Germans must be taxed more to afford this largesse on welfare benefits. Lets’s see what the Economist says on that:
As you can see the Germans pay the same effective tax rates but receive more in employee social security
You care for some more lies IDS’s DWP says about welfare benefit spend? Here is what they said this week after they released the allegedly independent report into the bedroom tax
And here again in a form so simple even DWP can not misunderstand is the official DWP figures for the Housing Benefit spend
For more click here for: