Showing posts with label Welfare State. Show all posts
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Confirmed - The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Confirmed - The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face
diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com - Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
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 respond 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.uk/petitions/43154 (Scroll down for gov response)
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 :
For more click here:
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Confirmed - The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face
diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com
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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The Rothschilds Own Israel – and Direct its Genocidal Policy
The Rothschilds Own Israel – and Direct its Genocidal Policy
‘The Rothschilds own 80% of Israel, according to Simon Schama. They built the Israeli Supreme Court. They own Reuters and the Associated Press (AP), the two biggest media agencies in the world. They have a controlling share in the Royal Dutch oil company, the Bank of England and the LBMA (London Bullion Market Association). They foment wars, install presidents, dethrone kings and bankrupt nations, such is their power.
The Rothschilds typically operate behind the scenes. In the case of Israel, the Rothschilds engineered WWI and waited until 1917 when Britain was in trouble. The Rothschilds then promised the British Government that they could get the US to enter WWI (on the side of Britain) and thus ensure Britain’s victory of Germany et al. However, they wanted something in return: Palestine. Thus the Balfour Declaration was created, which is an official letter from the British Government Foreign Secretary James Balfour to Baron Rothschild. It states that: ” His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object.”’
The Ten Plagues That Are Hitting America Right Now
The Ten Plagues That Are Hitting America Right Now
‘Why are so many plagues hitting the United States all of a sudden? Yes, one can always point out bad stuff that is happening somewhere in the country, but right now we are facing a nightmarish combination of crippling drought, devastating wildfires, disastrous viruses, dying crops and superbugs that scientists don’t know how to kill. And as you will see, we even have a plague of flies down in Mississippi. So what in the world is going on? Is this just a case of bad luck, or is something else happening? At the conclusion of this article, please feel free to tell me what you think. The following are ten plagues that are hitting America right now…’
The NHS is being taken over by Wall Street. And Cameron won’t stop it
The NHS is being taken over by Wall Street. And Cameron won’t stop it
‘Will David Cameron go down in history as the man who gave away this country’s greatest achievement to Wall Street, the man who enabled big American healthcare access to our hospital wards? The answer will be yes – unless the prime minister makes it clear once and for all that he will protect the NHS from the world’s largest bilateral trade negotiations, happening right now in Brussels.
Make no mistake, we are in the fight of our lives to save the NHS from being sold off lock, stock and barrel. But to make matters even worse a trade deal called TTIP (the transatlantic trade and investment partnership) will mean that reversing the damage done by this government could be impossible unless Cameron acts.’
Revealed: the VAT loophole driving NHS pharmacy services into hands of private sector
Revealed: the VAT loophole driving NHS pharmacy services into hands of private sector
‘Lucrative hospital pharmacy services are being sold off to private companies such as Boots and Lloyds because a tax loophole puts the NHS at a huge disadvantage when bidding to keep them publicly operated, it can be revealed.
Health trusts have been putting dozens of hospital pharmacy contracts out to tender in recent months, as part of an NHS-wide drive to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Only this week, London’s Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals offered its pharmacy services up for tender for seven years, advertised at £3.5m.’
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
Government 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
UK firefighters begin eight-day strike over reforms
UK firefighters begin eight-day strike over reforms
‘Firefighters in England and Wales have begun an eight-day strike to protest over the government’s proposed reforms of the fire service, Press TV reports.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) started on Monday a series of strikes at planned periods over eight consecutive days.
Firefighters are protesting against the government’s plans to raise pension contribution and increase the retirement age from 55 to 60.’
Mayor Squares Up To Homeless Mums
Mayor Squares Up To Homeless Mums
Newham boss launches violent rant against housing activists
SHOCKING footage came to light yesterday of a testosterone-fuelled east London mayor squaring up to a young homeless mum campaigning for decent housing.
The Morning Star was shown a video of Newham Mayor Robin Wales shouting at single mothers and housing campaigners handing out leaflets highlighting their eviction from the Focus E15 hostel.
Mum-turned-social housing campaigner Sam Middleton told the Star that the Labour mayor “was very rude” when she attempted to hand out leaflets at the public fair.
The video clearly shows Ms Middleton approaching Mr Wales from a distance when the mayor starts frantically waving his hands and shouting at her.
The raging politician then had to be held back by one of his own security guards who led him into the safety of a gazebo.
Another campaigner tried to hand Mr Wales a leaflet about the mothers’ plight as he passed — but the mayor angrily slapped the man’s hand away.
“I did feel threatened,” said the man, who wished to remain anonymous.
“He lunged but was restrained.”
“He started shouting that it was a ‘family day’ but failed to see the irony that there were families who would have loved to be there but they were forced out of London by his policies,” the activist explained.
Mr Wales’s security then shunted campaigners from the public space.
Ms Middleton told the Star that a “communications officer” took two lots of Focus E15 leaflets and threw them away.
When she tried to retrieve them she was manhandled out of the Mayor’s Newham Show.
“I literally just got picked up, my arms behind my back, everything,” said the mother of one.
A spokeswoman for the council argued that “officers took the decision to evict the group of protesters and political activists from the park as they staged an aggressive protest.”
Newham Council has insisted it had rehoused the mothers but the group point out that the current rents eat up most of their income.
Sanctioning ESA Claimants For Refusing Treatment Is ‘Unethical’ Says Sarah Woollaston MP
Sanctioning ESA Claimants For Refusing Treatment Is ‘Unethical’ Says Sarah Woollaston MP
by samedifference1 Pictures displayed by Street Democracy UK. |
Stripping benefit claimants of their allowances if they refuse to go to undergo treatment for depression would be "unethical and completely ridiculous", a senior Tory MP has said.
Existing welfare rules mean it is not possible to require claimants to have treatment, such as therapy or counselling, as a condition of receiving sickness benefits.
Senior ministers now believe the rules should be reviewed in order to reduce the “huge” numbers of people who are declared unfit for work due to mental health problems.
However Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative chairman of the health select committee, said that forcing people into counselling would present "profound ethical issues".
She urged David Cameron to "squash" the proposals amid concerns about the damage they are doing to the image of the Conservative party.
She said: Consent is a very important principle and to link some kind of compulsion to that treatment would be grossly unethical. There would be a serious risk of a doctor being challenged and taken to the GMC.
"You would get people going to GPs having a prescription so they could demonstrate they have got treatment. Enormously wasteful of time. Far better to get on with parity of esteem.
"This kind of thing is enormously damaging for the Conservatives. No 10 urgently need to squash this. Do they think this is ethical? Do they think there is any evidence this will work? I have long supported the principle of offering individual placement and support to help get people into work, but this needs to be immediately clarified."
The first moves towards potential reform are expected in a series of pilot schemes to be launched within weeks.
The trials, jointly designed by the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions, will test ways of combining treatment for mental health problems with support to find work.
According to the government, 46 per cent of benefit claimants receiving Employment and Support Allowance, the main benefit for ill and disabled people, have mental health problems.
This means that the proposal to enforce treatment could apply to an estimated 260,000 claimants, who receive up to £101 per week each in ESA.
Tories discuss stripping benefits claimants who refuse treatment for depression
Tories discuss stripping benefits claimants who refuse treatment for depression
‘Hundreds of thousands of benefit claimants face being stripped of their state allowances if they refuse to undergo treatment for anxiety and depression, under radical plans being drawn up by ministers.
Existing welfare rules mean it is not possible to require claimants to have treatment, such as therapy or counselling, as a condition of receiving sickness benefits.
Senior ministers now believe the rules should be reviewed in order to reduce the “huge” numbers of people who are declared unfit for work due to mental health problems.’
Streets Of Northern England Filled With Public Sector Strikers
Streets Of Northern England Filled With Public Sector Strikers
Pictures displayed by Street Democracy UK.
PUBLIC sector workers across northern England went on strike in their hundreds of thousands yesterday.
In virtually every major northern town and city they took to the streets in demonstrations, marches and rallies to take to the public their message of opposition to the government’s vicious austerity and poverty wages.
The sun-blazed marches were a sea of colour with workers carrying the banners, flags and placards of their public-sector unions.
The day began with picketing at hundreds of offices of councils and government departments, work depots, fire stations, schools and other workplaces across northern England.
At one Leeds court building pickets reported that only 10 of 140 staff employed there had gone in.
The city saw one of the biggest of the region’s rallies.
Just days after Leeds hosted the “Grand Depart” of the Tour de France, 5,000 strikers and their supporters cheered as they set off to march around the city with their message of protest and defiance.
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There were striking workers, pensioners, disabled people, mums and dads with toddlers. Children clasped a parent with one hand and a trades union flag with the other.
The built-up streets echoed to the sound of chanting, vuvuzelas, whistles and horns.
Shoppers and workers on their lunch breaks applauded as the march wound past.
For more click here for Morning Star:
Streets Of Northern England Filled With Public Sector Strikers
Just The Beginning: 2 Million Come Out Fighting
Just The Beginning: 2 Million Come Out
fighting
Pictures displayed by Street Democracy UK.
Workers say: We’re not going away
by Luke James and Conrad Landin
in central London
TWO MILLION people defied Tory strike ban threats yesterday to come out fighting against poverty pay — and PCS union leader Mark Serwotka warned the government it was “just the beginning.”
Mr Serwotka rallied a sea of teachers, firefighters, council workers and civil servants in Trafalgar Square in his first major speech since recovering from heart surgery.
He said he hoped ministers would “finally feel the humanity and compassion in their Tory bones” to lift the pay freeze forcing workers below the poverty line.
But he conceded that is unlikely and urged unions to learn the lessons of the 2011 pensions dispute that “fizzled out” after a two-million strong one-day strike.
Mr Serwotka told the crowds from Nelson’s Column: “Today is starting something that the government must understand will get bigger and bigger.
“Today has been fantastic but if we need to do more, we must do more.”
The civil servants’ union leader called for an urgent meeting of trade unions to “ensure that further action is planned and co-ordinated and gets bigger and bigger.”
Workers across Britain, who have seen their pay slashed by up to 20 per cent over the last five years, took part in over a thousand picket lines at town halls and schools.
Click here for more from Morning Star:
Just The Beginning: 2 Million Come Out
Fighting
The PIP chaos reveals the government’s contempt for disabled people
The PIP chaos reveals the government’s contempt for disabled people
‘Last year, when I was waiting for a double lung transplant, my life felt terrifyingly unpredictable. My lungs were failing, and it was tough to cope emotionally, but one factor that made things slightly easier was the quick process to secure disability living allowance (DLA). This allowed me to make immediate decisions about getting carers to help at home, having the heating on more, and taking taxis to appointments. It made a very difficult time that little bit more bearable.
Compare my experience to that of Malcolm Graham, a 56-year-old from Romford. He was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in September 2013 and applied for personal independence payments (PIPs) on advice from Macmillan Cancer support and his local Citizens Advice. Pips are replacing DLA and are supposed to help people, whether in or out of work, to meet the extra costs their disability causes.’
British public sector workers strike over ‘poverty pay’
British public sector workers strike over ‘poverty pay’
‘Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers including teachers, council workers and firefighters staged a 24-hour pay strike on Thursday in a stoppage that has prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to pledge a crackdown on union powers.
Protesters marched through the streets of many of Britain’s main cities in one of the biggest co-ordinated labor stoppages for three years.
Denouncing what they called “poverty pay,” they demanded an end to restrictions on wage rises that have been imposed by the government over the past four years in an effort to help reduce Britain’s huge budget deficit.’