Showing posts with label debt. Show all posts
How Iain Duncan Smith lives – compared with people who must live his policies by Kate Belgrave
How Iain Duncan Smith lives – compared with people who must live his policies by Kate Belgrave
Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
Here’s Iain Duncan Smith’s weekend place, which was occupied last year by UK Uncut and Disabled People Against Cuts in a protest against the bedroom tax. It’s a very nice pile indeed. It comes with a tennis court, the sort of lake that Mr Darcy might emerge from in clinging pants, happy lambs and a very large house. Very. If you must lie around somewhere thinking of ways to piss the rest of the exchequer away on Universal Credit, then this is the place to do it:
For more click here: How Iain Duncan Smith lives – compared with people who must live his policies by Kate Belgrave
Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
Here’s Iain Duncan Smith’s weekend place, which was occupied last year by UK Uncut and Disabled People Against Cuts in a protest against the bedroom tax. It’s a very nice pile indeed. It comes with a tennis court, the sort of lake that Mr Darcy might emerge from in clinging pants, happy lambs and a very large house. Very. If you must lie around somewhere thinking of ways to piss the rest of the exchequer away on Universal Credit, then this is the place to do it:
For more click here: How Iain Duncan Smith lives – compared with people who must live his policies by Kate Belgrave
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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Care UK pay cuts made me homeless, says Doncaster striker
Care UK pay cuts made me homeless, says Doncaster striker
‘Care UK workers in Doncaster are fighting pay cuts so devastating that they have already made one woman worker homeless.
Mags Dalton has been a care worker for 26 years. But pay cuts of £400 a month mean she can’t afford her rent anymore—and will be forced to move out of the city altogether.
Mags told Socialist Worker, “I only moved into my house about a year ago. The move cost quite a lot—paying a bond, rent and hiring a van. Then Care UK took over our workplace in September, and by December they were cutting wages.’
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. […]
Deadbeat Nation: A Shocking 77 Million Americans Face Debt Collectors
Deadbeat Nation: A Shocking 77 Million Americans Face Debt Collectors
‘We have been warning for years that as a result of the Fed’s disastrous policies, America’s middle class is being disintegrated and US adults are surviving only thanks to insurmountable debtloads. But not even we had an appreciation of how serious the problem truly was. We now know, and it is a shocker: according to new research by the Urban Institute, about 77 million Americans have a debt in collections.’
British university system faces collapse
British university system faces collapse
‘Half of Britain’s 150 universities must close down if the system is to remain viable, according to a senior academic.
Sir Roderick Floud has proposed a plan for mass redundancies and closures to be adopted by the government in which he criticised the “messy, muddled non-system of higher education” as “inefficient” and in need of root-and-branch reform. Floud is the former head of Universities UK, an advocate for universities, and has run several universities.’
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 […]
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
Non-Eviction in Nottingham. History in the Making!
Non-Eviction in Nottingham. History in the Making!
‘When a grandfather fighting cancer was told he would be evicted from the home he had been paying mortgage payments for for more than 20 years, he made a short, desperate video appealing for help and put it on the internet.
Within hours, Tom Crawford’s eloquent plea detailing his fight with official ‘thugs and bullies’ had been seen by thousands on YouTube, many of whom were moved to help him keep the home where he and his wife had raised their three children.
As a result, when the bailiffs turned up to repossess the 63-year-old’s modest bungalow in Carlton, Nottinghamshire, yesterday, they were met with hundreds of strangers protesting about Mr and Mrs Crawford’s treatment.’
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
Payday loan firms sent more than 1,000 text messages to customer demanding money from him AFTER he killed himself over £20,000 debt
Payday loan firms sent more than 1,000 text messages to customer demanding money from him AFTER he killed himself over £20,000 debt
A payday loans firm sent more than 1,000 text messages demanding cash to a heavily indebted customer after he had killed himself, it emerged today.
Ian Jordan, 60, of Botley, Hampshire, had racked up more than £20,000 of debt to more than 12 firms over a year before he committed suicide.
In one case he was being charged more than 5,000 per cent a year in interest for the cash he had borrowed.
His daughter, Samantha Carr, and her family have now posted a video online in memory of him, which includes a heartfelt call on the Government to clamp down on payday loan firms.
She said: 'Ian received 1,000 texts after his death. Some of them were demands for money. They pursued the family too.'
Relatives were so tormented by the aggressive texts, they ripped the SIM card out of Ian's phone to make them stop.
Scroll down for video
Suicide: Ian Jordan, 60, had racked up more than £20,000 of debt to more than 12 firms
The video features photos from Mr Jordan's life cut alongside the heartbreaking story of the events which led to his death.
The poignant messages read: 'My daddy's rubbish at maths. That's why he trusted those payday loan companies. But soon he was really worried and embarrassed.
'He didn't talk to anybody about his debts, but I wish he had, because then I wouldn't have to go to his funeral two weeks before Christmas.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2700031/Grandfather-60-killed-running-20-000-debts-payday-loan-firms.html#ixzz38DUmF1pO
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
For more click here:
Payday loan firms sent more than 1,000 text messages to customer demanding money from him AFTER he killed himself over £20,000 debt
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
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:
Scooby Doo investigates the bedroom tax and IDS
by joehalewoodCleggs opens up bedroom tax debate and confirms he is an idiot! by Mike Sivier Originally posted on SPeye Joe (Welfarewrites):
Cleggs opens up bedroom tax debate and confirms he is an idiot!by Mike Sivier Pictures displayed by Street Democracy UK |
Originally posted on SPeye Joe (Welfarewrites):
So we are loudly told with front page banner headlines Clegg and the Liberal Democrats are now against the bedroom tax. Oh but hang on that U-turn changed within the hour late last evening as Clegg & Compo and the rest are only for a partial revision of the bedroom tax. I see so its what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation advocated (without credulity see here) a few months back and the bedroom tax should not apply to “the disabled” and not to those who have nowhere to downsize to…or at least that is what it appears and as per usual this is soundbite politics not detailed written policy. Still lots of publicity that serves to highlight that Clegg (a) still has a pulse and (b) that Clegg still has a knack of what Prince Philip calls pedidentary – that is putting ones foot in ones mouth without any forethought!
View original 1,225 more words
Labour brands Lib Dem U-turn on bedroom tax 'unbelievable hypocrisy'
Labour brands Lib Dem U-turn on bedroom tax 'unbelievable hypocrisy'
Pictures displayed by Street Democracy UK
The Labour Party has accused the Liberal Democrats of ‘unbelievable hypocrisy’ over its change in stance on the bedroom tax.
The deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said that the Lib Dems no longer support the policy in its current form and now want an exemption for disabled people and for housing benefit to only be cut if households refuse an offer to move.
The proposals are now expected to be part of the party’s 2015 election manifesto.
The chief secretary to the treasure, Danny Alexander, wrote in the Mirror yesterday that, following the publication of a damning report by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), It’s clearly time to take stock and change our approach in this particular area.’
Inside Housing broke the news that the Lib Dems were likely to oppose the bedroom tax in 2015 in February and that the party were proposing to overhaul the bedroom tax in March.
Figures in the DWP report showed nearly 60% of the 550,000 tenants affected were in rent arrears and only one in 20 had been able to move to a smaller home.
Rachel Reeves, Labour shadow work and pensions secretary (pictured, left), said: ‘This is unbelievable hypocrisy from Nick Clegg. The Lib Dems voted for the bedroom tax. There wouldn’t be a bedroom tax if it wasn’t for the Lib Dems. And in February when Labour tabled a bill to scrap the bedroom tax, the Lib Dems were nowhere to be seen. This just goes to show why you can’t trust a word the Lib Dems say - it is clear the only way to cancel the bedroom tax is to elect a Labour government next year.’
From Twitter: Peter Harrison @slowandquiet
@nick_clegg is a patronising narcissist. Its not too much to ask Gov to research bedroom tax before disrupting thousands of lives #CallClegg
For more on this story click here for Inside Housing:
Labour brands Lib Dem U-turn on bedroom tax 'unbelievable hypocrisy'
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
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.
For more click here for kittysjones:
Government sneaks out report that lays bare damage wreaked by bedroom tax
The bastard bedroom tax report by Joe Halewood, SPeye
The bastard bedroom tax report
Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK
Bastard n. – illegitimate
The Welfare Reform Act of which the bedroom tax is part had huge numbers of debates and I think was knocked back on 8 occasions (?) by the House of Lords before the coalition steamrollered it through using financial privilege. It received Royal Assent I recall in March 2012 and then in June 2012 the DWP published what it alleged was an impact assessment.
Any decision and one that involves radical change by any individual, organisation or government should be considered as to the impacts and consequences of that decision before the decision is taken. That is what an impact assessment does and is commonsense and also stating the obvious and it is an essential part of democracy and democratic legitimacy . Yet the June 2012 alleged impact assessment by the DWP into the bedroom tax stated it did not know what the impact of the bedroom tax policy would be on gender, race or disability.
I often get stereotyped as some ‘lefty’ against this coalition and especially against the bedroom tax yet those who make this false presumption clearly haven’t read how I constantly attacked the last Labour government over the Supporting People programme or SP which included being ‘asked’ to come into the ODPM as was now CLG and ‘asked’ to tone down my comments and offered employment by the department in order to silence my dissention to SP. In short, I challenge any policy of any government which shafts vulnerable people.
Check out my Twitter alter ego SpeyeJoe (yes keeping an eye of SP) and it reads: -
For more click here for Joe Halewood, SPeye:Housing consultant either a lateral thinker or i’m planking – hates ANY vulnerable people being shafted by ANY incompetent govt.
The bastard bedroom tax report
Tag :
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Impact of Bedroom Tax revealed: 59% in arrears and less than 5% in smaller properties
Impact of Bedroom Tax revealed: 59% in arrears and less than 5% in smaller properties
Pictures displayed by Street Democracy
The devastating impact of the Bedroom Tax has been laid bare in a report sneaked out by the Government today.
A study found 59% of those hit by the tax – 300,000 tenants – are in rent arrears.
And only 4.5% of the 570,000 victims of the hated tax have moved to a smaller property.
The findings – released as the political news agenda was dominated by the Cabinet reshuffle – blow apart the main justification for bringing in the policy in April last year.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who kept his job in the Cabinet reshuffle, argued that it would free up space in social housing for families on the waiting list.
But his own department’s analysis showed only 19% of those affected had applied to move and even fewer were able to find a smaller property.
The tax docks housing benefit by around £14 a week for anyone in a council or housing association home deemed to have a spare room.
And 26% had borrowed money from friends, taken out loans or racked up credit card debts.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/impact-bedroom-tax-revealed-59-3866809#ixzz37dRWYs4L
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