June 18, 2013 by kevinlsmith64

How To Deal With Benefits Medical Examinations

Never Face Them Alone

This article describes how claimants for disability benefits can deal with the medical examinations by medical professionals, which for many claimants are central in deciding whether or not you are entitled to disability benefits.

Before The Examination

The examinations are run by Medical Services (MS) which is operated by the private profit making company ATOS on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Before a MS examination your own GP sends info to the DWP. It is important that this info is as full as possible and states clearly whether or not in their medical opinion you are fit for work at that time and in the foreseeable future (at least 6 months ahead).

It is frequently the case that people with a long-term illness gradually minimise in their own minds the effect of their illness on their everyday lives and develop survival strategies to cope on a daily basis in an attempt to lead as normal a life as possible.

This can cause a problem as this habit when taken into a medical examination does not present a true picture of the illness and could be misleading. It might be helpful to discuss the reality of your illness and the limitations it imposes on your life with someone who knows both the illness and yourself well. The reality of your illness is what must be presented to the MS medical professional and to the DWP.

If you have a Medical Services examination, either at the MS office or at your home, always have someone accompany you. This is your right. We have often done this. They cannot refuse you this right – if they try then just insist you need someone with you.

To obtain benefits you are legally required to attend this examination, and the information obtained at the examination is used, within a legal framework, to decide on your benefit entitlement – it is therefore vital to make sure your legal rights are protected.

If the date for the examination is not suitable, eg your accompanying person cannot make it on that date, you can get the date changed. If you are unable to travel to the examination you can ask for a home visit instead. If you change the arrangements over the phone write to confirm the changes. You have the right to be seen by a medical professional of the same sex.

Meet the accompanying person beforehand to discuss what’s going to happen. Before the examination you should be clear that:

The examination can be halted to allow you to go to the toilet, have a glass of water, take a pill, or if you feel faint or ill.
The examination should only proceed if you feel happy to continue.
You should refuse to do anything that hurts or distresses you.
The person accompanying you should take a pen and paper and also a watch.
If possible, take a tape recorder. Take your medicines, and any aids you use, such as a walking stick or crutches.
You can claim travel expenses for going to the examination – but if you need to take a taxi you must contact the MS beforehand.

At The Examination

You should be aware that the examination begins on entry to the examination centre and does not end until you leave the centre. An evaluation of your medical condition does not only take place when you are in front of the examining doctor, but also potentially on your way into the building, in the waiting room, and on your way out. They could note the length of time you can sit without apparent discomfort, how you pick up your bag, etc..

At the examination the medical professional should:

Be courteous and considerate.
Spend some time explaining the purpose of the examination.
Ask if you are willing to be examined.
Ask you and give you time to explain YOUR OWN VIEW of how you are affected by your condition, including how it affects your ability to do day to day tasks like shopping, cooking, cleaning and so on.

The examining medical professional should not attempt to ‘manipulate’ parts of your body.

During the examination you should:

Make sure the medical professional realises the full extent of your illness/ disability, including any other conditions/ illnesses you may have. Remember, unlike your GP, this medical professional does not know your medical history.
Describe how you feel on a “bad day”, rather than on a “good day”.

If you are accompanying the claimant you should:

Write down the name of the medical professional, the place of examination, the time of starting and finishing the examination.
Take notes on everything the medical professional and the claimant say, what the Doctor asks the claimant to do and what happens. Especially note any aggressive attitude or manner adopted by the medical professional. Note the exact words spoken.
Intervene and ask for the examination to be halted if the claimant becomes unwell or distressed. The claimant should have a break until they feel well enough to continue.
Object to and stop any attempt by the medical professional to have the claimant do exercises which could injure or distress them.
You should have the examination stopped if the claimant is becoming ill or distressed for any reason. If the claimant is not fit to continue then the examination should be postponed until another day.
If the claimant’s distress is due to mistreatment by the medical professional, stop the interview, then say that you will be making a complaint with a request for an examination at a future date with a different medical professional.
Time the length of the examination and any breaks taken (some medical professionals have been known to exaggerate the length of time of the examination to make it appear more thorough than it was).
At the end of the examination ask the medical professional to read back their notes, to check that they have made an accurate record. If the medical professional refuses, then note that together with the reason given for refusing. If there seem to be any inaccuracies in the medical professional’s notes, check with the claimant, then if necessary ask the medical professional to change their notes. If they refuse then make a note of that, writing down exactly what they said.

After The Examination

If the medical professional did anything wrong, then as soon as possible afterwards write a letter of complaint to DWP – don’t wait for the decision to come through. The letter should be signed by both the claimant and the accompanying person.

How You Can Be Found Incapable Of Work Even If You Don’t Score Enough Points

Even if you don’t score enough points under the personal capability assessment – the medical test to decide if you’re incapable of work – you may still have a chance of being found incapable of work either at claim or appeal stage. This is because of the little known ‘exceptional circumstances’ rules.

There are a number of these, but probably the most important is regulation 27(b), which states that you will be found incapable of work if:

“There would be a substantial risk to the mental or physical health of any person if he or she were found capable of work’’

This regulation could apply to you on physical health or on mental health grounds.

For example, if you experience severe anxiety attacks and might harm yourself or somebody else if placed in a situation you find threatening, then this might be grounds for applying regulation 27(b).

Or you may have a lung condition which is made much worse by stress and, in the past, such situations have led to a serious deterioration in your health and perhaps hospitalisation. If you would find being found capable of work, having to sign on for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and take part in training or work experience very stressful, then that may be grounds for declaring you incapable of work under the exceptional circumstances regulations.

However, neither doctors nor decision makers are quick to identify people who might be covered by these clauses. And very few claimants even know they exist.

ATOS And The Bigger Picture

ATOS are currently recruiting more staff to help meet Government targets to force more people off disability benefits to reduce the public debt problem caused by banks gambling in the financial markets. The process is driven by cost cutting not objective medical opinion. The most vulnerable in society are being made to pay for the greed of others and the inevitable booms and busts of capitalist economics.

Medical professionals, including physiotherapists, with no experience of mental health problems, for example, are only given a matter of days training before making assessments of claimants. They are paid substantially more than NHS doctors and nurses for leaving their ethical concerns at the door. ATOS claim that they do not make the decision as to whether someone can work and have their benefits reduced, but that the decision is made by the DWP from their report and that performance targets are based simply on the number of claimants seen in a day. However they admit that if a medical professional passes all claimants for disability benefits it will not go unnoticed.

This information has been reproduced from The Crutch Collective formerly Anti Benefit Cuts Glasgow

Please contact BPACC if you require any further information, support or advice. We are not experts in this field but will always show solidarity and try to help in whatever way we can.

June 2, 2013 by kevinlsmith64

Child Poverty Action Group Monthly News and Views

Shown below is the “News from CPAG – Child Poverty Action Group e-newsletter, a monthly round-up of our news and views”. If you would like to subscribe to CPAG news, please click here.

IFS: major surge in child poverty by 2020

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has predicted that relative child poverty will go up by a staggering 1.1 million children in the current decade, almost entirely due to tax and benefit changes introduced by the coalition government. Our response calling for a complete rethink of government strategy on child poverty was widely quoted by the media including the Daily Mirror, Evening Standard and Guardian.

Alison Garnham has blogged on why we must not abandon the child poverty targets and why making progress on poverty requires us to rethink public spending across the whole of government so that we get the fundamentals right – a fairer society and a stronger economy.

Universal Credit – will it work?

Our *new report published with the TUC looks at whether universal credit can deliver its objectives, and in particular whether it can ‘make work pay’. For a summary of the report findings see Alison Garnham’s blog for Liberal Democrat Voice.

Many thanks to the Orp Foundation for supporting our Universal Credit work programme.

Welfare rights conference 2013: Surviving Welfare Reform

We are now hosting our annual Welfare Rights Conference in both the north and south of the country. We hope this will give more people the opportunity to attend, keeping travel and accommodation costs to a minimum.

The Northern Conference in Manchester on Thursday 5 September.
The Southern Conference in London on Wednesday 11 September.
Further information and booking

Special offer – book your place before 1 July for an early bird discount.

Exhibition space: if you are interested in exhibiting your work, products and services at our conference, contact Naomi Jessop (njessop@cpag.org.uk).

Training note: our Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment courses across the UK are selling fast, book your place now to avoid disappointment! Visit our website to find dates in Norwich, Plymouth, York, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester and Cardiff.

Conference: Tackling child poverty in your local authority

On Thursday 18 July, CPAG is hosting a free conference in Birmingham, supported by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, exploring ways local authorities and their partners can creatively work to meet their commitments under the Child Poverty Act despite facing significant financial challenges.

Topics to be addressed on the day have emerged from discussions with local authorities and will include workshops on Universal Credit, Social Fund schemes, and including the voices of children and young people in child poverty strategies.

Further information and booking

A new partnership with the Chartered Institute of Housing

We are delighted to be the chosen charity for CIH’s Presidential Appeal. It’s a welcome opportunity for us to partner with a great organisation with shared goals.

For anyone going to the Housing 2013 conference in June, come and see us on the CPAG exhibition stand!

See a full list of our other upcoming events.

CPAG: the movie

We are the lucky winners of a VoiceOver video donated by politics.co.uk. See their inside view of filming a CPAG campaign video on location. We’ll let you know when the final video is launched!

The latest Understanding Society report indicates that while the public endorses the importance of reducing child poverty, there is also a hardening of attitudes towards the welfare state and benefit claimants. Our new campaign video aims to counter the common stereotypes.

Do you know a great campaigner?

Are you speaking out and taking action on issues that matter? Or does this sound like someone you know? Apply or nominate now for an SMK Campaigner Award, which equips people to become more effective campaigners. It’s free to apply. For more information, or to apply or nominate, please visit: the Sheila McKechnie Foundation. Applications close at 1pm on 10 June 2013.

May 22, 2013 by kevinlsmith64

Victory as judges rule controversial disability benefits procedure is unfair

Republished from False Economy

Sent from Rethink Mental Illness, Mind and the National Autistic Society:

Wednesday 22 May 2013 – Three judges have ruled that the procedure currently used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to decide whether hundreds of thousands of people are eligible for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) disadvantages people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism.

The judgment, which was made public at a high court hearing today, is the result of a judicial review brought by two anonymous claimants with mental health problems.

The charities Rethink Mental Illness, Mind and the National Autistic Society intervened in the case to provide evidence based on the experiences of their members and supporters.

The case centres on how evidence is gathered for the controversial Work Capability Assessment (WCA), the process used to determine whether someone is fit for work.

Under the current system, evidence from a professional such as a GP or social worker is expected to be provided by people themselves. There is no obligation for the DWP to collect this evidence, even on behalf of the most vulnerable claimants, apart from in some rare cases.

Seeking evidence can be very challenging for people with mental health problems, learning disabilities or autism whose health or condition can make it hard for them to understand or navigate the complex processes involved in being assessed.

As a result, those who need support the most are frequently being assessed without this important evidence being taken into account.

It was ruled that the DWP had breached its duties to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 and that the Department must do more to ensure this sort of evidence is collected and taken into account. This means the current procedure for the WCA puts some groups at a substantial disadvantage.

The three charities have hailed the ruling as a victory for people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism who are being put through a process which puts them at a disadvantage.

Paul Jenkins, CEO of Rethink Mental Illness said: “This ruling proves once and for all that this cruel and unfair process is unlawful. The judges have independently confirmed what our members have been saying for years – the system is discriminating against some of the most ill and vulnerable people in our society, the very people it is meant to support.

“The Work Capability Assessment process is deeply unfair for people with a mental illness – it’s like asking someone in a wheelchair to walk to the assessment centre. The Government is setting people up to fail.

“Now that the court has ruled that these tests are unfair it would be completely irresponsible to carry on using them. The Government must halt the mass reassessment of people receiving incapacity benefit immediately, until the process is fixed.

“This ruling will help improve one aspect of the Work Capability Assessment, but there are still many other problems with it. We will keep campaigning on behalf of everyone we represent until the whole process is fair for everyone.”

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, said: “Mind welcomes the tribunal’s judgment, which has found that the claims process for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is unfair to people with mental health problems and that it has to change.

“The judgment is a victory, not only for the two individuals involved in this case, but for thousands of people who have experienced additional distress and anxiety because they have struggled through an assessment process which does not adequately consider the needs of people with mental health problems.

“Following this judgment, Mind hopes changes will be implemented quickly to ensure the claims procedure is fairer and more accurate.

“Mind has campaigned to improve the assessment process for many years and we will monitor the situation closely to ensure people with mental health problems receive the benefits they are entitled to.”

Mark Lever, Chief Executive of the National Autistic Society said: “The court’s decision is a victory for fairness. Now that the tribunal has ruled that the Work Capability Assessment process disadvantages people with autism, the Government must stop putting them through it until a more equitable system is in place.

“Those who devised this process failed to understand the complexities of conditions like autism. By the nature of their condition, people with autism can struggle to understand and articulate how their disability affects them – which is just what this current system requires them to do, by placing the burden on them to collect their own evidence.”

May 13, 2013 by kevinlsmith64

Independent Living Fund recipient interviews

Reproduced from False Economy

The videos on this page are interviews made, by False Economy, with people who are directly affected by the government’s atrocious recent decision to close the Independent Living Fund (the ILF).

The ILF was set up as a standalone fund to pay for extra carer hours for people with severe disabilities. That additional funding made it possible for people to pay for enough care to continue to live independently in their homes, rather than in residential care. At the end of last year, the government made an extremely unpopular decision to close the fund and devolve it to local authorities. A recent attempt to challenge the closure was lost, but claimants plan to appeal.

In these videos and linked case studies, ILF recipients around the country explain how vital the fund is to them and what will happen if they are no longer able to pay for the high levels of care that they require.

Mary Laver

In this video, Mary Laver, who lives in Newcastle, talks about the life that she leads with carer hours paid for by the Independent Living Fund. The ILF pays for about 46 of Mary’s carer hours a week. With that support, she does everything and a lot more: last year, for example, she raised money for the Royal British Legion by travelling from Lands End to John O’Groats in her electric wheelchair and went to London as a 2012 Olympic volunteer. Without that funding, things will change drastically:

Gabriel Pepper

Gabriel is 41. He began his working life as an archaeologist after completing a Phd. He has had three brain tumours and has sight, speech and mobility impairments. The ILF pays about two-thirds of his care costs. Waltham Forest council pays for the rest. His view on the importance of taking legal action to fight to save the ILF fund in court (he was in the group of ILF recipients that took the recent court action): “I don’t believe the Tory party will ever hang their heads in shame, because they don’t have shame.”

He also talks in the video about the effort that he’s had to make to convince MPs to sign early day motion 651 – an EDM which called for the government to “look at ways of expanding the Independent Living Fund to provide needs-based support to all adults in the UK who require it.”

Sophie Partridge

Sophie is an actor, writer and workshop artist from Islington:

“My PAs [carers] do everything for me – everything physically that I can’t do for myself. It’s all aspects of personal care – like getting up, going to the loo, washing, dressing, cooking for me, cutting my food up, cleaning, laundry, driving me in my van. I still need the same levels of assistance whatever I’m doing, so if I’m working or round at a friend’s house, I need them with me to do all those things.

Fighting the cuts has been difficult. [In their arguments against benefit cuts], people do use this word “vulnerable” a hell of a lot. I actually wrote a letter to David Cameron – and I’m still waiting for a reply – in which I said: ‘It’s not my impairment which makes me vulnerable. It is your cuts. It is your policies. Give us decent resources and we will add to your economy. We can’t be cast as victims all the time. It’s difficult, because we do have to fight the good fight without appearing pathetic cripples. It’s hard to find the right balance.”

Penny Pepper

Penny Pepper is an Islington writer and journalist: “The reason I get the independent living fund (ILF) is that I’m judged to have a severe disability with severe levels of mobility impairment. I’m assessed as needing 24/7 care. The ILF pays for just under half of my care costs(and Islington council pays the rest. I need support to do most things of a physical and practical nature – from getting out of bed, using the bathroom, getting dressed and food preparation to moving from A to B, getting into my wheelchair and getting out of my wheelchair. I would not be able to work without that funding. This is what is terrifying to me. Council funding alone, for carers, would not be enough to retain my personal assistants.

There is this bizarre idea coming our way that you can eat sandwiches, lie in bed and use incontinence pads. If that happens, then that is, in effect, the end of my career. Now, we’re being forced backwards into having to go on about how pathetic we are as individuals – you know, with your poor legs and your this and your that. If the council ever tries to put me in a care home [because it cannot afford to fund independent living costs ] I will take it to court.”

Kevin Caulfield

Kevin lives in West London, works in Brixton and is training to be a barrister.

“For my care, I need two people during the day at some points during the day, so my care package totals 25 hours. It’s quite significant. It’s enabled me to stabilise my health and it’s improved quite a lot. I’ve been able to work during the last 15 years. I’ve been able to go to college. I’m training to be a barrister – things that I would have been able to do in my life if I wasn’t a disabed person, but certainly things that I couldn’t do without this support.

Hammersmith and Fuham council pay for about 60% of my care package and about 40% of the pacakge comes from the Independent Living Fund. For disabled people to be included as equal members of society, [the great thing about the ILF is that the assessment really is based on your needs and you don't feel that someone has come in with a cash register next to them."

There are more testimonies from people on the Disabled People Against Cuts site:

April 25, 2013 by kevinlsmith64

Benefits in Britain: Separating the facts from the fiction

Fiction: Welfare reforms are just about benefit cuts
Fact: Simply not true. The attack on our welfare state is hitting a whole range of services – privatising the NHS, winding up legal aid for people in debt and closing SureStart centres and libraries. All this will make life poorer for every community.

Fiction: There are families living on benefits where generations have never worked
Fact: Despite research from various organisations, no evidence has been found of families with three generations which had never worked. Less than 1% of families have two such generations which have never worked, although such families had wide ranging problems which made it both difficult for the parents or the children to find employment. Contrary to government claims about endemic worklessness, four in five people who claim JSA come off the benefit within six months.

Fiction: People believe that some 27% of the Welfare Budget is claimed as a result of fraud
Fact: The actual figure is 0.8 % whilst tax avoidance and evasion is estimated at anywhere from £30bn to £120bn.

Fiction: Those on benefits have made a lifestyle choice and are shirkers
Fact: 20.3 million families, (64%, of all families) are in receipt of some benefit, 8.7 million of them are pensioners. These benefits include Child benefits, Working / Child Tax Credits, unemployment, disability and sickness payments plus State Pensions. There are currently around 6.1 million people looking for full time work; this figure consists of 2.6M registered as unemployed; 1.3M “underemployed” adults who are in part-time work because they cannot find full-time work; 2.2M unemployed people who want work but have not actively sought it for six weeks. At the same time, there are only around 460,000 job vacancies. Contrary to government claims about endemic worklessness, four in five people who claim JSA come off the benefit within six months.

Fiction: More of the Welfare Budget is being spent on the jobless than on the needy
Fact: Since the global credit crunch crisis in 2007/8 and ongoing economic depression the percentage of welfare spending up has been pushed up. The biggest increases have been due to Pensions and Housing Benefits. The £54BN increase from 2001 to 2011 is mainly due to inflation linked benefits, such as Pensions, Housing Benefits. This period has also seen the introduction of many ‘in work’ benefits.

Of the 1,008,000 benefit claimants that have been out of work for three of the last four years, around 40 per cent have been claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA), a further 30 per cent are lone parents with children under seven claiming Income Support (IS) while the remaining 30 per cent are either claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA) or are in the process of being assessed. All ESA claimants are unable to work. Those on the work-related activity group are expected to be able to work eventually but are not-yet-fit-to-work.

Fiction: The benefit cap of £26,000 per annum will help reduce the overall Welfare Bill
Fact: The cap will only affect a small number of people with some 58,000 seeing their benefits reduced by 2014/5. Many more families are losing a range of benefits irrespective of the cap.

Fiction: The welfare reforms are targeted at the ‘shirkers’ not the ‘workers
Fact: There are 2.8 million workless families of working age. Due to welfare cuts, 2.5 million will face a reduction of £215 per annum. There are 14.2 million working families and 7 million of these will lose some £165 per year. There will be reductions in Child Benefit and Council Tax relief which will increase the costs of non- working families by £140 and working families by £132. So “they are all in it together. Workless and working poor alike.”

Fiction: Reducing the welfare bill and the ‘dependency culture’ will improve the growth rate of the country
Fact: There is no evidence to support this. What is needed is to target the State Support in such a way that it creates opportunities for training, improves mobility, provides adequate child care but above all we need to see a living wage and some degree of rent control if the housing benefit and the working Tax credit is to be controlled. The welfare bill has not increased as a result of a growing ‘welfare dependency’. The number of people on unemployment, lone parent and incapacity benefits is over a million less than in 1990.

Fiction: Too many people have too many children
Fact: In 2011 there were just 130 families in the UK with more than 10 children. Only 8% of benefit claimants have three or more children. The UK spends much less on unemployment that France or Germany and is at the same level as the EU average.

Fiction: Osborne claimed that there are families receiving more that £100,000 in benefits
Fact: There were no more than five families receiving such a sum. No doubt they are living in London with large families and disabilities.

Fiction: Benefits are too generous
Fact: Really? Could you live on £53 a week as Iain Duncan Smith is claiming he could if he had to? Then imagine handing back 14% of this because the government deems you have a “spare room”. Could you find the money to pay towards council tax and still afford to eat at the end of the week whilst at the same time paying all the utility bills etc? JSA Payments are £71.70 a week for single people (single person under 25 gets £56.25); £71 a week for lone parents over 18 (under 18s receive £56.25); £111.45 a week for couples aged over 18.

Fiction: Benefits are going up
Fact: They’re not. A 1% “uprating” cap is really a cut. Inflation is at least 2.7%. Essentials like food, fuel and transport are all up by at least that, in many cases far more. Benefits are quickly falling behind the cost of living.

Fiction: The bedroom tax won’t hit army families or foster carers
Fact: Yes it will. Perhaps most cruel of all, the tax will not apply to foster families who look after one kid. If you foster siblings, then tough. But these kids are often the hardest to place. Thanks to George Osborne and IDS, their chances just got worse. And even if your son or daughter is in barracks in Afghanistan, then don’t expect peace of mind as the government still has to come clean on plans for their bedroom.

Fiction: Social tenants can downsize
Fact: Really, where? Councils sold their properties – and Osborne wants them to sell what’s left. Housing associations built for families. In Hull, there are 5,500 people told to chase 70 one-bedroom properties.

Fiction: Housing benefit is the problem
Fact: In fact it is rental costs. Private rents shot up by an average of £300 last year. No wonder 5 million people need housing benefits, but they don’t keep a penny. It all goes to landlords.

Fiction: It’s those teenage single mums
Fact: An easy target. Yet only 2% of single mums are teenagers. And most single mums, at least 59%, work.

Fiction: We’re doing this for the next generation
Fact: No you’re not. The government’s admitted at least 200,000 more children will be pushed deeper into poverty because of the welfare changes.
Sources:
Benefits in Britain separating the facts from the fiction
10 lies we’re told about welfare – Guardian
Work and Pensions Secretary guilty again of peddling benefit myths – TUC
‘True’ UK unemployment is 6.3m – TUC

April 5, 2013 by kevinlsmith64

April 1st 2013 – A dark day for the Welfare State

April 1st 2013 will go down as a dark day in the history of the Welfare State, not only and very depressingly, did the Health and Social Care Act become law but yet another avalanche of benefit cuts were brought into effect. This is despite the prolonged and persistent lobbying and protests by disability groups calling for the govt to assess the impact of its benefit cuts along with the UK’s leading experts on social policy and the welfare state urging the government to reconsider. And, staggeringly, at the same time, those with an income of over £150,000 per annum will see their tax rate reduced from 50% to 45%. Anyone who believed the Government’s rhetoric that “those with the broadest shoulders should carry the greatest burden” could be forgiven for thinking that all this an April Fools prank.

This week also saw the conviction of 3 people for the manslaughter of 6 children. The death of any child is a tragic and emotive issue, the judge described the act as “outside the comprehension of any right-thinking person” yet George Osborne and his fellow government ministers seem hell bent on using this tragedy to justify their policies of welfare reform / cuts. We have seen both the government and the media suggest and imply that the perpetuators of this evil crime are “a vile product of Welfare UK”.

George Osborne has questioned why the Welfare State subsidises such people with the underlying suggestion that “living off benefits” somehow turns a person into an abhorrent scumbag. That suggestion is in itself abhorrent. The fact is the small percentage of evil people that commit such atrocities come from all walks of life, are both rich and poor, employed and unemployed. We are led to believe there is a massive problem with people who have never worked having multitudes of children to boost their benefits. However this is simply untrue. Only 4% of families with a parent on Jobseeker’s Allowance have more than two children and only 1.5 per cent of those on benefits have never worked. The extreme cases as highlighted by the court case are even rarer; out of the 1.35 million households where one of the adults is claiming out of work benefit, only 190 of those families have 10 or more children.

The question should be turned back on George Osborne and we should ask why the government does not put all its efforts into catching those who defraud the system. Official figures show that 0.8% of benefit spending is due to fraud. So why are the 99.2% in receipt of assistance from the State being portrayed in some parts of the media – with full knowledge and acceptance of the government – as “scroungers and skivers”. Good people, who through no fault of their own require support, are being demonised and scapegoated whilst it is highly probable that a minuscule minority continue to defraud the system. The government should of course go after those who commit fraud and while they are it, they should also close down the loopholes that allow corporate giants and individuals to avoid paying tax which is estimated by some to be around £25 billion a year and by others to be £70 billion while some state it to be closer to £100 billion. Whatever the exact figure is, it is blatantly clear that there are alternatives to hammering those who have the least.

We all need to ask ourselves the kind of society we want to live within. The Welfare State should be considered as an insurance scheme which was set up without incentives to make a profit. All who can contribute, do so at a progressive rate and it is something that is there for all of us whenever we need it. Public services run along the same lines (or rather most used to before the influx of outsourcing!). Make no mistake it is highly unlikely that anyone in this country has not been reliant upon or received the benefits both offer; from Child benefits to the NHS; libraries to refuse collection; education to state pensions. Are we prepared to throw all this away so a small minority can prosper?

Click here to sign the WOW petition from the Site of the resistance to the War on Welfare
“We call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform, and a New Deal for sick & disabled people based on their needs, abilities and ambitions”

This week we have also learnt that the government are coming after the National Minimum Wage. In 2008, a senior Tory source said: “The minimum wage won’t be scrapped but it will be allowed to wither on the vine. A series of smaller, more affordable increases will mean it will just melt away.” This seems to becoming to fruition with government ministers hinting that the national minimum wage could be held back from rising due to difficult economic circumstances.

Click here to sign the petition to protect the minimum wage.
”We believe that the minimum wage should be protected from being cut or frozen. The poorest paid should not be paying the price for this Government’s failed austerity economics. We call on the Government to stop their changes to the Low Pay Commission’s terms of reference, and protect the lowest-paid workers from these pay cuts.”

In one way or another we are all being affected by the savage policies of austerity, directly or indirectly. Of course the natural tendency is to fight your own corner but now, more than ever before, we must all come together in solidarity to oppose all the cuts irrespective of whether we are directly affected, which groups we belong to or individual political beliefs. We must organise and resist in whatever way we can. Online, offline, inform, educate, write to your MP, petition, leaflet, take direct action, partake in civil disobedience, strike and occupy. This is not only a metaphorical life and death struggle; people are dying as a direct result of the actions of this government. Resist, resist and then resist some more.

March 15, 2013 by kevinlsmith64

Videos from the Benefits Justice Summit 9th March 2013, London

The start of Benefits Justice Summit

Winvisible

Mental Health Network

Using the law to fight the cuts – Wendy Pettifer (1 of 2)

Using the law to fight the cuts – Wendy Pettifer (2 of 2)

Using the law to fight the cuts – Liz Davies (1 of 2)

Using the law to fight the cuts – Liz Davies (2 of 2)

Closing session – Action plan

Building campaigns locally (1 of 2)

Building campaigns locally (2 of 2)

Tenants Federation

Food & Allied Workers Union

Pensioners Association

Single Mother’s Self-Defence

February 26, 2013 by kevinlsmith64

Benefit Justice Summit – Saturday 9th March – ULU London

The Campaign for Benefit Justice is uniting all those opposed to devastating benefit cuts. By linking up we can challenge the Government’s divide and rule tactics and unite the 99% of people hit by these cuts. This summit will bring together disabled people, tenants, unemployed , trade unions, students, pensioners, single parents, and others to oppose benefit cuts.

The venue is fully-accessible for wheelchair users – for other access needs, please contact benefitjustice@gmail.com

Click here to download PDF of above

Click here to book your place on the Summit being held on Saturday 9th March at University of London Union (ULU), Malet St, London WC1E 7HY at 11am.

Cut rents, not benefits
Can’t pay, won’t pay
Can’t move, won’t move

Get Involved

If you’d like to get involved in the Benefit Justice Campaign, they would be glad to have your support.

Contact trades unions, tenants and community organisations to invite them to our Summit on the 9th March 2013.
Add your name to the Benefits Justice Statement
Ask local organisations to send a speaker to the Summit
Create a local Benefit Justice network, and keep us abreast of your activities by emailing us at benefitjustice@gmail.com.
Support the protests in London and across the country on 20th March 2013.

Our Open Letter to the Guardian Published on the 12th February, 2013

Cuts in benefit are an unjust attack on the poor and they must stop. People are already being driven into debt, hunger and homelessness. From April millions more will be hit by the bedroom tax, cuts in council-tax benefit, ending disability living allowance and further vicious cuts. In one of the richest countries in the world, the rise of food banks, destitution and poverty is not acceptable. People receiving benefits did not cause the banking and economic crisis and we do not accept them being scapegoated to pay for it.

The Campaign for Benefit Justice has called a summit event on 9 March in central London, bringing together tenants, disabled people, trade unions, the unpaid and the low paid as one national voice to end the war on the poor. All who support us should contact Benefit Justice via info@defendouncilhousing.org.uk or mail@dpac.uk.net [or benefitjustice@gmail.com]. Collecting unpaid corporate tax, capping private rents, insulating, repairing and “greening” homes, and building 100,000 first-class council homes would be a sane and just way to raise funds, build for growth and cut bills and rents.

Signed:
Eileen Short, Chair of Defend Council Housing
Linda Burnip, Disabled People Against Cuts
Michael Bradley, Right to Work Campaign
Len McCluskey, General Secretary of UNITE the Union
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the PCS Union
Dave Anderson MP
John McDonnell MP
Austin Mitchell MP
Caroline Lucas MP
Jane Aitchison (PCS), Joint Secretary of Unite the Resistance
Richard Buckwell, Chair of Ashfield UNISON Branch & East Midlands member of UNISON’s National Housing Forum
Glyn Robbins, UNITE member
Dot Gibson, General Secretary of the National Pensioners Convention
Claire Glasman, WinVisible (Women with Visible and Invisible Disabilities)
Kim Sparrow, Single Mothers’ Self-Defence
John Davies, Leeds Hands off our Homes
Dr Stuart Hodkinson, Lecturer at the School of Geography, University of Leeds
Shirley Frost, Sheffield Defend Council Housing, Campaign for Benefits Justice, and UNITE Community Members branch Sheffield
Imelda Messenger, Hackney tenant, Street Properties

November 8, 2012 by kevinlsmith64

The welfare state: FACT and FARRAGO – Busting some myths about benefits

Myth 1: There is a big problem with families where generations have never worked.
The truth is that the Labour Force Survey shows only 0.3 per cent where two or more generations of working age have never worked.

Myth 2: Most benefits spending goes to unemployed people of working age.
This is completely wrong. The biggest element of social security expenditure (42 per cent) goes to pensioners. Then housing benefit is next, accounting for 20 per cent, of whom one-fifth are in work. Then 15 per cent goes on children, through child benefit and child tax credit. Some 8 per cent goes on disability living allowance, 4 per cent on income support mainly for single parents and carers, 4 per cent on employment and support allowance to those who can’t work due to sickness or disability and 2 per cent on carer’s allowance and maternity pay. Just 3 per cent is spent on jobseeker’s allowance.

Myth 3: Benefit fraud is high and increasing.
The latest official DWP estimates show that last year just 0.7 per cent of benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud, including a mere 0.3 per cent for incapacity benefits. It is equally false that benefit fraud is increasing. The figures for combined fraud and customer error for jobseeker’s allowance and income support show it halved from 9.4 per cent in 1997-8 to only 4.8 per cent in 2004-5.

Myth 4: Couples on benefits are better off if they split up.
In fact, research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that the benefits system provides very similar living standards to families irrespective whether they live together or apart.

Myth 5: The welfare bill has ballooned out of control and grew unsustainably under Labour.
In fact welfare expenditure totalled 11.6 per cent under the Tories in 1996-7, but only 10.7 per cent under Labour up to the crash in 2008-9.

Myth 6: Most benefit claims are long-term so that claimants “languish in dependency.”
The truth is that over the 2003-8 period leading up to the crash, only 37 per cent received incapacity benefit long term, while 38 per cent were on benefit for less than one year.

Myth 7: Social security benefits are too generous.
In fact unemployment benefit levels fall well below what research shows most people believe should form a minimum household budget. A single adult of working age receives just 40 per cent of the weekly minimum income standard and a couple with two children receive only 62 per cent of the weekly minimum.

Myth 8: Most people who claim disability benefits could be working.
The truth is that many of the people claiming incapacity benefits are those with low employability in areas of few jobs. Unemployment remains at 2.6 million, there is an average of eight people chasing every available job and most employers – given the choice, which in a very slack labour market they have – would prefer not to take on the risk and hassle of implying a disabled person. Many people then end up in a situation where they are not fit enough to do the jobs they can get, but can’t get the jobs they can do.

November 6, 2012 by kevinlsmith64

Food poverty in breadline Britain

There has been rapid expansion in food banks over the past two years triggered by growing numbers of people unable to feed themselves or their families as a result of rising living costs, shrinking incomes and welfare benefit cuts. This ever increasing need for food banks is a damning indictment of this government’s failed economic approach.

The boom in Britain’s food banks reflects a number of worrying and complicated trends. As well as rising unemployment, more people are seeing their pay frozen and hours cut at work. For the past couple of years, charities have been warning that a shift to a less generous way of uprating benefits in line with inflation, combined with rising food and fuel prices, would make life more difficult for people claiming benefits. Then there is the start of a new, harsher benefits regime, a result of which will be more claimants having their payments sanctioned – cut or stopped entirely – if they miss appointments. At the same time, the state system of a social fund and crisis loans is being wound down, so emergency cash payments from the welfare system for those deemed to be in extreme need are now exceptionally difficult to procure.

The government spent £230m on crisis loans in 2009-10. But under the Welfare Reform Act, responsibility for administering this spending will be devolved to 150 English councils. Local authorities are preparing to invest in charity-run food banks to cope with an expected deluge in demand for crisis help from low income families hit by welfare cuts, raising the spectre of depression-era US “breadlines”. However they will be sharing a pot of money set at 2005 budget levels – which could be less than half the 2009-10 figure, so would obviously seem to be inadequate at best and this money will not be ring fenced – meaning that councils can spend some or all of it on other services if they wish.

Cuts next year to the social fund, which provides emergency aid to vulnerable people, mean that from April 2013 many councils will no longer be able to provide cash help to applicants. Instead they will offer “in kind” support such as referring clients to food banks and issuing electronic food vouchers.

It is very unlikely that plans to refer crisis loan applicants to food banks will solve the problems, let alone the root cause. Experts say the experience of food poverty in the US and Canada, where charity food assistance has become a significant element of the welfare system, shows that while food banks are popular with volunteers and, however well meaning their aims and intentions are, they can be inefficient, unreliable and fail to address the underlying causes of food poverty, such as low pay.

Liz Dowler, professor of food and social policy at the University of Warwick, said: “Despite their apparent ‘win-win’ appeal to some councils, food banks conceal realities of poverty and hunger. They let the state off the hook from their obligation to ensure all have the means to live, and from showing political leadership to grapple creatively with poverty.”

Everything is pointing towards the fact that this country is on the precipice of a food poverty crisis. A spokesman for the Child Poverty Action Group said: “It’s clear that this is an early-warning indicator of how bad things are starting to get for poorer families and how bad things are going to get in future. This should be setting alarm bells ringing for the government.”

Alas, those in power, seem to have placed mufflers on those bells with government ministers regarding food banks as exemplars of the “big society” approach to social problems and many Conservative-run local authorities welcoming the move to provide local crisis assistance, which ministers say go “to the heart of localism and the big society agenda.”

The government’s complacency towards food poverty will most probably become more exasperating by inflation hitting its lowest level in nearly three years in September. Experts predict that soaring energy bills and rising food and petrol costs will send inflation back up again in the coming months, ramping up the pressure on households. And the situation is further compounded by the damage wreaked by the dismal summer of 2012 on UK harvests that will inevitably push food prices up further. In these austere times, with food banks feeding the hungry, that is going to hurt. Prof Richard Tiffin, director of the Centre for Food Security at University of Reading. “It should be a major warning that climate change is increasingly having a global impact on the food supply. If the problems in Russia, the UK and the US this year were combined with a failure of the Indian monsoon, we could see a major global food crisis that would have an enormous impact on food prices and badly affect poor people in the UK and around the world.”

Trussell Trust is a charity that provides three days’ worth of emergency food to people in the UK who are at crisis point and currently receive government funding. Trussell said it had been approached by the Welsh government and a number of local authorities in London to discuss “deliverable and practical” emergency food assistance part-funded by the social fund.

The trust has said it does not object to taking state funding in principle but its food banks were already helping thousands of people referred to them by councils and welfare advisors after being turned down for crisis loans. Chris Mould, director of Trussell Trust, said the move could be risky for the charity, which was not designed to provide large scale welfare assistance. He was also concerned that the public would be less likely to give food if the trust was seen to be delivering a service regarded as the responsibility of the state.

The trust have also warned that the string of energy price hikes announced by providers recently could mean more people turning to it for help. Chris Mould said: “Every day we meet parents who are skipping meals to feed their children or even considering stealing to stop their children going to bed hungry. It is shocking that there is such a great need for food banks in 21st-century Britain, but the need is growing.”

Along with Trussell Trust there are many other charities and volunteer services that provide food bank services. Some have seen a 100% increase in the numbers of people coming to them for a free or cheap, meal. Four out of 10 charities said their budgets had been slashed as a result of funding cuts. Around a third said these cuts have made it harder for them to provide meals, and one in six said they may have to abandon providing food altogether.

FareShare, a charity that supplies millions of free meals to charities, food banks and breakfast clubs using food donated by supermarkets, said it could not keep pace with demand. They said the food it distributed in 2011-12 contributed to more than 8.6m meals, benefiting an average 36,500 people a day via 720 organisations that deal with people in food poverty. Its long-term plans are to triple the numbers of people and charities it supplies.

Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare said: “Every piece of evidence we have got is that demand will only increase over time as more people lose their jobs and living costs go up. Even if the economy improves there will be a considerable lag before that trickles through to individuals who use the services the charities support. We are forecasting that we will see growth for at least the next five years.”

The Salvation Army, whose churches issue food parcels on an informal basis, said its biggest distribution point, in Keighley, West Yorkshire, was so inundated this year it had to temporarily restrict food parcels to people referred by local charities and health professionals.

Along with charity shops and payday loans companies, food banks have become one of recession Britain’s high growth sectors. Originally set up to support homeless individuals, food banks report they increasingly serve families hit by benefit cuts or unemployment, and low-income working households who can’t make ends meet.

Food banks are thriving not just in Britain’s most deprived areas but in some of its wealthiest areas, like Poole. Our seaside town boasts some of Britain’s most expensive properties but in April 2012 a local food bank supplied food parcels to nearly 300 people – more than twice as many as in April 2010, with the extra demand driven by low income working families. Poole food bank manager Lorraine Russell said that: “Before, the primary reason (for needing food parcels) was benefit cuts or delays, but now that’s been overtaken by people on low incomes. We used to get very few low-income people, but now that has taken over.”

Even though food banks can provide a little low-level nutrition in a crisis for three days, they were never designed to cope with months of malnutrition due to inadequate levels of income or benefits. No guidance about financial need will be issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government, whose ministers, along with every member of the cabinet, have abdicated the primary moral duty of a civilised government for ensuring their poorest fellow citizens have enough income to buy a healthy diet. This damages the economy; it creates massive costs for the health service and lost time at work. Nutritionists frequently remind us that Britain was better fed from 1940 to 1945, a time of war and far greater economic crisis than the present.

Through international treaties, the UK government is already committed to ensure an adequate standard of living. They have a responsibility to provide resources so people have a minimum threshold of food, clothing, shelter and social security. However, with all the funding cuts to public services and the Welfare State, it is abundantly clear that they have no intention of fulfilling this obligation. So we, the people, have to draw a line, stand up against the food poverty injustice – along with all the other issues – and demand an end to the cuts.

KEEP ON KEEPING ON

RESIST – PROTEST – STRIKE

Sources:
Where in the UK do people rely most heavily on food banks? – Guardian
Breadline Britain: councils fund food banks to plug holes in welfare state – Guardian
Demand for food parcels explodes as welfare cuts and falling pay hit home – Guardian
Foodbank: our biggest client group now is people on low incomes – False Economy
Food banks are a symptom of failure – Guardian
Food banks: a life on handouts
Charity food banks serving record numbers – Guardian
Rising food prices are climate change’s first tangible bite into UK lives – Guardian
Lobster bisque at the soup kitchen: how a charity is redistributing food – Guardian
House of Commons – Oral Answers to Questions – Work and Pensions – Monday 23 January 2012 – Hansard

Bournemouth & Poole Anti-Cuts Coalition

We reject the cuts as malicious ideological vandalism hitting the most vulnerable the hardest

Tag Archives: benefits

Benefits in Britain: Separating the facts from the fiction

Benefit Justice Summit – Saturday 9th March – ULU London

The welfare state: FACT and FARRAGO – Busting some myths about benefits

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