benefit Cap Delay as Computer Software Runs – Again – into Problems.

Ministers are facing accusations of chaos over welfare reform after announcing that the introduction of the government’s flagship benefits cap of £500 a week will be delayed across most of the country for up to six months.

The hold-up – believed to be the result of concerns over computer software – took councils, job centres and MPs by surprise and raised questions about the timetable for wider changes being planned to the entire benefits system.

What is going on?

The Observer revealed last year that there were internal government concerns over the benefits cap. A leaked letter written by the office of the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, warned that it risked making 40,000 families homeless and costing more than it saved because the homeless would have to be found emergency accommodation.

There have been signs that the government is experiencing difficulties with the computer software being used to implement its wider welfare reforms, including the planned switch to universal credit, which will replace several benefits with a single payment over four years starting next year.

More in the Observer.

In a nasty twist however we note that the cut (not ‘cap’) which principally affects Housing Benefit,  will affect “four London boroughs: Bromley, Croydon, Enfield and Haringey.”

The latter contains Tottenham, which has the highest unemployment rates in London and one of the worst  in the country.

As somebody who comes originally from North London I can also add that house prices there are sky-high.

These are also the same people with such confidence in the computer Software used in the Jobsearch system.

Universal Job Search IS to be Made Compulsory.

Jobseekers in England, Scotland and Wales will have to use a new government website that can automatically tell jobcentres about their applications – or risk losing their benefit payments.

The Welfare Secretary Iain Duncan Smith told political correspondent Ross Hawkins on Radio 4’s The World at One programme, that the new site can automatically send people vacancies – and demand explanations from them if they do not apply.

Iain Duncan Smith explained that if a job adviser thinks the reasons that you have given for not applying for a job are “specious” then “he may call you in and say I really think that you ought to be applying for these jobs.”

When asked about issuing electronic cards that would restrict claimants in spending their benefits payments, he said that “giving people cash sometimes can actually lead to further problems”.

He stressed that the scheme would only affect specific claimants.

From The BBC.

Hearing this there was a brief report on the ‘problems’ the site had faced, fake job ads and phone-sex jobs.

There was nothing about concerns about privacy and surveillance.

That in many parts of the country there is no easy access to the Internet, or if there is public access it is often (as in Suffolk) unable to work with the DWP’s site.

Nor indeed about the simple fact that many many unemployed people cannot access the site, or even if they could, would not know how to use computers well enough to use it properly.

His comments on the ‘Cash Card’ were said to apply only to specific groups, such as drug addicts.

How specific this could be was not elaborated.

Those who hold the ‘technology’ in this area have been lobbying for this.

There’s little doubt the Government  are working on something that will reward companies who live off the unemployed.

 

 

Tory MP to Control Spending of Poor, Unemployed AND in-Work.

Alec Shelbrooke’s bill, for a Welfare ‘Cash Card’ has got the attention its non-entity proposer has wished for.

But the proposal to set a spy on every poor person’s shoulder is even madder than other esteemed bloggers have so far noticed.

As his Tory friends note:

This morning in the Commons, Alec Shelbrooke, the Member of Parliament for Elmet and Rothwell introduced a Bill calling for the introduction of a Welfare Cash Card to prevent welfare claimants from buying what Mr Shelbrooke called “NEDD” (Non-Essential, Desirable and often Damaging) items, including cigarettes, alcohol, paid television and gambling. This would apply to all claimants in work and out of work, and would cover all benefits other than disability payments and the basic state pension.

One imagines that those on tax credits will be mightily pleased at having the state tell them how to spend their hard-earned cash.

As for us idlers, we say: fuck off Alec Shelbrooke!

You can contact the man himself here and tell him what you think on this here.

Ipswich Charity Food Parcel Demand Swells: Ben Gummer MP Blames People who ‘Use’ System.

Ben Gummer with Friend: Makes Spiteful Comments about Unemployed.

The Ipswich  Evening Star carries this story today.

MORE than three times the number of emergency food parcels have been handed out so far this year compared to 2011, a charity has revealed.

The blame has been put on escalating food and heating prices which have taken their toll on families, with more having to rely on charity donations to get by.

Ipswich-based Families in Need (FIND) has given out 1,784 parcels so far this year which is in stark comparison to 542 in 2011 and just 378 the previous year.

Chair Maureen Reynel claims it is because of ever-rising living costs, people losing their jobs and money not stretching far enough.

She said: “Money just doesn’t go far enough with the terrific rise in the cost of food, heating and everything and the cut in benefits.”

FIND’s food parcels contain the basics including dried pasta, potatoes and tinned foods that can be used to make balanced meals and are designed to last families for a week.

Maureen Reed (MBE)  in a controversial figures in Ipswich.

She is an Evangelical Christian with strong opinions  who vets anybody receiving her charity.

As she says, “Find is based on faith, hope and love and without that I couldn’t do what I do, because it takes a lot of energy,” she said.

“I need lots of miracles, and they do happen.” BBC

One miracle that didn’t happen is a change in  the sour attitude of Ipswich Tory MP Benedict Gummer.

He thinks that the poverty of people on benefits is caused by administrative delays – and not, for  example, the low amount of money we get, or the suspensions that are rained down on claimants.

He has an obsession with ‘fraud’.

Well-off public school educated Gummer even that the cheek to make spiteful comments about those who know how to “use the system”.

We assume he would prefer everybody not to know how to use it.

Ipswich MP Ben Gummer said the fact there is a need for the parcels shows the benefits system still needs reform.

He said: “There are still real problems for those needing the safety net when they lose their job or when their circumstances change.

“There are too many forms to fill in and the administration simply takes far too long.

“We have cut the benefit bill by £10 million by tackling fraud, but we know there are people who have been on benefit for years who know how to use the system – while those who really need urgent help,  the kind of people that Beveridge was thinking of when he set it up are left struggling.”

More on the Travel Discount Card Which Most Unemployed Cannot Get.

Crossposted from stevenplrose.

Have you seen this card before? I’d be very surprised if you had because the DWP have made almost no effort to tell you it exists.  You are able to claim if you have been unemployed for six months or more without referral to the catastrophic work programme (9 months for 18-24 year olds and 12 months for over 25s). It also extends to those claiming incapacity benefit, ESA or income support (provided you are found fit for work). In November last year, the New Deal railcard was quietly re-named the Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card.

This lovely piece of green plastic entitles you to 50% Off Anytime Day and Off-Peak Day tickets (including Off-Peak Day Travelcards for travel starting outside London Zones 1-9).  Including weekly, monthly and longer period Season Tickets and Travelcards (up to 3 months in length)

You can link it to your Oyster Card and get the same amount off (PAYG) fares in zones 1-6. Brilliant! Where do I sign up? You simply visit your local Job Centre Plus, assuming of course that staff will know of this scheme. My personal adviser certainly did not.

One of the many stipulations for claiming JSA involves you searching for work with ninety minutes of your home.  Within this three-month gap, I had interviews that proved rather expensive in places like Poole and London. Whilst I had a 16-25 railcard, I could have saved more had I been made aware I was eligible for it.

I challenge you to visit your local job centre, ask a member of staff, and find a leaflet inside that explains this scheme. There was never anything in my local centre. Maybe I looked in the wrong direction or asked the wrong question. Should we be expected to know this? I fear many like me now on the work programme (or yet to be referred) do not know about this card.

It was recently announced that some of the biggest bus companies (Arriva, First, Go-Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach) and some local operators will offer free bus fare to the unemployed.  This scheme will cover 70% of the country. However, according to this Stagecoach press release, you need to fall within the remit of the discount card to apply. Therefore, those, like me, on the work programme, once again miss discounted travel.  

Comment: There are signs that the Community Action Programme is in difficulty.

But it’s still officially going ahead.

We wonder if there is any scheme for those forced to work for nothing to get travel expenses back.