Protests Begin Again Against Universal Credit.
Saturday Protest: Norfolk Against Universal Credit
Protests have begun again against Universal Credit.
People are protesting outside a Leicester Jobcentre because of Universal Credit
Leicestershire Live.
A number of people braved the rain to make their point.
(Note to Editor, not the most inspiring lead….)
A group of campaigners staged their latest protest against the introduction of Universal Credit in Leicester this week.
Members of the Labour Party and the Unite trade union staged the event as part of their ongoing campaign against the benefit, which they say is causing financial hardship in households across the country.
Today’s event was also aimed at a member of staff at the Job Centre who told LeicestershireLive last month that he believed Universal Credit had ‘changed things for the better’ for those receiving it.
Steve Bruce, 38, a work coach team leader at Leicester’s Wellington Street Job Centre Plus, said: “There are always going to be people who have a negative experience, but we see the amount of good Universal Credit has done and that’s our encouragement to carry on, the proof that it works.
The protestors, who were joined by recently elected city councillors Jacky Nangreave and Gary O’Donnell, said they were not calling for action to be taken against the member of staff but wanted to highlight their disagreement with the points he made in the article.
This is a good story too:
Yet the DWP keeps churning it out:
Ipswich Unemployed Action. 
Good to see some serious protest now against Universal Credit. But this should have done years ago. Before the roll-out was completed. When Labour looked the other way, and the PCS stayed in their office and counted paperclips.
Jeff Smith
June 9, 2019 at 12:32 pm
Trouble is Jeff, what is the protesting really doing ? I see the DWP call-centre people out on strike, nothing happens. Now this parliament stuff. As you say where was all of this years ago ? They’ve spent so much money on Universal Credit are they really going to turn round and say ok we are not doing it any more ?
John Martley
June 10, 2019 at 10:05 am
I absolutely agree with you Jeff, we must never forget that Labour enabled the UC legislation, and we must never let them forget it. Of course, we must also, (cautiously) welcome any new thinking from Labour on social security, but never forget that they are politicians at the end of the day.
John, it is probably too late to get rid of UC, but there is absolutely no reason why the aspects of it that are causing all the grief can’t be dealt with. The application process needs to be made a lot more ‘user friendly’ for those who struggle with using IT, and to do this the government needs to start employing far more JCP+ staff – it’s not right that those struggling to apply need to go to the CAB to get this done. The insane 35 hours of job related activity requirement needs to be got rid of, as does the whole notion of conditionality. The fact that there are a very few people who will ‘live on benefits’ is just something that needs to be accepted by society as a lesser evil. These people would probably not work anyway, and would find other ways of satisfying their needs that might be even more detrimental to wider society. And finally, sanctions need to be abolished, as there is no evidence that they encourage people to find work. Any rational consideration of it would confirm that suffering from hunger cramps, and looking like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards isn’t going to make prospective employers want to give you a job..
Finally, a really caring government would establish a Jobs Guarantee Programme, perhaps something like the Community Programme that existed in the late 70s and for much of the 80s. Not a cheap scheme by any measure, but it could be improved upon by offering high quality accredited training as well as decently paid employment.
sibrydionmawr
June 10, 2019 at 4:22 pm
Did you know that Esther McVey worked hard to mitigate the worst effects of universal credit due to £12 billion of cuts George Osborne made when he was Chancellor?
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/esther-mcvey-claims-worst-effects-16401951
And there we all were thinking that the woman that championed the child tax credit rape clause, bedroom tax, cuts, caps, freezes and stated that she thought that British social security was too generous was quietly working away, like a masked super-heroine, to make life better for people at the bottom of the pile trying to survive on benefits.
Just goes to show you.
Jim
June 9, 2019 at 12:53 pm
Universal Credit is opening up work for thousands of people across the country.
The first words out of a coach in the Jobcentre to someone applying for that benefit was “can you drive?” Universal Credit isn’t going to make any differerence when such demands are treated as expected.
ken
June 9, 2019 at 5:38 pm
ken they live in another dimension like who can afford a driving licence on £73 a week let alone tax and insure a car let alone run one its not like i can afford a electric car either, pmsl.
same with a passport i cant even afford one let alone go on a holiday lol.
but you need both to get uc online with UK Verify and i bet the dwp have known this for years so totally done on purpose just to make it more difficult to put in a claim.
i like to see what the hell there going to do when migration time comes as i sure as hell will not be using the journal as buy law i am not required to own a computer or use the internet to claim benefits, i dont even need a phone number or email address either.
and another point as conditionally sanctions are number two on there hit list why would i use a service that i have to pay for out my benefits then get a sanction and unable to pay for the internet so cant even use the journal its just another way to set you up to fail from the start.
superted
June 9, 2019 at 8:24 pm
Here we go again, up the sanction tree with Superted.
Tom Sutton
June 9, 2019 at 10:49 pm
Here we go again, up the sanction tree with Superted.
https://intensiveactivity.wordpress.com/2019/06/01/universal-credit-cuts-debts-and-secret-penalties/#comments
Sanctions imposed as a punishment for breaking conditions of a claim are clawed back first, then advances that have been paid to tide over claimants in the five-week wait for the first payment.
Here is the list in full:
1. Fraud Sanctions
2. Conditionality Sanctions
3. UC Advance of benefit (New claim or Change of Circumstances)
4. UC Advance of benefit (Benefit Transfer)
5. Budgeting Advance
6. Owner-occupier service charges arrears
7. Rent, including service charges, arrears (minimum deduction rate 10%)
8. Fuel arrears (Gas and/or Electricity)
9. Council Tax or Community Charge arrears
10. Fines or Compensation Orders (minimum deduction rate 5%)
11. Water charges arrears
12. Old Scheme Child Maintenance
13. Flat Rate Maintenance
14. Social Fund loans
15. Recoverable Hardship Payments
16. Housing Benefit and DWP Administrative Penalties
17. Housing Benefit, Tax Credit and DWP Fraud overpayments
18. Housing Benefit and DWP Civil Penalties
19. Housing Benefit, Tax Credit and DWP normal overpayments
20. Integration loan arrears
21. Eligible loan arrears
22. Rent, including service charges arrears (maximum deduction rate of up to a maximum 20 per cent, inclusive of the minimum 10% applied above)
23. Fines or Compensation Orders (maximum deduction rate of up to £108.35, inclusive of the 5 per cent applied above)
s
June 10, 2019 at 12:16 am
THat list is enough for a massive book – horrific!
Andrew Coates
June 10, 2019 at 8:58 am
same with a passport i cant even afford one let alone go on a holiday lol.
To right Superted I haven’t got sir in front of name I might have jsa after it.
ken
June 10, 2019 at 1:03 am
Anyone with a family responsible for children is in a different situation to Superted, who can live in skip for six months eating rubbish just to teach the DWP a lesson.
I thought it was the other way around.
ken
June 10, 2019 at 1:40 am
Superdrug I agree. I’m working yet so scared of UC sanctions I chose not to claim and mover to a room in a shared house which is all I can afford without a top up of benefit. My reasoning being of I got UC they could sanction me and I could possibly lose the roof over my head without said top up
katrehman
June 10, 2019 at 4:55 am
I thought that the housing benefit or rent allowance couldn’t be sanctioned or reduced, other than because of the infamous bedroom tax, only the personal allowance part unless you are working enough not to receive the personal allowance portion at all. Is that correct?
Ro
June 10, 2019 at 9:35 am
Housing Benefit & Council Tax used to be run through the Council with Council headed forms. Not that is all run through the DWP.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 10:57 am
its all being done on purpose the sanctions are just an excuse to save money and are not reasonable they even close ya claim down on you and then you have to go through all the procsses again that should not be allowed. as you have to wait another 5 weeks again . mean time your debts build up ; arreas building up rent gas leccy yu name .
Dawn Porter
June 11, 2019 at 3:18 pm
Well then he won’t mind all the extra ‘case’ load work staff claim they have then will he.
growls
June 10, 2019 at 1:39 pm
Reblogged this on Tory Britain!.
A6er
June 9, 2019 at 7:25 pm
I mean superted so sorry. Predicted text sucks. I’m not insulting u and saying you’re on drugs !!
katrehman
June 10, 2019 at 4:56 am
The worst death I ever witnessed was that of a man dying of lung cancer. I was interning at a public health hospital in Boston. Evidently, people dying behind bars looked bad for prison statistics, so terminally ill prisoners were shipped to my hospital for their final days, even if there was little we could do for them.
It was summer, and the prisoners’ ward had no air-conditioning, at least for the inmates. We doctors could retreat to the chilled confines of the nursing station, but the inmates, handcuffed to their beds, just lay prostrate in the heat on that top floor of the tall, brick building. When they were shuffled down the hall in front of us, ankles chained together, they left a trail of sweat.
The night the man died, I was on one of my thirty-six-hour shifts. We worked 117-hour work-weeks back then. It’s amazing we didn’t kill more people ourselves. Overnight, there were only two of us—myself and a moonlighting doctor who preferred to sleep for his $1,000 pay-check. So most of the time I was on my own to cover the hundreds of patients there, some of the sickest of the sick. It was on one of those nights that, staggering through a sleep-deprived haze, I got the call.Up until then, all the deaths I had seen were those in which the patient was either dead on arrival or had died during cardiac “codes,” when we try desperately, and nearly always unsuccessfully, to resuscitate.
This man was different.
He was wide-eyed, gasping for air, his cuffed hands clawing at the bed. The cancer was filling up his lungs with fluid. He was being drowned by lung cancer. While he thrashed desperately, pleading, my mind was in medical mode, all protocols and procedures, but nothing much could be done. The man needed morphine, but that was held on the other side of the ward, and I’d never get to it in
time, let alone back to him. I was not popular on the prison floor. I had once reported a guard for beating a sick inmate and was rewarded with death threats. There was no way they’d let me through the gates fast enough. I begged the nurse to try to get some, butshe didn’t make it back in time.
The man’s coughing turned to gurgling. “Everything’s going to be okay,” I said.Immediately, I thought, What a stupid thing to say to someone choking to death. Just another lie in probably a long line of condescension from other authority figures throughout his life. Helpless, I turned from doctor back to human being. I took his hand in my own, which he then gripped with all his might, tugging me toward his tear-streaked, panic-stricken face. “I’m here,” I said. “I’m right here.” Our gaze
remained locked as he suffocated right in front of me. It felt like watching someone being tortured to death.
Doctor in the House
June 10, 2019 at 6:18 am
‘Boris Johnson has promised to cut taxes for around 3 million higher earners by raising the 40p threshold from £50,000 to £80,000 if he becomes prime minister, in a move condemned by senior Labour figures.’
The Tories really don’t give a toss. All the hardship and poverty they have caused, the UN report, Universal Credit and all the rest of it. And Blondie is more concerned with tax cuts for high earners. Says it all really.
Jack Reid
June 10, 2019 at 10:14 am
Ro I wouldn’t be entitled to any living expenses money just a top up for rent and council tax
katrehman
June 10, 2019 at 10:34 am
We now have 6 months of propaganda to choose the new failed Tory leader yet the public is not voting for who is to be the Tory leader. The Tory who has taken less drugs will be the winner. The Tory State Sponsored Murders is what they are promoting. The Tory party are suicidal at best. None of the banned cladding has been removed from 100s of tower blocks & are waiting for another Grenfell Tower, in fact it is already happening. The Tories are now the 4th party if lucky. Suicide suicide suicide save the Tory party from suicide.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 10:42 am
Amber Rudd is working hard at Rocket Science Lab with the DWP the consultancy firm that runs all Government Departments apart from the IT systems that are owned by ATOS.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 10:50 am
Michael Gove is Penfold from Danger Mouse with a £50 note rolled up up his nose.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 10:52 am
Do the Tory Chat Bots take drugs or just the people who programmed them !!! There seems to be a protest going on!!!
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 10:54 am
Starvation, desperation and unending kindness: What we learned when we worked a shift at a foodbank
Over the past six years the foodbank has helped feed 25,571 people, of which 9,389 were children
“Some of them are starving.”
The fact that the UK, in 2019, has foodbanks is something that should make us truly ashamed. It is an indictment on society that people simply cannot afford to buy food.
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/foodbank-benefits-universal-credit-16392955
ken
June 10, 2019 at 11:25 am
If there is one thing which stands out as the symbol of this decade of austerity it is the foodbank.
Time was nobody had had ever heard of them in the UK. Now they are everywhere,
Fred G.
June 10, 2019 at 11:41 am
Austerity has forced our most vulnerable into food banks – meet the campaigners fighting back
An increasing number of people within Merseyside are facing food poverty – with one Liverpool food bank reporting a 40% rise in usage
“We’ve become the safety net for the safety net”
“So when someone comes into a food bank, they will often say I’ve got no fuel, I’ve got no gas, I’ve got no electricity.
“So we’ll then have to adapt our food parcel to a ‘cold box’.
The meters running up debts in standing charges.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/austerity-forced-most-vulnerable-food-16355610
ken
June 10, 2019 at 11:31 am
And yet if there is a general election, how many people will vote Tory again ?
Working people. The ones who are most affected by all this austerity.
Francis Brown
June 10, 2019 at 11:36 am
Labour are not helping themselves any with Corbyn. Time for Tom Watson perhaps ? Or Emily Thornberry ?
Andy Harris
June 10, 2019 at 11:46 am
Jezza is good at working a crowd, raising his voice and tub-thumping, trouble is in reality he’s indecisive, dilatory and, let’s face it, intellectually as thick as sh1t. Labour and the country deserve better than Corbyn. The only way Labour can win an election is if a wild card, like the Brexit party, acts as a sink for Tory votes permitting Labour to win on 30% of the vote, possibly even less. The country really shouldn’t end up in the hands of somebody as dull and moronic as Jezza if there’s any justice in the world.
Jay
June 11, 2019 at 5:39 pm
Lets not beat about the bush. This is a government that is forcing people into work.
Norman T.
June 10, 2019 at 11:44 am
More like Sanctions & Food Banks & Poverty leading to death & it all falls under work for the suicide party.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 12:21 pm
All governments do that. The current one is the first one to try to force people into mini-jobs wherever possible, claiming that more people are in work than ever before (more people are working short hours in mini-jobs than ever before) and that work is the best way out of poverty (which it is if you have enough of it to support yourself which of course isn’t the case for those in mini-jobs).
Soothsayer the Sage and Seer
June 10, 2019 at 4:34 pm
It’s high time somebody spelled it out. People are being forced into work. Forced into it, in cold blood.
Ken H.
June 10, 2019 at 7:35 pm
Auto-enrolled into menial jobs at minumum wage. While the DWP prance around flag-waving and singing Hallelujah !
Jack Reid
June 11, 2019 at 11:20 am
The Tories are The Suicide Party weather you like it or not. Human Rights is a Human Rights Issue not a political issue. So voting has no meaning.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 12:23 pm
In what way are your ‘human rights’ being violated, Stepping? Pray do tell. And if it is indeed the case that your human rights are being violated I promise to put a stop to it immediately. You have my word, Stepping.
Best Wishes
Esther McVey MP
Esther McVey MP
June 11, 2019 at 7:45 am
Suicidal Tory Party Chat getting genocide reality.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 11, 2019 at 7:49 am
The Tories are now the 5th most popular party.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 11, 2019 at 7:50 am
The Specials – Vote For Me
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 12:26 pm
The cold nocturnal hours came to an end, while I was listening to the rain.
I opened the door and found that fallen leaves were plentiful.
Zendo
June 10, 2019 at 2:14 pm
The longer Boris waits to be PM, the shorter his haircut.
Andy Green
June 10, 2019 at 2:23 pm
Ushanka, I often think of you,
As I walk in the summer rain,
I wish it were a bit colder,
So I could wear you again.
Norman Farnley
June 10, 2019 at 2:49 pm
Beautiful Norman. At least in a changing world there is still Russian Hat Poetry.
Vivian
June 11, 2019 at 11:34 am
A bit too Hannibal Lecter for me.
Clarice Starling
June 11, 2019 at 5:22 pm
Ushanka is a Russian Hat, Clarice, not a lady. I don’t wear ladies… that was Buffalo Bill… I do other things.
Hannibal
June 11, 2019 at 5:58 pm
Esther McVey for honest principled government.
Piltdown
June 10, 2019 at 4:30 pm
In genocide & suicidal Tory Chat Bots.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 10, 2019 at 4:55 pm
In a pig’s ear.
Nate R.
June 11, 2019 at 1:23 pm
I am in my mid 30s and have applied for a few apprenticeships, would love to see what the job centre say about that one, getting more hours and pay.
myfinalusername
June 10, 2019 at 5:36 pm
A sixty-two year old mate of mine was advised to do an modern apprenticeship by the Jobcentre. True story.
Call me Ishmael!
June 11, 2019 at 5:19 pm
There is no age limit to a modern apprenticeship. One of my mates was half way through a year long one but left is as soon as he retired age 65.
Maggie
June 12, 2019 at 6:42 am
sound like sumfing the dumb as fuck jokecenre would do pmsl
superdrug
June 12, 2019 at 7:10 am
You hear a lot about changing Universal Credit. But what is going to be left if they scrap the 35 Hour Jobsearch and the sanctions from it ?
The whole thing runs on fear of being sanctioned basically. From the DWP point of view, if you make it all voluntary who is going to do what they say?
Alan Turner
June 10, 2019 at 7:47 pm
Decision Summary Information
http://administrativeappeals.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk//Aspx/view.aspx?id=2249
ken
June 10, 2019 at 8:23 pm
If the kind of work the Jobcentre offers was any good and got people out of poverty why would anybody need to be forced under threat of severe sanctions in order to be made to apply for it?
Attila the Gardener
June 11, 2019 at 5:44 pm
At least the UK is not as bad as North Korea where all the males have been forced to get a Kim Jong-un-style haircut – or face public execution. Imagine what the UK would look like if all males were forced to get a Boris Johnson style haircut – or face public execution. And why are Kim Jong-un and Boris Johnson so fat while their respective populations starve?
Sonia
June 11, 2019 at 7:38 am
Perhaps Boris should go for the full Korean ?
Colin
June 11, 2019 at 11:14 am
There is nothing wrong with my haircut.
Dear Leader
June 11, 2019 at 11:38 am
Do bald North Koreans have to wear wigs?
Kim Long Dong
June 11, 2019 at 5:17 pm
Like the rest of my colleagues I have been ‘auto-enrolled’ into a ‘work place pension’. We have been reading about Neil Woodford and can’t just help thinking that someone or someones are talking a huge amount of money from us. Kind of like Neil Woodford pocketing £100,000 a day from his fund (which are primarily pension funds). £100,000 a day is quite a chunk of change when according to this blog some of you are living on £10 a day! We feel like we are being conned!
The head of the UK’s City watchdog has added to calls for the suspended Woodford Equity Income Fund to waive the management fees it bills investors.
Andrew Bailey of the Financial Conduct Authority said Mr Woodford “should consider his position” about the fees.
This came after MP Nicky Morgan said Mr Woodford was taking “a huge amount of money” – reportedly £100,000 per day.
Investors have been unable to put money in or take money out of the fund for more than a week after the suspension.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48591871
Rita
June 11, 2019 at 7:54 am
If would be a right old laugh if Neil Woodward was caught signing on at the same time as he was trousering £100,000 grand a day so he could pocket another £10 a day dole money 😀
Hackney
June 11, 2019 at 7:59 am
Hello! *waves* 😀
Bob & Sue too
June 12, 2019 at 10:37 am
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson has revoked Esther McVey’s ‘Scouse privileges’ as he urges Tory MPs not to choose the welfare slasher as their new leader.
Mr Anderson has taken the unusual step of writing directly to Conservative MPs asking them not to back the former Work and Pensions secretary.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/liverpool-mayor-joe-anderson-revokes-16495908?fbclid=IwAR0Oedn2ktNMxCE6vGPievDamq-8oYzBsZ4lSeJ9XMv3zwlWWFrwoY__1tU
Andrew Coates
June 11, 2019 at 11:19 am
She couldn’t care less about all the welfare cuts and the disaster of Universal Credit.
You see here a self-made, working-class Tory who long ago pulled the ladder up after her.
Jeff Smith
June 11, 2019 at 11:31 am
How do you stop a scouser from breaking into your house? Put a sign up saying “Job Vacancies”
Burt Harbin
June 11, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Hang that sign from 10 Downing Street to put the wind up Esther McVey!
The Voice of Reason
June 11, 2019 at 5:15 pm
I’m 75 years of age, fought in two World Wars, fought the Gerrys on the beaches at Normandy, flew sorties over Germany and these bloody Tories expect me to pay to watch the BBC!
War Veteran
June 11, 2019 at 4:18 pm
I fought in the Crimean War me, led the bleedin’ charge of the Light Brigade
The Tennyson chap never paid me any royalties..
Andrew Coates
June 11, 2019 at 4:48 pm
Eh! The Crimean War ended in 1856 which is 163 years ago which would make you -88 when that war finished!
British Bulldog Doggy Dogg
June 12, 2019 at 6:35 am
Eh! The first world war ended in 1918 which is 101 years ago which would make -26 when that war finished!
British Bulldog Doggy Dogg
June 11, 2019 at 5:14 pm
Today’s 75-year-olds didn’t fight the war – so why do we think they did?
They’ve got no respect, these days.
Today’s 75-year-olds didn’t fight the war – so why do we think they did?
The New Statesman
June 11, 2019 at 6:47 pm
No, you daft chuff it’s the Tory government who decided to stop subsiding this giveaway to pensioners – rich and poor.
It amounts to 18% of the BBC’s budget so the argument that paying people like Linekar and Evans a bit less could cover it is nonsense.
If the BBC closed down BBC’s Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, that wouldn’t begin to cover it. Some might say getting rid of BBC Scotland would be a good thing, I agree it’s not unbiased, but that would change nothing of the English-centric view of the BBC.
The proposed new system is much fairer. Wealthy pensioners pay for their license while poorer pensioners don’t have to.
The elderly have to stop thinking they can push all their expenses onto the shoulders of the young because there’s more and more elderly who are living longer and less young to pay for them.
Big Aggy
June 12, 2019 at 9:37 am
One is most displeased! Orf with the Director General of the BBC’s head!
Her Maj
June 12, 2019 at 9:40 am
We’re wealthy pensioners who in all honesty don’t need a free TV licence, we have enough money in the bank to last us several lifetimes. We took part in this BBC consultation and selected the option to abolish the free TV licence but keep it for those on pension credit. We truly believe this was the right decision. With so many of our young people struggling we just don’t feel it is right or fair that they should be shouldering the burden of wealthy pensioners TV licences.
Martha & Fred
June 12, 2019 at 9:49 am
James Purnell that little shit that devised the Flexible New Deal with David Freud during the fag end of Labour’s last term in office ended up working for the BBC.
Mahershalalhashbaz Chushanrishathaim
June 14, 2019 at 2:31 pm
Disabled benefit appeals that defeat the DWP cost £26m to run – in a single year
The cost of running just one part of the tribunal system shows how benefit tests aren’t just hitting claimants – they’re hurting the taxpayer too
Taxpayers have spent more than £26million in a single year running the appeal court
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/disabled-benefit-appeals-defeat-dwp-16501426
ken
June 11, 2019 at 5:43 pm
Fife fights poverty with new help for council tenants
A £1 million fund is to be made available to help Fife Council tenants who are struggling to cope with the effects of Universal Credit (UC).
https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/article/fife-fights-poverty-with-new-help-for-council-tenants
ken
June 11, 2019 at 6:02 pm
Food bank set up for striking Foreign Office cleaners in dispute over pay
The PCS union claims some maintenance, cleaners and support staff employed by outsourcing giant Interserve haven’t been paid since April
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/food-bank-set-up-striking-16496666
ken
June 11, 2019 at 6:03 pm
Universal Credit is a system based on punishment, not help. Punishment of people for not working.
Gerry Tinley
June 11, 2019 at 9:42 pm
The government is deliberately forcing its own citizens into work.
John Taylor
June 11, 2019 at 9:47 pm
That’s easier then it sounds John,applying for a job is the easy part the problems are generally something the applicant has little or no control over later though no fault of their own for a considerable number of reasons.It looks clear the five week wait was an attempt to see people churn from the system without a payment.the sickening part they are now try to dress this as a myth and its not working.
Twenty or so years ago their wasn’t the internet jungle there is today and was starting to take hold in day to day life,for internet access a subscription had to be paid and a dial up charge on topThe Jobcentre sent people for an interview ok the wages wern’t great then but in some cases someone could just start,it could be today pay more expect more,society is more sophisticated,expectations of people are greater then the job, people are expected to travel further distances I don’t know.However
Hundreds more people approach Portsmouth Citizen Advice amid Universal Credit concern
BEWILDERING rules surrounding a new benefits system plagued by errors have caused hundreds more people to turn a key city service for help, it has been claimed.
Confusion over Universal Credit has forced worried residents to turn to Portsmouth Citizen Advice for support, leaving the organisation struggling to meet the demand.
https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/politics/hundreds-more-people-approach-portsmouth-citizen-advice-amid-universal-credit-concern-1-8959848
ken
June 12, 2019 at 12:51 am
You are talking about the days of the old Labour Exchange, ken. As someone who has worked in recruitment for many decades I can tell you that the recruitment landscape has changed vastly from those far gone days – it is now unrecognisable. As you say the internet has played a big, nay huge part. But the seismic shift came with the advent of the so-called smartphone
I have always maintained that the smartphone came about as for whatever reason it was an imperative that we were all online and the vast bulk of the populace are just too stupid to use a traditional computer. Now we have dumb apps (i.e. a great big teletubbie-style pre-set button to access a website because then again the vast bulk of the populace are too stupid to operate a traditional web browser.) Smartphones are like transistor radios of new with five big presets buttons on top – because the manufacturer knows that is all that customers ever use. You can see that this doesn’t look good for recruitment.
You sound kind of ‘old skool (is that how you spell school? Well, it how the kids all spell it nowadays), ken. You belong to the days when you got a job with an employer for life until you retired and were presented with a carriage clock – like you would need to know the time in your retirement – unless the job hadn’t killed you before then.
The biggest change is the lack of LOYALTY to an employer. The younger generation treat recruitment apps like ‘dating’ apps. They are always looking for a BBD (Bigger Better Deal) and will ‘dump’ an employer in the blink of an eye. To be honest, it was all a lot simpler for the recruiter too, back in the day as you describe. With the coming of modern tech and especially so-called smartphones (it is the phone that is smart and the user who is dumb) recruitment has turned into a nightmare.
Recruitment Consultant
June 12, 2019 at 7:04 am
Very true Ken. Duncan Smith & Co. knew that a long wait for Universal Credit, and a complex online application procedure, would inevitably lead to a large number of abandoned claims. Less claimants, less money paid out.
And even more social justice.
Ken Jarvis
June 12, 2019 at 12:42 pm
It is all part of the 👿 late Duncan Smith’s 👿 👿 👿 devilish 👿 design. It is expected that the five week wait will force you to take the first shitty job that comes along. In the late Duncan Smith’s eyes this was the desired outcome as it would scupper any chance of you ‘becoming dependent on benefits’ (in the long term). The 👿 late Duncan Smith 👿 loathed the idea of anyone ‘becoming ‘comfy’ on benefits’.
The Devil's Tune
June 12, 2019 at 12:58 pm
Universal Credit is a cruel system deliberately designed from the bottom to the top to force the economically inactive into work.
Aazeen
June 12, 2019 at 6:05 am
Yes it is. This can’t be said enough. We have an elected government that is deliberately forcing its own people into work. Even if they don’t want to do it.
Ken Jarvis
June 12, 2019 at 8:16 am
How did we allow ourselves to reach the intolerable situation whereby the State forces it’s own citizens into work – even if they don’t want to!! Universal Credit is straight out of a Dystopian nightmare!!
Offred the Handmaid
June 12, 2019 at 8:41 am
Disgusting Ken, I don’t know how people allow it. Imagine if the government tried to force everyone to do yoga, even if they didn’t want to ?
Andy R.
June 12, 2019 at 8:56 am
Name any government from history when this was not the case?
Winston Winstanley
June 12, 2019 at 4:30 pm
Put like that it sends a cold chill down the spine. Are they really intending to do this ? To make millions of people work for their whole lives ? It’s barbaric.
Charles Gaffley
June 12, 2019 at 6:14 pm
It is disgusting that Hazmat Useless the Scotch so-called ‘Justice’ Secretary has sprung Natalie McGarry, the MP who was jailed for amongst other crimes stealing from a foodbank to blow on a holiday to Spain, from a Scotch dungeon, And this is the same Hazmat Useless who loaned this despicable thief £750. There are absolutely no grounds for an appeal as the Sheriff has clearly explained his reasoning. She even admitted her guilt by pleading guilty for crying out loud. Day in and day out Scotch courts and courts elsewhere in the UK are banging up benefit cheats for failing to declare a couple of quid as the struggle to survive. Yet a despicable thief who was enjoying an MP’s salary whilst she was stealing from a foodbank is sprung from a Scotch dungeon. This clearly shows that there is one law for them a one law for the rest of us. Not to mention that in England & Wales if you make a mistake on a DWP form you will face a £50 ‘administrative penalty’ but up is Scotchland you will face 5 YEARS in a Scotch dungeon. Although kudos to the Sheriff who sent her down, luckily for him the UK or Scotchland doesn’t have the US system where judges have to be ‘re-elected’ every so often or Hazmat Useless would make sure he was out of a job.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-48597033
Wee Nicola Turdgeon.
June 12, 2019 at 8:21 am
It is disgusting that Hazmat Useless the Scotch so-called ‘Justice’ Secretary has sprung Natalie McGarry, the MP who was jailed for amongst other crimes stealing from a foodbank to blow on a holiday to Spain, from a Scotch dungeon, And this is the same Hazmat Useless who loaned this despicable thief £750. There are absolutely no grounds for an appeal as the Sheriff has clearly explained his reasoning. She even admitted her guilt by pleading guilty for crying out loud. Day in and day out Scotch courts and courts elsewhere in the UK are banging up benefit cheats for failing to declare a couple of quid as the struggle to survive. Yet a despicable thief who was enjoying an MP’s salary whilst she was stealing from a foodbank is sprung from a Scotch dungeon. This clearly shows that there is one law for them a one law for the rest of us. Not to mention that in England & Wales if you make a mistake on a DWP form you will face a £50 ‘administrative penalty’ but up is Scotchland you will face 5 YEARS in a Scotch dungeon. Although kudos to the Sheriff who sent her down, luckily for him the UK or Scotchland doesn’t have the US system where judges have to be ‘re-elected’ every so often or Hazmat Useless would make sure he was out of a job!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-48597033
Wee Nicola Turdgeon.
June 12, 2019 at 8:22 am
For the legal eagles:
At Glasgow Sheriff Court today, 6 June 2019, Sheriff Paul Crozier sentenced Natalie McGarry to 18 months’ imprisonment after the accused pled guilty to two charges of embezzlement.
On sentencing, Sheriff Crozier made the following statement in court:
“Before I pass sentence upon you I want it clearly understood that your decision to plead guilty to two out of four charges on this indictment was yours and yours alone, a decision taken, I understand, following legal advice.
“Your pleas of guilty followed a lengthy procedural history in this case both before this court and prior to court proceedings being formally initiated.
“You could have been under no illusions about the allegations that you faced and the steps that you required to take to prepare and present your defence in regard to those allegations.
“From the time of the first diet calling on 21 February 2019 you were well aware that if you maintained your plea of not guilty to the indictment that your trial was scheduled to take place at some point in the period from 23 April until 26 April 2019.
“When the case called on 24 April I was told by your solicitor that he understood that you would be pleading guilty but that he was no longer in a position to act for you and he withdrew from the case. I then, on more than one occasion, offered to continue the case until the following day to allow you further time to consider matters. You declined and insisted you wanted to plead guilty.
“Before you tendered your pleas of guilty I read over the terms of the charges to you as amended and confirmed that you understood each charge. You said that you did and you then pled guilty to charges 1 and 2 only, your not guilty pleas were accepted in relation to charges 3 and 4.
“I did not hear a Crown narrative that day because I was informed by the Crown that you had indicated that there were some matters within the written copy of the Crown narrative, which had been provided to you and your previous solicitor, with which you took issue. I was told that the substance of that written narrative had been provided to you and your first counsel prior to you dispensing with that counsel’s services. The updated written narrative took into account the matters raised by your second counsel and the plea agreed by your former solicitors.
“The case then called on two further occasions at which you were represented by new solicitors and counsel, on one of those occasions you made a motion to withdraw your pleas of guilty which was refused for the reasons given at that time and I heard the Crown narrative on 10 May 2019.I thereafter called for the background reports which are now before me and your counsel indicated that he would address me today on your behalf with the benefit of those reports.
“Turning now to the charges to which you have pled guilty. They are serious not only because of the sums involved, but because of the nature of the organisations from which the sums were embezzled and the position of trust you held in both those organisations and the periods over which the crimes were committed. It is not my intention to rehearse in any detail the narration provided to the court by the Crown on 10 May.
“In relation to charge 1 you manoeuvred yourself into a position of trust in respect of being in charge of the finances of Women for Independence, an organisation of which you were a founding member and ultimately treasurer. You were to all intents and purposes in control of the finances of that organisation and when called upon to discuss those finances, or to report on them to and with other members of the organisation, you delayed or failed to respond.
“I have no doubt that those delays and failures were down to the fact that you were not only incapable of carrying out your function as treasurer appropriately, but also your knowledge that you had used sums of money ingathered from the public and other sources for your own use, whether that was for paying your rent, payments to your husband, payments for Barclaycard Debts, partial payment for a holiday or other lifestyle expenses.
“The money raised for Women For Independence was not only for the purposes of that organisation but for the benefit of others less well off in our society, including Perth and Kinross Foodbank and Positive Prisons, Positive Futures.
“Your deceit extended to the very party which had selected you to stand for the position of MP and whom you represented at Westminster as MP, all as more fully set out in charge 2 and as described to me on 10 May. You were Treasurer, Secretary and Convenor of the Glasgow Regional Association of the Scottish National Party.
http://www.scotland-judiciary.org.uk/8/2210/HMA-v-Natalie-McGarry
Wee Nicola Turdgeon
June 12, 2019 at 8:26 am
“By 22 November 2015 the National Committee of Women for Independence had reached the conclusion that your conduct should be reported to the police. When you heard of this, rather than take responsibility for your actions, your attitude was: ‘Why am I being picked on? What have I done to deserve this?’
“I was told that your stated aim back then, approximately three-and-a-half years ago was to offer to pay any shortfall in Women For Independence finances on the basis that the organisation could reimburse you when you were able to provide outstanding receipts. That has not happened.
“You continued in your deceit by embezzling funds from the Glasgow Regional Association of the SNP. Again you used your position of trust within that organisation to further your ends and satisfy your needs. In the end, the very party who had put their trust in you were left with no choice but to report you to the police.
“From as early as January 2016 you had instructed solicitors and a forensic accountant. However, as in your dealings in particular with Women For Independence, you failed to provide those instructed by you with the information they required to assist you.
“You were detained and interviewed by the police on 27 September 2016 and elected to exercise your right to silence at that time by giving a ‘no comment’ interview.
“I was addressed in mitigation today on your behalf by Mr MacLeod. I was told in particular of your previous good conduct, your medical history and the effect these proceedings have had upon you. With reference to the criminal justice social work report I was told of your personal circumstances and the conclusions in that report concerning future risk of offending.
“What is of note is that at no time throughout the conduct of this prosecution before me has any verification of any of the matters raised in mitigation been provided to me other than when I adjourned this morning to consider all that had been said to me and I was provided with a letter from East Renfrewshire Community Mental Health team dated 1April 2019 asking you to get in contact with them.
“As indicated to your counsel, if he had not raised the matter which resulted, as I understand it from him, in your attendance at hospital this past weekend, I would have agreed to your request as stated within the criminal justice social work report that your pregnancy not be mentioned in court. However, the matter having been raised I asked Mr MacLeod what weight I should give if any to the fact that you, at time of completion of the report, were six weeks pregnant.
“I was told that it gave an insight into your thinking and your family situation. I was urged to impose a non-custodial sentence for all the reasons specified by Mr MacLeod.
“Your fraud and deceit is of the most serious type. You were in positions of trust, albeit voluntary and not paid, and you abused those positions.
“You have, through your conduct, fallen very far short of the standards that the general public should be able to expect from not only those whom they entrust with their hard earned money to use for specific purposes but in your case their elected representative.
“Despite your knowledge of your financial position and the financial irregularities in your dealings with the organisations with which you were involved it is of note that you allowed yourself to be nominated, selected and returned as the Member of Parliament representing the people of Glasgow East constituency and the Scottish National Party from 7 May 2015.
“Your misappropriation of funds occurred between April 2013 and November 2015. Notwithstanding the ongoing investigations and your suspension from the SNP you remained as a Member of Parliament until May 2017.
“I have listened carefully to all that has been said on your behalf in relation to your circumstances and the terms of the reports prepared for me. I have taken into account the effect that your conduct has had in respect of your family and personal life and the consequences that could flow from the sentencing options before me today.
“Criminality of this sort involves multiple breaches of trust as I have described. I am satisfied firstly that your conduct was such that the custodial threshold in this case has been passed.
“I am further satisfied that despite your lack of previous offending and the matters raised on your behalf today and in the reports provided that there is no alternative sentence appropriate for you other than a custodial one.
“You have shown no remorse for your conduct. You have tried to avoid responsibility for your actions throughout, as is demonstrated by your attempt to withdraw your pleas of guilty and your continued denial of guilt in the reports prepared.
“But for your previous good conduct and personal circumstances the sentence to be imposed would have been far greater.
“But for your pleas of guilty the appropriate cumulo sentence would have been 21 months’ imprisonment. That sentence will be reduced to 18 months’ imprisonment to reflect the utilitarian value of your plea.”
Wee Nicola Turdgeon
June 12, 2019 at 8:29 am
Dirty Davey’s down the front
He’s met the coppers there
They’ll take you in ’cause they hate your skin
And you’re dragged away by the hair
It’s a kick in the head and a prison bed
And you tell me it’s the law
Well Davey’s out on two weeks bail
And he’s down the town to score
When it all falls in and he’s pinned by the chin
And they’ve busted every floor
It’s a kick in the head and a prison bed
And you tell me it’s the law
Davey’s down the old gray squat
And he’s lying with his lass
Brick through the pane and he’s out on the lane
With the bailiffs and the glass
It’s a kick in the head and a prison bed
And you tell me it’s the law
The court comes up on a Monday morning
And Davey’s in the dock
He can’t stop his tears when he gets two years
And he can’t turn back the clock
It’s a kick in the head and a prison bed
And you tell me it’s the law
Well Davey’s had it up to here
Banging his head on the wall
So he’s tied his pants to the prison bars
And he’s hung till he’s clear of it all
It’s a kick in the head and a prison bed
And you tell me it’s the law
There’s a law for the rich and a law for the poor
And a law for Dirty Davey
His body’s gone but his soul lives on
Here’s to you Dirty Davey
It’s a kick in the head and a prison bed
And you tell me it’s the law
Corrupt, corrupt from the bottom to the top
And you tell me it’s the law
Corrupt, corrupt from the bottom to the top
And you tell me it’s the law
Corrupt, corrupt from the bottom to the top
And you tell me it’s the law
Corrupt, corrupt from the bottom to the top
And you tell me it’s the law
Levellers – Dirty Davey
Read more: Levellers – Dirty Davey Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Read more: Levellers – Dirty Davey Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Read more: Levellers – Dirty Davey Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Levellers
June 12, 2019 at 8:53 am
Esther McVey has said it’s “right” that people should have to rely on food banks “as times are tough” and that withholding benefits would “teach” people to look for work seriously.
Bart Smartley
June 12, 2019 at 8:54 am
Not had the time to go into this properly but it looks important:
Andrew Coates
June 12, 2019 at 12:09 pm
It could be, if the government decided to do something about the low levels of Housing Benefit.
Many people don’t get even the basic £73 unemployment rate, because they are paying £20 – £25 plus out of it each week, to top up their Housing Benefit. But again, this is just another cut to push people off benefits.
Alan Turner
June 12, 2019 at 12:31 pm
Single mother wins court battle after being forced into homelessness due to housing benefit shortfall
A single mother who was forced out of her home because of a shortfall in housing benefit has won a legal challenge against her local council’s decision to treat her and her children as intentionally homeless.
The woman, known only as Ms Samuels, was using non-housing benefits, intended to cover other living costs like food and clothing, to cover the £35 weekly gap between her housing benefit and her rent.
When she lost her private tenancy, the mother-of-four approached Birmingham City Council for homeless assistance, explaining that she could not meet the shortfall.
Her request was refused and she was told to use her non-housing benefits to plug the shortfall. The council also decided she had intentionally become homeless.
Britain’s highest court has now decided the council’s approach was unlawful.
The court found that it was unlawful to force a tenant to spend money intended for basic daily living needs on their rent because housing benefit had been reduced.
Benefit levels were not designed to provide a surplus above subsistence needs for the family, Lord Carnwath said.
The court decided unanimously that benefit levels provided in respect of children were relevant to assessing what was reasonable by way of their living expenses.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/single-mother-supreme-court-housing-benefit-homeless-children-unlawful-cpag-shelter-a8954936.html
Andrew Coates
June 12, 2019 at 2:31 pm
Why is it that Labour are so deeply useless ?
Political Pundit
June 12, 2019 at 12:33 pm
Jeremy Corbyn and the arse lickers he’s surrounded himself with?
Bush Baby
June 12, 2019 at 4:28 pm
Universal Credit is a lot like a good thrashing at public school. Six of the best.
Percy De Villiers
June 12, 2019 at 1:22 pm
Some of us like that kind of thing.
Harvey 'Spanky' Proctor
June 13, 2019 at 9:23 am
DWP defends first Work and Health Programme job figures
Only about one in five of the disabled and other unemployed people receiving support from the government’s new work programme have so far secured a “job outcome”, according to official statistics.
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/dwp-defends-first-work-and-health-programme-job-figures/
A few days old but relevent.
ken
June 12, 2019 at 5:21 pm
The Work & Health Programme is just another brutal Tory forced-work course. Targeted at sick and disabled people who medically, shouldn’t be working. And who would never have been expected to do so. Until the ‘welfare reforms ‘ of the last few years. No wonder the results are so poor. Most of these people are too sick to work.
Jason Carliss
June 12, 2019 at 6:29 pm
I wonder what “job outcome” means. If the Work & Health Programme is managing to get 20% of its “participants” into genuine worthwhile paid employment I would be very, very surprised indeed.
Sheltie
June 13, 2019 at 9:22 am
I noticed the article says paid extra, hello the person who got the job should be given a % of the outcome
myfinalusername
June 13, 2019 at 10:11 am
Why don’t the Tories scrap the whole DWP & benefits which are not fit for purpose !! Because there are £Billions to be made out of death & poverty. Sanctions are at the core of Universal Credit Welfare reform & is the driving force of targets & profit. The DWP contract with ATOS means ATOS gives the DWP a bung of some £millions on a £500 million a year contract.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
June 12, 2019 at 9:11 pm
Well the work and health programme did not help me, some of the advisors I saw were useless, I don’t count them referring me to do an English function course where I possible meet my future girlfriend as an outcome.
myfinalusername
June 13, 2019 at 10:09 am
A ‘job outcome’ in the Work & Health Programme is work of 16 hours per week at minimum wage for 26 weeks. Or six months self-employment. So we are not talking about permanent jobs here in any sense.
The only ones making money from the WHP are the providers. Snouts in the trough as usual.
Jeff Smith
June 13, 2019 at 10:38 am
I can see why I was pointed to a lot of 16 hours jobs at minimum wage, by reed in partnership, finally graduated with honours out of that place and back on my own to find work.
myfinalusername
June 13, 2019 at 10:42 am
It’s quite easy if they have done some sort of deal with a cleaning company, security firm, care home or some dodgy hotel. Back in the day to achieve an ‘outcome’ and obtain a payment was get your claim stopped for 13 weeks. And that is all those bastards Working Links tried to do.
Holly
June 13, 2019 at 11:14 am
@Holly. If it’s any consolation, Working Links went into administration back in February.
After failing to get a contract for the Work & Health Programme.
(Because of their dreadful results on the previous Work Programme ).
And after a very bad report on their activities as a provider of probation services.
Jeff Smith
June 13, 2019 at 12:13 pm
I hope most of them end up on Universal Chaos, and get “helped” back into work, 4 hours unpaid charity work to “improve their motivation” and get them “back into a routine”, of poverty.
Another Victim
June 15, 2019 at 9:03 pm