Outrage as Homeless to be thrown back into the streets.
This story has been developing all morning.
There is plenty more in the pipeline as evictions are set to start again in June.
More information from contributors, and is more than likely that we know people affected by the above, welcome.
But what we need is to stop this now!
Ipswich Unemployed Action. 
Andrew Coates
May 15, 2020 at 10:18 am
Caught this leak on the news websites just this morning.
It was not encouraging to see the hate spewed in the comments section below by people clearly either not knowing what they are talking about or flat out lying.
How little some people remember we are all just a pay slip or two from that precise position and at a time none the less its more likely than ever.
Your bang on it ended homelessness there and then on the spot. Beyond all reasonable doubt, irrefutable that it was possible all along yet what do we see, government had attempted to slip its reversal under the carpet to councils as perish the thought should enter the publics mind and gain momentum.
It was also a wasted opportunity as they could have while ganged together began seeing if they could have recruited them as key worker volunteers and so helped build them a life, a better reputation and prove much of the bad stigma so often attached to them unfounded for so very many.
Amazing isnt it. Just extended furlough grants (employers dont pay this back) for 3 months more yet collapse and fold homelessness in around a month. I hope someone digs into this as i would like to know exactly how much did it cost each council, what deals were struck and how many hotels,hostels and likes used the virus to gain the financial up handed if at all they did.
Doug
May 15, 2020 at 11:10 am
@Doug – The government had to make the local councils pay the extra housing benefit due. They were supposed to be doing it a couple of months ago.
Barry
May 15, 2020 at 5:39 pm
Sadly we are already seeing a return to ‘business as usual’.The government could use this moment in history to solve the UK homelessness crisis. But instead they are preparing to cut the homeless loose again, in the name of cost-saving. This goes along with clapping for the NHS, then suggesting a 2 year pay freeze. Or forcing the working-class back onto crowded buses and trains. And back to their factories and building sites, despite the obvious risks.
Jeff Smith
May 15, 2020 at 1:18 pm
This is what initially happened, in Ipswich as across the country
Andrew Coates
May 15, 2020 at 4:02 pm
Some of these local councils claim to be broke. And so they are, if you don’t count the reserve funds that they have. These can run into millions of pounds in the case of the larger councils. But they won’t spend this money.
Jack Reid
May 15, 2020 at 5:49 pm
Mind you, all this must be a nightmare for a right-wing, millionaire businessman. Your company going bankrupt, share-prices dropping like a stone. Your staff being paid money not to go to work.
Alan Turner
May 15, 2020 at 5:45 pm
The coronavirus crisis is far from over.
It’s simply wrong to send homeless people back onto the streets.
Yet they anounce two billion to encourage cycling and walking,cycling on main roads is damaging to health because of fumes and not safe because of motorists attitudes.As for the rents Boots stopped paying theirs through the ongoing crisis.Its clearly not safe to lift any restrictions at the moment.Its all to much.Coronavirus,conflict in the EU,Spiralling unemployment which the long term are at the end of the pecking order already, a health crisis and social problems.No one should be forced onto the streets if anything this crisis needs to be learned form and no going back to former times.Somethings gone badly wrong here.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/21/boots-and-matalan-join-list-of-firms-targeted-over-unpaid-rents-since-coronavirus-lockdown
ken
May 15, 2020 at 6:29 pm
Following on from your earlier comment, doug, Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline: ‘The unions are trying to stand in the way. Through the lockdown we have relied on the NHS and other public services – but it will be the private sector who will be relied on to rebuild the economy. In order to achieve that we need schools to reopen so parents can go back to work – and they need a fully functioning public transport system to get there. Every day we are in lockdown the economic hole we are in gets bigger’.”
And now let’s rephrase that:
“Middle class people have been able to take advantage of furlough schemes and remain safely in their homes while working class people, many of whom are key workers, have continued to go to work as they have had no choice in the matter; meanwhile, middle class employers have softened the shock to themselves by laying off casual and zero hours contract workers and forcing them onto Universal Credit while taking advantage of the generous loans offered by the government to support their businesses. However now we’re starting to see a hit to the economy (caused by the government not locking down sooner, which would have meant we were out of lockdown sooner and back in our economic feet, rather like New Zealand) we want to return to normal with the working classes supporting the economy and bearing the brunt of the Covid19 second wave.”
Cannon Fodder
May 15, 2020 at 6:48 pm
Yep, all those Tory austerity policies over the last 10 years. For nothing, All the misery, the unemployment, homelessness, brutal welfare cuts, for nothing. No savings of any kind, a total financial disaster.
Nathan
May 15, 2020 at 7:08 pm
At least there is a genuine political opposition now in parliament. Which is more than you can say for Jeremy and the Corbynites.
Graham H.
May 15, 2020 at 7:15 pm
Got to agree. Sir Keir’s dogged, determined forensic approach is a welcome change to Corbyn and his “Mable from Runcorn wants to know what the prime minister is doing to protect meals on wheels services” horseshit approach.
Mable from Runcorn
May 15, 2020 at 7:56 pm
Good points, The council reserves held by Tory Suffolk County Council (not the Labour Ipswich Borough one) are a case in point.
The story keeps appearing:
Andrew Coates
May 15, 2020 at 7:16 pm
BBC now covering the story:
Andrew Coates
May 15, 2020 at 9:20 pm
Back to the Mail again:
“Another critic said: ‘We’re starting to get the Unions and Labour playing into this trying to be as awkward and obtuse as possible. Using the national crisis as an opportunity to bring down the Govt by spreading confusion. It’s contemptible’.
17 Labour MPs, including former leader Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, have today signed a letter backing the unions and claiming: ‘Last night’s statement by the Prime Minister was a thinly veiled declaration of class war’.”
Deary, deary me, as Granny Weatherwax would say. Surely that should read:
“Labour is attempting to perform its duty in opposition by challenging the government in its failings and standing up for the rights of the common working person who is being sent back into work in a situation where there is no test-trace-track in place.
Who is being sent back into a situation where the guidelines are deliberately unclear to allow the government the maximum opportunity to wriggle out of responsibility for any second wave – because by using “stay alert” as a slogan, the implication is that if you catch Covid19, you clearly weren’t alert enough and that’s all on you, nothing to do with the government at all.
Who is being sent back into a situation where a second wave of Covid19 infection is going to happen, and, while the furlough scheme has been extended, allowing middle class people who are its beneficiaries to remain home and play golf and tennis, the working classes will be back labouring for their benefits and dying for them. But that’s not class war, no, it’s just the way things are. After all, really worthy people are not poor and/or working class. If they were worthy, they wouldn’t need to perform all these low status, low skilled jobs. They would be middle class. (And white, probably.)”
Back to the Mail:
“Rhondda MP Chris Bryant said: ‘It’s difficult not to conclude that working class workers are expected to go to work whilst middle class workers work from home. But the ‘new normal’ can’t just be a repeat of the old divide. Surely?’.”
You know what? He’s not wrong. And yes, it can. Because we all know who profits from a return to the status quo. “Cui bono”: to whom the benefit, is the question asked when investigating a crime. The benefit here is not to working people, as the Mail reports:
“Trains and Tube services were busier today after Mr Johnson said those who can’t work at home should now go into work – most appeared to be in the construction industry heading to building sites in central London.
The Government is already facing bitter rows with transport unions about increasing the number of buses and trains towards normal levels and teaching unions about plans to reopen primary schools from June 1.”
Yes, that would be because we do not have a means of protecting those workers. And while the tubes and trains are busy with those who work unprotected, while those workers are flooding the Necropolitan and Infection Cycle lines, those who play with the money put into the economy by the workers, are safe at home:
“But office and banking districts such as the City of London and Canary Wharf were largely deserted.”
The Mail is so sorry for the government:
“Lockdown confusion reigned on Monday as Dominic Raab insisted the government is not urging workers to return until Wednesday – despite Boris Johnson suggesting otherwise last night and millions of people taking to roads and rail.
The PM sparked a furious backlash in his crucial TV address to the nation by insisting that he was urging everyone who cannot work from home to go back to their jobs this week. Labour and unions raged that millions of people were being told to resume their duties with just 12 hours’ notice and no health and safety in place to protect from coronavirus.
In a letter to Business Secretary Alok Sharma, shadow business secretary Ed Miliband and shadow employment rights minister Andy McDonald said they were ‘deeply concerned’ about the recommendation that staff unable to work from home should go back to work.
They said: ‘Every worker deserves to work without fear. Without clear rules in place for workplaces, this cannot happen. Ordering a return to work in manufacturing and construction with 12 hours’ notice and no official guidance on how workers can keep safe is irresponsible and wrong.’
What is wrong with what Labour and the unions are saying? Why are their words being presented as some dereliction of an imagined duty to support the government through this crisis and not “play politics” but to “play the game”: we are not on the playing fields of Eton. This “game” is played for lives and deaths: the pawns on the chessboard have hearts. And they have families who need them alive.
Why is it somehow disloyal to the government to ask for workers to be able to work “without fear?”
The unions “raged” did they? And so they should: they should “rage against the dying of the light” as Dylan Thomas puts it, because the government is asking its people to “go gentle into that good night” to go quietly and uncomplainingly to their deaths so that businessmen in the city can make a profit from them. There was a “furious backlash” against Johnson, was there? That would be because thinking people prefer not to be cannon fodder, especially not in order to win someone else’s profit battle.
Labour added, and this question has still not been answered:
“They added: ‘The Prime Minister said tonight he wanted workers to avoid public transport and use cars, bicycles or walk to work but did not explain how. What if none of those are viable options?'”
What if, indeed. “Just die, already, peasants.”
The rest of the Mail article reports Keir Starmer’s comments in the situation. It is anodyne, but again, it implies that by criticising or pushing the government, Labour is politicising the situation: it is making political capital out of the crisis to embarrass or bring down the government:
“Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Government’s latest strategy is not based on political consensus. Speaking to Sky News, Sir Keir said: ‘What I really wanted, I pushed them on this last week, I said ‘build a consensus around the plan before you deliver the plan’ that’s been delivered this evening. ‘Because I think the public are very scared and anxious about what comes next. They want reassurance.
‘And if they can see political parties, employers, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland all broadly on the same page – that helps with reassurance and confidence.
‘But I’m afraid we’ve arrived tonight without that.
‘Now, you know, that’s a duty then, on all of us, to see whether we can provide that going forward. But that basic consensus that I was arguing for, I don’t think is there tonight.’
Sir Keir Starmer also told Sky News that the Labour Party had pushed the Government to ‘speed up’ its response to the pandemic.
He added: ‘We pushed the Government on lockdown, we pushed them on testing, we pushed them on PPE. ‘Now we pushed and challenged with the purpose, which was to try to get them to speed up. And I said that under my leadership we’re not out to score party political points. So it was to get them to speed up and to ramp up.'”
This article is a typical example of how the government and the media persuades and cozens the working class to collude happily in its own destruction. These sheep aren’t being driven to the abattoir. They’re driving themselves.
And meanwhile, while our very own Nero has fiddled his way through this crisis, doing, as Gilbert says in Iolanthe “nothing in particular” and, in fact “did (that nothing) very well” from the beginning; failing to action the results of Operation Cygnus, failing to listen to the WHO, failing to be involved in the EU procurement scheme for ventilators and PPE, failing to ramp up testing and production of tests, and production of PPE from British companies, failing to understand that you can’t just hand over procurement to your mates (anyone actually seen a Dyson ventilator in action?) failing to issue the lockdown order soon enough, failing to operate the lockdown strictly enough, failing to give clear signals on ending the lockdown, failing to recognise the grave nature of the pandemic, failing to take responsibility for all these failings, failing to recognise that it is failing, and, no doubt, failing to deal with the second wave when it arrives; while this Nero fiddles, Rome burns:
Cannon Fodder
May 15, 2020 at 7:30 pm
The least advantaged in society must not be driven back to work to die.
Do not hold your breath though . And “do not go gentle into that good night, but rage against the dying of the light.”
Cannon Fodder
May 15, 2020 at 7:47 pm
The issue is that with spiralling debt and economy contraction, there really isn’t any other way to manage the crisis. At its most simplistic level, there are two ways of balancing a budget: reduce costs, or increase income.
So austerity is reducing costs. What about increasing income?
At the moment, increasing income is difficult. But it’s the government’s view that it has to be done, and done quickly. The working classes are being encouraged back to work. The government requires it, and it’s making it clear that, despite the issues, it must happen.
What is the government view? It is instructive in this context to look at the Mail’s coverage. (No, really. It actually is: here we have a classic example of the way in which a newspaper owned by extremely rich people encourages the very much poorer people who read it to immolate themselves on the altar of profit by making themselves guinea pigs for the concept of herd immunity, and risking a second wave of the virus, in the service of the government.
Notice the demonising of the unions – which exist to protect the rights of the working class people who will be reading the Mail as they travel maskless and unprotected to unsafe workplaces to work there without PPE and proper precautions to make a profit for people such as the owners of the very newspaper that lauds a government that is happy to take away their lives.
Notice the way in which Labour is accused of accusing of “class war” a government which is, in effect, utilising class war insofar as it’s the working classes who are going to be doing the dying, like the private soldier of WWI, while the generals remained safely behind lines.
Yes, the irony is incredible, the delusions under which people labour infinitely depressing and distressing, and the deception practised upon these people is iniquitous. There’s enough irony here to build a foundry. Or a monument, perhaps, to those who will die.
The bosses will not die to protect an economy that keeps them in the manner to which they have no intention of becoming unaccustomed.
The workers will.
The article:
“Labour and the unions have today been accused of ‘creating obstacles’ and ‘standing in the way’ of the private sector to prevent the lockdown easing as they claimed Boris Johnson has ‘declared a class war’.
The Prime Minister has been accused of putting Britain’s working classes ‘in danger’ by ‘recklessly’ urging them to go back to work if they can’t work from home.
Unite chief Len McCluskey has suggested that people should ignore the Prime Minister’s advice and stay at home or walk out of their workplace until the Government publishes full guidance for employers. The Tube unions have threatened to shut down the network if it gets too busy.”
Let’s rephrase that:
“Labour and the unions are trying to protect the working classes from the rapacity and indifference of those who see them as cannon fodder for Covid19. The government is, in fact, acting “recklessly” and putting people “in danger”, but by putting those comments in quotes, let’s imply that there is no recklessness, no danger, and that anyone who says there is is wrong. It’s all fine, really it is.
Cannon Fodder
May 15, 2020 at 8:20 pm
“herd immunity” isn’t a concept, it’s a reality.
Billy Boyne
May 16, 2020 at 3:52 pm
You mean like the herd immunity we aquired against polio, smallpox and measles? Herd immunity without a vaccine is a fantasy.
bob
May 18, 2020 at 2:57 am
Andrew Coates
May 16, 2020 at 5:24 am
Update from the world of work namely in a school: everyone in mine is up in arms about the return, we are a primary. We have a large proportion of vulnerable and SEN kids, the school I work in and indeed area I live in too is covid hotspot for our town due to 3 or 4 generations living together. At the moment around 20 of these kids…the vulnerable and keyworkers kids are going in. Social distancing isn’t happening and it won’t even if schools do re open.
There’s real anger that we are told we can’t see our families yet we are expected to look after all these kids. Some ppl with kids from other relationships aren’t seeing those kids for fear of spreading covid.
I’m a school cleaner in my mid 50s and we are more vulnerable apparently in this age group more of us die if we contract covid. At the moment we are deep cleaning after the site team did a complete new paint job and we feel safe.
I’m also a Union officer and last night got the email with the official letter we are advised to send in protest about this,
Before schools closed ours was chaos if a child so much as coughed they were sent home along with siblings to self isolate. .then parents brought them back 2 days later, this will all happen again if we do go back.
Teaching unions are told to take responsibility like shop workers and bin men and bus drivers have well I’m sorry! All these people do amazing jobs and I have so much respect for them all, but shop staff are mostly behind screens with social distancing in place bin men are outside where the virus acts differently. And school cleaners pick up dirty tissues and do all sorts of nasty stuff.
The government just want ppl back to work, there’s no scientific evidence it’s safe to re open, you’re right on this blog it’s business as usual, let’s kick the homeless back on the streets and save on their rent money, let’s wean ppl off furlough they never asked for a pandemic anyway but still…
I don’t even watch the briefing on TV anymore, , I just end up swearing at the tv, how can they say they protected care homes when they were discharging ppl back from hospital into the homes untested and staff don’t have proper PPE..?And now R is probably nearer but that’s probably factoring in care homes so let’s re open schools…
I said to a teacher at work the govt spent about 500 billion bailing banks out furlough is costing about 8 billion a month …
Sorry for the rant. Welcome back Mr Coates and stay safe all
katrehman
May 16, 2020 at 8:42 am
Thanks, that is a really important post, better than most press reports!
Andrew Coates
May 16, 2020 at 10:04 am
Thank you Mr Coates…..
katrehman
May 16, 2020 at 11:24 am
I should also add that my comments apply to ALL workers all should feel safe and shouldn’t go back if it isn’t safe and all should feel safe. Sadly people will go back because they’re fearful they will be sacked if they don’t, and I hope shop and bin staff do feel safe. I just feel there are safeguards put in place there that aren’t in schools….we can’t clean from behind a screen or tell a 5 year old stand 2m away,,
katrehman
May 16, 2020 at 8:48 am
Does anyone have any figures on how much the pandemic has affected private landlords? My adorable version of Rachman has several HMO properties, in the one I live in its 10 ppl 2 couples 6 singles. I’m the only Brit born . Everyone here has paid in full every month. Our beloved compassionate Rachman was telling the others only native Brit born such as myself were entitled to a rent break as it were. He then went on to say I had been paying because “kat knows the law”! He is not a native Brit and is scared of authority because the council have caught him and fined him for unsafe practices including letting illegal too small rooms. I was so furious to be so discussed (I paid because I’d been fully paid) I told him he had broken the data protection act and the financial conduct standards and he’d breached my privacy and human rights namely the right to a private life! The prat believed me. I advised the other tenants of their actual rights….
katrehman
May 16, 2020 at 9:00 am
Here’s a recent article from the Graun, though not sure why it has critical slant towards Labour:
“The UK must freeze private rents now – or thousands will be made homeless”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/12/uk-freeze-private-rents-homelessness-coronavirus-labour
trev
May 16, 2020 at 11:21 am
Thank Trev will check this out…x
katrehman
May 16, 2020 at 11:25 am
This was from just a couple of weeks ago:
“It has taken a pandemic to reveal a glimpse of how Manchester’s homeless crisis might finally be solved”
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/sleep-luxury-hotels-others-beg-18166536
trev
May 16, 2020 at 11:15 am
How you spending that extra £20 a week you get on Universal Credit, Trev ?
Billy Boyne
May 16, 2020 at 3:55 pm
I’m not on UC, I’m on JSA so don’t get the extra 20 quid.
trev
May 16, 2020 at 4:37 pm
Reblogged this on Tory Britain!.
A6er
May 16, 2020 at 11:46 am
Opposing lockdown is not profits before people.
https://off-guardian.org/2020/05/12/opposing-lockdown-is-not-profits-before-people/
Violet
May 16, 2020 at 12:09 pm
Oh yes it is ! In the end this was always going to come down to two choices. Extend the lockdown and take the economic damage . Or go back to work early, and take the inevitable extra casualties instead.
Alan Turner
May 16, 2020 at 12:40 pm
Totally agree.
Billy Boyne
May 16, 2020 at 3:56 pm
Opposing lockdown is the dumbest thing anyone can do and ultimately very selfish and misguided. It’s not only for your own good it’s to protect others too.
trev
May 16, 2020 at 4:35 pm
Bill Gates on the coming covid vaccine:”you don’t have a choice ”
Cloverleaf
May 16, 2020 at 12:17 pm
Only the brainwashed sheeple support lockdown… Lockdown is bloody prison language, when the prisoners are all locked down in their cells.. The whole planet will become a prison unless people start waking the f*ck up!
Tigerlily
May 16, 2020 at 5:47 pm
If we hadn’t followed a lockdown procedure the virus would have spread like wildfire and there would have been many more deaths, perhaps half a million or more in the UK rather than the current 60,000
trev
May 16, 2020 at 6:41 pm
Steve Topple , 13th May 2020
4,760 claimants died between the DWP referring their case to, and it returning from, an assessment provider.
73,800 claimants died within 6 months of registering their claim.
17,070 claimants died after registering but prior to the DWP making a decision on their claim.
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2019/01/14/the-dwp-has-admitted-21000-people-died-waiting-for-benefits/
dwp is kicking the cov19 ass death wise and if you go back a few years on the ons web site you will find this is no worse than a bad flu season of 0.03% death rate.
its like putting out a small house fire with a nuclear missile the cure is worse than the cause.
and you watch buy the end of the month deaths will be near zero.
if there was a real deadly virus millions would be dead as you can not have controllable virus it is just bs to brain wash the sheeple.
and i have changed nothing i do every day and carry on as normal same as most round here and no one is dropping like fly’s funny that lol.
and you cant keep printing money forever something has to change and this could just be the start of it all and will not end well for anyone esp benefit claimants.
superted
May 16, 2020 at 7:31 pm
“if there was a real deadly virus …”
“it is just bs to brain wash the sheeple.”
“i have changed nothing i do every day and carry on as normal…”
I am shaking my head in disbelief at the utter stupidity and sheer arrogance of what you have just written. Gawd help us *rolls eyes*
trev
May 16, 2020 at 7:54 pm
Rolls eyes, rolls brain, and thinks of the Ipswich hard drinkers hanging round with tinnies near Manning’s pub on the Corn Hill, waiting for it all to blow over.
Andrew Coates
May 16, 2020 at 9:07 pm
trev dont worry m8 mr bill gates will cure you with his anti virus you can watch all about it here. https://londonreal.tv/
the bbc is the tory propaganda unit if you tell a lie so many times ppl will start to believe it is real.
the lock down will kill more ppl in the long run and the dwp death rate will go up just wait and see.
superted
May 16, 2020 at 8:13 pm
Point taken about the BBC, Politically speaking it is generally a pro-Tory Establishment mouthpiece, but the rest is idiotic nonsense. An effective vaccine is the thing we really need. The Coronavirus is no hoax. The official death toll is incorrect, according to a report by the Financial Times it is close to 60,000 so far, and the FT are no mugs. By not adhering to lockdown and hygiene recommendations or safe social distancing you are endangering everyone else. I think the lockdown should have started sooner and needs to continue for longer, until a vaccine is available. In the meantime the Government should impose Martial Law and those breaking the rules should be shot.
trev
May 16, 2020 at 8:38 pm
in 2019 on avg 1400 ppl died per day anyway ons stats the guy that came up with the computer model said 500.000 could die.
that is double the normal avg deaths per day and they guy that came up with that figure was shagging another blokes wife in lock down so he did not give a crap lol.
if i done what the dwp have told me to do id be dead in a box long ago and sanctioned to death.
paul shepherd
May 16, 2020 at 8:59 pm
@ Tigerlily- How can anyone be so stupid as to post rubbish like this about the .
Get a life Tiger, and a brain.
Joyce
May 17, 2020 at 6:55 am
@paul shepherd, the virus has already killed over 30,000 people and counting. Probably more like 50,000. This is no hoax, but as @trev says,a genuine emergency.
Garry
May 17, 2020 at 7:02 am
Amazing how this deadly pandemic is being officially shrugged off by the ruling classes. They have run out of patience with it. And now it’s everyone back to work before they lose any more money.
Jeff Smith
May 16, 2020 at 12:35 pm
@ Jeff Smith: Too right Jeff mate ! And you’ll see them now backing off from a lot of the stuff like the furlough scheme.
Darren
May 16, 2020 at 1:00 pm
Everytime monstergates says the word vaccine, his microsoft c*ck gets a little bit harder… All these b*stards pushing for a vaccine have got a vested interest in them, including our own sh*tty government!
Tigerlily
May 16, 2020 at 12:40 pm
The irony is that only a few weeks ago, people were saying that this pandemic would result in a new society,
A kinder, more caring society, where everyone had a good home and enough money. And where the rich decided to share their wealth with those less fortunate than themselves.
Tom Sutton
May 16, 2020 at 12:57 pm
Given that all of our Jobcentres are unique it isn’t possible to design a generic
approach for the customer use of toilets on our premises that will ensure we
meet our obligations. It is therefore important that each Jobcentre or DWP
customer facing office risk assess the impact of granting our customers
access to toilets for their particular office and handle these situations and
issues on a site by site basis. Customer access to toilets must be factored into
the Jobcentre Customer Facing Risk Assessment (JCFRA) process for each
site. To be clear the use of toilets is not for general customer use but
considerations must be in place for every Jobcentre/ DWP customer facing
office so staff are prepared for when these situations arise.
We have no recorded information regarding the access to drinking water.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/access_to_toilets_in_jobcentre
yet if you told ppl that they would never believe you they told me to go take a dump in the park last time i asked 😉
superted
May 16, 2020 at 1:14 pm
@superted – No doubt we’ll have the full monty when we get back to the JC. They will be up to their necks in claimants.
Pete
May 16, 2020 at 2:00 pm
Violet
May 16, 2020 at 1:18 pm
https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2020/05/11/the-chinese-system-comes-to-america/
Tigerlily
May 16, 2020 at 2:14 pm
The Chinese model will be coming to all Western countries soon enough and with it the dreadful Social Credit System, Universal Credit is the forerunner to what’s coming next.
Cloverleaf
May 16, 2020 at 2:28 pm
I prefer to remain positive Cloverleaf, and look on the bright side. Universal Credit is the forerunner of Unconditional Basic Income. UC will fail and be transformed into something less punitive and more equitable.
trev
May 16, 2020 at 4:03 pm
UBI will be a temporary measure to pacify the people while they restructure the way the world works to more efficiently enslave us, and where is all this money coming from the magic money tree?
Cloverleaf
May 16, 2020 at 4:56 pm
There’s plenty of money, as we have found out over the last couple of months, it’s just a question of rearranging it, redistributing the wealth. If anyone should want to attempt to further enslave us they will fail. All corrupt and unjust systems shall crumble as they are based upon a lower vibration and cannot withstand the higher vibration that the planet is in the process of shifting to now that we are entering the Aquarian Age.
trev
May 16, 2020 at 6:37 pm
@cloverleaf: There has always been a Magic Money Tree, But most of the time the government use financial magic to keep it invisible. Where do you think the £300 Billion pounds is coming from ? This isn’t Ethiopia or Haiti, or some other third-world poverty-stricken country. This is the 6th Richest Country in the World !
Jacob Marley
May 16, 2020 at 6:33 pm
@trev – Staying positive is important. There are more than enough doom and gloom merchants around.
Terry
May 16, 2020 at 11:10 pm
Back To Basics for the Tories:
‘ Priti Patel has sparked anger by refusing to cut or axe the huge fees paid by foreign healthcare workers to help fund the NHS – just three weeks after promising to “review” the controversial charges.
It means the immigration health surcharge is still due to soar from £400 a year to £624 from this October – to be and extended to all EU citizens from next January, when Brexit is completed.
Because it is also paid by spouses and children, the total cost can reach a crippling £8,000 for a family of four on a five-year work permit, or with limited leave to remain in the UK.’ – Independent
So after weeks of clapping for NHS carers, now they are going to made to pay for the right to be on the coronavirus front line. !! Absolute disgrace.
Tom Sutton
May 16, 2020 at 2:35 pm
The 300 billion comes courtesy of the central bankers oh and by the way this **** hole country has been bankrupt since world war 2
Cloverleaf
May 16, 2020 at 7:01 pm
@jacob marley – You are right Jacob. This country has billions of pound in assets. Nothing to do with any central bankers. And we long ago cleared all WW2 debt. You can’t function as an economy without some degree of soverign debt. But make no bones about it, if they shake the money tree, there is a lot more that could be had. But the Tories are sick to the stomach of paying out state aid. Which they see as virtual socialism. Something which they will never stand for.
Tom Sutton
May 16, 2020 at 11:02 pm
I get the distinct feeling the Tories have put the lid back down on the cashbox and turned the key !
Jeff Smith
May 16, 2020 at 2:40 pm
That’s not what Boris is saying Jeff. Maybe he has been transformed by his NDE or replaced by a Walk-in?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/15/boris-johnson-no-public-sector-pay-freeze-no-austerity-uk-emerges/
trev
May 16, 2020 at 4:08 pm
i had the letters yesterday to start paying back my new budgeting loan starting next week.
superted
May 16, 2020 at 4:50 pm
@trev – Yes maybe, like Kim Jong Un ? Or indeed, Churchill during the war. But assuming it is the real Boris, if the Telegraph is right perhaps he has decided a public sector pay-freeze is too risky. Certainly it would be political dynamite if he tries this on with the NHS medical staff.
Jeff Smith
May 16, 2020 at 6:24 pm
@ superted. Let’s face it Ted the honeymoon had to end sometime.
Barry
May 16, 2020 at 6:35 pm
they never stopped taking it anyway bar 1 payment it is all bs they do not give a shit if we live or die esp the dwp.
when the jcp offices open back up they are going to turn the conditionality up to 11 you watch as it is the only option they have left make 1 slip up and prepare for sanctions even if 1min late.
you wont be getting a cup of tea and a iced bun and a friendly chat for 30mins thats for sure.
superted
May 16, 2020 at 6:49 pm
I applied online for a Budgeting Loan in April (received it on 22nd April) and it said online after I submitted my application that repayments are currently suspended and won’t begin to be taken until “at least July”.
trev
May 16, 2020 at 7:00 pm
i guess ill find out next week or why bother to send the letters in the first place lol.
superted
May 16, 2020 at 7:07 pm
DWP faces pressure for Universal Credit reforms on advance loans and one-year rise
“There is no way that the legacy benefits system would have been able to cope with this pressure.”
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/dwp-faces-pressure-universal-credit-18259607
superted
May 16, 2020 at 9:21 pm
pic test
superted
May 16, 2020 at 9:32 pm
yay it works only took me ten years i got there in the end with a bit of help 😉
superted
May 16, 2020 at 9:44 pm
superted
May 16, 2020 at 9:51 pm
‘A cleaner has allegedly been sacked after refusing to go into work without PPE amid the coronavirus crisis.
Gustavo Mateus Acosta, 61, who worked in the Tower Bridge area of London, claims he felt ‘extremely unsafe’ at work after spending two months begging Atalian Servest to provide masks and gloves. ‘- Metro
Pete
May 17, 2020 at 8:06 am
At present, both the Chief Executive of NHSX and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care have avoided answering the question of whether use of biometric technology like the Track and Trace programme and the Immunity Passport will be voluntary or mandatory. However, it has been suggested that unless a significant proportion of the population downloads the app containing this technology — with the figure of 60 per cent being advanced — it won’t fulfil its function. After a voluntary stage, therefore, in which the relevant app is uploaded by tech consumers and those terrified by the media, we can anticipate its employment being a condition of entering public places for which there are or can be security guards, such as a supermarket, park, gym, library, cinema, pub, restaurant, hotel, gallery, museum, concert hall, football ground or place of worship; or of using public services, such as buses, trains, planes, post offices, clinics, hospitals, housing offices, homeless hostels, jobcentres, benefit-claimant or immigration offices; and above all as a condition of entering a place of work or study, whether factory, warehouse, work site, call centre, office, lecture hall or classroom. Doing so will require proof of immunity to the coronavirus. Finally, when its use has become the ‘new normal’, the uploading of the app, the submission of the biometric data and the creation of the digital identity it requires will be made mandatory on the basis that the number of people using the app is insufficient to safeguard the public against infection. This will then be rolled out with yet more regulations or amendments to legislation imposing increased fines and further prosecution for any person failing to comply, along with the police powers necessary to enforce compliance.
Not only will a person’s access to work, to entertainment, to public life, to other people, their freedoms of movement, assembly and association, be determined and controlled by their ongoing submission of their biological data to a testing and tracking device that monitors their every move and interaction through every moment of their lives, but any deviation from the instructions they receive from the monitors of these devices, any failure to update further technology or upload additional data — or any other deviation from Government directives, including political protest, dissenting speech or refusal to obey or implement any bio-security or anti-terrorist measures — can be punished by the simple recourse of removing their access to all public places and services, their place of employment, even their place of accommodation. US property technology companies are already using the supposed threat of COVID-19 to implement biometric access controls and facial recognition entry systems to screen tenants in restricted access buildings, the surveillance of gated communities, and to compile and extend data bases on the population. With very little change to existing technology and legislation in the UK, any dissenting person could effectively be made an ‘unperson’, to use George Orwell’s prophetic term, as well as potentially charged with, for example, ‘endangering the lives of others’. We shouldn’t forget that coughing at key workers or members of the public by someone claiming to have coronavirus is now categorised by the Crown Prosecution Service as assault punishable by up to 12 months in prison. It’s a small step from there to prosecuting someone for refusing to confirm whether they have coronavirus. Indeed, under existing powers, a police constable, community support officer, or anyone designated by a local authority or the Secretary of State, can compel a person they suspect ‘has, or may have’ coronavirus to be tested, so the legislation to make the use of this app mandatory is already in place.
Carol
May 17, 2020 at 9:53 am
This seems like a good idea.
Fan Lee Chang
May 17, 2020 at 2:57 pm
I didn’t know teachers kept guinea pigs, they are starting a band call The Labs Rats.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
May 17, 2020 at 10:03 am
Matt Hancock’s Hankie.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
May 17, 2020 at 10:04 am
Recall Lockdown – Are there enough people at G4S to do the Job !!
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
May 17, 2020 at 10:05 am
The Homeless can now go on Universal Credit with the big DWP promotion last year.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
May 17, 2020 at 10:07 am
There are still no toilets in the Job Centres which it breaking health & safety laws having public toilets in a public building. Let’s have a big shit on the Job Centre floor for the NHS & save them time.
Stepping Razor Sound Plate System
May 17, 2020 at 10:09 am
Uk police terrorist deliberately snaps innocent mans hip in unlawful arrest.
Violet
May 17, 2020 at 11:11 am
These selfish, self-centered, anti-lockdown protestors are a disgrace. Like the anti-vax morons.
Evangeline
May 17, 2020 at 2:53 pm
This is what us left-wingers think of them:
Andrew Coates
May 17, 2020 at 3:27 pm
Oh yes let us all just clap and bang pots while the criminals steal what’s left of our liberties and ultimately our lives… What a monumental moron you are!
Tigerlily
May 17, 2020 at 5:50 pm
I agree Andrew, it’s obvious that a decision has been made by those in power to start taking additional casualties, in order to save the economy.
Jeff Smith
May 17, 2020 at 5:56 pm
@Tigerlily – Still at your troll games ? You and the other morons who pretend there is no pandemic are the real fools in this. Along with the deluded idiots who put their selfish pleasures above everyone else’s lives.
The lockdown remains an important part of controlling the virus in this time of national emergency.
No-one is trying to ‘take your life’ you right-wing cretin, or any of your alt-right friends.
Tom Sutton
May 17, 2020 at 6:02 pm
Well said!
I seriously thought these cretins would shut their bleeding gobs up with this happening.
How many of us have family, relations, friends, working in the NHS or as carers and other related jobs?
I could name a fair number off the top of my head.
Are they hoaxers?
Andrew Coates
May 17, 2020 at 8:53 pm
let us all just clap and bang pots
Personally that clapping I never went along with,The trouble with the virus is that until it affects your life your one of those that can easily think what is the problem.They could perhaps track people through card transactions or a library card for example,most people leave a card trail these days for but numbers need to be low and that would be time consuming and then theres the homeless.The app’s hit and miss if theres no smartphone then what? and someone has to sign up for the idea in the first place,not everyone is tech minded and the elderly are not into that largescale,this group have suffered terribly during this crisis and let down the most along with learning disabilities,some have been in Captain Tom’s age group with the recent VE day it was time to ponder.It’s a national shame.
ken
May 17, 2020 at 6:32 pm
@Violet – Once again V more of your trouble-making rubbish. This man does not get his hip snapped or anything like it. One of the policemen presses his knee down on him briefly to pin him down. Nothing broken or any injury at all.
Nathan
May 17, 2020 at 6:16 pm
Me too, Nathan. I don’t wear a mask, because I don’t care about covid-19. I don’t believe that it exists. There are no vaccines against viruses. Real vaccines are only against microbes and bacteria. But 5G is real. I have aluminum foil under my baseball cap and wear anti-radiation knickers (Faraday Cage) against 5G and EMF.
Cell phones, routers, microwave oven, even Bluetooth devices are emitting enormous amounts of EMF radiation. I built also a Faraday Cage in my house with copper wires, and don’t use WIFI and Bluetooth. Besides, my cell phone is rooted Android with Linux.
Pam
May 17, 2020 at 8:29 pm
The American dialect word for a mobile, “cell phone”, says it all.
Full of cells!
What kind, eh?
Avoid them and don’t get those nasty cells into contact with your body.
Andrew Coates
May 17, 2020 at 8:49 pm
Sutton & Co… You come on here and moan about the DWP sponsored terrorism against benefit claimants while at the same time defend the government sponsored terrorism against we the people over this covid19 crap, guess you can’t think straight with all that wool in your heads!
Tigerlily
May 17, 2020 at 9:38 pm
pmsl 😉
superted
May 17, 2020 at 10:27 pm
It was rumoured that the Village People were gay! Fancy that 🙂 Shut that door!
Larry Grayson
May 17, 2020 at 10:52 pm
Temporary rate increases for UC and ESA
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/temporary_rate_increases_for_uc#incoming-1570897
We currently have no plans to increase Employment and Support Allowance above its current rates.
We have announced a suite of measures that can be quickly and effectively operationalised to benefit those facing the most financial disruption, such as increasing the standard rate in Universal Credit by £86.67 per month (equivalent to £20 per week) on top of the planned annual uprating. This additional increase means claimants will be up to £1040 better off. We estimate 2.5m households on UC will benefit straight away, as well as new claimants who become unemployed or whose earnings or work hours decrease because of the outbreak. The Universal Credit IT system is significantly more flexible than our legacy systems and uses different technology from other DWP systems. The Department is experiencing significant increased demand and the Government has to prioritise the safety and stability of the benefits system overall.
We have also made a number of changes to legacy benefits like Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including increases in entitlement. These new measures include:
Providing more support for benefit claimants in the Private Rented Sector by increasing Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile, helping to alleviate affordability challenges. Those receiving Housing Benefit and legacy benefits will benefit from this increase.
Treating all ESA claimants who satisfy the conditions of entitlement and are suffering from COVID-19 or who are required to self-isolate in line with government guidance, including vulnerable individuals who have been advised by the NHS to ‘shield’ (stay at home for at least 12 weeks) because they are at high risk of severe illness, as having limited capability for work, without the requirement to undergo a Work Capability Assessment,
Removing waiting days for ESA, so it will be payable from day one of the claim, subject to the claimant satisfying the normal conditions of entitlement; and,
Allowing disabled and sick claimants who cannot attend a reassessment for Personal Independence Payments, Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit to continue to receive their payments while their assessment is rearranged.
superted
May 17, 2020 at 3:58 pm
@Superted : This is the usual DWP bullshit. Now they are pretending they can’t alter their computer systems. The amount of ESA has changed continually over the last decade. So how did the DWP manage to alter this before ? When there were annual increases ? The payment rate can be altered easily enough. But the DWP don’t want to do it. That is another thing altogether. They don’t want to spend the extra money, even though these claimants are too sick and disabled to work.
Jeff Smith
May 17, 2020 at 6:10 pm
You mean buying off/appeasing the ESA cohort and leaving the JSA cohort to rot? Same, old same. Absolutely not solidarity whatosever and you wonder why the DWP walks all over us.
Yvonne
May 17, 2020 at 9:31 pm
They’ve redrawn what the minimum the law says someone needs to live on when it suits and current levels arn’t enough and should be applied across the board to everyone,a level playing field.Unfortunatly here in the UK unemployment can go on for some considerable time.
ken
May 17, 2020 at 8:56 pm
i really cant see how they can get away with this and plenty will still be unemployed after 12 months when the extra £20 a week will be taken away just like a sanction for being on uc to long as the excuse and down 1k a year now that will sting.
looks like court action is going to be the only option to resolve this as you cant have a 2 tier benefits system.
and dont forget they have put 250.000 more on jsa during this for contribution based claims so paid in to the system and will get jsa for 6 months even with savings over 16k but wont get the extra £20 a week on uc.
superted
May 17, 2020 at 9:18 pm
Why have Tesco changed the cap on their 17p bottles of water so that you need to jam it between a door to open it? At least not as bad as Morrison’s bottles of flavoured water though – they rip your hand off trying to open them. You need a wrench to get them open.
Disgruntled Shopper
May 17, 2020 at 10:48 pm
It’s hilarious how all the left wingers on here are supporting a right wing Tory government imposing a Police State on EVERYONE in this country.
Billy Boyne
May 17, 2020 at 11:50 pm
A global police state is being imposed upon the whole world under the guise of this plandemic.
Welcome to the new world order.
Cloverleaf
May 18, 2020 at 12:06 am
Professor Neil Ferguson Imperial College London
Track record:
Swine flu – 65,000 Actual – 500
BSE(Mad Cow Disease) – 150,000 Actual – 178
Bird flu – 200 Million!!!! Actual – 282
This is the same person who advised the Government of 500,000 casualties from covid 19.
If you used Prof Ferguson’s modelling on Sweden it predicted 40,000 casualties,the current figures are 3,600.
Billy Boyne
May 18, 2020 at 12:38 am
Professor Neil Ferguson aka Mr Lockdown!
Violet
May 18, 2020 at 5:21 am
Britain (Lockdown) Deaths per 1 million population – 511
Sweden (No Lockdown) Deaths per 1 million population – 365
Billy Boyne
May 18, 2020 at 12:43 am
Denmark (Lockdown) Deaths per 1 million population – 94
Norway (Lockdown) Deaths per 1 million population – 43
bob
May 18, 2020 at 2:51 am
Iceland (No Lockdown) Deaths per 1 million population – 29
Belarus (No Lockdown) Deaths per 1 million population – 17
Billy Boyne
May 18, 2020 at 4:35 am