Universal Credit claimant rolling in [cynical] laughter

I publish the below with the agreement of anonymous sender who is on Universal Credit. But I apologise for his use of spinal condition as a metaphor. I also note that it was my choice to add photographic image.

The blog post below was originally written in response to 'Universal Credit' vs Shared Humanity

Alan Wheatley

 

A Universal Credit claimant responds to 'Universal Credit vs Shared Humanity' blog piece

'Negging' image from Cosmopolitan Magazine.
The Guardian linked article links to separate New Stateman article on
"Negging: The anatomy of a new dating trend,"
and Government "dating coach, Ben Bradley MP, negging the voters."
But New Statesman article does not give a photographic image

Your quote from the old Etonian former Barclays Bank Director and post-Communist Eastern European charity maven, Jesse (not the anti-segregationist African-American opera singer*) Norman, reminded me of this:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/27/government-free-school-meals-marcus-rashford-boris-johnson

I can understand that my ad hominem introductory side-swipe may have a stink reminiscent of the type of unpaid intellectual content encouraged by the social media barons so frequently upheld now as purveyors of free speech/wealth creation/democratisation etc, etc, but that's only to recognise what you are engaging in right now. The reductionist revision of human interaction to behaviourist marketing algorithms.

I dare you not to laugh at least once while reading this link; I still can't see the Charles Manson-Beatles reference without giggling. Of course, some readers may not enjoy Ms Hyde's article; it is likely to be beyond the understanding of those lacking in the relevant cultural signifiers, such as the very young, recent inmates to our refugee hostels, people with severe mental health issues, Old Etonians, or frankly anyone whose memory extends to that period between 1948 and 1979 when "democracy" did indicate the will of the people and not a neo-liberal consensus. By which I mean an era when the Thatchers and de Pfieffels didn't need to channel Churchillian spirituality and dreams of glory days gone by...

But if you don't find the article funny, well, I can only try to persuade you to peruse the comments.  In these difficult times I would be hard-pressed to think of any, yes any, ideology that couldn't find some heartwarming comfort in the humanity expressed within.

* I really tried to find a way to lever in a "Jesse with a Y" chromosomal joke, but then I recalled that Jessye Norman died of a tragic spinal injury. Which only shows how cruel life is... she had a spine...

'Universal Credit' vs Shared Humanity

(Blog editor's note: I had hoped to use image from

https://www.google.com/search?q=monty+python+images+cartoon&client=firefox-b-d&sxsrf=ALeKk03m1sRSVSf5c2RGYsSktQQweaFQcA:1604485804151&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=j_aAUkR25RqvyM%252CNJFoqwtJ-XavBM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTlvMYIPkpalIaRLfwl2DdU-AMmWQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjx8Jyz1-jsAhUTHcAKHfcOA_IQ9QF6BAgKECs#imgrc=j_aAUkR25RqvyM

here with caption: "Universal Credit: quasi- or virtual police state," but Blogger is not allowing me to do so. Sorry.)

A Universal Credit claimant has written me in response to the below and yet-to-be-published-in-print letter to Hereford Times:

Subject: Thousands will see five big changes to Universal Credit in November - check now - Birmingham Live

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/big-changes-universal-credit-november-19196317 

In reference to the last letter you posted it should be noted that this month sees changes in UC payments that will benefit those also eligible for PIP,  finally stop the punitive reductions for those who are paid weekly or fortnightly and recognises the problems in transitioning from various legacy benefits by (small) financial awards...

Although the article is just over 24 hours old it also seems that Sunak has also now agreed to extend the Covid-19 payment of an extra £90pcm as part of the revised furlough scheme.

As you are aware, as a UC claimant subject to the Benefit Cap due to my rent being fixed just under the pre-2015 LHA/HB maximum I do not receive any extra monies from the DWP at this time. 

Nor do I get any leeway... unlike other renters in my halfway house who are in receipt of legacy benefits and have had no contact or demands from the DWP since last February I am still required to undergo mandatory, sanctionable, telephone or face-to-face interviews to explain my job searches and failure to gain employment.

Quite why my mental health or wellbeing differs from those in almost identical circumstances but on older forms of benefits has yet to be explained.

Subject: Re: Talking Point by Dr Jonathan Godfrey, and MPs explain opposition to Rashford's meal plan

 

Noting a Resolution Foundation report suggesting that "unemployment among 18 to 29-year-olds could hit 17% by late 2020, and ... the mental health risks linked to lockdown and economic insecurity," Dr Jonathan Godfrey also notes:

"The proportion of adults experiencing poor mental health has increased by 80% among 18 to 29-year-olds compared with a year ago, the biggest increase of any age group." (Talking Point, Oct. 29, 2020, p68)

One 23 year-old apparently not experiencing poor mental health is Marcus Rashford (born 31 Oct. 1997), raised in a very public spirited environment for a life outside football as well as MUFC stardom. Speaking of one of his recent plaudits, Rashford said that he  "had a voice and a platform that could be used to at least ask the questions."(1)

That contrasts heavily with how Universal Credit (UC) claimants are treated. UC’s ‘Claimant Commitment’ and ‘digital by default’ infrastructure micro-manage the lives of claimants and UC functionaries.(2) That makes mutual recognition of a shared humanity extremely difficult: the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) mindset is that the claimant’s low income and not low wages is ‘the problem’. More UC claimants are penalised in the UK and more severely than by Magistrates’ and Sheriff’s courts, with loss of benefit extending to years of what I’d call debt slavery and Law Professor Dr David Webster refers to as ‘Benefit Sanctions: Britain’s secret penal system’.(3)

Then along comes Covid-19 lockdown and greater universality of low income. Tory Government responds by increasing Universal Credit levels but not the levels of the benefits it is designed to replace.(4)

Against this backdrop and Rashford’s campaign to extend free school meals eleigibility to school holidays, Hereford & South Herefordshire MP and First Secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman says he “has nothing but respect for Marcus Rashord, both as a footballer and as a campaigner. But it is really important to look beyond the headlines.” (Hereford Times, Oct. 29, 2020, p5)

Yes, indeed it is vital to look beyond the headlines, especially those generated by government press releases, and to consider the differences in ‘authority’ between an Old Etonian MP and a top sportsman who delivered food parcels as a youngster!

Alan Raymond Wheatley, BA Interdisciplinary Studies (Major: Sociology)

(Postal Address and telephone number submitted, too)

Note
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Rashford#Recognition
2. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&ei=5hOgX7rYGqTaxgODoqrgCQ&q=%22universal+credit%22+micro-manage&oq=%22universal+credit%22+micro-manage&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQA1CNgwNYjYMDYKCZA2gAcAB4AIABR4gBhQGSAQEymAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpesABAQ&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwi645u9heTsAhUkrXEKHQORCpwQ4dUDCAw&uact=5
3. https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/benefit-sanctions-britains-secret-penal-system
4. https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2020/september/dwp-response-coronavirus-inquiry-inadequate-says-work-and-pension-committee

 

 

Bliss and the bigger picture

 I saw this at the online publication The Conversation:

Marcus Rashford: finding purpose off-field can improve sporting performance 

October 30, 2020 1.37pm GMT

 In line with and beyond the findings of that article, I would argue that its ramifications are of vital importance with regard to how benefit claimants are treated, especially under Universal Credit 'Claimant Commitment' and the obligations it imposes on benefit claimants.

When I was a disabled jobseeker from late October 1977 to early 2009, I experienced several rejections, and but for my ability to express myself through creative writing and other achievements that did not get me waged work, and my close friendships, I would not have survived nearly as well as I did. 

 

In all that time of 'improving my employability' mainly through self-directed learning and support from Quakers and relatives in getting manual typewriter to home PC, my waged employment tally amounted to a mere 17 months, the last 11 of which had been so part-time that I submitted part-time earnings form at jobcentre on a fortnightly basis for Jobseekers Allowance top-up. That work was domiciliary care, requiring me to walk a minimum of a six mile journey to and from clients' homes while I could not afford bus fare and was not reimbursed for travel to and from work.

 

(Jobseekers Allowance [JSA] denial led me to risk of eviction as Housing Benefit suspension, worsened mental health and on-the-job performance. I gave up that part-time work to pursue the benefit that was owed to me, concluding that my worsened on-the-job performance laid me prone to charges of 'neglect' that would limit my work prospects while government neglect would not be penalised. 

 

(JSA later admitted to a miscalculation of my earnings; but when I would have got the back money owed to me, that was overwritten by my getting as much money in Holiday Money related to my part-time hours all coming to me with my closing pay cheque from domicilary care employer that I'd just left.)

I had done plenty of volunteering as child care rota volunteer and later basic computer skills coach to disadvantaged adults and even cabaret performer for a mainstream audience and adults with learning difficulties. Through the latter, I gained the inspiration for a song parody that I'll probably upload to Youtube at a later date, along with perfomances of some of my poems. Later 'citizen action' with Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group through being a member helped enhance my sense of the bigger picture even more.

Importance of 'the bigger picture' and 'following our bliss'

The above cited article from 'The Conversation' includes this about golfer Rory McIlroy:

In 2011, golfer Rory McIlroy experienced a very public performance meltdown at the prestigious Masters tournament. Later, McIlroy went to Haiti as Unicef ambassador, witnessing the damage caused by the 2010 earthquake which devastated the country.

“You’ve just been in a place where millions of people have no clean water, and millions of kids get no education, and you’re nervous about hitting a golf ball into some water!” he later told sports writer Paul Kimmage. 

 Something the article does not mention is the pressures placed on footballing goalkeepers as 'last line of defence' and the high level of suicides among footballers, particularly goalkeepers.

The 'bigger picture' in my life while the support systems offered me as a disabled jobseeker always let me down as if I was the let down can be viewed in the words of Jonathan Swift:

Although [people] are often accused of not knowing their own weakness, perhaps as often they do not know their own strengths. It is in people, as it is in soils, where sometimes there is often a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.

That is similar to the Sufi saying, "There is a treasure within each person," and the Quaker standpoint that "There is something of God within each person."

'Welfare reforms' in the UK state benefit system have made life harder for disabled people and been linked to several thousands of suicides that the Department for Work & Pensions wants hushed up, to the point of hiring top barristers to represent them at inquests so that the coroner does not call for a public inquiry.

 

Meanwhile, as someone who has never been a top sports person, I maintain the life-enhancing value of grasping 'the bigger picture', following one's bliss.

 

"My general formula for my students is 'Follow your bliss.' Find where it is, and don’t be afraid to follow it." — Joseph Campbell

 Though "the help you need, when you need it" from Jobcentre Plus and its forebears ('Manpower Services Commission' and 'Employment Service') let me down as regards getting where I wanted to go, following my bliss kept me alive and I believe would be more easily attained under an unconditional Universal Basic Income system than a 'Universal Credit' system that reinforces modern slavery.

Alan Raymond Wheatley

 

Revitalised by Recognition

 

'The Sun' card. Source: Rider-Waite Tarot pack

Negative life-experiences, properly re-evaluated, can help us define what we really want out of life. I believe I gained that insight at least partially from reading Dorothy Leeds’ Secrets of Successful Interviews: How to Get the Job You Really Want in 1998, as well as from earlier, 1984-86 experience of psychotherapy. (Secrets of Successful Interviews has clearly been since reformulated and updated as Marketing Yourself: The Ultimate Job Seeker's Guide.)

That insight was made more alive for me by way of the interviewing skills of a recruitment agency's founder, Jacquie, in 1999. She asked me about the supports I would require in my ideal job. I recited a work placement experience in which my line-manager had been the CEO of my employer (whom I had previously known through shared volunteering in childminding), my workbase was my training provider’s facilities and line-manager never visited me on placement except for three interviews with training provider’s Placements Officer in an 8 week placement. “I would like good supervision,” I stated, while I recalled that the CEO too busy with other things never really gave me that and later emphasised my failure to meet deadlines.

“Don’t you really mean that you would require recognition?” Jacquie replied, and I resonated with that insight.

 

I recall that interview insight as I reflect on the resurgence I gained recently by the revival of my rapport with Hereford Times letters pages, and the impact on me from a research-oriented telephone interview I received yesterday by way of referral by Alison Mann as Kundalini Yoga teacher to both the researcher and me.

In the telephone interview, I was asked about my resilience under lockdown, and we clarified the definition of ‘resilience’. I said that I take the approach that I’m a survivor, whatever has happened to me in the past, and I have a lot more scope as a state pensioner on more-than-’working age benefits’ and free of the shackles of a Universal Credit ‘Claimant Commitment’ that is oriented to getting the claimant off the unemployment register more than it is to helping the claimant get the job they really want.

I referred to a sense of life purpose as an essential ingredient in my resilience — my capacity to bounce back from whatever happens to me: “I’m an expert witness, applying verbal literacy skills and ‘expert witness’ testimony, rather than a victim of life’s circumstances and waste of space.”

I felt revitalised by that interview, whereas I would no doubt feel drained by interactions with someone who probably had no experience of recruitment experience from the recruiter’s point of view and yet professed to providing “the help you need, when you need it.” (Namely, a Universal Credit 'workcoach'.)

Thus, last night I responded to a friend’s feedback on my latest Hereford Times published letter that provided the impetus for blog posts:

After a very stimulating research conversation with University of South Wales counselling course student re lockdown and access to wellbeing promoting therapies such as Yoga this afternoon, I had a fresh burst of blogging impetus, in which I gave loads of info related to what I told the student/researcher: that for far too many people, financial lockdown has long preceded Covid-19 lockdown.

https://newsforwardsfromalanwheatley.blogspot.com/2020/10/agenda-for-caring-economy.html

And before that blog post, I noted that the print issue of New Internationalist magazine referred to in the 'Agenda for a Caring Economy' posting, is not on the New Internationalist home page, but there is this reference to related online article about the skewed values of the Global Economy

https://newsforwardsfromalanwheatley.blogspot.com/2020/10/global-economy-as-debtors-prison-newint.html

 

Perhaps one of the greatest tragedies of the current economic system is that while the caring that props up national economies is an underrecognised form of modern slavery, carers and the people who need their care are treated as expendable. That is instanced by, say, the fact that downgrading a claimant's entitlement to Personal Independence Payment that replaces Disability Living Allowance also downgrades the carer's prospects of getting Carer's Allowance.

Alan Wheatley

"Election Result: No Sweeping Changes at the end of a Grim Year for Department for Work & Pensions," says Benefits & Work Publishing

I preface this forward of latest Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd Newsletter by quoting two paragraphs:

[T]he Conservative manifesto made it clear that the use of the Human Rights Act and judicial reviews to wrest justice from over-powerful government departments will be made more difficult.
 
This last move comes as no surprise given the role that the courts played in making the last 12 months grim ones for the DWP.

It is doubtful that even a significant portion of those who voted Tory in their droves read the Conservative manifesto or even knew of what a 12 grim months the Department for Work & Pensions has had via charities such as Child Poverty Action Group taking legal action against it, but the more people that do know this sort of stuff, the more difficult we can make it for whatever elected tyranny to plough ahead with what amounts to yet further corporate manslaughter.

Alan Wheatley

Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd Logo:Guides you can trust

It’s probably an understatement to say that this wasn’t the election result the majority of our readers wanted.

And when we said last week that we would send out a brief post-election update today, we were hoping to have some optimistic news.

But the chance of seeing an end to the roll out of universal credit, the removal of private sector companies from benefits assessments, an increase in ESA for claimants in the work-related activity group and all the other improvements that parties other than the Tories promised, have now been crushed.

The one consolation, if it can even be called that, is that it is very unlikely we will see any sweeping changes to the benefits system in the next few years.

If the Conservative mantra for the election was ‘Get Brexit done’ the DWP’s mantra for the next few years will be ‘Get universal credit done.’

There is likely to be little enthusiasm for taking on new challenges whilst the incredibly delayed and utterly flawed roll out of universal credit continues to lurch towards its distant goal.

Aside from rolling out UC, we will see the continued attempts of the Tribunals Service to move as many appeals as possible online.

And the Conservative manifesto made it clear that the use of the Human Rights Act and judicial reviews to wrest justice from over-powerful government departments will be made more difficult.

This last move comes as no surprise given the role that the courts played in making the last 12 months grim ones for the DWP.

It began with the news that Amber Rudd, remember her, was having to postpone legislation to transfer millions of legacy benefits claimants onto UC and go ahead with a pilot only, such was the concern that the whole thing was going to be a PR disaster for the Conservatives.

This was followed by the announcement that claimants in receipt of the severe disability premium (SDP) would no longer be moved onto UC by natural migration, due to a court defeat for the DWP the preceding summer.

Still in January, there was the revelation that far from cutting the cost of disability benefits by 20 per cent as the DWP intended, PIP had resulted in an increase in costs of 15 to 20 per cent.

In February the DWP had to widen the scope of its project to check whether claimants who were moved from incapacity benefit to ESA were given the wrong award. It now covered 600,000 claimants.

In April, the Royal College of GPs was amongst those demanding the DWP rewrite its misleading fit note advice to claimants because it was endangering patients health. The DWP bowed to pressure and complied.

May saw the start of a fight back against the DWP’s fake news campaign in support of UC.

It would end with the advertising watchdog finding the DWP guilty of publishing misleading adverts.

September witnessed the demise of Amber Rudd after less than a year in office. Her replacement, Therese Coffey, has yet to make her mark. Judging by how long previous ministers have lasted, she will not have long to do so.

Also in September we had the news that the success rate for both PIP and ESA appeals had risen again to an all-time high of 75%.

In October, the DWP revealed that it had so far paid out over £37 million in to claimants who lost out on the severe disability premium (SDP) when they were migrated from legacy benefits such as ESA and UC.

Still in October, the DWP announced that, following another court case it had lost, it would be checking yet more PIP decisions to see if claimants were entitled to additional payments.

November saw Benefits and Work readers crowdfund a legal bid to end the DWP’s cynical practice of forcing claimants to undergo a mandatory reconsideration before they can appeal a decision. The case should be going ahead soon.

And so, into a new year in which we will hope for further victories for claimants before attempts to nobble the judicial system can be put in place.

Whatever the coming months bring, we plan on still being here to support claimants, as we have done for the last 17 years.

Meanwhile, in this brief period of calm, we would like to wish all our readers a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

We’ll be back on 15 January.

Good luck,


Steve Donnison and The Office Team
Benefits and Work Publishing Ltd
Company registration No. 5962666

 See also https://newsforwardsfromalanwheatley.blogspot.com/2019/12/scandal-of-disabled-and-ill-people-denied-benefits.html

UK 'skills gap' and social and economic exclusion — a prospective letter to Hereford Times?

Alan Winstanley ('True figures', Hereford Times printed Letters, November 28) argues that the UK can’t train enough nurses and/or high-tech sector employees. A UK General Election is a great time to ask political parties why they think that might be so, and how they and their party would address that matter if elected to represent us.

I would argue that a root problem is short-termist underfunding by successive UK governments in the training of home grown talent, as I argued on the BBC2 tv programme ‘Working Lunch’ broadcast on September 27, 2000. A Web Design training company worker had told me, “I agree with you: six weeks is inadequate for our training curriculum, but the government has told us to halve the training period from 12 weeks to 6 in order to double the throughput from the dole queue.”

The Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion argued on the same programme slot that there was considerable underinvestment in training to promote absolutely basic literacy skills. Four years later while volunteering in teaching [other] adults with learning difficulties very basic computing skills, I was commended for “endless patience with slower learners.”

Yet there was no paid future in that for me, as Learning & Skills Council prioritsed  NVQ Levels 2 and 3 — with no extra investment overall — so as to implement the London 2012 Olympics agenda. I, and the trainees I supported, and their Guardian/Channel4 Teacher of the Year Award Winning paid teacher, were let down yet again! (“Learning & Skills Council [existed] to help make England better skilled and more competitive.”(1))

It’s also been pointed out that our nurses are trained at their own expense,(2) and many rely on food banks (3) and Universal Credit top up. (4)

Basically, the First Past the Post (FPTP voting system favours the major political parties’ tax-evading funders [as ‘wealth creators’ for those parties] to invest more in their Research & Development. Government underfunding of public services leads to burnout while tech companies such as BT help resource think tank ‘charities’ such as Reform UK toward, say, the ‘digitising of public services’ creating greater social exclusion and extreme poverty as Universal Credit is ‘digital by default’.





Alan Wheatley

(NB: Hereford Times recommends that letters for publication be 250 words or less to stand a chance of publication, but I have had more wordy letters published there. The above text comes to 362 words excluding my byline.)

Notes

1. "The Learning & Skills Council exists to help make England better skilled and more competitive" was the 'description' or Mission Statement proclaimed on their former website.
2. uk nurses trained at own expense
3. uk nurses food banks
4. uk nurses "universal credit"

Proof that UK government used taxpayers money to lie about poor people

Advertising Standards Authority upholds complaints against DWP/Associated Newspapers regarding'Universal Credit Uncovered' advertising campaign

Adam Chakroborty writes in The Guardian regarding this year's earlier attempt via advertorials by Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) to mislead the public regarding the fitness for purpose of Universal Credit:

Mail Online/Metro photo for its DWP-sourced 'Universal Credit Uncovered' series

Throughout its campaign, the DWP would summarise what it called “Myths” about universal credit and then give readers the “Facts”. The ASA [Advertising Standards Authority] looked at three of the claims – and found they weren’t facts at all. They were lies, told by the government to its own taxpayers.....

We stand at the edge of an election campaign, a period traditionally marked by half-truths, plausible fibs and outright partisan lies. Yet even amid the discursive sewage that is about to deluge us, this deceit is far different and vastly more serious. First, that campaign was paid for by taxpayers like you and me. The DWP’s own filings show that £225,000 was paid to the Metro to run ads now declared “misleading”, “unsubstantiated” and “exaggerated”. Almost a quarter of million pounds was taken off us to lie to us....

Approached for comment, the DWP has not offered even an apology to the public, merely saying it is “disappointed with this decision”. It further claims that “we consulted at length with the ASA as we created the adverts”. I asked the obvious follow-up: how then do you explain the fact that you’ve breached so many of its guidelines? There was no response. Nor was there any response on whether the DWP is running any more ad campaigns on UC, as several sources both in and out of Westminster have claimed to me.....

More at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/06/government-universal-credit-deception-asa-taxpayer-funded-features

'Tax cut' promises for some, thumbscrews for others

Left: General Election propaganda; Right: thumbscrews

The Daily Express front page as reported at today's edition of https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs/the_papers flag-waving toward a Tory General Election victory for December, chimes, "Boris: I'll cut taxes for every worker; and boost welfare spending by £5bn."

"Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is looking at plans to give every employee a tax cut worth up to £460 by raising the National Insurance threshold, says the Daily Express. The paper explains that the proposal would be at the heart of a manifesto designed to win over working-class voters, particularly in the Midlands and the North,"

is what BBC News reports.

At what cost to public services and preservation of 'the commons'? one might ask, in line with Prof. Guy Standing's statement cited at https://newsforwardsfromalanwheatley.blogspot.com/2019/11/prof-guy-standing-expounds-upon-plunder-of-the-commons.html

“The commons have been eroded by neglect, in recent times accelerated by budget cuts due to austerity... Often, the erosion has resulted from the deliberate neglect, part of the strategy adopted by the early Thatcherites in which services and industries were starved of investment in order to induce public indifference to, and support for, their privatisation.”

It should be pointed out, as film director Ken Loach does in his new film Sorry We Missed You, that the majority of claimants of 'Universal Credit' (UC) are the working poor.
https://theconversation.com/ken-loachs-new-film-on-the-gig-economy-tells-exactly-the-same-story-as-our-research-125743

 UC incorporates the 'legacy benefits'

• child tax credit
• housing benefit.
• income-related employment and support allowance.
• income-based jobseeker's allowance.
• income support.
• working tax credit

 Source: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=universal+credit+legacy+benefits

The working poor are fleeced both by the cruelties of UC and taxpayer-subsidising of greedy landlords and skin flint employers alike.

Thumbscrews

Meanwhile, Taxpayers Against Poverty founder [retired] Revd Paul Nicolson reports [by e-mail]:

SPINNING THE 'RISE' IN BENEFITS

BBC News. "Benefits freeze to end in 2020, government confirms". This is technically a lie @BBCnews ought not publish. An increase at the rate of inflation is by definition not a "rise".

This is like unwinding a thumbscrew a quarter of a wind after it has been wound up a hundred times and implying the pain will be less or like closing the door of a fridge and saying it has stopped freezing without turning it off.

Single adult JSA £73.10 a week equates to UC £317 a month. Increases were limited to 1% pa 2011 to 2015 then frozen. It is worthless The nightmare of debt & hunger continues.

JSA/UC is paid to about 4 milion people.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/…/datasets/mainoutofworkbenefitsben01

It has been losing value since 1979 - yes 1979! (Bradshaw & Lynne). Worth 21% of average earnings in 1979 and 10.5% in 2008.

https://www.theguardian.com/…/letter-jobseeker-allowance-un…

Too low to tax but since April 2013 290 councils of 326 have been enforcing a proportion of council tax against £73.10pw JSA/UC, with Magistrates Courts and Bailiffs costs added to the arrears. JSA/UC of £73.10 a week pays rent because housing benefit is also cut. Hunger and debt are inevitable.

Tax & rent are enforced by local authorities, rent by all landlords against £73.10 pw JSA/UC, regardless of delayed payments, benefit sanctions or zero hours contracts.

http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/…/tap-tell-united-nat…The state damaging health by the Imposition of extreme poverty is morally indefensible

 So, there you have a little more 'balanced reporting' than you are likely to get from the BBC or Daily Express!

Universal Credit changes October 2019: When it gets paid, how it affects you and how much you'll get

From Manchester Evening News:

Universal credit changes: When it gets paid, how it will affect you and how much you'll get

Universal credit changes next month - here's everything you need to know

By

Rachel PughMoney-Saving & Consumer Writer

• 16:52, 12 SEP 2019

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that Universal Credit will change from October 2.

The changes were announced in the budget, and will see the repayment cap lowered from the 40 per cent maximum, down to 30pc. This means that some claimants will be able to keep more of their money, as the DWP will be able to deduct less from benefit payments to pay back rent arrears, advanced payments or sanctions.

Those who are currently being charged 40pc will receive more money from October.

More at 

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/when-is-universal-credit-paid-16908948

including:

• What is Universal Credit?
• Who can claim Universal Credit?
• What Universal Credit is replacing
• When will Universal Credit get paid into my bank account? — and how that varies from bank brand to bank brand!
• What happens if my Universal Credit payment day lands on a Bank Holiday or weekend?
• How much Universal Credit will I get?

The article tails off with:

The official government website suggests using one of the following:

• Policy in Practice
• entitledto
• Turn2us

For more detailed information on Universal Credit, you can contact Citizen's Advice here.

 This blog editor advises that claimants go to all interviews with a friend if possible, and that includes Citizens Advice interviews. (The golden motto of Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group is: Never attend anywhere official alone.) This is now especially important when obtaining Universal Credit-related information, advice and guidance from Citizens Advice, as can be gleaned from the implications of a Disability News Service article:

Citizens Advice signed gagging clause in return for share of £51m from DWP

By John Pring on 15th August 2019 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Two charities that will receive £51 million in government funding to provide advice and support to claimants of universal credit (UC) signed gagging clauses that prevent them bringing the Department for Work and Pensions “unfairly” into “disrepute”.

Both Citizens Advice (CA) and Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) signed grant agreements with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – worth a total of £51 million – that include the same clause....

More at https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/citizens-advice-signed-gagging-clause-in-return-for-share-of-51m-from-dwp/

Alan Wheatley

Unite the Union Community membership Herefordshire Action Day on Universal Credit — time and place

Unite the Union Community membership
Herefordshire Action Day on Universal Credit
College Road Estate, HR1 1HW
Saturday 14th September, 10:30am-12:30pm

Herefordshire Action Day on Universal Credit
College Road Estate, Hereford HR1 1HW
Saturday 14th September, 10:30am-12:30pm

Map location link: HR1 1HW

How to get there by public transport:

Traveline — for journeys within the South, East, and West Midlands,and by train or coach from most towns in Great Britain

Disability News Service output Thursday, 8 August 2019

Disability News Service (DNS) aptly describes itself as "the [UK's] only news agency specialising in disability issues." It is run by John Pring, "a disabled journalist who has been reporting on disability issues for nearly 25 years," and updated by every Thursday evening.

Though this copy and paste here is almost a week old, this representation of its stories is probably prompter than you will get from mainstream news media, despite equality laws.

Top Story

Anger over Unum sponsorship of ‘Superhero’ triathlon event

August 8, 2019

A retired Paralympian organising a mass participation disability sports event has defended accepting sponsorship from a company that spent years lobbying the government to make the out-of-work disability benefits regime harsher and more stressful. Unum has signed up as one of the […]

Latest Stories

Proportion of flawed Atos PIP assessment reports has soared in last two years

August 8, 2019

The proportion of disability assessment reports completed by government contractor Atos that were found to be significantly flawed has soared by more than 40 per cent in the last two years. The percentage of substandard Atos* personal independence payment (PIP) reports rose […]

Air travel regulator ‘has been doing half a job by ignoring airlines’

August 8, 2019

The aviation regulator is only doing “half the job” by reporting on access at airports but failing to carry out similar investigations into whether airlines are meeting their legal duties to disabled customers, it has been claimed. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) […]

Would-be MP ‘motivated to oust Duncan Smith by late mother’s benefits ordeal’

August 8, 2019

The politician aiming to oust Iain Duncan Smith at the next general election has described being motivated by the need to expose the “heartless” reforms he introduced as work and pensions secretary, and their impact on her late mother. Labour’s Dr Faiza […]

Record number of disabled people receive support from Access to Work

August 8, 2019

A record number of disabled people received employment-related support through the government’s Access to Work (AtW) scheme last year, new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures have revealed. It is also the first time that spending on AtW has exceeded the […]

Research DRILLs down into bullying and social exclusion of disabled pupils

August 8, 2019

Young disabled pupils have described how they are targeted by school bullies because of their impairments, and are treated as social outcasts, but still do not view themselves as disabled people, according to new research. Researchers interviewed more than 40 disabled and […]

Rise of Boris Johnson government is ‘really dark moment’ for disabled people, says author

August 8, 2019

The rise to power of a new Conservative government under the leadership of Boris Johnson has created a “really dark moment” for disabled people, anti-austerity activists have been told at the launch of a new book. Frances Ryan, a disabled journalist whose […]

Disabled duo who lost out through universal credit set for third DWP court action

August 8, 2019

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is facing another court action over the financial impact of universal credit on disabled people, which legal experts say is costing many claimants thousands of pounds a year. Two disabled people with high support needs […]

DWP waited 18 months to take safety action on ‘vulnerable’ claimant

August 1, 2019

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) waited 18 months before it took action to ensure the safety of a benefit claimant it had assessed as “vulnerable” because of significant mental health problems. Mike Owen told DWP that he was a survivor […]

Government's funding proposal for Sizewell C proposed nuclear reactor exemplifies 'government by market forces'

A petition I signed up to today is this:

Energy giant EDF wants you to pay extra on your electricity bill so it can build a new nuclear power plant on the Suffolk coast.
The government has just launched a consultation on this scheme, which means we can still put a stop to it if enough of us object now.
 Sign the petition 

I pay more for my renewable energy than I would for fossil-fuel-based energy. On a basic State Pension, I can just about afford this. There is no way I would be able to afford to be so responsible for helping to avoid climate destruction if I was on Universal Credit! And I doubt that I'd be able to afford the Tory Government's proposed tariff on all energy users.

Moreover, the proposed nuclear power station would be built by a Chinese company and owned by Energy Distribution Francois, another outside company. Would the right wing media that oppose immigration of asylum seekers to the UK and promote Brexit oppose such 'government by market forces'? I very much doubt it.

How much would the nuclear fuels cost post-Brexit? How would the waste be disposed of?

Would it not be better for UK government to disallow the building of any nuclear power stations, including the proposed Sizewell C that was given the go-ahead before really determining who would pay for it?

What do you think?