There’s much talk and fury (there should be more) about deaths related to benefit cuts: people dying after being found fit for work and people committing suicide following cuts to their benefits. There’s no doubt that current and one-time government ministers need to do jail time for this. And they will. There will most certainly be a reckoning.
There’s another sort of government destruction of people taking place that I want to raise again here.
It’s hard to quantify, but very obvious when you keep seeing it. A lot of people talk about it.
It’s the all-round annihilation of people’s health via the universal destruction of all the services they rely on – housing, care and income help in particular. The life expectancies of people in these situations MUST be adversely affected (to say the very least) by this all-round destruction. I really don’t care if anyone thinks such a statement is hysterical. It isn’t.
I know what I see. I keep interviewing people who are assaulted by government cuts on all fronts. Assault is not too strong a word.
People live in cheap rented housing which is disgusting and full of mould (I’ve posted pictures of some places I’ve been in below). This is the only housing that people can afford on LHA rates. I’ve interviewed people who live in tiny, grotty, falling-apart static caravans because they can’t afford anything else.
People’s care services have disappeared, because they can just about achieve the daily basics such as shopping and dressing on their own. They’re left to it as a result. No matter that they struggle with other aspects of running a home, such as keeping the tiny places they must rent clean and clear of mould (you can see that in the pictures below).
They are getting older, but must drag themselves to weekly jobcentre meetings to talk about work they’ll never get. They’re banned from jobcentres because they lose their tempers (perfectly understandably) when the DWP insists they apply for jobs that everyone knows they’re not eligible for. They’re thrown out of jobcentres when they try to drop in the sick notes their doctors must keep writing to cover people’s very obviously deteriorating health. The hours I’ve spent posting or delivering sick notes to the DWP and jobcentres for people who everyone at the jobcentres knows is neither fit nor eligible for work – I tell you what.
The “lucky” people are supported by collectives such as the Kilburn Unemployed Workers’ group who really do make herculean efforts to keep things afloat for people. Other people just rot.
There’s no doubt in my mind that each of these problems hacks away at people’s health. Together and over time, these problems are dynamite. Because I see people again and again, I see the deterioration as it gathers pace over time – the weight loss, the worsening diabetes and respiratory health, and the decline in mobility. It’s neither hysterical nor naive to say that. I spend most of my time out talking with people who are in these situations.
People like me and plenty of others know what we see. We’re not the ones who are hysterical or in denial. Seriously. This is not exaggeration, or hysteria, or even the dreaded fake news. Fake news is the sort of thing you find in the average DWP press release – press releases which say, for example, that the DWP provides “tailored” services for sick and disabled people, even while jobcentre advisers are telling you that the DWP does nothing of the kind. I think that every mainstream outlet which publishes a DWP justification-for-policy statement at the moment is publishing fake news.
—————
Here are some pictures of places I’ve taken in the last few years.
You can’t tell me that the health of the people who lived in these places hasn’t been affected by these cramped, mouldly, filthy conditions. Anyone who says otherwise really is naive.
The man who lived in the first two places (he has learning difficulties and diabetes) has recently been found sheltered housing thanks to the efforts of the Kilburn Unemployed Workers’ Group.
Mould in one-room studio flats in London (kitchen, bed, living space all in one room):
Man in his 60s living in an old static caravan (Oldham):
I find it so very very hard to believe what is fast becoming the norm under this very CORRUPT Government. All we see every day in the media is the very rich avoiding paying taxes, the MP’s being accused of sexual harassment & the disabled dying or committing suicide due to this VERY Corrupt government doing their very best to kill off the disabled by taking away more of their money on a weekly basis due to the DWP, who are yet again corrupt & telling blatant lies in assessments, being controlled by this Corrupt government!!!!
People go on about human rights, what about the human rights of the disabled who used to work, but can no longer????
Until 18months ago, (im 49yrs old now & worked from aged 14) I paid 40% tax, just when I need a little help after paying my taxes & NI for over 33yrs, I get two fingers shown to me by this Corrupt Government!!!
When, WHEN will someone stand up & say enough is enough!!!!!
People are dying & commiting suicide as they cannot see a way out FFS!!!! Does no one care!!???????
This government should be imprisoned for what they are doing to their own People!!
If I could afford to emigrate I would, as there is definitely, deffinitely absolutely NOTHING Great about great britain anymore!!! I am ashamed to say I am British!!
I just hope the people trying to run this once great country that is no longer great, can sleep at night. Because there are many millions, due to their barbaric choices who cannot!!
One potential indicator of this is the paused life expectancy rates in the UK. With medication and medical advances continuing to push life expectancy forward, for the UK to pause suggests that there a significant drag occurring. To my mind, that is the austerity agenda but proving it will be a challenge for researchers.
Kate, you and others do great work exposing the hypocrisy of those in government, and many commenting express surprise as to why they are allowed to get away with it. Part of the reason they are able to constantly get away with is is the almost total lack of opposition from Corbyn’s Labour Party. Where is the honest indignation that citizens are being allowed to die, to live in appalling conditions, to be constantly under the assault of a government hell bent on demonising the poor and marginalised. The Labour Party are complicit in this as they do not actively oppose every attempt by the Tories to introduce their social Darwinist agenda. They remain silent, no doubt fearful of the backlash they would receive from the likes of the Sun, The Daily Mail, The Express etc. Rather than worrying about the lies printed by the Tory supporting press, Labour should be acting according to principle, and when attempts to slur them are made, should counter with arguments in support of a fundamental respect for human life, something that the Tories would have a hard time maintaining under any kind of decent scrutiny.
We should be demanding standards below which no human should be allowed to fall below without their struggling to do so. There is no reason whatsoever why citizens in the UK cannot enjoy similar levels of social security to those enjoyed by citizens in Scandinavian countries.
I am with you in hoping that those responsible for the human rights abuses promoted through the actions by the DWP do time, and I would go so far as to say that this should include those working in the face to face situations in Jobcentres up and down the country, there can be no Nuremburg defence. Anyone with half a brain knows that depriving someone of money, as happens under a DWP sanction, deprives that person of the ability to live, and potentially affects the health of that person. Even the DWP themselves accept this, and even with this, seem happy to continue with this barbaric practice.
I shall be writing to my local MP, a Labour Party member, and asking a few pointed questions about her stance on social security under the Tories, and Labour’s apparent conspiracy of silence, or at the very least, almost complete ineptitude in opposing all the Tory reforms. I shall make a point of asking a specific question as to what an incoming Labour administration would do in terms of seeking justice for those who have suffered under the Tory social security reforms, and what kind of penalties they will seek to impose on those who have knowingly perpetrated these injustices. I’ll send you a copy of my letter.
Yep I agree with you there. There’s a lack of opposition on this and of opposition vision, more to the point.
It’s not just about an opposition party pointing out issues here and there – for example, the delays to Universal Credit payments. It’s about going after the thing in its entirety – setting out a vision where everyone gets decent work with good pay and there’s social security for all who can and can’t work, and where equal distribution is the key theme.
Labour calling for a halt to Universal Credit for example is a complete waste of time. What’s a halt, anyway? The thing needs to be taken down altogether, because its faults are an inherent part of a policy which is built on the premise that all poverty is all the fault of those experiencing it – rather than fallout from shit wages, poor job opportunities, overpriced crappy housing and an era of extraordinarily unequal distribution.
I’m not getting that big picture stuff from them. God knows why I still look for it.
And yes it would be great to see the letter.
Padi Phillips
Thank you for your reply!!
As i said, I’m now 49 & worked since I was 14. Up until 18months ago!
I then & now suffer from “Degenerative Disc Desease” in my back, where i can no longer walk (with a walking stick) more than 50mtrs without having to stop due to severe pain in my back! My whole lower back goes into a full on muscle cramp alacross my lower back. I cant sit, stand or anything. Pure agony!!l
I have zero testosterone levels which I’ve started to have hormone Injections for every 3 months, (just had my 2nd with no improvement as of yet)
Due to this I have “Hypergonad Hypergonadism” which means, at age 49, my hormones are all over the place, I’m suicidal, I used to enjoy hobbies that I can no longer bring myself to do. I suffer severe deppression & anxiety. I get physically sick at the thought of leaving my flat.
Because my Dr says I am NOT fit to work currently, the So called “Healthcare Professional” said that I am!!!
I appealed this way back in May & went 3 months without a single penny from DWP.
To cut a very long story short as im sure most people reading this know DWP never tell you what you’re entitled too!!!!!
The Citizens advice were amazing. They wrote my appeal to the courts, said I should’ve got 32points. I got 0 as the person lied during assessment!!! Blatant Lies. I was never asked any ?’s to gain any points!!???
Again, cutting a very, Very long story short, I now get £47 per wk to live on as my daughter (who lived with me at time of moving in to this flat) has moved in with her mum as its easier for her to get to college from her mum’s address.
So I can no longer pay bills due to this Tory bedroom tax, my ESA appeal is this Thursday on my daughters birthday & im expecting the very worst decision as ever since I’ve been down, I’ve been kicked & kicked by this Corrupt Tory government, that would rather see the likes of me just drop down dead! That may not be too long coming how things are going!!!!
Perhaps in terms of ‘seeking justice for those who have suffered under the Tory social security reforms, and … penalties … to impose on those who have knowingly perpetrated these injustices,’ a bit of community service by the perpetrators as ‘restorative justice’ would not go amiss?
And the ‘perpetrators’ could include Tony Blair, his former welfare reform guru the investment banker David Freud, and DWP Secretaries John Hutton, James Purnell, and Yvette Cooper, along with Employment Ministers such as Tony McNulty….
Part of the reason for the inhumanity is that the perpetrators fail to recognise the humanity of those they do down. Restorative justice should help to enlighten them!
I agree. I’m Labour-ish on the political spectrum, but I won’t join the party until they start speaking up for us! My sense is that a few MP’s are trying really hard, and scoring a few points here and there, but this requires the wholesale backing of a big party. What about the Lib Dems, and the Greens? The Scottish and Welsh and N. Irish parties? And surely there must be some decent Tory voters out there. Are our health and our lives really so devoid of value that they’ve decided that the unpopular stance of defending the “scroungers” is too high a price to pay?
Why aren’t the (liberal) media, aside from a few people like Polly Toynbee, and Kate, of course, trumpeting this from the battlements? The government is starving, torturing, and driving citizens to kill themselves. Surely people should be up in arms?
The only answer I can think of is that most people a) don’t know (media, this is your job!) or b) don’t care. God. How depressing.
I tried to explain the evils of the Work Capability Assessment to a Conservative Party Member. I felt like I got absolutely nowhere. He said a physiotherapist would be better than a doctor to do the assessment because this country is full of people off work with a bad back who need an assessment to move them off the sofa and into a desk job. And a retired doctor told him it’s better not to have GPs do the assessments, otherwise people go from doctor to doctor looking for a sick note when really they are well enough to work.
At times like this, I lose faith in humanity. He is an intelligent man with a big heart. He is a very kind person, but he really cannot see what is so obvious to me and to the other people who understand straight away and try to explain it to him as well.
Then he said there were no disability and out-of-work benefits in the UK before 1948, yet people survived without them. I sent him a link to a Wikipedia article about the Workhouse and the Poor Laws going back to the Middle Ages. He went to school overseas and had not realised that financial support for people who don’t and can’t work has existed for centuries, but it was administered by churches and parish councils, not the “state”.
Now he has been telling me I’m being brainwashed by Momentum and that it’s like I’m a member of a cult. He said he was joking, but I don’t think he was because the Tories seem to say the same thing, both on these forums and on TV! He only said he was joking after another Corbyn supporter spoke up for me and pointed out how absurd it was to suggest I must be brainwashed by a cult if I didn’t have the same opinion as him.
Then there is someone else I know who is clearly very Conservative in outlook. Whenever my friends and I discuss these human tragedies resulting from so-called “welfare reform”, her eyes just glaze over and she never has anything to say.
One day, she said she was very worried about another friend of ours because he said something negative about Brexit. She made it sound like he was dreadfully deluded just because he had a different opinion from hers. She said, “He really ought to read a nice right-wing newspaper for a change!” The most amazing thing was that the person she was saying this TO is a passionate Remainer who only ever has bad things to say about Brexit herself!
In conclusion, I think politics is becoming more and more polarised.
Also, there is a brand of Liberal international capitalists who think their opinions are not just opinions but the TRUTH and everybody who disagrees is “post-truth”/a dangerous Marxist/brainwashed by a cult.
Oops…I meant small-l liberal below:
I’d say that there is also the death, not of people, but of truth and people’s chances in what has long been a war against claimants’ rights through disinformation. That amounts to blaming people who have done what they could, but never been adequately supported as ‘austerity’ hit deeper and deeper. I’m not just talking about the current government, but also successive UK governments since the 1973 oil crisis.
As I argue in my latest blog post, Labour has been complicit in what post-2010 governments have formulated, and I believe the DWP needs to be restructured. Should Universal Credit ‘full roll-out’ be halted or scrapped entirely? And what of the ‘Department for Work & Pensions’?
There is also the matter of people having been sold short reqarding the right to lifelong learning, as I believe I have commented on elsewhere on your blog. That is, to implement London 2012 Olympics under tight-budgeting, the Blair Government cut Level 1 and Level 2 basic skills funding courses for adults with learning difficulties, rather than supporting such learners to acquire the literacy to become more independent in a classroom situation.
So there’s a death of human potential there, certainly.
Agreed. I actually think most of us are better than this crap. People’s only crime that I can see is not being born super rich.
Life is a bag of shite & totally devoid of hope. Trailing about to the library every day to do pointless jobsearch for the fucking sake of it whilst scraping by on bugger all. I’llbe glad when it’s all over. What’s the point? This country is fucked. If I had any money I’d go live in Greece & escape from this shit hole. God save the Queen, we mean it man….
Trev mate.
You’re so very right!!!
This once “Great” country is well & truly fcuked Trev mate!! There is now nothing “Great” about this country anymore, it really is, as you said. Well & truly fucked Trev.
I dare anyone to tell me exactly now, what is now “Great” about Britain!!! As there is Absofuckinlutely Nothing now Great about this very very sad country. Oh & Trev, if you ever get to afford to emigrate mate, tell me where you’re going! Give me a couple of yrs though to save up the fare to emigrate pls Trev!!! FPMSL. This country is one very VERY sick joke. Everything about it is Fuckin corrupt. The government are all sexual harassment cases & pervs. The rich send their money overseas to save Paying any taxes, while the poor & disabled are just left to die!!!!
What a very sick country with a very sick corrupt Fuckin government we have!!!! PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!
My father & grandfather both fought in wars for this country so I can now survive by eating out-of-date tinned food that my neighbour threw in the bin. Meanwhile, Billions of £s are leeching out of the country to be hoarded away in off-shore accounts by the Rich. Austerity is a lie & Universal Credit is Class War. Eat the Rich.
The austerity agenda of the last seven years must be the most successful propaganda operation since the Cold War. An upper-class Tory government has somehow persuaded millions of ordinary working British people to turn against their own basic interests.
To support policies based on false stereotypes about the unemployed, the disabled and the homeless. By creating suspicion that many others are cheating the benefits system, and somehow getting away with it. Then using this to justify their harsh policies and endless cuts and restrictions.
It is a classic technique of ‘divide & rule’, and it has been remarkably successful.
Somehow the spell needs to be broken, and people wake up the the reality that they have been deceived in all these things. Then perhaps restoring decency to society can begin.
Yep. Welcome to the “Big Society”.
The cumulative effects of longterm poverty combined with loneliness & social exclusion are detrimental to health, without the added stress of unrelenting DWP harassment. Add to that the natural deteriaotion of health due to age & put it all together = a recipe for Misery.
That is very true
I retied to Spain ten years ago and i have watched the UK Government manipulate figures, lie cheat cover up and most of all misappropriate the taxes and National Insurance that is paid by the working masses. They still abuse the allowances but cannot give a disabled person in dire need assistance. Billions can be found to shore up government votes which in any other langue is a bribe. But no money for decent housing. This government is a joke. Here in Spain the state heath service is amazing money is always found If I want to see a doctor its either the same day or if they are busy it is the following day.
WHAT I actually want to know is WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY GO If Spain can do it why cant the UK There must be some serious corruption in the UK government for the country to be on its knees like it is.
The reason Britain is screwed & we are all so skint is because twats like Lord Ashcroft have all the bloody money.
I wonder how much tax he paid last year and how many accountants he has so he does NOT pay tax.
Ashcroftis just one example, there are many more. He’s a multi millionaire who enjoys non-dom taxstatus so avoids paying UK tax, but that doesn’t stop him from collecting his £300 PER DAY just for turning up at the House of Lords! And he effectively bought his peerage by making big donations to the Tories. It stinks.
I think as far as efficient health care goes, even Cuba can give one or two supposedly developed countries a run for their money. Not saying it’s universally wonderful, but the stats as regards life expectancy and infant mortality as well as preventative healthcare are pretty amazing when it’s considered how little is spent per head, but then they have a proper health service as opposed to our national sickness service which is predicated upon the notion of fixing poorly workers rather than preventing them getting ill in the first place. Things are a little better than they were, but many of those who are now struggling with the DWP over ESA and PIP payments for not being able to work due to occupational disease and illness would be in a much better situation had they been protected properly when in work.
People really do need a wake up call, but I haven’t a clue how to do that, and in reality there is nothing the Tories are doing that the Romans weren’t also doing some 2000 years ago. Bread and circuses, and their modern equivalents seem to still have some kind of magic quality that spellbinds the masses into unthinking complicity.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
There must be an alternative to the hypocrites we have in the government now
The prime minister gets more like Nero every day just standing by while the lives of those she IS RESPONSIBLE too and are the most vulnerable in society just starve, give up hope and fall apart SHAME and DISGUST ON YOU
Cuba’s healthcare system is among the top in the world.
Hi Cherry.
I totally agree what you’re saying sweetheart!!!
I was born in this country that I have dearly loved all my life, that is till I needed a little help!!!
I’m 49 now & worked all my life from the age of 14 where i worked on market stalls every weekend instead of playing football for my school.
My parents both worked so very hard for us 3 kids. Growing up I remember my mum working 4 jobs to make ends meet. So I was brought up to know that you have to work very hard for what you want in life. As not all of us were born with a silver spoon in our mouths!!!!
I was paying 40% tax until 18months ago when I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Desease in my back, now I struggle to walk without stopping many times as all my back just locks up.
I have loads of other health issues too to add to this.
My GP has said in not fit to work, yet the So called “Healthcare Professional” at my ESA assessment said I am!!!
This country is now run by criminals who should be locked away for a very long time for what they are doing to the genuine hardworking people of this country!!
I have my appeal tribunal this Thursday which, I’m hoping for once will go my way, if it doesn’t, I will be sleeping & living on the streets!!!
I would so dearly love to emigrate as i now Hate this country with a passion for what it is doing to its own people!!
I detest this government who are either tax cheats or perverts. Every single one of them are Corrupt & are only in it for what they can get out of it.
It’s now a very very sick, perverted country that I used to love but now Hate with a passion.
I challenge anyone to tell me exactly what is now “Great” about Britain.
Absolutely Nothing!!!
You did good emigrating to Spain, just wish I could also, to leave this God awful behind and start a new life where people actually care about each other & are not perverts, tax cheats full of greed!!
All the very best to you!
Ritchie
I will keep my fingers crossed for you on Thursday. You do know you can take anyone with you do you know a nurse who can put your side the legal term is “a Mackenzie Friend” it does not have to be a “legal person” lets face it what ordinary person has access to justice with a legal representative. Something else which has been eroded away. Keep your spirits up if enough people Appeal it will not be cost effective to continue so the system may easily corrupt itself. GIVE IT ALL YOU HAVE.
You’ve got the nail on the head right there Cherry!!
This UK government is so very very Corrupt!!!!
Each & every one of them should do time in jail for what they are doing to the disabled of this once great country. I just hope I’m still around to see this justice one day hopefully very soon!!!!
Labour and the TUC, still cling to the old ideals of work as being something wonderful in its own right. A blessing to the poor and the hungry, the honest man’s salvation etc. Common-sense would indicate that it is not just having ‘work’ as some abstract ideal that matters, but the quality, the conditions and the pay received for that work. Poor quality, low-paid, exploitive work, is no real advantage to anyone. It pays next to nothing, and as every recent study shows, in the long-term causes mental stress and associated health problems. This isn’t a good thing, it is a bad thing. Certainly nothing to be glorified as the final end of human existence in the 21st century.
Nor is it the automatic solution to every health and social problem.
Labour are reluctant to get into these aspects, particularly with regard to Universal Credit. And I think this underlies much of the tacit support they appear to have for it.
You’re right, Socialism defines us as ‘Workers’ not human beings. I sometimes think Labour & Conservative are like two sides of the same coin. Under Miliband Labour HQ actually told me in an email that they supported Benefit Sanctions & said that they believed Sanctions are a “vital tool” in helping people back to work. They disagreed with me that Sanctions cause poverty & said that the biggest cause of poverty is unemployment. Because of that I voted Green instead.
I don’t think that is necessarily true, as real socialism defines us first and foremost as human beings. Much of the much vaunted ‘socialism’ that’s peddled by the mainstream unions, (i.e. the TUC unions) is nothing of the sort, as the kind of economy mostly sought is that of state capitalism. After all, it’s what gives them their power. A much better solution would be anarcho-syndicalism, where the people take control of, not just industry, but the whole of society as well, and then run it in the interests of human beings, serving human needs, (plus many wants as well!) with an emphasis on the abolition of the wages system, the idea being that if the people/workers own the industry, then it seems a bit silly that they buy things from themselves, as they already own it! (And yes, reminders of ‘Tell Sid he already owns it’ are quite relevant here.) In the end it’s about people being able to live their lives and it’s also why we need to start to demand that some sort of unconditional basic income is implemented as a start towards a new kind of economy where everyone benefits from the huge amounts of wealth generated. I reccommend watching a few of Yanis Varoufakis videos on the subject on YouTube. He is very convincing, and argues the case in a way that would be very difficult to argue against. The likes of Facebook, Google, Twitter and all other kinds of social media make billions every year, profiting from the content created by people like us. All these big tech companies do is provide the platform, and allow us to use it ‘free’. However, the fact that billions of us do use those platforms means they have a huge value in terms of both the data we give them, and also in terms of advertising opportunities for those companies that want to sell us things. We should at least be getting a percentage of that back, and there is little reason to think that an unconditional basic income could not be funded through taxation on the huge profits generated by our contributions by the companies that own the social media platforms – remember, they don’t create anything, it’s people like us who do. It’s also a timely reminder that capitalists don’t create anything either, only workers create wealth, and then have much of the value of that wealth stolen from them.
You voted Green, as your conscience told you to do. The Greens are probably far more ‘socialist’ than much of the Labour Party, (which has long had many faux socialists in it’s ranks) and we must here remember Tony Benn’s admonishment about the Labour Party; that it isn’t a socialist party, but a party with socialists in it – not quite the same thing. And that’s another thing I just can’t fathom. The Tories and the rabid right-wing press go on about how Corbyn is of the ‘loonie left’ when in actual fact mainstream Labour Party policies of the 60s and 70s were far more left-wing than the feeble suggestions of Jeremy and friends.
It’s difficult for Labour to scrap Universal Credit, without being seen as supporting welfare over work.
Difficult yes, but still vitally important that they do just that. They could still champion work, but decently paid work, with decent working conditions etc.
However, in the case of Universal Credit, I rather suspect that the whole system will come crashing down under it’s own weight. Many people have been convinced that it isn’t fit for purpose, and hasn’t been since it’s inception. The whole concept is flawed and the conditionality requirements could only have been thought up by someone of a very misanthropic bent. It barely works for the simplest of claims. It’s going to be a complete disaster when it’s rolled out to families etc, and sadly it’s going to cause so much uneccessary suffering before Labour gets it’s finger out and robustly opposes it. They should, as others have here pointed out, been in total opposition right from the word go, but were obviously worried about what the Daily Mail etc printed about them. So, we know what Labour’s principles are. don’t we?
It’s also difficult for charities such as Citizens Advice to say, “Universal Credit is a total screw up, designed to screw the people who need state support the most.” So instead Citizens Advice says, The government is improving Universal Credit — but there’s more to do.
That is because registered charities would threaten their own financial survival if they stood out firmly against the nastinesses of government policy. That situation leads to a furthering of Universal Credit’s standing as ‘too big to fail’.
Further reading: Revisiting Kwug Blog’s 2015 UK General Election post ‘Pollsters’ vision excludes those offline ?’
Mitzi, many Benefits are claimed by people who are IN work! Universal Credit will apply to them too. There is such a thing as in-work sanctions, whereby people have to be looking for better paid work or more hours if they want to continue receiving Housing Benefit top up towards their rent.
I would like to comment on the photographs of the mouldy flat.
Does the tenant have a written tenancy agreement with the landlord? If so, has the tenant written to the landlord (e.g. by email, so that delivery can be proven) saying that the contract is being broken because the landlord is not taking care of the property?
Mould can be blamed on the tenant, unless it is possible to identify the source of the mould. If the tenant can take photographs of missing bricks in an external wall or water coming through a ceiling when it rains, the landlord can be taken to task for that and it would no longer be plausible to blame the tenant for the mould.
Rent can be withheld legally if the landlord ignores requests to fix these problems. It is a breach of the tenancy agreement by the landlord. Therefore, the tenancy agreement is no longer valid. So the rent is no longer due.
Then there is the question of personal injury. If the tenant has photographs and unanswered letters/emails proving that the landlord has failed to address the cause of the mould, any resulting health problem would be a reason to sue the landlord for personal injury.
Councils have a legal duty to stop people from letting out homes in this condition. It is clear from Kate’s interview with the council officer that councils have become negligent in carrying out these duties. However, there is the law and there are complaint and appeal processes that can be followed. There is no other way to hold local councils to account.
The middle class take up all sorts of complaints and legal actions against their local councils about causes that matter to them. It gets these things to the top of councils’ agendas. That’s how they get what they want. It has nothing to do with how much council tax they pay.
Don’t believe the councils when they tell you they have no money to sort out poor people’s problems. It is a question of priorities. They pay enormous salaries to those in charge of their councils. The spend a fortune taking up middle-class causes as spurious as nighttime aeroplane noise. If you can, please follow the complaints procedures and try to hold your local council to account. We are no less important than the rich. Unless we make a lot of noise, we will only be ignored.
Please try to write to your MP. Even if he/she is Conservative. Constituents must be answered. This raises the profile of the problem. If you have time, write to your local councillors as well. If you are worried about postage costs, they all have email addresses, which you can find by searching the internet at your local library.
I went to a meeting with my local councillors a few years ago and everyone who attended was elderly, except me. They were complaining about fruit trees being annoying because they shed fruit on the pavement! There was nobody complaining about housing AT ALL. I live in Inner London. Yes we do have these problems. But local politicians do not know that anybody cares unless someone shows up and speaks up.
Then there is the media. The BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, “The Guardian” newspaper, Twitter, Facebook… many other brands are available. If you feel able to, please film your housing problems. Please contact journalists and invite them into your home. If your situation gets into the news, it greatly increases the chances of something being DONE about it.
I fully understand the practical difficulties that people face because they have nowhere else to sleep at night. I fully understand how these problems grind you down, day after day. I fully understand feeling suicidal and struggling just to get out of bed.
However, there must be SOMEONE out there who is willing and able to take on the fight. Please try to hold these landlords to account. If you know someone else who is suffering these conditions, please support them to take the landlords to task.
The sad fact is that nothing will improve if we just shut up and pay the rent. Yes, many people will not be in a position to take up the fight. I know it grinds you down, day after day. But those of you out there who CAN, please try. Please at least start the process of sending written correspondence and contacting your local council. I know you run the risk of eviction. But then the landlord will have to let the property IN THAT STATE to someone else and will stop getting rent from you. At the very least, it will be very inconvenient.
Nothing will change unless we take action, together. Come on, everyone. We fought the war. Let’s find it within us to keep fighting* for a better country.
* By “fighting”, I DO NOT mean taking out weapons. I mean following the legal process. If you commit a crime, you become the “bad” one, not the landlord. Then prejudices against the poor seem to be justified.
Hi Alison,
Yes there was ultimately a legal intervention in this case. The person has also been found permanent sheltered accommodation – due, as I say, to a great deal of help from the Kilburn Unemployed Workers’ Group. The thing is – you wonder how many people are out there who don’t have any sort of support – you’re right about practical difficulties. The idea of getting in touch with the council and MPs and keeping the pressure on is crucial.
3 cheers for the Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group!
I lived in a mouldy flat (although not nearly as bad as these!), and I developed asthma because of it. We complained to our landlady, and she basically hinted that if we took it any further, she’d find another reason to kick us out. Yes, there are laws and rules and organizations to help with this kind of thing, but landlords have the power.
Also, a lot of council properties are full of mould!
Revenge evictions would only be an issue in the private rental sector, so council tenants would not need to worry.
I do agree and fully appreciate the dangers of being evicted, especially because people on Housing Benefit are discriminated against. I tried to say so.
The thing is, if nobody does anything about it, this will just get worse and worse, all over the country.
It sounds like you left your mouldy flat in the end anyway.
That caravan ceiling is disgusting, and it’s wrong that anyone should have to live like that. If they were keeping a dog in these conditions the RSPCA would soon sort it out.
The councils are to blame for much of this. They already have wide powers under the Housing Act 2004 to inspect properties and enforce fire, health & safety standards. If every local council, who are keen enough to collect their council tax, made the same effort at properly registering, and then actively checking the rented properties in their area, it would reduce much of the problem.
Many of these sub-standard premises have never had a council inspection of any kind for years, if at all. And as long as the worst landlords think they can get away with this, they will continue to do so.
Spot on Paul. The councils know where all these places are.
The cheap rentals that aren’t registered or checked.
Landlords advertising in newsagent windows, freeads and the like.
You can’t hide houses with loads of people coming in and out that are living there. One near me, rubbish in the garden, paint peeling off, broken-down. You never see the council anywhere near it. And if they don’t give a toss, who should be doing it ?
I agree completely, Kate. Apologies if this is poorly written – I’m on a lot of tramadol.
I have chronic pain due to a failed back surgery (for 10 years) and life-long serious mental health problems (which have caused me to miss years of school and work in the past, but I still managed to earn 2 degrees from top universities, work for 7 years, and publish 13 journal articles. I was in the middle of a PhD program at Cambridge when my back injury happened. I’m bloody-minded, smart, and I keep coming back from stuff.)
Every time I get a benefits application in the post (brown envelope phobia!), my mental health starts spiralling downward, because I know what’s going to happen. Every time I lose my benefits, wait months for a Tribunal (once it was 14 months) without that money, and then get the benefits back again. The whole process is also depressing and humiliating. Imagine that you went from functional adulthood to moderate disability. You lost your job, your career, your PhD place, your partner, your savings, your retirement savings…. More than that, you’re always on meds that make you vague and a bit stupid, you can’t walk very far or sit for very long because of pain, your partners and friends help you a lot (because they’re wonderful), but you can’t do much to help them in return (emotional support, pretty much). You have some fairly humiliating issues, such as not showering or eating for days when depressed, or having panic attacks on the bus. Not only do you have to think about all these things and write them down on a form, when usually you try to think positively, and focus on what you CAN do, you then have to go to an assessment and explain them all to a stranger who either doesn’t care or actively assumes that you’re faking. This person often writes a report on you that is either incompetent or dishonest, which results in you losing your benefits. This makes you wonder if perhaps you are being pathetic. Maybe unconsciously, you are a scrounger. Maybe you could go back to work. Of course, you can’t. If you could you would have done so, because living on benefits sucks. Every disabled person on benefits I’ve ever met has desperately wanted to get back some of their old life, even if that only means working part-time at something vaguely related to what they used to do, or want to do. I’m going to describe some of the things I go through below, and trust me, it’s pretty humiliating to write this stuff to random people on the internet who I don’t know, never mind someone who is judging whether or not I’m lying!
That brown envelope triggers my chronic depression, which gets much worse over the next few months, and my chronic anxiety increases hugely. When I’m that depressed I don’t eat enough, and sometimes I don’t eat at all for a few days. I’ve lost 12lbs in the past 2 months, and I’m skinny as hell anyway. Apparently being underweight is as bad for your health as being overweight. I ended up very anemic a few weeks ago because of my eating issues. I could only climb half a flight of stairs before I had to stop to rest, as I was so out of breath (aside from mild asthma, I have no respiratory problems).
I get so anxious that I have a lot of trouble leaving the house, which means I don’t attend social events, which depresses me further. I often miss my therapy, as well, which isn’t good! The high anxiety raises stress hormone levels, heart rate, blood pressure, etc., which is pretty bad for your health. I tend to start drinking unhealthily when my mental health is bad, and I smoke more. (I know it’s stupid, but depressed+anxious me doesn’t care about stuff like that, even when healthy me is screaming at her from wherever she goes when d+a me takes over). It’s really good for my already stressed-out liver (I’m on a lot of meds). My insomnia also gets a lot worse: this past week I didn’t sleep at all for 4 nights out of 7. Healthy! The insomnia means that it’s very difficult to stick to a routine, so I end up messing up my meds a lot.
When my mental health gets this bad, I stop doing my physio and other pain management techniques, so my chronic pain gets worse. My muscles fade away, and my body gets so weak that I get more back spasms, and my spine is less supported. As my pain gets worse my mental health worsens, and as my mental health gets worse, my physical health worsens. It’s a terrible cycle which rapidly drags me downhill.
In addition, the levels of stress affect my immune system. It’s not great in the first place due to the pain and mental health problems and a couple of the meds, but increasing stress, decreasing physical health, terrible insomnia, and drinking too much really screw with it. I had 5 colds and a vomiting thing between September and Christmas, and I was diagnosed with shingles today (I’m 42). Shingles is generally triggered by extreme stress. Hmmm. I wonder what could be stressing me out? Oh yeah, writing up my Mandatory Reconsideration (which failed). The antivirals (I took the first one a few hours ago) made me vomit, which set off a back spasm. Yay!
Lastly, each time this happens I lose my benefits and have to appeal. Tribunals take a while (once it took 14 months!), and during that time I’m both extremely stressed and living on far too little money. Sometimes I can borrow money from friends, and they often drop food outside my door (from the “Food Fairy”, because I don’t accept help easily), but I still have trouble paying for healthy food, warm enough clothes, etc. I always win at Tribunal (4 or 5 times now – this one will make 5 (6?)), but then begins the long period of recovering from the effects of the whole thing, which can take up to a year, depending on how bad I’ve gotten. The worst part? Each time I go through this I recover to a slightly lower level than I started at. At some point, I suspect that I just won’t make it back. People with chronic pain and mental health problems tend to develop more chronic diseases, and die many years earlier than they otherwise would. I know the Tories don’t care (hey, earlier death = less benefits money spent!), but I do (when I’m not suicidal), and so do the people who care about me.
The costs to the NHS are high, because they have to care for me, pay for extra appointments, extra meds, etc., and I’ve ended up in hospital twice due to this process (once for self harm, once because I had a back spasm that was so bad they had to admit me for 5 days of IV morphine). The costs of getting me back to a reasonable level of function must be pretty high too.
The costs in stress, time, and money for my partners and friends are high as well. For a few weeks in December my partner was dropping by three times a week to make me eat. A couple of friends did the same. They worry a lot, and my poor 74yo mother has to go back on anxiety meds most times because she’s so worried about me.
The funny thing? I think that I could probably get back to work, part time, if I could stabilise and get strong. I almost made it this time… Was planning on starting looking for jobs right around now, but that PIP review form arrived in August, and there went that. I would need to find a suitably flexible job which allowed home-working, but I did it once before. I’m highly educated, with years of experience in my field, and I’m very good at picking up new things. If the DWP would leave me alone with enough money to take care of my basic needs and pay for therapy, I think there’s a 90% chance that I’d get back into work. Instead they knock me back year after year, slowly grinding me down.
I’m just one person, and a relatively lucky one, at that. Good education, work experience, great friends, wonderful partners… So many people don’t have these things. So many of them will get sicker and sicker, like me, and some of them kill themselves. The health costs of the Tory welfare reforms must be enormous, although we’ll never really be able to measure them…
OK, thanks for reading my babble.
Heather, I have nothing but admiration for you because you have kept going so well in this situation. Many other people would have committed suicide.
I will keep you in my prayers.
It is really dreadful the way the government are treating you. It is an abomination.
It’s wonderful that there are people who are bringing you food.
I don’t know where I would be without the help I have received from others who care. Emotional support in my case, as well as a bit of money.
People’s generosity is breathtaking. Before Christmas, the food bank collection points round here were overflowing and the local food bank says no more pasta or beans!
Hi Heather.
It breaks my heart to read your situation & i can relate to almost everything you have said!
The frustration I feel when I can’t do the most basic simple things I used to take for granted really gets to me!
I won’t waffle on for ages like I usually do but i just wanted to reply to your comments to let you know that you’re not alone in the very very horrible situation that you now find yourself in. And I just look forward to the day when we actually see a change & where all the corrupt people that pretend to run this country, including the PM, face time in prison for their crimes against humanity!!
I posted something on this website back in November & ill post what I put then below.
Please take care Heather, and hopefully, one day we will see the change that is so desperately needed in this Corrupt country!!
Ritchie xx
I find it so very very hard to believe what is fast becoming the norm under this very CORRUPT Government. All we see every day in the media is the very rich avoiding paying taxes, the MP’s being accused of sexual harassment & the disabled dying or committing suicide due to this VERY Corrupt government doing their very best to kill off the disabled by taking away more of their money on a weekly basis due to the DWP, who are yet again corrupt & telling blatant lies in assessments, being controlled by this Corrupt government!!!!
People go on about human rights, what about the human rights of the disabled who used to work, but can no longer????
Until 18months ago, (im 49yrs old now & worked from aged 14) I paid 40% tax, just when I need a little help after paying my taxes & NI for over 33yrs, I get two fingers shown to me by this Corrupt Government!!!
When, WHEN will someone stand up & say enough is enough!!!!!
People are dying & commiting suicide as they cannot see a way out FFS!!!! Does no one care!!???????
This government should be imprisoned for what they are doing to their own People!!
If I could afford to emigrate I would, as there is definitely, deffinitely absolutely NOTHING Great about great britain anymore!!! I am ashamed to say I am British!!
I just hope the people trying to run this once great country that is no longer great, can sleep at night. Because there are many millions, due to their barbaric choices who cannot!!
National Audit Office to investigate DWP monitoring of suicides:
http://politicsandinsights.org/2019/10/22/national-audit-office-to-investigate-dwp-suicide-monitoring-of-social-security-claimants/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/suicide-welfare-benefit-claimants-national-audit-office-nao-frank-field-a9164836.html
More on that here:
https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2019/10/22/watchdog-to-investigate-after-dwp-refuses-to-provide-information-on-benefit-related-suicides/