A few thoughts on now-legendary government plans to have jobcentre work coaches decide whether people are fit to work and how hard:
There are many problems with this hogwash, but the one we’ll talk about today is the pot luck element (already a problem). Sick and disabled people in such a system will have to rely on fair treatment from work coaches (already very much hit and miss). Put simply, people will have to hope that they get a work coach who isn’t a punitive twat.
Which isn’t always a sure thing. Some frontline officers are decent. Others, alas, really are out to lunch.
I’ve been thinking about this, because I recently had a long conversation with a frontline DWP officer who, just a few minutes in, struck me as totally gone.
This person was a universal credit case manager who, funnily enough, was on a Stockport PCS picket line, striking for better pay. I was interviewing strikers and talked with this case manager at length. Actually – this person talked to me at length. I mostly stood there wondering why I’d been born.
This caseworker couldn’t have channelled Mel Stride better if they’d actually been Mel Stride. The caseworker said it all: benefit claimants were lazy, their mental health problems were bogus, that anyone could be a millionaire if they tried (wasn’t sure about this, given that the strikers were out for a few measly percent) and – slight tangent – that social media turned people into turkeys (have to say I agreed with that one).
Anyway.
The red flags went up early on, but the one I’ll start with waved vigorously at me – when the caseworker said that benefit claimants should model themselves on Elon Musk.
“[When] Elon Musk started out people were saying, “electric cars, mate – that’s not going to take off.” He’s now outstripping Toyota, because he showed up. That’s all we ask claimants to do.”
Oh goody, I thought. Bet this plays well. As a caseworker, our comrade here had the power to start (or not start) benefit claims, to stop payments, to read about people’s health and their personal circumstances, and to make decisions about their incomes on the basis of that.
Knowing this and hearing the Musk thing, your hopes for a fair world tank. When you spend hours with claimants who have literacy problems, health problems, age problems and work-related injuries, etc, the last person you want to hear from is another frontline clown who believes that getting work – and getting Musk-rich for that matter – is entirely a matter of the right stuff and backbone. No matter if your backbone is crumbling, or full of arthritis, or whatever it is. No matter if you apply for job after job, but can’t buy an interview because of your age. Our caseworker didn’t really touch on the many and often complicated reasons why people don’t work, apart from suggesting that too many of them arse around on facebook.
“Anything is possible,” the caseworker said. “They talk about the American dream. The dream is all around you.”
It certainly is for Elon Musk. I did wonder if it always was in Stockport.
At the jobcentre and job clubs I spend time at, I’ve talked with a lot of local people who claim universal credit because their wages are so low that they need subsidising to live, or because they lost jobs or businesses in the pandemic, or because they have serious mental health issues and not a lot of help because services have gone, or because they struggle to work, or find work, because of their health and/or age. They have to work, or claim benefits, though, because the pension age keeps climbing and they have yet to drop dead.
Also, my feeling has always been that Elon Musk got ahead because he’s an overindulged sociopath, rather than, say, stuck in an unheated Brinnington hovel with literacy issues and a heart condition, but maybe I and we just need to start looking lively.
That’s all street homeless people needed to do, our caseworker said, moving on to this group. All that homeless people needed was a big smile and a broom:
“I’ve got nothing against them [homeless people]. They are very vulnerable, you know – half the day without food. [But] – get yourself a brush [broom], go round the back [of local businesses] and sweep up. Then you can say [to the business owner], “I’m homeless, but I can do this.” Then you say, “I know it’s a bit cheeky to ask, but is there any chance I can get a fiver for food and drink?” They’ll go, “yep, right, there you go.” If that word spreads, he’ll tell the next business owner and before you know it, 5 years have gone and you’re running a professional cleaning business.”
No doubt such heartwarming stories play out all the time, though possibly most often in movies. I got the feeling that our caseworker had watched a fair few of those.
It is my experience that real life is a little less… linear. The street homeless people I’ve worked with over the years had potential, all right, but had also been devastated by experiences such as early years in care, abusive families, abusive relationships, military service, or serious mental health problems since their teens – experiences that many only ever managed to blot out with spice, bubble and booze. These people didn’t have an “I can’t be bothered,” problem so much as an “I want to die,” problem. It never occurred to me that this could be sorted by handing out a few dustbusters.
Ditto for mental health problems – but our comrade had doubts about those, too.
“People who are long term on universal credit, [they know] if they put things [in their universal credit journal] like, “oh, me mental health, or me depression,” we have to jump straight on that [and sort out that claimant’s problems first].”
Mm. I thought of the many long-term claimants I’ve sat with who’ve been in floods of tears as they’ve tried to solve a benefits or housing problem via a computer or officer who says No. Serious depression and anxiety are rife in this world. Given the number of benefit claimants who commit suicide, they also seem to be real.
So.
I suppose we could give this caseworker the benefit of the doubt and say that they were the sort of person to get a bit carried away in a chat. You wouldn’t want to count on that, though – problem being that if you were a benefit claimant, you’d have to. Which is the point, of course. Fairness is not mandated in the benefits system, to say the very least. Getting a sympathetic work coach, or caseworker, comes down to the luck of the draw.
I’m in tricky situation whereby I have to apply for jobs to avoid Sanctions but many of them mention in the description that the job includes lots of heavy lifting, which is therefore unsuitable for a man in his 60s with two hernias. So do I continue to apply because there’s nothing else, and if so at what point do I mention my age and Health issues? At the moment I’m putting that in a cover letter, but don’t want to be accused of deliberately trying to fail the application get Sanctioned anyway even though it’s a job and I’ve applied. What a load of nonsense. Claiming Benefits is no longer about finding a job, it’s about successfully navigating the obstacle course of punitive rules.
The whole thing is just stupid. People should just be able to retire. I’ve really noticed an increase in the number of over 60s who have to sign on.
I couldn’t agree more. And the Musk analogy is completely ridiculous. She should have said Donald Trump, “why can’t the unemployed simply inherit Billions of dollars like Donald Trump?”. It’s just as stupid and downright bloody crass as holding up some successful mega-rich entrepreneur as an example of what min. wage work can typically achieve for most of the Working Class.
Was interesting to note that this person wasn’t a millionaire. Nor am I, sadly. Clearly I just need to pull finger
As George Carlin, the American comedian said about the American Dream, you have to be asleep to believe it.
That casework officer seems to be a really nice piece of work, and in the PCS too. Sadly the PCS is a union that is pretty much infiltrated by Socialist Worker types, which says a lot about their ideas of worker solidarity. If the PCS genuinely cared about their fellow workers, (which includes the unemployed) they’d have taken a much firmer stance over the way the DWP policies towards claimants. Politically motivated actions by trade unions may not be allowed, but there are always ways around such things, such as passive resistance, not imposing the rules strictly etc.
I’m supposed to be attending a 50plus jobs fair next Jobcentre day, completely absurd as I’ll be in receipt of my state pension in a couple of months having reached the magic age of 66. I know that there are worries about being able to support a growing number of retired people, but I often wonder how much the shortfall is, and also, just how much do the very wealthy take out of society in terms of bonuses and obscenely high incomes – wealth that could be better spent investing in social services and better pensions for all, and claimable at 60.
I don’t know why the WCA was introduced in the first place or what was wrong with the old system where a NHS doctor decided if you were unfit for work and issued a thing called a Sick Note, enabling you to then apply for Incapacity Benefit and Income Support or SSP (Statutory Sick Pay) or if permanently/long-term ill, sick or injured apply for Invalidity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance. It worked fine so far as I’m aware so why alter it?
Well, why get someone’s doctor and specialist consultant to make a decision about sickness when you can pay rapacious shysters like Atos and Capita to do it – and to decide if they’re going to pass you or not before you even get there. I’ve been to quite a few WCAs with people and honestly – what a bloody joke.
It all stems from the bloody neoliberal attitude that no one is too sick to work. New Labour started it and the Tories ran with it. Lord Freud presided over Welfare Reform for both New Labour and Conservative governments, making a mockery of Democracy in the process.
None of these people seem to have the backbone to call time on the whole bloody shambles. This is why I can’t follow politics anymore. I just can’t listen to the bullshit. I’ll hear some worthy on the radio farting on about idle benefit claimants and the joys of work, when I’ve just had to call an ambulance to a jobcentre, because the woman with learning difficulties I’m with has thrombosis and can’t breathe. And the jobcentre has just closed her benefit claim, because she missed a couple of signon meetings, because she was too sick to attend.
These neoliberals better hope there’s not a god.
When somebody comes along who rocks the Establishment boat they crucify them as antisemitic terrorist supporters, Communists and wearers of Russian hats, etc. They are demonized, pilloried and driven out of politics.
Another good reason for Work Coaches to go out on strike, because they are not qualified to make medical decisions. It is that Atos, Maximus costing too much screwing the DWP out of £Billions yet the DWP can’t get out of the contracts so scrapping the WCA is not really happening contract wise. Now if I said piss off the a Work coach would they realise I have Tourette’s or just being rude to then call G4S to kick me out the job centre !! Can work coaches notice depression, they should most of the Work Coaches have it with the new medical testing work load. Are the Work Coaches now going to prescribe medication & hand out prescriptions !! Are the work Coaches getting high blood pressure, they better give themselves a medical since they are in the business. What a mockery the DWP are running & running out of ideas. I hope the work Coaches are trained to do CRP !!!
CPR help CPR Work Coach CPR the Work Coach needs CPR.
CRP is a protein that your liver makes. Normally, you have low levels of c-reactive protein in your blood. Your liver releases more CRP into your bloodstream if you have inflammation in your body. High levels of CRP may mean you have a serious health condition that causes inflammation.
I attended my fortnightly JSA appointment at the Jobcentre today, what used to be a ‘signing’ appointment but a signature is no longer required and these appointments are referred to now as ‘jobsearch reviews’. I must say though that my Work Coach is pleasant enough and actually fairly reasonable. It’s the same one I’ve seen since before Covid, and the ones prior to that were either very unreasonable bastards or just pleasant enough jobsworths. This one though is OK really so I can’t complain. I do some jobsearch and apply for a few jobs, evidence of which I keep on my phone in the form of automatic email replies confirming that I’ve applied for such & such kob, as well as emails confirming that I’ve been unsuccessful in my application for such & such job. I show the Work Coach my phone with that email folder open for her to see and that suffices. It means I’ve met my obligations and enables the Work Coach to tick a box before giving me my next jobsearch review appointment. Everyone’s happy and off I go. I’m still attending the Work and Health Programme at Reed ‘Better Working Futures’, usually one or two appointments per week, and have about 6 months remaining. All of which is helping to pass the months/years and inevitably bring me ever closer to Retirement age (eventually).
Bloody hell. So I’ve just had my Reed appointment this aft, on the Health and Work Programme, and the advisor decided to scan through the available jobs they currently have on their books, which isn’t many, to find something that might be suitable for me. She came up with one job, through another agency, working in some sort of factory as a “experienced Production Operative”, doing “heavy work” on a rotational day/nights 12 hour shift system. Highly suitable had I been 35 years younger and a whole lot fitter, even better if I had my own transport (which I haven’t). So then the onus is on me to explain why I don’t think the job is suitable for me. This is how they shift things around to throw you off guard. Of course it’s not fucking suitable!
It’s not suitable to trying to keep up with the Advisor’s target otherwise they won’t get a bonus. First of all I am a Health & Safety Hazzard, so that should help you narrow it down to what jobs I can do. Is the Advisor not suggesting that the job at the Company should be breaking the law with Health & Safety abuses !!! Perhaps the Advisor would get the sack suggesting that. So try again & do more work Advisor. Where would he fit in not being a Health & Safety Hazzard. Well that’s your brief Advisor. The Advisor no says “Can you prove your a Health & Safety Hazzard?” – Let me just stand up & fall over, it might have been my untired shoelaces I don’t know it all happened so fast.
The Advisor also booked me in for a workshop on starting your own business and becoming self-employed, as if that’s going to happen at my age. All I want to do is retire but they can’t get that through their thick heads as being a viable option. If I’d have had an aptitude for business and an actual business idea I’d have become self-employed donkey’s years ago, but we can’t all be Elon Musks and I’m certainly not going to start now, besides which I’m officially Insolvent and therefore not legally allowed to start a business or be a company director, or to even apply for more than £500 credit. But I’ll just play the game, attend the pointless workshop and play along with their nonsense to pass the time and enable everyone to tick the right boxes, which seems to be my chief purpose in life at the moment.
In fact I am already registered with that particular agency who have all my vital details on record and presumably would have contacted me had they considered me suitable, which they haven’t and obviously don’t.
Trev it’s sick making and your going to retire b4 I do !! So today I had the B and M opportunity, new store opening. All 16-20 hour a week contracts , and for me it’ll be 2 bus rides to get there and another 2 home. What struck me was nearly all of my group was my age,,,us oldies gotta work!!
I’m so sick of it, it was hyped up as a marvellous opportunity. Really? Minimum wage jobs part time? And it’s fast paced too. I think I’ll just have to b fast until my neck discs or my lower back goes. Then have them harass me as a sick person til I retire. And did anyone see that vacancies have fallen in number and numbers of unemployed going up and there’s more long term sick? They’ll b coming for the sick again soon …
Trev, last year it was put to me I should train as a lifeguard…!?
There’s 5 job fairs coming up here. Next month, I ” volunteered” for 4, coach asked if I’d consider the 5 th which was believe it or not Construction and Warehousing!? I’m so thankful he didn’t push that one I mean really? Last thing I constructed was Lego with the kids I did playleading with!!
It’s getting to me now, and I work now and have worked 13 years without claiming out of work benefits. Looking and applying for jobs part time, hardly any full time now so employers can save on NI probably, most are 2 bus rides away, minimum wage and I’d not be Any better off by time UC and council tax finished with me. And I was forced into this situation because of rogue landlords back in my home town and a lack of accommodation there. I’m so grateful now to be in Social Housing but this endless pointless”jobsearch”, weekly appointment’s and applying for jobs I have no hope of getting is wearing me down. Plus my age and medical issues. I have 8 more years of this if my discs don’t go and if they do I’ll prove harassed as a sick skiver. I’m with you Trev I just wanna retire. When I left school women retired at 60 men at 65 and the oldies signed on by post every 3 months or so. Bring on the revolution
It does wear you down, and I think it’s intended to, it drives people to despair so that they will either take any job possible or simply walk away from the Benefits system and disappear, stop claiming and be kept by family or live on the streets, or jump off a bridge, they don’t care which so long as you stop claiming Benefits.
My coach is a nice enough guy I guess but clueless as they all are. Today I have to apply for a part time sushi bar place, 45 minutes bus ride then 20 minutes walk assuming buses run when they want you to work. “office administrator” in a college which involves setting up classrooms and helping keep them tidy, that was done by site staff in the school. I have no DBS an dno photo ID but have still applied. The other one he suggested was 40 hours a week kitchen porter!!! And I was told 3 years ago to stop cleaning bcozz of my discs but I’m still cleaning… I did politely ask him to reconsider that and to be fair he did. I then asked if there was any help with travel costs available as 72 is a lot of money and I pointed out I’m only pennies better off working than if I did nothing at all. He pulled up my last payment 651 , of which 565 was for rent, 55 council tax and suggested I use the cost of living payment!! What a good idea I said! On a positive if there is one I’m now on 2 weekly appointment’s. I’ve had enough already
Blimey Kat, I don’t know how you do it, I’m just thankful I’m still on old JSA.
One vote means one vote. No it does not if you live in a Tory stronghold. My vote would not count unless I voted Tory. The whole system of voting needs to change where one vote means one vote.
Is that what is meant by proportionate representation?
Trev no choice. I’ll be working til I keel over or my discs go. All entry level job is usually manual.
I’m not use to being unemployed! I worked in that bloody school 13 years assuming I’d be there til I keeled over, then got evicted again…and couldn’t find anywhere else so had to come here
I now have social housing but the jobcentre on my back and I’m TRYING to find a job!!
I’m actually praying now I don’t live to see retirement age as I don’t want the DWP hassle and realistically are employers going to be queuing up to hire me? Such a terrible thing to feel too….. wishing life away
Talking of Elon Musk (et al)…
“It’s outrageous: Elon Musk paid a tax rate of about 3% while a rice trader in Uganda paid 40%. Inequality is literally killing us — and it’s time for leaders to take action. President Biden has just announced a plan to tax billionaires — and G20 leaders could take it global! Add your name to the call for the mega-rich to pay what they owe. Once it’s massive, we’ll deliver our voices to leaders ahead of the G20 summit.”
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/tax_the_rich_loc/?cbKkqtb
” In the past few years, the richest 1% of the world have acquired nearly twice as much money as the bottom 99%.
While Elon Musk paid a true tax rate of about 3% for years, a rice trader in Uganda paid 40%. She makes US$80 each month — and Musk is worth US$180 BILLION.
There is one clear way to help address this gap — we must Tax the Rich. And now is our chance. US President Biden just called for a historic tax on billionaires, and with enough public pressure, he could champion the idea at an upcoming meeting of world leaders.
A wealth tax of up to 5% on the ultra-rich could raise enough money to lift 2 billion people out of poverty! Let’s gather one million voices demanding G20 governments tax the rich now — add your name, and Avaaz will deliver our call ahead of the summit, where world leaders can’t miss it!”
DWP finally publish report into the ineffectiveness of Benefit Sanctions.
https://thepoorsideof.life/2023/04/13/secret-sanction-report-proves-sanctions-dont-work/
Now that the DWP have admitted what the rest of us already knew, and what Academic research has already proven, that Sanctions are counterproductive, ineffective and harmful, surely it is an abuse of Human Rights to continue with them? Now who do we know that has a specialist background in law? Over to you Sir Starmer…
Don’t hold your breath Trev. You and I, and probably everyone else here knowsthat he’ll try and out Tory the Tories on this, just to prove that he isn’t soft on us layabouts.
Precisely, but what excuse does he (or anyone else) now have for keeping Sanctions in place? Even the DWPs own report proves the case against them (which is why they were reluctant to release it).
Labour is on the warpath at last. But why is it targeting benefit claimants and disabled people?
“By reviving scrounger myths and rubbishing free social care, Starmer’s begun a race to the bottom – one the Tories will win”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/20/labour-warpath-targeting-benefit-claimants-disabled-starmer
No Cost-of-living payment for those who are Sanctioned
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/dwp-universal-credit-warning-thousands-26777874
A late trip down to my local Aldi at 7.00ish, beggars everywhere, asking for the usual “spare change” as well as cigs, a drink of water (?), I swear the situation is getting worse, poverty is palpable. I didn’t have any change, spare or otherwise, I’d paid for shopping on my debit card, and hey I’m not rich! Surely they need to sit outside M&S not bloody Aldi ffs! But there’s so many people struggling, probably dropped out of the Benefits system (which is understandable) due to impossible conditions and Sanctions, unable to get the necessary money together for a flat (Bond + a month’s rent in advance), unable to get Housing Benefit. Society is not functioning and it’s the Government’s responsibility /fault.
DWP Job Coaches With No Academic Qualifications To Potentially Make Life Changing Decisions For Disabled People
https://thepoorsideof.life/2023/05/05/dwp-job-coaches-with-no-academic-qualifications-to-potentially-make-life-changing-decisions-for-disabled-people/
I’ve been following the work coaches thing, benefits and work site say they’re appointed via online process and managers don’t actually meet them to interview them
I was in the jobcentre again today. The farce continues. He suggested I apply for a toilet cleaner role in a holiday park. So where is it says I, it’s within the 90 minutes travel rule? No it’s a lovely place near the ….., You’ll be living on site it’s a summer job!!!!!
Knowing they can’t force you to move or travel further than 90 minutes I reminded him I’d just been housed in social housing after being homeless and declined to apply. He agreed I wouldn’t have to.
That Job has been hanging around for ages the preferred start date was last month lol…
And they want to appoint ppl with no qualifications at all, things can only get worse
It’ll be bloody Butlins somewhere, Skegness or Pwllheli LOL. “Hi de Hi”.
If it’s anywhere on the North Wales coast it will more than likely be on a caravan park, of which the landscape is blighted particularly badly between Prestatyn and Rhyl, and it’s almost as bad between Rhyl and Llandudno. Llandudno is actually quite a pleasant example of a Victorian coastal resort that is far more appealing that either Blackpool or Morecambe. Indeed, the West Coast of Wales, (and large parts of the South Coast of Wales too) are blighted by caravan parks, and Pembrokeshire had the horrendous Bluestone National Park Resort (think Butlins on steroids).
I guess people need to have holidays, but the tourism industry isn’t popular amongst anyone who isn’t making money from it, and locals certainly aren’t. It might mean employment on minimum wage for three or four months of the year, but also means, due to the proliferation of holiday homes, and Air BnBs that finding a home to even rent is both difficult and expensive and finding anything to buy at a price that locals can afford is pretty much impossible.
I had a couple of childhood holidays in Rhyl, late 60s, and visited Llandudno, my main memory of that is of loads of jellyfish on the shore. We were at Rhyl when a rainstorm blew in and we all quickly took shelter in a cinema that was showing Carry On Camping! Happy days.
Off Topic….
Well well…
State to take control of TransPennine Express after continued poor service
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/11/transpennine-express-nationalised-for-catalogue-of-failings-and-poor-service
The Tories adopting a Corbyn policy!
Work coaches with no GCSEs could decide on ‘fit for work activity’, DWP admits
By John Pring on 4th May 2023
Job coaches with no academic qualifications could be making life-changing – and potentially life-ending – decisions on whether a disabled person must carry out work-related activity, if the government goes ahead with its plans to scrap the “fitness for work” test.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has told Disability News Service (DNS) that there are no minimum academic qualifications to undertake the role of a work coach in a jobcentre.
It is these work coaches who will take on the role of deciding if disabled claimants of universal credit are able to carry out tasks such as attending training courses or work-related interviews.
DWP announced plans to scrap the work capability assessment (WCA) in its Transforming Support white paper in March.
Its plans, which will only go ahead if the Conservatives win the next election, will see eligibility for out-of-work disability benefits – through a new universal credit “health element” – decided by the personal independence payment (PIP) assessment.
This means that decisions on whether a sick or disabled person must attend job-focused interviews or other work-related activity will in future be decided by a jobcentre work coach.
Read More – Disability News Service
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/work-coaches-with-no-gcses-could-decide-on-fit-for-work-activity-dwp-admits/
Tories and Policy Thinktanks meet to celebrate the “success” of Universal Credit!
https://policyinpractice.co.uk/cross-party-event-to-mark-10-years-of-universal-credit-at-the-house-of-lords/
Universal Credit is an abhorrent system that forces (often elderly) people into working two or even three part-time jobs to make up their hours, and which swindles claimants out of the first 5 weeks of Benefit entitlement instead of being payable from day one, instead covered by a repayable loan, thereby forcing already poor people into debt right from the start. Poor and vulnerable people are forced into utter destitution by Benefit Sanctions, applied for failure to comply with ludicrous conditions such as the totally unreasonable 35 hours jobsearch rule. Sanctions have been found to be ineffective at helping into work, counterproductive and harmful, according to the DWPs own official report that concurred with existing academic research. In short Universal Credit, rather than being something to celebrate, is a spiteful punitive system dreamt up by out of touch millionaires with an ego complex, it is an act of Class War against the Working Class and the poor. And as if all of that wasn’t bad enough these disgusting antisocial Psychopaths were also celebrating one particular aspect of Tory Welfare reforms that forces the sick to look for work.
If (and it’s a big IF) Labour win the next GE and then Starmer and Reeves fail to address the broken Benefits system and in particular the failings and faults of Universal Credit, then in my opinion they have no right even being in the Labour party. I mean, what is Labour for if they’re just going to agree with the likes of Iain Duncan Smith and accept his views over the views of an impoverished Working Class nobody like me? Not that I have any faith in them doing otherwise.
What am I talking about? It was a CROSS PARTY celebration of Universal Credit!!!!
“Iain Duncan Smith and Jonathan Ashworth both spoke of the importance of enabling people with health conditions to engage with work, pointing to the current cross-party consensus around reforming the Work Capability Assessment to remove disincentives to try work.”
Ashworth is the LABOUR MP who is the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions !!!
He’s supposed to oppose the fucking Tories not celebrate with them ffs.
So there you have it, absolutely no point whatsoever in voting Labour or in relying on them to save our Social Security system.
Sounds even better than their covid parties. I’m seeing a tasteful thing with strippers on workfare and Iain Duncan Smith jumping out of a cake. Wonder who you have to shag for an invite.
Keir Starmer perhaps
Bet that’d be thrilling
Big rise in shoplifting as crisis of Capitalism continues
“Steaks are being fitted with security tags and coffee replaced with dummy jars, as supermarkets battle to curb a rise in shoplifting.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65764513
67,000 people in Bradford are on Universal Credit
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/23564081.universal-credit-numbers-bradford-hit-all-time-high/
(it’s Subscribe to read, unless you open the link in an incognito tab of course 😉 )
Universal basic income of £1,600 a month to be trialled in two places in England
“Scheme to run for two years and participants will be monitored to see what effect it has on mental and physical health”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/04/universal-basic-income-of-1600-pounds-a-month-to-be-trialled-in-england
“Money for nothing: Universal basic income to be trialled in England for first time”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/universal-basic-income-trial-england-uk-b2350443.html
A BIG LOCAL BASIC INCOME: PROPOSAL FOR A LOCALLY-LED BASIC INCOME PILOT
https://autonomy.work/portfolio/basic-income-big-local/?
There’s a similar trial in Wales where young people leaving care get the £1600 a month for, I think 3 years. Before the trial started the Welsh Government, whose idea it was, were advised to include a broader cross-section of society in the trial so that the findings had greater validity. As it is, any findings will be of extremely limited value as it includes only one client group.
I was reading somewhere recently that to provide £1600 a month as a UBI to everyone would cost a third of UK GDP – sounds eminently affordable, but I can already hear the screams from the Daily Heil readers and the uber wealthy who would have to pay a bit more tax to pay for it – indeed, everyone would have to pay a bit of tax for it, but “… from each according to their ability (to pay)”. Mind you, that would only provide a very basic income, so if you wanted one of those flat screen tellies, you’d have to get some paid work – but only with an employer who provides a decent rate of pay, and good working conditions… Otherwise, they can go and swivel!
I’ve finally retired, even had my first pension payment, all of three days! I should get my final UC payment next week.
UK Benefits levels are 7.5 % less in real terms than a decade ago
https://policyinpractice.co.uk/benefit-levels-in-the-uk-policy-in-practices-evidence-to-the-work-and-pensions-committee/
The latest jolly wheeze seems to be aimed at harassment of the sick and disabled via Right-wing smears combined with a DWP initiative :
https://thepoorsideof.life/2023/06/15/telegraph-leads-hate-campaign-against-disabled-people/
And….
“The DWP has announced a scheme to help over 25,000 people with health problems secure or retain employment by March 2025.”
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23592574.dwp-announces-58m-boost-25-000-brits-health-problems/
Along with…
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/work-and-health-programme-statistics-background-information-and-methodology/work-and-health-progamme-statistics-background-information-and-methodology
“Guarantee our Essentials: reforming Universal Credit to ensure we can all afford the essentials in hard times”
https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/guarantee-our-essentials
DWP finally admits nearly all its websites were rated ‘very high risk’ on access
By John Pring on 15th June 2023
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has finally admitted that nearly all its high-profile websites were rated as being inaccessible to many disabled people and potentially breaking the law.
It has taken more than a year – and intervention from the information commissioner – to force DWP to release the information to Disability News Service (DNS) about the department’s own concerns about the accessibility of its websites and other digital services.
Among the websites described as “very high risk” by DWP civil servants were its Understanding Universal Credit and Disability Confident sites.
The “Become a DWP Workcoach” site was also described as very high risk, with the added warning that the access issues could lead to a disabled person taking an “Equality Act” legal action “due to the fact it’s recruitment”.
DWP’s Understanding Universal Credit website was said to have failed screen-reader testing, speech recognition testing and magnifier testing.
Another site described as “very high risk” and non-compliant was the website for contacting the DWP ministerial correspondence team.
Read More: Disability News Service
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/dwp-finally-admits-nearly-all-its-websites-were-rated-very-high-risk-on-access/
Disability Spam Confident
Understanding Universal Spam Credit
Job Centre Work Coaches now doing Medicals instead of the WCA Work Capability Assessment. All results will be Null & Void. One does not need an appeal system to know that. Since the DWP appeal system is a vetting system made by a decision maker, is that also the new role for Work Coach Duties !! Is or will be the DWP is run by Artificial Intelligence know al IDS Ian Doppy Shit. Has IDS been converted into Artificial Intelligence yet !! Is there going to be Artificial Intelligence down the Job Centre like Artificial Intelligence Sanctions !!
Tories partying like it’s 1999 whilst the rest of us followed the rules and feared for our lives. What a set of bastards. ‘Partygate’ should result in a General Election and if there’s any justice in this world the Labour Party ought to keep them out of government for decades to come, no matter how shit Labour are, by default the Tories should be out of the picture for the foreseeable future for what they have done.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65952298
Carrie OK with it on the Karaoke. That look such shit parties anyway. Tory Party Party Criminals party to Tory Parties Party. Pill poppers, powder up the nose & there we have it the Tory Party exposed for what it real is & was. It is worse than a soap opera more like Tory destruction of its own making. Just like the Tory Flag Ship Welfare Reform with Universal Credit – Its Success Is In Its Failure.
Yep, this bloody annoyed me. I was in every day during covid, frontline worker school cleaning so key workers could drop their kids off to work, and as well the skl had us doing pointless stuff like scraping blu tack of walls, washing outside playground equipment ( then watching a bird shit on it later lol) and deep cleaning then re deep cleaning then re re re deep cleaning rooms not even in use coz they resented paying us. The teaching assistants and lunch time staff were in on rotas, we were in every day. What gutted me was not being able to see my daughter on her birthday, during lockdown, while I cleaned up after other kids, and these jokers were partying like 1999…..
Now that the Work Coaches are doing medicals to see if you are fit for work, instead of WCA. There is now no appeal system to appeal against a Work Coaches decision. So there is no sickness & no disability because everyone has been cured of disability & sickness by the Work Coaches. Wonderful the DWP has now cured all sickness & disability. Makes UC look like a Tory utopia. The disability White paper would be more useful as toilet paper down the food banks.
One of the problems Work Coaches are going to face is getting attacked in a face to face medical result. With Bi-Polar the Work Coach will be in fear of their lives because they are not qualified medically to even notice bi-polar until it’s too late. A warning to the DWP & Tory Government that Work Coaches need to be behind bullet proof glass for protection. Take note of Mental Illness as a medical issue & not a DWP Target for profit in Work Coaches on the front line of a Disability Hate Crime.
The Work Coach is now charged with a Disability Hate Crime as DWP Policy. Now who is taking the rap the Work Coach, the DWP, the Tory Government !! Well once the Work Coach is charged the rest will fall into place, so you can’t get away from Disability Hate Crimes DWP. Oh yes it’s a Political Issue & not a criminal matter. Well DWP a Disability Hate Crime is not a political matter because politicians can openly subject the disabled with a hate crime. The rules are the rules in law & not a Government policy. Lives are threatened, the disabled with Work Coach Medicals.
Read carefully & know who is breaking the law with DWP threats.
As a Human Rights Lawyer with a Lawyer Phobia the Work Coaches doing medicals will be scrapped very very soon. The Government Lawyers will be advising the Government to stop the Disability Hate Crime of unqualified Medicals. Of course the Tory Government will be sacking their lawyers until they get the right answers from their lawyers.
These points I am making will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds extra because it’s good to work as a Human Rights Lawyer.
So there is no appeal against a Work Coach decision on a bogus medical.. Meaning the DWP can’t keep it in house aka political. The DWP think they are saving money but really it is going to cost ten times more. Are the Work Coaches Fit For Work? No not as a Work Coach. Hiding behind the Disability White Paper in the UK Bill Of Rights of Brexit. But hold on the disability White has not yet been passed as law & never will be because the Disability White paper is a Disability Hate Crime in itself.
I really get the lawyers working hard with my Lawyer Phobia so I don’t have to have anything to do with lawyers.
I am bleeding the DWP dry of huge amounts of money to prove Human Rights breaches.
Trouble is Stepping mate, the Tories have even been criticized and called out on Human Rights failings/abuses relating to Benefits and Disability in official UN reports at least twice in last decade and carried on as though nothing had happened, simply went into total denial mode and refused to accept official findings of United Nations investigators! Any other country doing that might have international economic Sanctions imposed upon them or warrants issued for Crimes against Humanity.
When will the changes to the benefit system come into effect?
We will take time to carefully consider how best to implement these changes and give security and certainty to claimants.
Our proposals to transform the benefits system by removing the Work Capability Assessment and introducing a new Universal Credit health element will require primary legislation, which we will aim to take early in a new Parliament, when Parliamentary time allows.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2023-disability-white-paper-factsheet/spring-budget-2023-factsheet-disability-white-paper
In other words they’ll just make it up as they go along same as now.
To get a public form over the phone one is vetted, not only that you are asked to provide your bank details over the phone. That is breaking the Data Protection Act as well as illegal. If you do not provide your Bank Details you will not get the public form like PIP. That is if you can get through on the phone, same as the Jobcentre phones. We will treat your personal details carefully & use what we want when we want.
Do I have to bring down the Tory Government to get a public form !! The Tory Government have fallen, now can I have a public form !!!
Caxton House the DWP Headquarters have not replied to 12 letters I have sent them. Why is that? The answer is not why but the fact of not replying to my written letters for a paper trial [spelt wrong for a reason] trail.
Do I not exist, am I trouble, do the DWP not want me back in the system for some reason, all of the above apply. It now has gone way above the DWP & will be soon making the National Press. What have the DWP & Caxton House got to hide apart from me !!!
Caxton House you already know John Pring from disability News Service. Are Caxton House now going to stop replying to John Pring’s letters to Caxton House !!!
The Tory Government has been brought down to its knees & put itself in a very big hole that they can’t get out of. That is just the tip of the iceberg for sometime as simple as replying to a written letter.
When trying to speak with the DWP over phone you need to say date of birth – Result = July 5th 1875. It is impossible to get through even if the automation works. A flawed system. So another thing I will be mentioning in my written paper letter to Caxton House.
Including getting ready, printing my CVs, travelling there and back, and actually attending the event, I wasted an entire morning of my life today after being cajoled (by both Reed and the Jobcentre) into going to yet another piss boring ‘Jobs Fair’, and true to form it was an absolute pile of shite same as they always are, same as I KNEW it would be. “400 local employers” my arse. There were virtually none. Some Internet provider chancers offering commission-only self-employed sales roles. Another similar set-up selling “beauty” products (i.e. Make-up). A training provider I’ve never heard of offering courses, and another training bus drivers in Merseyside (I live in Yorkshire). An agency hiring care workers. A local employment agency that I’m already signed up with but have yet to hear from. Someone sat at a table representing the Jobcentre, and another representing Reed. Several ‘job boards’ displaying printouts off the Internet. Overall, a huge pile of poo. Just as I expected.
So no loitering jobs then !!! Sounds like a Job Centre loiterer job that your not qualified in.
Definitions of loiterer. someone who lingers aimlessly in or about a place. synonyms: lingerer. type of: dawdler, drone, laggard, lagger, poke, trailer. someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind.
Those job fairs are always rubbish! But those who send you there think it’s the best thing ever.
Glad I’m not the only one who finds them a waste of time! I got sent to an education one as I’d once worked in a school, senior midday supervisor and senior playleader, and cleaner. The jobs were teaching assistant and cover supervisor! I walked out. They’d ticked my name off so verified I’d attended
Maybe off topic, but here’s some heartbreaking stories from the world of work, remember, work pays and the way out of poverty is to work?
So, this should be my holiday from my regular cleaning job, venue is closed til end of August, and I’m on equated pay so I’ll still get some money coming in.
Instead,I’m working a temporary job with an agency, cleaning uni halls ahead of the new intake. 25 hours a week and bloody awful work, we are cleaning kitchens, ovens and fridges and it’s filthy some of it. I’m the oldest, and some of the younger ones are struggling. Of course I’m struggling bcoz of my discs and sciatica.
So, there’s one girl there who isn’t claiming, she’s doing the cleaning with us, 9 am_2pm then working in a late pharmacy from 4pm-9pm. She’s still struggling
There’s an ex uni student who’s course is done and she has a job to go to in September. She found a lot of food in one of her kitchens, unopened and in date, some of it expensive like butter, cereal, coffee and she took it home to save money
Meanwhile, the Tories are no doubt planning to make our lives even harder
That sounds pretty grim Kat. Me & a mate used to clean out empty houses for a property company in Bradford about 10 or 12 years ago, on a casual cash in hand basis, but the guy we worked for was an idiot, he’d leave us there with no cleaning materials so we had to find whatever there was under the kitchen sink, an old pan scrubber, a broken bucket, a tiny bit of Flash or washing up liquid, and try clean an entire house! Either that or the place had been left empty for so long it had been squatted by junkies who had wrecked the place, shat on the floor, smashed everything, ripped out pipes and wiring for scrap, etc. and used needles all over the place. Filthy, dangerous work for 30 quid a day. But do that 3 days a week and it was a nice top-up to your JSA.
“Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has made it a goal to encourage the over-50s back into the workplace.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66120867
Trev he just wants us to keel over to save paying our pensions!! I don’t think I’ll live to claim mine and I’m literally praying I keel over sooner rather than later
But it doesn’t make any sense, they’re even targeting those who have taken early Retirement to return to work, like that’s going to happen! As well as trying to convince the older unemployed that age and I’ll health are no barrier to work. The Trainer at the Health & Work Programme told us that there is no reason why an older person can’t work just as fast as a younger worker. Honestly, what can you say to that kind of logic? They just talk nonsense.
Trev try telling that to my discs and arthritic joints…!
Trev have you seen this about the acceleration of migration of legacy claimant’s to UC? Will it affect you soon?
I did see something recently about that, saying it was all happening by end of this or next year (2024) but I thought the article was wrong because the Gov. said a while ago that it had been moved further back again to end of 2028. Unless they’ve changed their minds yet again? My plan is to wait until I’m informed that I’m being ‘migrated’ then obtain and submit a Fit note with my application for UC and get put on to ‘limited capability for work-related activity’ (LCWRA) and see how that goes. I think I should be allowed it with Rheumatoid Arthritis and a Hernia (and currently a stomach ulcer too – but no cancer thank God). I’m back in hospital this Saturday for further invasive tests.
Rare DWP success sees long waits for new PIP claimants plummet
By John Pring on 6th July 2023
The number of disabled people waiting longer than six months to be told whether they have been successful in their claim for a key disability benefit has plummeted over the last year, new figures have shown.
Figures obtained by Disability News Service (DNS) show that the number of people with a new claim for personal independence payment (PIP) who were waiting longer than six months for a decision has fallen from more than 20,000 to 300 in just 12 months.
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/rare-dwp-success-sees-long-waits-for-new-pip-claimants-plummet/
“”Meanwhile, the latest figures have shown that it is still taking an average of more than 40 minutes for a call to the PIP enquiry telephone line to get through to an adviser, while hundreds of thousands of callers a month are being deliberately disconnected by DWP before they can even join the queue to speak to a PIP adviser.
And the latest figures from the tribunal service show that, between January and March 2023, 68 per cent of PIP appeals found in favour of the claimant.”””
———————————————————————————————————–
They have cut waiting times because it is impossible to get through on the phone.
The only other way of getting a PIP is writing to them to send one through the post. You can’t apply for PIP on line.
Of course the DWP won’t officially make that claim because of the reason the numbers & time have gone done. The DWP have made it impossible for disabled people the claim benefits that they are entitled to, by making so difficult that they give up & die. That is also Tory Pre Meditated State Sponsored Murder because disabled people can easily find a job.. Is that the DWP’s excuse !! So bi-polar is advertised in job adverts. We are looking for a bi-polar worker for levelling up the job work force. I know that bi-polar can be cured by working, but until bi-polar people can get jobs its all a contradiction. The Tories Disability Slaves are not the DWP Tory Government they are the Slave Masters to make Disability Champions like a disabled monkey in a zoo.
On one hand there’s all this guff about Benefits fraud and/or overpayment of Benefits:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/cutting-benefit-fraud-error-could-29671107
https://news.stv.tv/politics/labour-sets-out-plans-to-harness-ai-to-crack-down-on-benefit-fraud
Yet on the other hand there’s a whopping £19 Billion in unclaimed Benefits :
https://policyinpractice.co.uk/closing-the-19-billion-unclaimed-benefits-gap/
The Government are planning to use AI for assessment of Benefits claims and Labour, meanwhile, are going all gung-ho on using Artificial Intelligence to sort out the DWP and allegedly improve Social Security…
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/11/use-of-artificial-intelligence-widened-to-assess-universal-credit-applications-and-tackle
https://news.stv.tv/politics/labour-sets-out-plans-to-harness-ai-to-crack-down-on-benefit-fraud
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/10/labour-would-use-ai-to-help-people-find-jobs-says-jonathan-ashworth
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour-plans-ai-benefit-claims-jobs-2468726
Yet at the same time the Government is being warned and criticised by Privacy groups AND the National Audit Office over the planned use of AI in the Benefits system:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2023/07/13/uk-government-criticized-over-use-of-ai-to-evaluate-benefits-claims/
“Income Volatility”
“Three reasons why households on benefits experience income volatility”
“There are three main reasons why income fluctuations for households on Universal Credit are likely to be greater and more unpredictable than for other households:
1. The interactions of Universal Credit (UC) with employment income
2. The interactions of UC with other income sources
3. Deductions from Universal Credit or sanctions”
Continues…
https://policyinpractice.co.uk/universal-credit-and-income-volatility-how-councils-can-help/
DWP Universal Credit rule change for thousands of parents
“Parents in receipt of Universal Credit could benefit from a change made to the system from this week.
Parents of children aged either one or two will start to have more face-to-face employment support.
The appointments include exploring steps to improve their skills, identifying support needs, learning about childcare provision, and boosting their confidence.
The meetings increase the opportunity to engage and encourage claimants to think about a job in the future, consider the steps they can take and secure jobs when their child is older.”
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23677364.dwp-universal-credit-rule-change-thousands-parents/
Social security is a trade union issue – the rise of in-work conditionality for working claimants
” We have had in-work benefits since 1988, but up until recently the only conditions people in work needed to follow was basic, like having children or being in low-paid work. If you met the criteria for the benefit you got the money. The latest iteration of this is Universal Credit which started in 2013. Conditionality under Universal Credit is very different. It is trying to change your behaviour to work more hours, even if your personal circumstances don’t allow it.”
https://benclaimant.wordpress.com/2023/07/25/social-security-is-a-trade-union-issue-the-rise-of-in-work-conditionality-for-working-claimants/
British Gas made record profits whilst people struggle with Bills.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-gas-profits-centrica-energy-bills-b2382758.html
https://thepoorsideof.life/2023/07/27/british-gas-profits-rise-by-889-to-969-billion-whilst-households-struggle-to-pay-bills/
Trev, this is already starting. My colleague, in my regular cleaning job,is single mum of 4 girls, 13, 10, 9 and 7. Before we broke up from work in June,they had started dragging her into the jobcentre every week, like they did with me earlier this year. She’s lucky in that she has lots of family support,but is still tearing her hair out and rightly so. She struggles to work 10_13 hours a week, how could she manage 30, even assuming they’re available. It’s just truly evil
Tory Minister Mel Stride the Work and Pensions Secretary says over-50s and disabled should deliver takeaways on zero hour contracts.
“flexible working is the way forward and not just for the over-50s but often for those who have disabilities”
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/23697678.minister-encourages-over-50s-embrace-diverse-jobs-like-delivering-takeways
I actually laughed at this though it’s not funny!? So personally I don’t have even a push bike, and he expects us to deliver takeaways in the wind pouring rain and dark? For those with transport, can they afford fuel and insurance? What planet are these ppl on? Trev fancy joining me on a push bike delivering MC Donald’s lol? Sorry it’s not funny but…..
I’ve only just seen your comment, I’m not getting email notifications for some reason. Yes, ridiculous, they are on planet Tory aka ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’. Notice Stride also says how much he loves his job and doesn’t want to swap it or give it up. Hardly surprising when he gets paid nearly 90 Grand for talking shite. We should get one of those 3 seater tandem things like The Goodies to deliver pizzas and then Kate can come along too to document it. ????
Excellent shout ????
You’re at the back peddling, I’m too knackered now with arthritis! Delivering takeaways indeed, wtf will they think of next? How about letting people Retire?
Trev loving it, it sounds more like the pantomime donkey to me, or the Chuckle brothers! Kate would b laughing too much to hold her camera lol!
Off topic but Thursday I did a zoom meeting with researchers from Lancaster university, the role of management in insecure jobs. Very intense took over an hour. It was mainly geared about my experiences with my own managers and employment but I did get a few comments in about the whole work system being broken and it’s a disgrace the gig economy and the way workers have to jump through hoops to get UC, And that managers can’t fix the whole shoddy system we have. I couldn’t speak for the totally unemployed, but you were in my thoughts. Nice thing is the £30 gift voucher I get for it, UC can’t take 55% of a gift voucher sent to my email address lol…
Nice one Kat! I’m sure the voucher will come in handy.
The DWP will own your Soul. Universal Credit benefit conditionality is the Tory Masterplan; “Arbeit Macht Frei”.
The Administrative Earnings Threshold
https://benclaimant.wordpress.com/2023/08/11/the-little-known-change-to-a-regulation-that-will-make-a-big-difference-to-working-claimants-on-universal-credit/
I mean no disrespect when I say that I hope that they all die soon and horribly
I dream about it. But we should all have seen it coming, when someone like George Smith relaunches himself as Iain Duncan Smith and announces that he has a great vision we should be afraid, very afraid. Instead we all laughed at him.
I’m back on my regular contract now, and my colleague, the single mum of 4 who’s finding things so tough (rightly so) was saying she complained about her work coach and has been allocated a new one. My colleague is severely dyslexic, and the old coach was telling her, make a CV! Start applying for jobs! Never mind your sciatica! Quite honestly she’ll need a lot of support to do a CV and I just hope she gets it, and how she’s meant to work more hours with 4 girls one of whom has medical issues is beyond me….at least she seems to like her new coach
At the Jobcentre this morning I showed my Work Coach evidence and details of all the jobs I’ve applied for in the last fortnight, and she gave me another two jobs to apply for, one loading wagons for an agency job, the other manufacturing medication suited up in a clean room for the NHS. Then I went across the road for my Reed appointment for Better Working Futures aka the Work and Health Programme where my case worker /adviser there instructed me to use Google maps to identify companies/employers in the vicinity of my neighbourhood and to apply on the employers’ own websites for 10 different jobs, within the next fortnight. Bloody ridiculous. The good news is I’ve only got another 10 weeks left on the programme. Bad news is I’ve heard people are then getting sent across the road from Reed to some other crap run by Maximus.
Bloody hell Trev!! Employers are saying they’re sick of all the spamming from jobseekers already! Loading wagons at our age, with your hernia and arthritis!? Well, they seriously suggested I retraining as a lifeguard and applied for kitchen porter 40 hours a week, …..they don’t live in the real world lol
“DWP: Universal Credit claimants could be taken to court”
“The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has warned 6 million people claiming Universal Credit they could face a fine or even court if they don’t report certain changes in their circumstances.”
“DWP guidance states: “You could be taken to court or have to pay a penalty if you give wrong information or do not report a change in your circumstances.”
” You need to report changes to your circumstances so you keep getting the right amount each month. DWP guidance adds that you need to report changes “as soon as they happen” because any delay “may mean you receive too much money and will have to make a repayment”.
DWP warns: “Changes in your circumstances can affect how much you’re paid for your whole assessment period – not just from the date you report them.”
Changes the DWP must be informed about:
finding a job
finishing a job
having a child
moving in with your partner
starting to care for a child
starting to care for disabled person
changing your mobile number
changing your email address
moving to a new address
changing your bank details
your rent going up or down
changes to your health condition
becoming too ill to work or meet your work coach
changes to your earnings – only if you’re self-employed
changes to your savings, investments and how much money you have
changes to your immigration status, if you’re not a British citizen
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23733926.dwp-universal-credit-claimants-taken-court/
The above list demonstrates that this is a Social Security system designed by psychopaths. Every ‘t’ crossed and every’i’ dotted. Every loop hole plugged. All corners covered.The blueprint for Universal Credit could have been a flowchart produced by AI, completely devoid of any humanity. I do hope Starmer remembers he’s supposed to be scrapping it, but I’m not relying on it.
Trev you’re right. And it’s set up to be as un user friendly as possible. I don’t know how they expect ppl to manage it!
I’m pretty lucky, in that I understand budgeting and am pretty disciplined with my money, and I know about benefits calculators online, and keep a close eye on my statements. This month, my money from my regular contract hasn’t shown up on my statements, and I’ve been given £130 more than I expected. So now I know, to pay the extra £130 to my rent account to keep even. If I hadn’t noticed, or done the calculation, or just thought f…it I’ll have a spend up…..my point is, those who don’t understand the system, or struggle online, or lead ” chaotic” lives are at even further disadvantages!
In one way it’s an advantage and they shot themselves in the foot. I declared when the temporary agency work ended, and that I was back to 10 hours a week, but it’s based on income, so next month I’ll be over the £618 AET again and get another month free of them!(though I’m still looking for extra hours)
Don’t hold out much hope Starmer will scrap UC, didn’t he say Labour would be tougher on claimants? Of that’s possible given your post above lol
Off topic, but I will NEVER take agency work again. Despite my uploading all my agency payslips to UC, they still managed to leave some off. I’ve now been hit with a horrendous council tax demand, and I’ve been on to them trying to sort it. I’ve emailed them all my payslips and put a note on my UC journal, but it’s not checked regularly ATM as I’m not required to jobsearch. I spent the rest of the afternoon adding different combinations to try and work out what got left off, and try to work out what I’ll get next month. I think I managed. I now have a stress related migraine to go with my disc pain, I’ve been doing overtime on my regular contract this week, which will basically pay the council tax.
Believe me work does not pay. I’ve not been able to buy one thing for the flat, or even treat myself. I have nothing to show for the work, UC and council tax has it all. Because of the cock up I’ll be paying full council tax another month. Or trying to pay. And my shoulder and neck discs are killing. I’m praying I don’t live to retirement age. Happy bank holidays all lol!!
And how exactly do they think and expect people with poor IT skills, or no internet, or people who don’t understand the system or are unable to crunch numbers , or have poor English or struggle to budget, how do they expect them to cope? Oh silly me they don’t. We’re set up to fail
For the first time ever, I’ve lost my motivation to work. I did everything I could to stay off UC in the school, but I’m on it now, I can’t win, and my health is failing more. I live in older persons housing, I get my older persons bus pass next year, but I can work like a teen according to UC. I work more, for pocket money. F”””them. I feel like a hamster in a wheel endlessly going round and very soon I’ll be back in the jobcentre. I can’t win
I think they’re trying to finish us off to get rid of the older poor people. It’s impossible to comply with UC in the longterm, and impossible to carry on grafting the older you get, but they’ve shifted the Pension goalposts, scrapped sick notes and abolished Incapacity Benefit. Doesn’t leave much room for manoeuvre.
It doesn’t does it? And all the s,,, about there being more unfilled jobs than unemployed, well did they ever look at what’s the jobs are?
An employer emailed me about a job. The job was just 2 hours a week cleaning, on a Sunday night! It would take 2 hours each way travelling on public transport, on weekdays, so 4 hours to work 2, and there is no public transport Sundays! I doubt I could have done it weekday evenings! I declined this amazing opportunity
Elon Musk got a $200m loan on preferential rates from the US govt before he was a success – maybe you should suggest the work coach uses his “flexible support fund” equally generously.
I’m confident that would enable loads of Stockport folk to realise the American dream.