Category Archives: Council

Council service cuts stories

Hartlepool, actors and singers, and the bedroom tax

Posted on by
Reply

These are the latest excerpts from recorded interviews I’m publishing as I talk to people around the country who are dealing with fallout from public sector cuts, welfare reform and the recession. These transcripts are from interviews with actors, singers and writers at Shoot Your Mouth Off films – a filmmaking project in Hartlepool for people with learning disabilities.

In the transcripts, people talk about their work as actors, singers and writers.

The people who spoke for the interviews were David Miller, Carole Gill, David Lodge, Daniel Judge, Liz Yeats, Graeme Booth and Wendy Elsley.

Photos by @skinnyvoice at deptfordvisions.com.

People here are dealing with many issues: Karen Sheader, the disability rights activist who set SYMO up, says, for example, that two people in the group are worried that they will be affected by the proposed bedroom tax. The two people live by themselves in two-bedroom flats and are concerned that they will either have to move to one-bedroom flats (if they’re available) or lose part of their benefits. There’s a lot of confusion and worry:

“It does make you wonder where they think people are going to to get the money from, especially those people who are already on benefits. There are a couple of people in our group who live in two bedroom flats who were allocated the flats by the local authority who are now being told that they might have to be moved to a one bedroom flat because of the changes to housing benefit.

“Peter (one of the people who is in a two-bedroom flat) came in (one day) with a letter and he didn’t understand it, because he can’t read. It was about his council tax benefit and his housing benefit and he was panicking. When he got this letter, I rang [the council officer] and she offered to see Peter to reassure him. She was saying this is not going to happen in the immediate future – this (the letter) was just saying that it might happen at some point in the future.”

Some people in the group are on benefits, while others work in other jobs, too: Wendy Elsley and Graeme Booth, for example, both work part-time at Asda.

I’ll be posting more on this soon. In the meantime, here are some thoughts from people involved in Shoot Your Mouth Off films. Videos to follow.

Graeme Booth
“I’ve got to work two days a week (at Asda), so I’m here on a Monday now. I swapped days over, so I could come back and make films. The best film I’ve done is Dr Why with Wendy. It was just a Dr Who spoof, really. We did it all in front of a green screen. [In the end], I got done in by a big plastic dinosaur.”

David Miller
“I’ve been at Shoot Your Mouth Off films from the start, for five years. When we first came, there were no tables, no chairs – just boxes to sit on. Some of us have got bands in it as well. I’ve got a band called Friends Forever and my friend Daniel Judge over there, he does rapping. He’s going solo now as well. Hope Springs [a soap] is the film I enjoyed the most. The other one I love is called Maniac Mum. It’ll be done for the Christmas show.

Daniel Judge
My name is Daniel Judge, but really my name is… Dr Judge. I’m a musician…and with a good friend of mine. Coming into SYMO has changed my life. All my friends are in here. My heroes too. I’ve been coming here quite a long time. By 2007 – that’s the year when I did a new group with a certain guy called Mr Miller over here – Big Daddy Cool. And I produced the album called Rise to Fame and I was on the radio, Radio Hartlepool.

David Lodge
My name is David Lodge and I’ve been coming to SYMO for just over a year. Acting’s been part of my life [since I was young]. I went to college for four years and did drama and got qualifications. The best way to describe myself is as an all rounder – acting singing as well. I’ve just played the devil in Nuts To You. A couple of weeks ago, it was on Northeast Tonight, which is our local news for the region. Everybody – from my girlfriend to my Mum and Dad and other people have said I’ve seen you on the TV. Even people are coming up three weeks on have seen it. Acting’s been my passion.

Carole Gill
I’ve only been coming here for seven months, since Easter. I like singing and acting and I like to come here, because everybody’s friendly and made me welcome when I came in. I’m in Maniac Mum. I love singing.

I do get nervous…[before our last show] it was terrible. I couldn’t eat nowt. I did it, though. I wouldn’t let them down anyway. When I heard that there was a group called SYMO, I came with one of our staff members. I thought it would be the right thing for me to do and so I wanted to join. Everybody made me welcome and they give us a cup of tea and made me feel that I felt was at home. My best part was when I was singing live music. We had about 150 people in the room. I sang One Moment In Time and Karen was playing it on the synthesiser.

Wendy Elsley
I used to come here on a Friday, but I stopped coming in on a Friday, because I’m working in Asda now and they swapped my days. So I had to finish this film off – otherwise they would have been up the creek without a paddle. I’d worked really hard with it and finished it off. [That was] Nuts To You.

I do adult literacy [classes]. In Asda, I’m doing all the clothes work in the clothes department. We start round about nine o’clock and then we have our dinners around about 12 o’clock and then we have two breaks between ten and three, so it’s been a long day but it goes very quick. I’ve been there quite a while now – 20 years now in Asda. I just get on with what I’ve been told to get on with.

With the [adult literacy classes] – Karen helped me [find one]. I met this new tutor and she is dead lovely. She said – what do you want to do? and I said – I want to learn to read. I want to read and write, because if I don’t read and write, that’s it – my brain is totally switched off. I love reading and writing. My Mum says my reading has improved a lot from what is used to be and it’s helped me with my acting as well because I can read scripts as well.

I just love coming here. If I wasn’t coming here now, I’d just be sitting at home 24-7, so I’m looking for something else to do on a Tuesday. I like art, making cards and stuff.

Liz Yeats
I come here on a Monday. I prefer Mondays than Fridays, because I seem to get on better on on a Monday. I’ve got lots of friends on a Monday, because I love everybody. That’s why I’m here for. And I’m best at drama and I’m a good comedian. I just like to join in.

The Billion Pound Gamble – film on Barnet cuts & privatisation

Posted on by
Reply

From the makers of The Billion Pound Gamble:

On Monday 22nd October at 6pm, the world premiere of a new film, Barnet – The Billion Pound Gamble – will be shown at the iconic Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley (52 High Road London N2 9PJ).

The film has been made by acclaimed US film director Charles Honderick and exposes the chaos being wrought by the policies of Barnet Council as the council cuts services and pursues a highly-controversial billion-pound outsourcing deal.

Local residents are interviewed and explain just how difficult life has become. A family with a child suffering severe disability tells how no appropriate accommodation has been provided for 11 years.

Users of day centres explain how cuts to transport have affected them and how they get charged £1.20 for a cup of nescafe. Local traders tell the tale of how the parking policies have forced them to the brink.

Award winning film director Ken Loach explains how outsourcing destroys local economies. A host of experts explain how the One Barnet programme is doomed to failure, it is a Billion Pound Gamble, where private companies will pick up fat cheques, local residents will get shoddy services and local taxpayers will be left to pick up the bill.

The film also features shocking scenes filmed inside the Town Hall as uncaring local councillors dismiss the concerns of residents and laugh as important decisions, which will cause misery for thousands, are passed without proper debate.

The official trailer for the film has been released today and can be viewed on the film website – http://www.billionpoundgamble.co.uk

Notes for Editors.

1. The world premiere for the film will be shown at The Phoenix Cinema on Monday 22nd October. Doors open at 6pm and the film will be shown at 6.30pm. Entrance costs £1.

2. The film has been directed by USA film director Charles Honderick. The film is a follow up to the acclaimed film “A Tale of Two Barnets” which has been screened at The House of Commons, The Edinburgh Festival, The Unison National Conference and the TUC centre at Great Russell St. There have also been over 20 local screenings.

3. The film features a new exclusive interview with award winning film director Ken Loach, talking about life, football and outsourcing.

4. The film website is http://www.billionpoundgamble.co.uk/ . This is being constantly updated with information, details and clips as we move towards the full screening.

5. The website for “A Tale of Two Barnets” is http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/. This has full details of all press coverage and clips from the film including full interviews with Ken Loach, Richard Cornelius (Leader of Barnet Council) and Nick Walkley (CEO of Barnet Council).

 

A few truths about benefits

Posted on by
4

This is the latest in the transcripts from recorded interviews I’m publishing as I talk to people around the country who are dealing firsthand with fallout from public sector cuts, welfare reform and the recession. I’m posting these transcripts between longer articles and testimonies that are appearing at False Economy and elsewhere.

In this transcript, Michael H, who is 43, from Newcastle and on benefits, talks about growing up on Gateshead’s Springwell estate, his worries for his children in an era and region of high unemployment, his concerns about being moved out of his council flat if the government’s bedroom tax is enforced (he was moved to his current flat years ago after run-ins with gangs on his previous estate) and his own conviction for benefit fraud. Michael has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, has depression and suffers from anxiety and panic attacks.

“I know that this is going to come across really, really strong but I think that it’s a social cleansing what they [the government] are doing, with people the likes of us on benefits… because he’s [Cameron] turned around, calling us the likes of scroungers.

I go to doctors, I go to groups – I’m trying to get better, but when you’re diagnosed with things like this and you’re on the waiting list… I’m diabetic. I was diagnosed in 2005 – I almost died [in 2000]. I’ve got summat in my hands where they attack down the nerves. It’s affecting me like joints and things and the medication that they put us on, I don’t think it agreeing with us. I’m thinking like more suicidal thoughts. I don’t know if this drug is right for me.

I was a caretaker years ago and I worked with a broken arm, so it isn’t if I haven’t worked or anything. I have done lots of various jobs. Obviously, growing up, I wasn’t brought up in the best world. It was like…really bad times – a very violent household if you get my drift, so I didn’t have the best of the starts in life. [But] I’m doing everything like I’m supposed to be doing…

Bedroom tax its a different way of cutting the housing benefit bill. That’s all it is. It isn’t anything about encouraging people to move on, because they know that there isn’t any one bedroom properties going. My daughter still comes across [to stay in my flat]. She lives at home with her mam and stepdad and she comes across to mine and she has that room as a little sanctuary thing, because she she’s doing 6th form now. She is going to be a teacher and it’s nice for her to have that sanctuary. In everything, you will get people who will take advantage. It’s doesn’t matter what job you are in – in any walk of life. Look at the Tories with their expenses. Those MPs – in real life, they would have lost their jobs.

I haven’t had an [Atos work capability assessment yet]. I’m on incapacity benefit…I’ve watched the things on the television and seen how [ESA] is decided for people to fail on it. People don’t understand how that plays with your mind, because if your mind is fragile enough now, when you get things like that put on top of you, it just makes you think – what I am good for? The best thing to do would be to end it, because then I wouldn’t be on benefits.

My son and his pals have been on benefits for ages and there is nothing there. He has to go around and hand in CVs to firms in the local areas [as a requirement for jobseekers’ allowance]. They [the job centre] keep asking him to do it and he’s like – if I’ve done every one, how can I go around and do it again? And they are now wanting to sanction people £72 [sic]. That’s their whole benefit, if they don’t meet whatever they [the job centre] wants. Yes, we do know that there is people who do not want to work, because there’s ones that do crime, do drugs, do whatever, but that’s always been there since day dot, but to tar every single person…

The thing is, he [Cameron] claims that it [welfare changes and bedroom tax] won’t have that much impact – but how does he know? He’s a millionaire. He’s not been in our shoes, I would love to have been in his. Because most people round these areas to be honest, they are poor and they accept their lot in life.

At the job centre, they have not got a clue. If they brought in schemes where it wouldn’t affect your benefit – employment training for 12 months, you could go out and train. If disabled people had those rights, if that would then give them the confidence to go back into the workplace and try things out and learn different things. They let the likes of us rot now. We are classed as the worst thing since bubonic plague.

Continue reading →

People on the frontline of austerity Britain. Part two: the Southwest

Posted on by
10

Extracts from this article are printed in the Guardian today (18 July).

This is the second article from my series of interviews with people around the country who are affected by this appalling government’s welfare changes, NHS reform and cuts. This report is from the southwest.

The interviews from Weymouth are with a group of older men who were  in and out of homelessness and battling to keep their jobseekers’ and employment and support allowances.

The names of people on jobseekers’ allowance or ESA have been changed and marked *. Most of these people were going through Atos work capability assessments and were concerned that the mere act of giving interviews would be construed as fitness for work. There are accompanying audio recordings.

There is also a list of policy changes and cuts which affect each person at the end of each section.

———————–

Weymouth, May 2012

Olympics 2012 costs-in-austerity controversies:
Stone mushrooms cost more than £330,000.
Local hoteliers fear thousands in losses during the games
Sandcastle costing £5000 demolished

 

Weymouth pier

Image: Pier at Weymouth, May 2012.

Of all the cowflop that David Cameron speaks, there is no bigger pile than his deceitful and misleading “culture of entitlement” line on people on benefits.

Lives on benefits are not, as Cameron would have us believe, simple and sorry stories of unreal “expectations” from people who believe “the state will support you whatever decisions you make… you can have a home of your own… you will always be able to take out, no matter what you put in.”

It’s one of modern politics’ most loathsome sells: this notion that people who need state support hold any cards, let alone all of them. The idea of a culture of entitlement is entirely romantic. There’s nothing left for anyone to feel entitled to. No aspect of taking state money in this day and age is painless, or liberating – except, perhaps, if you’re a bailed-out banker.

For the rest, a life on benefits is an appalling tale of financial and personal reduction, particularly when you’ve no hope of buying yourself back by finding a job. You must have the state in that case. You can’t do without it. Your desperation, though, means that the state also has you.

I’ll give you an example of this reduction from Weymouth. It will sound tiny, but it wasn’t. It’s probably common, but it wasn’t insignificant. At the time, I was worried – I thought there was a chance that I may have put someone’s benefits in jeopardy. It was probably a small chance, but the thought did occur to me.

It all started merrily enough. I was horsing around in a carpark with Sean Needham* (in his 50s and made redundant from a Woolworth’s warehouse when Woolies went bust), Pete Gyte* (ex-armed forces), Mike Gale* (also ex-services) and H*, Mike’s cheerful, turbo-charged, Alsatian when Needham made a sudden decision.

He invited me to the next meeting of the job club that the men said they had to regularly attend as a condition of collecting their jobseekers’ and employment and support allowances. All three men were in their late 40s, or early 50s. All were unemployed and all had been homeless from time to time over the years.

Nobody seemed entirely sure what the job club was for (“we’re supposed talk about getting work and CVs,” Needham said, vaguely), but they could see two clear advantages to it for me.

The first was that they thought it would give me some insight into the hoops they had to jump through to keep their benefits and/or find employment in their challenging patch. Employment rates in the southwest are among the country’s best, but unemployment has been on the rise. If you’re a drug addict, or an alcoholic, or have serious mental health problems, or a history of homelessness – well, the guys said that it might happen, but it might not.

“I mean – come on,” Gyte said when we touched on the topic. “They reckon everybody’s fit for work, but if I had a company, most of the people I know – I wouldn’t let them in the door! Operating expensive machinery…?”

The second was that there was a sex shop somewhere along the way. There was no real advantage to that news, I suppose, except that it made us all incredibly funny for the rest of the night.

“You can get a pair of knickers first!” Gyte giggled.

“No crotch for me,” I said, which was, obviously, hilarious. The entire conversation seemed hilarious – a whole lot of giggling and snorting about David Cameron, Tories, government, CVs and dildos. Continue reading →

National security alert! For…an anti-parking charges poster. Brilliant.

Posted on by
Reply

Updated 5 July to add this glorious quote from a forum on parking in Barnet:

“Appealing to the council is like playing chess with a pigeon. You might be a chess grand master but the pigeon will always knock all the pieces over, shit on the board and then strut around triumphantly.”

Gold.

————-

It’s kicking off in Barnet again…

…this time, the council (or its CEO at least) appears to be after a local trader who produced a poster on behalf of Barnet Traders – a group that campaigned against the abolition of pay and display parking in Barnet at the recent elections.

I post this in solidarity with Helen Michael and the Barnet bloggers who are also posting about the issue. I’m also posting this because I’m generally pissed off with heavy-handed reactions to protest posters and leaflets, particularly in the leadup to the Olympics. It does not thrill me to know that I could be fined, or jailed, or tasered, or whatever for hanging an “Olympics 2012 Sucks” poster out of my own window. For Christ’s sake. I’ll say that the Olympics suck if I want to – not least because I’ve contributed God knows what in tax towards the whole circus and as a direct funder of it, I reserve the right to describe it as shit.

Anyway – Mrs Angry backgrounds Barnet Postergate in inspired style:

“Helen had, as part of her efforts to oppose the parking scheme, created, published and distributed a poster directly linking [Brian] Coleman to the damage to high street trade. It was a hugely popular poster, for obvious reasons, with traders and residents alike, all of whom were badly affected by the impact of the scheme, both financially, and in terms of restricted accessibility.

“…out of the blue last week – and blue does seem to be the appropriate colour – Helen Michael was contacted by police and told that she would be obliged to attend a local police station for an interview in regard to the Coleman poster.

She was asked for her ‘co operation’ – failure to show such ‘co operation’, one imagines, might have led to her being arrested. Taking legal advice, she sent a statement to the DPP, putting her version of the matter.

Yesterday, Helen spent two hours at Barnet Police Station, not arrested, but under caution, being interviewed – a recorded interview – by two detectives from what she was told is Scotland Yard’s ‘Special Investigation Unit’ – whatever that means.

There is a Specialist Operations branch which deals with various security issues, including counter terrorism, but one would imagine that only a complete idiot would think it likely that a cafe owner from North Finchley worried about the drop in sales of her tuna mayo baguettes was a threat to national security, or even the security of a tedious minor local politician – or indeed think it a justifiable use of public resources, especially at a time of such need for counter terrorist scrutiny in the preparation for the Olympic Games.”

That last paragraph is particularly brilliant. You can read the rest of Mrs Angry’s post here.

From Barneteye:

“Let’s just stick to the facts. Helen Michael was yesterday interviewed by 2 officers from Scotland Yard’s special investigations unit. This is the unit responsible for, amongst other things, terrorism investigations. Helen was read her rights and interviewed under caution.

The reason? Because a poster produced on behalf of Barnet Traders, campaigning against the abolition of pay and display parking in Barnet and extortionate parking charges, may have breached election law on a technicality. The purpose of the law was to prevent anonymous smear campaigns against people standing for elections.

The complaint against Helen Michael was initiated by the CEO of Barnet, Nick Walkley. Mr Walkley doubled up in this role as the returning officer. The Barnet Eye wishes to explore the motivation of Mr Walkley in making the complaint and wishes to know in what capacity he has been pursuing this.”

Read the rest of the Barnet Eye post here.

From the marvellous Mr Reasonable:

“Something is very, very wrong in Barnet. I am sure you have read on other blogs about the questioning of Helen Michael by the Special Investigations Unit of Scotland Yard over the poster she put up regarding parking in Barnet. It appears that the complainant is Mr Nick Walkley, Chief Executive of Barnet. What I find utterly incomprehensible is that just days after we have been told there is a massive black hole in the Met Police Budget and just over 3 weeks away from the biggest ever policing event in the capital, that someone in the Met has deemed this worthy of investing so much time in such a trivial non issue.”

The rest is here.

Perhaps Scotland Yard should leave this woman alone and go and throw Bob Diamond in the can. Just a suggestion.

Barnet Council Not For Sale Conference

Posted on by
Reply

If you’re in Barnet on Saturday 7 July, this event really is one that is worth attending: Barnet Council Not For Sale conference.

It’s on Saturday 7 July from 12pm to 3pm at the Greek Cypriot centre, Britannia Road, Britannia Road, North Finchley, London N12 9RU.

Something very interesting is happening in Barnet and it is worthy of serious attention. A group of extremely organised residents, bloggers and Unison members (John Burgess is branch secretary) has begun to put real pressure on (Tory) Barnet council as it has pursued much-derided plans to mass outsource council services to the private sector. There’s groundswell in Barnet and it’s worth keeping an eye on. For all the odds against them, local people, workers and writers in Barnet are scoring direct hits. They take hits, too, of course, but on they go.

Five very talented and able bloggers have delivered consistently damaging reviews of council outsourcing projects and forced very public investigations into the council’s horrendous contract failures. Burgess has taken members out on a number of well-attended and well-organised strikes. Bloggers, residents and library campaigners have managed to set up weekly pop-up libraries (their response to the council’s recent decision to close Friern Barnet library) which have been very well-attended by Barnet people and evolved into pro-democracy rallies. A local campaign to separate Brian Coleman from his London Assembly seat at the last elections delivered in a big way. A film made with local people who are having to live with the council’s care cuts decisions and monumental parking charges (the charges have slowed custom to high street businesses) has drawn full houses and the council’s ire. As I say – an interesting picture and one that continues to unfold.

A lot of the people involved in the Barnet fight for public services and against the government will be at the Barnet Not For Sale Conference. It will be worth hearing what they have to say about strong, anti-government, community-driven organising.

Turned down for Disability Living Allowance before applying for it…?

Posted on by
3

…in a manner of speaking.

Here’s a short and disturbing story (very likely a common one, too – there are many reports of similar situations around):

At a recent Hardest Hit meeting for people with disabilities in Newcastle, the woman* in the video below (who describes herself as severely to profoundly deaf and whom I talked with at some length after she spoke at a Local Cuts session) said she’d been told by her welfare rights advisors to expect her application for Disability Living Allowance to be turned down on first application.

She says in the video:

“What I find incredible is now is that I’m being told by professionals – “Well, you’ve got that far [completed an application form for DLA] but expect it to be turned down. That’s normal. You know, you’re going to have to go to appeal.””

She wasn’t sure what sort of hint she was supposed to take from this – either, that she wasn’t eligible for DLA at any rate (although she wondered why she’d be encouraged to apply or appeal at all if that was the case), or that the application process is now so stringent that many applicants are failed on first application as a matter of course (“that’s normal”) and their only hope lies in the second part of the process – appeal. That makes the application process even more complex and even more drawn-out and likely deters people from pursuing their claims. Already, this woman is worried about it, as well she might be. Continue reading →

People on the frontline of austerity Britain. Part one: the Northwest

Posted on by
2

This year, I’m talking to people in different parts of the country about the ways that welfare changes, NHS reform and council cuts and charges (particularly in social care) are affecting lives.

Most of the people I’ve spoken to use a range of services and are affected by changes across the board – ESA and DLA assessments, council social care cuts and charges and NHS reform. Apparently, only 12% of the government’s cuts have been implemented. People are on edge waiting for the rest.

Extracts from these articles are appearing the Guardian here and in the Society Guardian.

This first report is from the Northwest.

 

Richard Atkinson, Cheshire

“A lot of people have got to be in this position…forced to finish work in one way or another and unable to get any money…it’s a threatening prospect.” Richard Atkinson, Cheshire (photograph: Charles Shearer)

I start to understand that care cuts and costs might be leading people to take risks with themselves when I go to Lisa Henshaw’s* house and find her front door unlocked. I knock, hear her call out, and I try the door, which is open.

“Wow,” I think, brilliantly. “That’s not very secure.” I wander down the hall to find her. Then I get it.

Henshaw, 48, has rheumatoid arthritis (she was diagnosed when she was two). She has limited use of her hands and does not walk easily. Mostly, she must use her electric wheelchair to move. This morning, she woke up feverish and “very, very shivery.” That’s how I find her – a small figure lying on her bed next to a red plastic container that her carer left out in case Henshaw needed to be sick.

She’s alone, because “I’ve run out of carer hours,” she says, grimly. Direct payments from her local council fund about five carer hours a day (starting with a couple of hours in the morning, to help her to bathe and dress) and her carer had to leave at ten for another job.

She didn’t want to ask another carer to come, because “I have to preserve my [care] hours… for an emergency.” The front door was unlocked, because Henshaw was waiting for medicine to be delivered and was worried about missing it. So – I end up waiting for the drug and signing for it and making Henshaw her mid-morning hot drink.

Then, I leave her to her problems.

She has plenty of them – “it isn’t always gloomy like this,” she says, “…but I never had to worry like this before.” Henshaw faces an ESA work capability assessment (which will cost her – she’ll have to pay a carer to fill in her forms for her) and a Disability Living Allowance assessment. She was given a lifetime DLA award as a child, but will be reassessed as the personal independence payment replaces DLA.

There’s also the ongoing issue of Henshaw’s living arrangements. Henshaw wants to keep living in her own home, but will need extra care for that as she ages.

She isn’t too sure that funds will be available, though, and worries that her local council will put her in a carehome. It’s easy to see why she wants to stay. She’s made her housing trust bungalow a magical place. Each room is a riot of retro – flowered walls, bright surfaces, lustrous curtains and winking lamps. You want to follow the lights and explore it.

Henshaw just wants to stay in it. Her concern is that her council will look at her requests for more carer hours, decide that it can’t afford them, say that she’s at risk alone and move her to a carehome. So, she needs to fight for extra care hours without drawing her council’s attention to the fact that she needs extra care hours. There isn’t an answer to this, but that hardly helps. Henshaw torments herself trying to find one.

The irony is that there might not be a carehome, either. Council officers told Henshaw recently that they didn’t have suitable spaces. So, in Henshaw’s mind now is an end-scene where she is stuck in her beautiful home without enough help. Doors are shutting wherever she looks. The Independent Living Fund has closed (people with disabilities were once able to apply to the ILF for extra money for care). In some parts of the country, councils are, incredibly, capping spending on high-cost care. On her bad days, Henshaw imagines how those chapters of the story might play. Continue reading →

Hate crime, hate reporting and the hardest hit

Posted on by
18

Post updated 4 June to include details of figures of benefit fraud totals to make the point about benefit fraud levels being very low very clear. In the original post, I just had a link to them.

No doubt the Sun and others are delighted with the “patriotic” response to their campaigns to flush out benefit “fiddlers,” but I saw the flip side to that grimy coin at Newcastle’s Hardest Hit conference for people with disabilities on Friday.

This government and its vicious press have a great deal to answer for, and I hope they’re forced to at some point, preferably in court. Speaker after speaker at the conference talked about their experiences of a general hardening of attitudes towards people with disabilities and anyone who is assumed to be collecting benefits.

A number of people said that they’d been on the receiving end of hate crimes and threatening behaviour and had involved the police where they could. The problem has apparently become so widespread that whole parts of the conference programme were set aside to talk about ways to respond to it.

The facts about benefit fraud, as we well know, are neither here nor there where this government is concerned. The truth is that levels of benefit fraud remain very low, particularly as far as disability benefits go, although today’s political leadership is unlikely to let those facts get in the way of a good victimising.

“Look at these figures for [fraud around] disability benefits and see how low the figures are,” Richard Exell wrote when the DWP released a recent report on fraud and error in the benefits system (text added 4 June: the figures, which were released in February this year, showed 0.8% of benefit spending was overpaid due to fraud, amounting to £1.2 billion, and that the proportion was the same as in 2009/10. The number for Incapacity Benefit was 0.3% and for Disability Living Allowance 0.5%).

“Remember them next time the BBC is running one of its 30 minute hate programmes, pushing the idea that every disabled person on benefits is a fraudster,” Exell said.

I remembered them on Friday, all right. In the video from the conference below, people who had experienced hate crimes and abuse talk about those experiences (not everyone wanted to appear on camera, because they were concerned about drawing more attention to themselves, so I’ve posted transcripts from interview recordings below the video). Gateshead MP Ian Mearns talks about his expectations for worsening hate-crime statistics as local cuts to police funds and numbers start to affect the ability of the police to respond.

People were definitely making connections between damming political and press rhetoric about benefit “scroungers” and growing hostility towards people with disabilities.

“[Another area where] enough is enough is around the demonisation of disabled people in terms of the DWP’s campaign to vilify disabled people,” the RNIB’s Steve Winyard said. “What we’ve had is the steady drip-drip of disability benefit fraud stories from the DWP press office. Of course – these are usually about non-disabled people claiming disability benefits, but that gets lost. The damage is done and disabled people are associated with benefit cheating. A recent survey by Inclusion London found that the general public believe that disability fraud is running at between 50% and 70%.”

Disability activist and filmmaker Karen Sheader, who works with people with learning disabilities, said she hadn’t been targeted, “but the people who I work with have. People with learning disabilities seem to be more targeted by kids… it had got better – it really had. It wasn’t perfect – there was more acceptance, but it’s slipping back now. Campaigns like the Sun are running, directly against benefit scroungers – I think it is just hateful really.”

Indeed.

Continue reading →

The realities of drug and alcohol problems

Posted on by

More transcripts from a series of recordings I’ve made in the last fortnight with people in Weymouth who were employed (in the armed forces in some cases), or had businesses and then went through periods of homelessness after losing their incomes. A number of these people have drug and alcohol problems.

They’re exactly the people who will be targeted as Iain Duncan Smith pushes through his plans to permit Jobcentre Plus staff to dock benefits for people who refuse drug and alcohol treatment. The irony is that most have had their benefits cut at one point or another anyway – because they failed Atos work capability assessments, or missed jobcentre appointments, or didn’t realise they had to fill in forms to reapply for benefits, or didn’t get forms because they didn’t have fixed addresses, or had their housing benefits stopped through administrative errors and so on. That’s how they ended up on the streets in the first place.

Anyway – way to go, Iain. You’ll really claw back the deficit when you kick these people into touch. If anyone caused the recession, it was surely people in these sorts of situations, as opposed to an out-of-control financial sector, etc. You’re a genius.