Golden Jubilee, Olympics, expensive Thatcher funeral, Royal Babies, blah blah blah... Meanwhile, back in the real world - Citizens Advice issue emergency guide to surviving with no food or money as impact of welfare cuts is laid bare THE charity said it was forced to issue the document after being swamped by pleas for help from people left destitute. THE savage impact of welfare cuts was laid bare yesterday as Citizens Advice Scotland launched an emergency guide to surviving with NO food or money. In an admission that harked back to the time of Charles Dickens, the charity said they were forced to produce the document after being swamped by pleas for help from people left destitute. Many have resorted to taking out payday loans and are using food banks just to keep going. The charity’s chief executive Margaret Lynch said they are approached every day by people who cannot afford even basic food supplies. She said: “Across Scotland, families are being pushed into poverty by the double whammy of the *recession and benefit cuts. “The CAB see people every day who haven’t eaten, can’t afford to feed or heat themselves and are at risk of homelessness. “In the past, the benefits system was a safety net for such people, to help them through those problems and make sure they didn’t fall into total crisis. “With the UK Government’s welfare reforms, that safety net is no longer there. That’s why this survival guide is necessary. “It shows how the CAB are a vital service to the community and a lifeline to those in need.” The survival guide provides *information about a range of schemes, organisations and charities who can provide money in a crisis. There are details of how to claim crisis grants, community care grants, social work payments, budget loans and access the Scottish Welfare Fund. It was drawn up by Stirling’s *Citizens Advice Bureau after their social policy team looked into why more people were on the breadline and resorting to desperate measures such as taking out payday loans. Margaret said the cases seen in Stirling are typical of the rest of the country. She added: “Stirling CAB’s work in putting together this guide is an example of the excellent service they provide – even if the fact it is necessary is a disgrace.” Other CAB offices across Scotland are seeing similar suffering and are expected to produce their own emergency guides soon. *Stirling District CAB manager Craig Anderson said their research had found the growing crisis was caused by a combination of the recession and cuts to *benefits. He added: “The increase in the number of people coming to CAB with emergency situations – no money, no food, no power – has become a major problem in recent times and is rising sharply. “It is indicative of a range of circumstances linked to the economic downturn and the reshaping of the welfare system.” Housing and Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess, a former CAB manager, blamed the Tory-led Government’s welfare cuts. She added: “The rising number of people in crisis because of these reforms is utterly deplorable.” A spokeswoman for the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions said: “Far from removing a safety net, our welfare reforms will improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities. “The Universal Credit is *simplifying the complex myriad of benefits and making three million people better off – 300,000 in Scotland. The Government are committed to fairness.” :devil: I dont think anybody believed them. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/citizens-advice-issue-emergency-guide-2215005
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2e94w-9MxQ"]DPAC protest outside BBC Portland Place September 2 2013 - YouTube From - THE VOID... Disabled protesters from DPAC, Black Triangle, Mental Health Resistance Network and others blockaded a BBC building today in protest at the corporation’s shameful parroting of DWP lies. Ever since this Government weren’t elected ministers like Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Fraud have misused statistics and even lied outright to smear disabled benefit claimants as scroungers or frauds. These lies have been repeated without criticism by the toadying BBC who have become little more than a spineless mouthpiece for DWP spin. This has all taken place against a savage backdrop of cuts to benefits, housing and local services which are forcing thousands of disabled people into brutal poverty, homelessness and tragically even suicide. This side of the story has rarely been shown on the BBC. Today disabled people fought back, blockading the entrance to their building in Portland Place. Watch the video above. http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/disabled-protesters-blockade-the-bbc/
From The Void... Five Government Departments Mobbed In Hugely Successful Day of Action By and For Disabled People Another hugely successful day of action organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) took place today targeting five government departments and ending with a mass lobby of Parliament. At lunchtime disabled protesters and supporters began to gather outside four government building, all of which are culpable for creating the vicious regime that currently exists for disabled people. Crowds of people met outside the Departments of Health, Education, Transport and Climate Change to protest against soaring heating bills, increased segregation in education, inaccessible and unaffordable public transport and cuts to social care budgets and healthcare. At the Department of Education several people briefly blocked the door as a request was made for people to be allowed entry, or for a Minister to come and address the protest which focused on the increasing segregation of disabled children in foundation schools in particular. Shamefully not one person from the Department of Education could be bothered to come to the front door, although after a tense stand off three people were allowed inside to deliver a list of demands. Then the protest moved off to the DWP, where all four groups converged resulting in a large crowd of up to 200 people outside the home of Iain Duncan Smith’s brutal and bungled welfare reforms. Speakers from Inclusion, DPAC, Winvisible, Black Triangle, UK Uncut, the TUC and many more addressed the crowd whilst a washing line wastied to the lamposts and festooned with underpants for Iain Duncan Smith to help him cut down this year’s expenses claim. Other groups present included transport union TSSA, Mad Pride, Inclusion, Transport for All and many local DPAC and other disabled people’s groups. This protest was almost a year to the day that DPAC, UK Uncut and Anti-Atos protesters occupied and shut down the DWP building for an afternoon. This year the DWP were taking no chances with a heavy security presence closing down the front of the building and staff being ushered in and out by the back door. Finally the protest moved to Parliament for a mass lobby, with a packed meeting expected to launch the DPAC Disabled Persons Manifesto. This was the final day of DPAC’s week of action, which had previously seen the BBC blockaded in response to their disgraceful portrayal of disabled people and slavish support of Iain Duncan Smith’s endless lies about benefit claimants. The BBC chose not to cover that protest and so far has also ignored today’s, preferring instead to give air time to the extremist Tax Payer’s Alliance call for mass workfare for everyone unemployed or on sickness or disability benefits. There is a long way to go in the struggle against welfare reforms, inclusion and access for all disabled people, and the saving of the welfare state. But today was the largest central London protest in a long time by disabled activists and the call for further action, but within and outside of the law, was unanimous amongst those present. They will fight us every step pf the way, but we can and must take back this country and reclaim the futures of everybody who has had their lives destroyed by this Government. For the latest news and details of actions from DPAC visit their website at: http://dpac.uk.net/ ohnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/five-government-departments-mobbed-in-hugely-successful-day-of-action-by-and-for-disabled-people/
Source- The Void http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/201...tice-secretary-who-wants-to-be-above-the-law/ :bobby: Whats the point of being in power if you cant change the law to suit your own ends ? Chris Grayling: The So-Called Justice Secretary Who Wants To Be Above The Law The Chris Grayling comedy show had tragic consequences as he ran rampant at the DWP so it is no surprise that he has exported his unique brand of dishonest chaos to the Justice Department. Grayling wants to tear up the rule book on Judicial Reviews – the means by which people can challenge the lawfulness of decisions made by public bodies. This is based on his obsession with ‘left wing’ campaigners who he says are abusing justice by holding the government accountable to the same laws as the rest of us. Along with being a compulsive liar, Chris Grayling is notoriously paranoid. Back when he was the bungling Employment Minister he bizarrely accused the Socialist Worker Party (SWP), a minor and decaying Trotskyite sect, of hacking his email account. Grayling sees reds under the bed everywhere and claimed the public’s disgust towards workfare – which saw thousands of people contacting well known companies demanding they pull out of unpaid labour schemes – was all down to an SWP plot. Along with Iain Duncan Smith, Grayling even tried to pretend this form of workfare didn’t exist – and when DWP documents proved that it did – those documents were mysteriously altered to remove references to mandated workfare. When a Freedom of Information request was made asking for the names of companies and charities involved in workfare schemes, Grayling pulled every trick in the book to dodge the decision by the Information Commissioner’s Office that this information was in the public interest and should be released. The DWP are still dragging their feet on supplying this information. It was inevitable that putting a bent bastard like Grayling in charge of the courts would lead fierce opposition from the legal profession, with some now calling for his resignation. One of his first moves was to tear up the right to legal aid. Now he wants to remove the right for people to hold Government to account when it breaks the law. The Tories have long pretended to be the party of small government, but in reality are quite happy to use legislation as a blunt instrument to attack against anyone they have taken a dislike to – whether that be striking miners or uppity lawyers. This is the same party that made it illegal for schools to talk about non-heterosexual relationships in the 1980s and later even brought in laws specifically to clamp down on certain kinds of music. When Tories whinge about the nanny state, or meddling bureaucrats, what they usually mean is they haven’t got exactly what they want and so are having a tantrum. Or they’ve just got been given a parking ticket. But when it comes to stamping out any dissent to their vile policies they are as happy to don the jackboots as any tin-pot dictator. In a well timed protest, UK Uncut will be literally taking to the streets to take direct action against the plans to slash legal aid. Join them on October 5th and help spread the word: http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/press-release-roadblocks-will-go-ahead
Anyone suprised ? Half the families hit by bedroom tax 'now in debt' Thousands can't pay rent three months into scheme, as housing chief says: we can't magic up smaller homes More than half of families hit by the bedroom tax have been pushed into debt during the first three months of the policy, leading to calls from the country's biggest housing groups for a retreat from the scheme. The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, said a survey of 51 of its biggest members found more than half of their residents affected by the bedroom tax – 32,432 people – could not pay their rent between April and June. The survey shows a quarter of those affected by the tax had fallen behind with their rent for the first time ever. David Orr, the NHF's chairman, will say these figures could mean "over 330,000 households [were] already struggling to pay their rent and facing a frightening and uncertain future" when he addresses the federation's national conference on Thursday. The intervention comes on the heels of a furious row between the government and the UN's special rapporteur on housing, Raquel Rolnik, after she recommended scrapping the policy because of the "shocking" effects on vulnerable citizens. Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, accused Rolnik of undermining the impartiality of the UN. A Tory MP described Rolnik as a "loopy Brazilian leftie". The government policy has been dubbed the bedroom tax because housing benefit is docked by 14% if welfare claimants in social housing have a spare bedroom. Orr repeats the criticism made by Rolnik and goes further by arguing that ministers have miscalculated the number of homes available for tenants to downsize into. Although 180,000 households were "under-occupying" two bedroom homes, he says only 85,000 one-bed homes became available in 2012. Orr is expected to say: "Housing associations are working flat-out to help their tenants cope with the changes, but they can't magic one-bedroom houses out of thin air. People are trapped. What more proof do politicians need that the bedroom tax is an unfair, ill-planned disaster that is hurting our poorest families? There is no other option but to repeal." http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/18/families-bedroom-tax-in-debt?CMP=twt_gu
From - Kate Belgrave Talking with people dealing with public sector cuts. http://www.katebelgrave.com/2013/09/jobcentre-anger-and-bans-what-a-mess/ Jobcentre meltdown and bans. What a mess. It’s hardly surprising to hear that the tension is bad at jobcentres. Lengthy and ridiculous benefit sanctions, pointless courses and workfare placements that go nowhere – it’s no wonder that people are getting really, really angry. Birmingham Against Cuts had a story recently about a man who smashed windows at the Sparkhill jobcentre after being sanctioned. The Manchester Evening News has a story today about a man who set fire to phones in a jobcentre in the hope that he’d be arrested and given something to eat when in police custody. And last week, I visited a few people in Bracknell who told me they and people they knew had been banned from their jobcentre for complaining about the centre and their workfare provider. The jobcentre ban notices (which are not signed by a named officer) said they were banned for verbal and written abuse and behaviour “which was totally unacceptable” (no further details on that appear in the correspondence). The people in question denied the charges in the letters. More to the point – and this is the key point, whether we’re talking Bracknell, or wherever – they felt that they had little recourse. They said that they had nowhere to go to appeal those bans. They’d been issued with ban notices by London lawyers (I have copies of these) and then the jobcentre (I have those as well) and told to appear at another job centre for their fortnightly JSA interviews. That was the end of that. Except that it’s not. Iain Duncan Smith has clearly decided to leave claimants and jobcentre staff to their hell together, to fight it out themselves. This can surely only get worse. As Birmingham Against The Cuts observes, people are dealing with increasingly lengthy sanctions and ridiculous reasons for them – absurd sanctions handed out by stressed staff who are under pressure to meet cruel targets. No wonder things kick off. What do people expect? As for bans – heavy. And one-sided. I’ve got papers here which threaten Asbos and injunctions and costs if bans are broken. Wonder what happens if you disagree. Which you might. Of course jobcentre workers shouldn’t be abused – but there are always two sides to a story. These are tense times, as I’ve said. Isn’t it possible for frustration, anger and persistence to be interpreted as abuse? Can’t perspectives on a heated incident differ? Couldn’t jobcentres ban people who simply persist with a complaint and refuse to give up the fight for their money? Couldn’t bans be used to shut people up? (The DWP said, simply, that it banned people “who posed a threat” and that “we do not issue bans lightly.” I’d be interested to know if people think that’s the case. Certainly, the various people I’ve spoken to about this have issues with it). And if someone disagrees with a ban, shouldn’t they at least be able to appeal that decision? Because if they can’t, or don’t know that they can, then the equation is not equal. So I asked the DWP about this as well. I tried to ask Bracknell jobcentre first, but kept getting bounced back to the DWP. Their advice seemed to be that anyone who disagreed with a ban would need to fork out for a lawyer – “they can seek legal advice – and additionally they could follow our complaints process if they disagree with the methods we adopt – but as a legal request the ban would stand, unless contested legally.” So – you’re sanctioned, you’re banned and you must find money for a lawyer. You’re hardly in a position to do that. What a bloody mess. I can only imagine that IDS enjoys it – this power to throw people into a tinderbox and chuck in a match. Only a truly evil prick would foster that.
And now they are going to announce that the long term unemployed will be forced into unpaid work. Slavery set to make a comeback? "Evil prick" may be too kind.
