Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

[scottishlass]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

Great plan & has anyone here filled in a DLA application recently. 39 pages designed to catch the unwary & uneducated............ or elderly

I have Righty and i have to agree with you, saying that my brother works for DWP and helped me as I was about tearing my hair out. He said that they have to send someone out to help some of the elderly with these forms and can take a couple of hours and they are used to dealing with them, but I bet that there are a lot that won't ask for help and get turned down.I am sure it could be made a lot simpler.

[scoobydoo]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

7 % ?? I'm sure they'd rather not be drug addicts or alcoholics.

I'm not well off on benefits either. I survive, just.

Litter picking ? How much like a second class citizen and completely worthless would that make people feel. Good plan.

It is hard to get this subject right without sounding patronising and as I said before as a family we have been in this position before.

I think what is trying to be said on this and another similar post - is when you are in employment you are paying the taxes that pay these benefits . There has to be a balance in letting the person have the time and resources to find a job - but somehow society getting something in return as well.

litter picking per se does sound wrong - however that is also insulting to those people who do that every day. But the queston remains why is this country in such a mess with jobs that need doing while we are paying millions in benefits
What about training more people to help in schemes for youngsters or the vunerable on a part time basis ?

[righty]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

Problem is scottishlass the so called help is a myth in that the local councils who provide it are cutting back so severely that the waiting list for home visits in some areas is 3 months which means the applicant will lose some of their benefits

Scooby The reason that many jobs are unfilled is because of the influx of cheap labour & the low wages offered.

Whilst there will always be some scroungers if you offer people a living wage they will work

[scoobydoo]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

unfortunately it seems that there will be more reason to look at the points raised by this thread.One of the basic laws of economics is that employment is paramount.

Therefore if the monies were in the "reserves" the government should in fact be creating employment rather than paying benefits.

But what jobs could be created on a national basis ? What do we need as a country ?


Out of interest is there a figure out there of what an average person is entitled to on benefits per annum?

I worked out when it happened to my family back in 1989 ( when I was pregnant and we had just moved into a new house) that we received in benefits approx £15000 p.a

That included the benefit of free school dinners /uniform help with interest on the mortgage etc.

In the end my husband took a job for £12000 pa which was less than we were receiving

I think we possibly could have received more but I went back to work part time and that did not help.

Also the government must be paying dearly for not having more "social housing" available.

For people to suffer the indignity of B&B and then the tax payer to be paying extortionate amounts for this really does not make sense.


At the moment those being made unemployed are from all sectors - surely we whould not be wasting those skills?


I am talking about genuine jobs as I know my remark about the untidiness of the country was taken a bit out of context. I think I mean jobs that the community does need. And work that people could be proud of.

[Amethyst]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice response to welfare reform White Paper

10-12-2008

A less rule-based, more personalised approach to supporting lone parents and disabled people could help them into work, but only if effective safeguards are built into the government’s ambitious welfare reform plans unveiled today, national charity Citizens Advice has warned.
CAB evidence shows that, currently, benefit cuts are being imposed inappropriately for long periods on vulnerable people, some with learning disabilities and literacy problems*. Citizens Advice says there is a serious risk of benefit cuts being harshly or inconsistently applied under the new regime, causing poverty and hardship for vulnerable families.
Citizens Advice says breaking down the barriers that stop many lone parents and disabled people from working should be the top priority of the government’s welfare reform white paper.
Citizens Advice Head of Welfare Policy Lizzie Iron said:

“After the scaremongering and tough talking of the last few days, the government now needs to demonstrate it can genuinely deliver the high-quality personalised support it has promised to help lone parents and disabled people move off benefits into work.

“This will require major investment in ensuring Jobcentre Plus is equipped to provide this support at a time when accelerating job losses are placing increasing demands on already overstretched staff and services. As things stand it is doubtful that Jobcentre Plus staff will have the necessary skills, training, time and support they need to do the job.

“Effective safeguards are vital to prevent unintended hardship resulting from benefit cuts being misapplied. CAB evidence and the government’s own research both show very clearly that in most cases threatening benefit cuts is neither necessary nor effective in moving people off benefits into work, and that they tend to hurt the most vulnerable. Bureaux regularly report cases of benefit cut sanctions being misapplied, causing unjustified hardship to vulnerable people.

“All the evidence shows that most lone parents and people with disabilities want to work and will do so if they can. What they really need to help them do this - especially in the current economic climate where unemployment is rising fast and competition for jobs may be fierce - is support in overcoming the barriers facing them. Fundamental improvements are needed in the delivery of benefits and tax credits, in access to affordable, high quality childcare, and in ensuring basic rights at work are enforceable and employers offer the flexible working arrangements parents and people with disabilities need.”

Citizens Advice welcomed the Government’s recognition that it is inappropriate to move carers from income support to jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), urging the Government to commence its long-awaited review of carers’ benefits without delay.
Last year (2007/8) Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales advised over 100,000 lone parents on 300,000 benefit and tax credit issues, over 370,000 debt issues and 43,000 employment issues.
*Cases

In one case a lone parent with three children had her income support cut by almost £12 a week for 21 months because she had had to cancel a work focused interview which clashed with a hospital appointment. Only when the CAB queried this was her benefit restored and the sanction lifted.


In another case a 52 year old unemployed man with learning difficulties had his benefit cut three times, once for failing to produce his post office statement, even though he didn’t understand what this was. As a result he had no money to live on. The CAB remarked that he carried his address on a piece of paper because he couldn’t remember it otherwise. They commented that they feared this cycle would keep repeating itself and he would continue to suffer hardship as a result.

As a single mother of 3 under 10 I have had my income support reduced by £12 a week twice for missed appointments, once because they sent the appointment to the wrong address and second time I clean forgot. Once you attend a new appointment the £12 is reinstated from that date.

Now my income support (£60.40 a week) has been cancelled entirely. Leaving me with £174 a week (CTC and CB) to live on.

I get no housing benefit or council tax benefit, so out of that £174 I pay £90 rent and £14 council tax. weekly.

Why ?

Because my husband still lives in our marital home and won't get his arse into gear to sell it and has let it fall into such a state of disrepair it will take forever to sell when he does, and when it does sell the equity may be more than 16k (which it won't once the debts are paid off).

[theGobbyOne]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

Ame I spoke to my social security law lecturer regarding your situation anonymously of course....She also sits on appeals panel for benefits and she reckons you have a good argument for housing benefit and also getting your income support back hun so please go see your MP they very good and never mind you dont have time make the bloody time for yourself hun and if your successful it will and should be backdated. She said your case was something she had ever come accross before as having a home should NOT impede you so appeal appeal appeal.
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when it does sell the equity may be more than 16k (which it won't once the debts are paid off).

Dont want to add to your woes hun but when looking at your equity the benefits peeps DO NOT take into account any debts you have had to pay from a lump sum so you may be penalised even further I do have the legislation somewhere regarding this and shall find it and post it up for you its fresh in my head as my current lectures are on this very topic. They may work out your entitlement using the full amount of equity pre payiong debts as a calculation.Just be ready for it thats all.
xx

[Happyolddog]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

Since the early 70s, each and every government has allowed an underclass of benifit dependent families to carry on claiming without any effort to try and resolve the matter. Their offspring inturn begin life as claiments, it is a viscious circle. I have no doubt that their are people on benifit who would rather not be in that position, but the benifit system pays better (for some) than working. I can't see where these jobs are going to come from, especially in the recession. If people are to be paid only if they do community work then are they going to wear the same florescent jackets that offenders have refused to wear. The whole idea is pathetic and ill thought out. A real approach would be to target school leavers. Bring back national service, make young people learn skills and give them a sense of worth.

My own situation is; I have been out of work for nearly 20 years. I have had some brain operations and have uncontrolled epilepsy. About four years ago I asked at my local employment agency if I could go on a re-start programme. I signed up for a six weeks course. After two days they asked me to leave as I had by then had 6 epileptic seizures and was deemed to be of danger to myself and others there. Am I to be put on the streets, cleaning, sweeping or in a kitchen preparing meals? No I guess I would be of danger to myself and others.

The whole idea is crap, thought up by a government who have screwed the balance sheets so bad that they need a scapegoat and see the sick and disabled as an easy target.

[theGobbyOne]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

People on disability benefits are to be made exempt from the rules or so I am told in my social security system lectures at uni but it does make for very interesting reading.
You are right also happy about some people being better off on benefits. I would be better off on benefits than at uni and think it is a disgrace that for benfit reasons my LOANS are calculated as income but the repayments wont be calculated as outgoings!!!!!
This country has gone to the dogs and will only get worse.
Currently in the North West alone there are 30,000 cases being reviewed of peeeps on disability under the 'special rules' from 10 years ago.(special rules=terminal illness) as medical science has progressed so much and prolonging life expectancy. If the figure is 30,000 alone in the NW gawd only knows what it is countrywide. The government should put that in order first and get their bloody acy together.

[Amethyst]

Re: Welfare Reform - No One Written Off

Ame I spoke to my social security law lecturer regarding your situation anonymously of course....She also sits on appeals panel for benefits and she reckons you have a good argument for housing benefit and also getting your income support back hun so please go see your MP they very good and never mind you dont have time make the bloody time for yourself hun and if your successful it will and should be backdated. She said your case was something she had ever come accross before as having a home should NOT impede you so appeal appeal appeal.
xx
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Dont want to add to your woes hun but when looking at your equity the benefits peeps DO NOT take into account any debts you have had to pay from a lump sum so you may be penalised even further I do have the legislation somewhere regarding this and shall find it and post it up for you its fresh in my head as my current lectures are on this very topic. They may work out your entitlement using the full amount of equity pre paying debts as a calculation.Just be ready for it thats all.
xx

Thanks honey, yes I know the possibility of getting HB and CTB now is practically zero, haven't heard from Income Support so all i get now is child tax credit and child benefit. so am having to consider my options very carefully now.