Self-help support vs ravages of 'welfare reform'. Never attend anywhere official alone!
This blog currently focuses on national policy matters that impact upon KUWG members.
Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group as a group focuses primarily on combating benefits injustices locally through advocacy in individuals' benefit claims, and demonstrations that emphasise that there is hope when we come together. We are more angry than frightened.
Saturday, 15 December 2018
xmas closure
Due to the Kingsgate Community Centre being closed over Xmas 2019 the last KUWG meeting for 2019 is Thursday 19th December, recommencing in 2020 Thursday 9th January. Happy Post-Election Xmas, if possible!
Monday, 21 May 2018
UNITE COMMUNITY NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION TO STOP UNIVERSAL CREDIT THURSDAY 24TH MAY 2018 CULMINATING IN RALLY AT OLD PALACE YARD OPPOSITE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AT 1PM WITH JEREMY CORBYN ATTENDING.
Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group in conjunction with Brent Unite Community Branch will be protesting same day 11am-noon outside Harlesden Job Centre -anyone else welcome. We will be handing out Unite Community leaflets, and also KUWG leaflets which follow Disabled People Against Cuts call to SCRAP Universal Credit for good. See below:
Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group in conjunction with Brent Unite Community Branch will be protesting same day 11am-noon outside Harlesden Job Centre -anyone else welcome. We will be handing out Unite Community leaflets, and also KUWG leaflets which follow Disabled People Against Cuts call to SCRAP Universal Credit for good. See below:
THE DISGUSTING NATURE OF
THERESA MAY’S UNIVERSAL CREDIT
Below Q&A From Prime
Ministers Questions 9/5/18
In the past year, the Trussell
Trust has given out over 3,000 food parcels to my constituents in south
Manchester, half of them to families with children. The trust says that the
Government’s flawed roll-out of universal credit has fuelled the 13% rise in
food bank use over the past year. How does the Prime Minister explain the
rise?
“Obviously, the Hon. Gentleman
knows that we do not want to see anybody having to use food banks. As we have
rolled out universal credit, we have listened to the concerns raised and we
have changed the arrangements as a result”.
WHAT THE TORIES UNDER DAVID GAUKE AT THE TIME DID, WAS TO ‘ALLOW’
CLAIMANTS TO GET A LOAN TO PAY OFF WITHIN 12 MONTHS, AFTER HAVING PUT THEM INTO
DEBT IN THE FIRST PLACE BY DELAYING PAYMENTS BY 5 WEEKS. GOVERNMENT-INSPIRED DEBT! MAY THINKS THIS SORTED OUT THE PROBLEM!?!
NATIONALISED CAPITALISM? STINKY POLITICS!
Waiting times for personal
independence payment tribunals in Wales have quadrupled over the past four
years. My constituent, Alan McKittrick, is suffering from prostate cancer,
angina, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis, hernias,
mental ill health, dizziness, blackouts and ulcers, yet his initial PIP claim
was refused. He then waited 56 weeks for an appeal, which he won. Will the
Prime Minister apologise to Alan, and when will she end this hostile environment towards sick and
disabled people?
“Obviously, Members across this
House raise issues about the PIP process, and the Department for Work and Pensions
is consistently looking at the whole PIP process. One of the issues that the
hon. Gentleman raised in his question was the health of the individual
concerned. As he sits for a Welsh constituency, I would have thought that, if
he wants to talk about health, he should talk to the Labour Government in Wales”.
INSTEAD OF RECOGNISING AN EXTREMELY ILL MAN HAD TO ENDURE LACK OF HIS
RIGHTFUL MONIES FOR 56 WEEKS, MAY THINKS SHE CAN POINT SCORE ABOUT WELSH
ASSEMBLEY WHO DEAL WITH THE NHS, BUT PIP IS A DWP ISSUE NOT NHS!! HEARTLESS
& BRAINLESS!
The Kilburn Unemployed Workers
Group support Unite Community’s Day of Action to Stop Universal Credit & we back Disabled People Against Cuts
who say SCRAP Universal Credit. It’s designed to ‘keep claimants on the books”
so they can be hounded off the books. A Virtual Permanent Abuse System!
Workers & Claimants know the
score. Unite & Fight the REAL Scroungers. Cabinet & DWP Top Brass!
Thursday, 3 May 2018
Money Saving Expert forum posting warning against 'The People's Postcode Lottery'
As I have seen adverts for 'The People's Postcode Lottery' frequently and wondered who owns it, I just did an Internet search on the matter. So far I've not discovered the answer to theat question, but a Money Saving Expert (MSE) posting about 'People's Postcode Lottery' caught my eye that I believe relevant to this blog and its audience when all the Jobcentre-recommended or directed 'options' turn out to be cues to try anything else.
You can find that MSE posting at Beware - People's Postcode Lottery!
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3797123
Yes, I know that Jobcentre Plus slogan 'The Help You Need, When You Need It' is a big con, but there are many more cons out there that are television advertised ad nauseum, if you'll pardon the the accidental pun! And it seems, from one of those responses, that while Advertising Standards Authority may seem like a 'toothless tiger' when it comes to banning dodgy adverts, it can be worth placing "asa" in front of any television advertised product or service you are investigating, as Thomas Heald points out.
Posted by Dude Swheatie of Kwug
You can find that MSE posting at Beware - People's Postcode Lottery!
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3797123
Yes, I know that Jobcentre Plus slogan 'The Help You Need, When You Need It' is a big con, but there are many more cons out there that are television advertised ad nauseum, if you'll pardon the the accidental pun! And it seems, from one of those responses, that while Advertising Standards Authority may seem like a 'toothless tiger' when it comes to banning dodgy adverts, it can be worth placing "asa" in front of any television advertised product or service you are investigating, as Thomas Heald points out.
Posted by Dude Swheatie of Kwug
Wednesday, 2 May 2018
PROTEST AT DWP HQ FRI 4/5/18 NOON-1PM
THE KILBURN UNEMPLOYED WORKERS GROUP WITH UNITE COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS WILL BE PROTESTING AND LEAFLETING OUTSIDE THE DWP H.Q. CAXTON HOUSE,TOTHILL STREET, SW1H 9NA FRIDAY 4TH MAY 2018 NOON-1PM
AGAINST UNIVERSAL CREDIT AND OTHER DWP SCAMS SIMILAR IN ROTTENESS TO THE 'WINDRUSH SCANDAL'. LEAFLET WRITTEN BEFORE AMBER RUDD'S RESIGNATION-HOPING FOR MCVEY & MAY'S SOON. THEY STILL BELIEVE THAT WITH-HOLDING MONIES FOR FOOD & RENT IS ACCEPTABLE! SAVAGES!!
HOSTILE BRITAIN
‘Great’ Britain-Run
by Lazy-Minded Psychopaths, for Lazy-Rich Psychopaths!
The absolutely Rotten policies of The “Nasty” Party (Tories)
following on from New Labour Right-Wing policies, has caused misery to The
Windrush Generation, and to Claimants seeking Rightful Benefits. Who, has been
sanctioned, or kicked off ESA and PIP, feels surprised that callous bureaucrats
have been demoralised to such an extent, that they push through inhumane
treatment of human beings? We would imagine no-one, although still able to be
shocked at how unreasonable officials can really be, when the spotlight of
publicity shines upon them! The fact that Legal Aid and Welfare Advice Centres,
have had their grants cut, seems to be another contributory factor in these
cases, so that JUSTICE is seen NOT to be done. Of course this Tory Government,
will (we hope) pay out compensation to damaged people, but ultimately Tories
who don’t like State intervention, will not be paying out themselves, in their typically
unaccountable fashion.
There were warnings that Thuggish Immigration policies would
harm, but these warnings just fell on deaf-like ears, as Ideology came first,
just like with Austerity, and the clamour to Scrap Universal Credit. Seems
obvious that the DWP/Home Office ‘thinking’ is people “slipping through the net” is to be a fact of
life, an actual ‘unintended’ consequence, if we want to rid ourselves of
“Scroungers” –“Illegal Immigrants”- the “Non-deserving.”
The DWP - The Home Office, and The Ministry of Justice are
“Unfit-for-purpose” because they have been deliberately made so. To those
affected by these “Great” Departments, look at them in the same way The
“Stasi” became a hated institution, and
we are all sure that one day the truth will out. Workers in these institutions,
with their unions, should band together with the people who suffer from
outrageous decisions, and refuse to implement such Draconian policies-Social
Cleansing is NOT in an official’s remit.
“The former head of the civil service, Lord Kerslake, said that
some ministers were "deeply unhappy" about the introduction of the
"hostile environment" strategy under then Home Secretary Theresa May.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Lord Kerslake, said some saw the
policy, which has come under the spotlight during the Windrush row, "as
almost reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the way it's working"”
When Tories are worried, so should we! Kilburn Unemployed
Workers Group worry & act!
SCRAP UNIVERSAL
CREDIT AND SHAMEFUL IMMIGRATION POLICIES!!
Brexit as a lever for further Tory attacks on our rights
A KUWG member has asked me to publish the below as a blog post after I had e-mailed it to him as an update on the Green Party's response to Labour's 2008 'welfare reform green paper'.
I suspect that the Tories are seeing Brexit as an opportunity to
further attack disabled and other people's rights by rewriting our laws.
The EU has a Working Time Directive that limits the hours that Brits
have to work, for example. http://www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk/?s=Working+time+directive&x=0&y=0
Remember Jeremy Hunt as Health Secretary saying that Britons should learn to work "more like the Chinese"? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/05/hunt-tax-credit-cuts-make-britons-work-like-chinese-or-americans
There is also this involving the Justice Minister
Remember Jeremy Hunt as Health Secretary saying that Britons should learn to work "more like the Chinese"? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/05/hunt-tax-credit-cuts-make-britons-work-like-chinese-or-americans
The Chinese 'guolaosi' would think differently, no doubt. As Johann Hari reported in the Independent in 2010:
"Deaths from overwork are so common in Chinese factories that they have a word for it: guolaosi. China Daily estimates that 600,000 people are killed this way every year, mostly making goods for us. Li had never experienced any health problems, his family says, until he started this work schedule; Foxconn say he died of asthma and his death had nothing to do with them. The night Li died, yet another Foxconn worker committed suicide – the tenth this year."
Souce: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-and-now-for-some-good-news-2044578.html
It fits in with Naomi
Klein's concept of 'disaster capitalism' as turning catastrophes into
opportunities for more of Milton Friedman's
"holy trinity" -- privatization, deregulation and cuts to social spending -- in which governments dismantle trade barriers, abandon public ownership, reduce taxes, eliminate the minimum wage, cut health and welfare spending, and privatize education. She calls the means of achieving this goal "disaster capitalism" and describes how it has resulted in a worldwide redistribution of income and wealth to the already rich at the expense of economic solvency for the middle and lower classes.
As was merely touched upon in Writing off Workfare
by Anne Gray and myself in 2008, UK 'welfare reforms' since the time
Peter Lilley was the responsible government minister/secretary of state
have been strongly influenced by dodgy American health insurance giant
Unum who regard the UK as a 'potential market'. Medically retired RAF
veteran and health care professional Mo Stewart has elaborated much of this with documentation.
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disabled-researchers-book-exposes-corporate-demolition-of-welfare-state/
Fundamental
to the way the UN Disability Committee regards disability is the
Social Model of Disability. http://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/5/3/35
The Social Model of Disability focuses on physical, economic and social barriers to the inclusion of people with impairments that makes us disabled. That perspective is fundamental to Green Party of England & Wales policy on disability. https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/dy.html
The Social Model of Disability focuses on physical, economic and social barriers to the inclusion of people with impairments that makes us disabled. That perspective is fundamental to Green Party of England & Wales policy on disability. https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/dy.html
- https://dpac.uk.net/2012/04/a-tale-of-two-models-disabled-people-vs-unum-atos-government-and-disability-charities-debbie-jolly/
- https://scottishunemployedworkers.net/2016/07/11/psychocoercion-and-unemployment-a-marriage-made-in-austeritys-hell/
- https://scottishunemployedworkers.net/2016/06/22/psycho-coercion-and-workfare-fighting-back/
- http://www.unum.co.uk/media/unum-and-professor-dame-carol-black-launch-new-essay-collection-on-work-and-health
- https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/?s=human+catastrophe
- https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2018/04/26/amnesty-international-express-grave-concerns-about-uk-governments-outsourced-back-to-work-therapy/
- https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/charities-delivering-dwps-work-programme-must-promise-not-to-attack-mcvey/
Unum
is not the only global company involved in UK 'welfare reforms'. The
principal contractor for the 'Universal Credit' IT deal is Accenture.
The subcontractor for the forms used for online application for UC is
Atos!
http://www.information-age.com/dwp-awards-accenture-500m-universal-credit-it-deal-1666348/
http://www.information-age.com/dwp-awards-accenture-500m-universal-credit-it-deal-1666348/
Accenture,
incidentally, is now providing much of the reporting for centre-right
think tank Reform.uk in its promotion of 'digital jobcentres' and more,
much more.
"... The future of public services: digital jobcentres, sets out the opportunity to transform public employment services in the UK. This paper is the fourth in a series, conducted in partnership with Accenture, which looks at the role technology will play in the future delivery of public services. "Jobcentre Plus – the UK’s public employment service – won plaudits for its performance over the financial crisis, but the story may be different if Brexit triggers an economic slowdown. The introduction of in-work services under Universal Credit will increase demand, while the Work and Health Programme will require jobcentres to take a more central role in the delivery of disability employment support services."
Source: http://www.reform.uk/publication/the-future-of-public-services-digital-jobcentres/
What
were the sources of those 'plaudits' that "Jobcentre Plus — the UK's
public employment service — won ... for its performance over the
financial crisis"? One of those sources, as I recall, was David Cameron
and I think the other was the National Audit Office. You can find out
for yourself at http://www.reform.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/The-future-of-public-services-digital-jobcentres.pdf
and remember that Reform.uk is a registered charity. See also https://www.google.com/search?q=nao+dwp
Had they spoken to the people that blogger Kate Belgrave talks to in her 'Talking with people dealing with public sector cuts' blog, no doubt they would have got a different story regarding how well the Department for Work & Pensions has performed. https://www.katebelgrave.com/?s=dwp&submit=Search and https://www.katebelgrave.com/?s=dwp+foi&submit=Search
Alan WheatleyCo-author of 'Writing off Workfare', writing in a personal capacity
Friday, 2 February 2018
is there anybody there to talk to us?
KUWG are protesting Tuesday 6th February 2018 2pm-2.30pm Outside DWP HQ Caxton House, 12 Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA to ‘welcome’ Esther McVey as the new boss, with then a coffee-break and walk to the Ministry of (In)Justice, for 3pm-3.30pm,102 Petty France, SW1H 9AJ to say “Hi” to ex-DWP boss David Gauke, Lest he forgets us (St James’ Park Tube Station is between them both & both near Westminster Tube)
As The Who sang: “Meet the new boss...same as the old boss”
Monday, 18 December 2017
Benefit exam exemptions: a briefing paper by Winvisible for caring professionals
Women with visible and invisible disabilities — aka Winvisible — write:
Dear all,
Here is our latest leaflet directed at GPs and others about exemption from
the ESA and PIP exams.
https://winvisibleblog.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/benefit-exam-exemptions-briefing-for-professionals/
Happy Christmas!
KUWG Christmas Party, Monday 18 Dec 2017, 7pm-10pm at Prince of Wales PH, 101 Willesden Lane, London NW6 7SD
(Blog post by a new blogger, represented here with permalink related to an actual post title)
TO FRIENDS OF THE UNEMPLOYED
TO FRIENDS OF THE UNEMPLOYED
"COME ON DOWN"
THE KUWG CHRISTMAS PARTY THIS YEAR
MONDAY 18TH DEC 7PM-10PM (SETTING UP FROM 6.30PM)
PRINCE OF WALES PUB, 101 WILLESDEN LANE, KILBURN, NW6 7SD
Reservoir KUWGS
WELCOME
TO THE PLEASURE-DOME!
6.30PM SETTING UP, 7PM MUSIC STARTS, 7.15 SPEECHES-WELCOMES
7.45 ACTS UNTIL 9PM, THEN SECRET SANTA, THEN 9.30 ALTERNATIVE CAROL SINGING.
10PM TIDYING UP.
One free drink if you pick up a ticket, entrance free,
food free...if you want to bring a delicacy for sharing please do. If you can
sing, play an instrument, anything, please do.
Due
to events last year, no TWERKING permitted before 9pm. No use of 4-letterish
words like “Gauke”, “IDS” or “Tom Watson.” ALL FRIENDS OF KUWG INVITED!
Don’t the great
unwashed know their place anymore? The
Sin
PC gone BONKERS! Financial Crimes Unfair to the Rich! illuminati news
PRINTED BY THE KILBURN UNEMPLOYED WORKERS GROUP PROPAGANDA UNIT
Friday, 15 December 2017
KUWG to appear outside DWP HQ, Monday 18 December 2017, 2pm-3pm, proclaiming what we need for protection
Caxton House
Federal government office in London, England
Address: 12 Tothill St, Westminster, London SW1H
This post was originally posted as:oops protest outside dwp Caxton House THIS Monday 18th December 2017 2-3pm
PS: Sorry for the late revision of earlier blog post
KUWG Christmas Party, Monday 18 Dec 2017, 7pm-10pm at Prince of Wales PH, 101 Willesden Lane, London NW6 7SD
TO FRIENDS OF THE UNEMPLOYED
"COME ON DOWN"
THE KUWG CHRISTMAS PARTY THIS YEAR
MONDAY 18TH DEC 7PM-10PM (SETTING UP FROM 6.30PM)
PRINCE OF WALES PUB, 101 WILLESDEN LANE, KILBURN, NW6 7SD
Reservoir KUWGS
WELCOME
TO THE PLEASURE-DOME!
6.30PM SETTING UP, 7PM MUSIC STARTS, 7.15 SPEECHES-WELCOMES
7.45 ACTS UNTIL 9PM, THEN SECRET SANTA, THEN 9.30 ALTERNATIVE CAROL SINGING.
10PM TIDYING UP.
One free drink if you pick up a ticket, entrance free,
food free...if you want to bring a delicacy for sharing please do. If you can
sing, play an instrument, anything, please do.
Due
to events last year, no TWERKING permitted before 9pm. No use of 4-letterish
words like “Gauke”, “IDS” or “Tom Watson.” ALL FRIENDS OF KUWG INVITED!
Don’t the great
unwashed know their place anymore? The
Sin
PC gone BONKERS! Financial Crimes Unfair to the Rich! illuminati news
PRINTED BY THE KILBURN UNEMPLOYED WORKERS GROUP PROPAGANDA UNIT
Leaflet for protesting and Alternative Carol singing by KUWG outside DWP HQ Caxton Hse, SW1H 9NA, Mon 18 Dec 2017
Leaflet for protesting and Alternative Carol singing by KUWG outside DWP HQ Caxton House, 12 Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA Monday 18th December 2017, 2pm-3pm
Still confronting the 'Rotten Rulers' ru(i)nning our lives, especially this Xmas.
UPDATE ON THE DESPICABLE ‘IDEAS’ AND ‘POLICIES’ PUSHED THROUGH BY
THE PYSCHOPATHIC HIERACHY AT DWP HQ CAXTON HOUSE, AND WHY THESE SHYSTERS SHOULD
BE OUSTED.
Workers at the Rotten Caxton
House have told us when we have leafleted that awful place that they are only
pushing thru policies set by their bosses, and don’t agree with them. The
Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group are on the side of Workers and the PCS Union,
and know it’s the vile ‘ideas’ of people like IDS (who resigned due to his own
rottenness being too much for his own Tory MPs) which are still being pushed
hard by the likes of extremely ambitious planks like David Gauke. He is on Huffington Post video expressing his greasy
desire to be Chancellor. Wotta Rotter!
He was a Parliamentary candidate
for Brent East in 2010 and lost so he’s not a total ‘winner’ and amongst the proposed
nationwide jobcentre closures, Kilburn and Neasden, which were in that old
constituency, are included in the list, so proof he doesn’t form attachments to
places which get in the way of his ambitions. His sidekick Damian Hinds-is
booted into the Commons when Gauke is too ‘busy’ to show his face...not that
anybody wants to see that face of his. When reading Hansard, one easily sees how Gauke and Hinds twist themselves into
answers that are only logical to themselves. For instance jobcentres are being
closed because Universal Credit online is such a success, not so many JCPs
needed. But when people have problems with UC they say there will be “Work
Coaches” in jobcentres on hand to help. Completely contradictory! They
have no shame!! Numb-Skulls!!
On Universal Credit the Tories
have put an extra £1.5 billion in to
help, but the 7 day wait was the government stealing money from the poorest people in Britain...bit like a
burglar being caught taking your goods & handing them back but saying they
are giving them to you as they are
so kind.
Universal Credit Implementers
like Janice Hartley and Neil Couling have actually been given CBEs! What sort
of world is this? Harvey Weinstein has a CBE too by the way...so has the new Minister
of Defence Gavin Williamson...he’s the guy whose CBE was controversially given
to him from the coward David Cameron in his resigning Honours List...nobody
seems to know why...although suspected of Cronyism. Williamson is now
‘confident’ enough to be claiming ISIS Terrorists (who kill people without due
process) should be killed on sight (without due process). Does seem that this
Tory Government is a group of Psychopaths, who make laws, while disregarding
laws like the Geneva Convention. The United Nations have reported that Britain
is treating disabled people in an awful way...wotta lorra rot we got ‘in
charge’. Stingy Scrooges still only giving 10 quid extra for Xmas!
David Davis stutters on providing
Impact Studies regarding Brexit...when any organisation researches
possibilities that may occur in the future. Gauke and Hinds refused Equality
Impact Studies on Jobcentre closures, stating they will produce them AFTER the
closures have happened!? Gauke is also reluctant to hand over DWP analysis on
the history of implementing Universal Credit to the public. It is the PUBLIC
that pays his wages & has paid for the reports. Gauke, like IDS, should resign,
with Hinds, Hartley and Couling, and CBEs should be stripped off the people
mentioned, or do they want to stay in the same realm as Weinstein? And let’s
stop Patronage and Cronyism which is NOT part of a real Meritocracy.
Workers, whether waged or not, should stick together and next time Gauke is too
busy to talk at the House of Commons, transport him there in a Gramsci
Wheelbarrow!!
Imagine these Ministers’ Christmases, compared to Claimants
on Universal Credit this year!
PRINTED BY THE KILBURN UNEMPLOYED WORKERS GROUP POLITICAL COMEDY
WING
Tuesday, 28 November 2017
Child Poverty Action Group says cuts to Universal Credit push up child poverty
From CPAG enews
http://cpag-mail.org.uk/5MH-5AY6O-HLQZQ-2WINBV-1/c.aspx
UNIVERSAL
CREDIT IS POVERTY-PRODUCING
Evidence from
CPAG's Early Warning System
and analysis from our new
report on the impact of
cuts, 'The Austerity
Generation', helped secure
important improvements to
how Universal Credit is
delivered in last week’s
Budget. We’ve raised our
concerns about the 6-week
wait and the difficulty in
securing advance payments
extensively with the DWP, in
Parliament and in the media.
However, a key finding of
our new report is that
cuts to Universal Credit
will push 1 million more
children into poverty by
2020. To restore
Universal Credit’s promise
of greater rewards from work
and to be poverty-fighting,
not poverty-producing, we
need work allowances to be
restored and a triple-lock
on child benefit and the
child element of Universal
Credit. The announcements in
last week’s Budget are
welcome, but they don’t go
nearly far enough to make
Universal Credit fit for
families.
|
A royal wedding announcement is a great time to bury bad news about benefit cuts
There is this from the Independent:
Meanwhile, there is this excellent Zoe Williams article from The Guardian:
The Zoe Williams article even mentions nurses using food banks. So much for 'the pursuit of inequality'. Where has it got us?
Government confirms freeze on working age benefits minutes after Prince Harry wedding news revealed
Freeze continues amid the longest fall in living standards for 60 years"According to Clarence House, the wedding will take place in Spring 2018" — by which time many more parts of the UK will be experiencing the 'shock and awe' of 'Universal Credit full roll-out'. That in itself will be an opportunity to 'bury bad news'.
Meanwhile, there is this excellent Zoe Williams article from The Guardian:
Such is the poverty of Tory ideas that they deny poverty even exists
.... good intentions would manifest in curiosity about the lived experience of one’s policies, which would in turn entail figuring out what those policies amounted to in the aggregate. Failure to ask such questions is not born out of ignorance: it is critical to the Conservative narrative to deny, forcefully and sometimes gleefully, that anyone in the country is struggling.The contrast between the royal wedding announcement and UK poverty reminds me of lines in a Harvey Andrews & Graham Cooper song, 'Targets' that was written to commemorate Margaret Thatcher's election as Tory Party leader in 1975:
We would have married long ago
And we're still hoping one day
Two up two down and a little lawn
And time to rest on Sunday.
I wish the ones who left us here
Could live like us and borrow
I'd place a pound for what it's worth
That they'd be gone tomorrow
We'd like a yacht, some rooms to spare
And horses in the stable
We might as well believe that we
Could buy meat for the table.
Call us equal, call us proud, call yourself a liar
No matter what the people do, they set the target higher
The Zoe Williams article even mentions nurses using food banks. So much for 'the pursuit of inequality'. Where has it got us?
Blog post by Dude Swheatie of Kwug
Notes
- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/benefit-freeze-working-people-typical-family-300-real-terms-cut-inflation-a8079196.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpsSb8AHIQ4
- https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/27/poverty-tory-ideas-budget
Friday, 17 November 2017
Devisers of Universal Credit blithely wish claimants a rotten Christmas 2017?
 |
| Placard: "Government knows what it's doing." Do you know what they are planning? |
From Private Eye, 3-16 November issue 'In the Back' p37 (the one with a 'sex shop' photo on the cover):
With the opposition, the Commons work and pensions select committee and even universal credit's instigator, Iain Duncan Smith, lining up to condemn the minimum six-week which new recipients must undergo before they see any cash, pressure is mounting on the government to reduce the arrears period. But this initial wait for cash may not be the only period during which UC claimants go without funds.For claimants who are in work and paid weekly (which is the case in many low-paid jobs that will qualify for UC top-ups), the small print of the benefit makes it clear that they will run into problems whenever they receive five pay packages withing the calendar months that are used to calculate their UC eligibility."When you have five weekly earnings payments within an assessment period, your income may be too high to qualify for universal credit in that month," say the DWP rules. "If this happens you will be notified that your income is too high and you will no longer ge universal credit. You can re-apply the following month as you should only get for wage payments in your assessment period then."The vagaries of the calendar will not, of course, affect the amount workers are actually earning — but a month with five Fridays (this December, for example) will see them automatically lose their entire universal credit for that period. "You will need to be prepared for a month when you get five wage payments in one assessment period and budget for a potential change in your monthly universal credit payments," the DWP guidelines state blithely.In 2018, March, June, August and November will all have five Fridays — so UC claimants who are paid weekly may have to budget for extraordinarily lean months for a third of the year. The DWP itself admitted in a report published last month that delays in UC payments were "a key factor" in claimants falling into rent arrears.Given that UC has supposedly been designed to mimic standard work pay patterns, this fluctuation seems particularly cruel: no employer, after all, docks pay following every five-week month, or pays them less because they are on a weekly wage.So, for those on UC and getting paid weekly this December, Christmas is cancelled!
I'm sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but maybe to be forewarned is to be forearmed?
Dude Swheatie of Kwug
Tuesday, 14 November 2017
Town twinning within UK between those yet to receive Universal Credit 'full roll-out' and those that have already had it?
On this Scottish Unemployed Workers Network blog post,
there
is a youtube video of demonstration speeches outside Dundee Jobcentre,
in which 'full roll-out' of Universal Credit is compared to the Poll Tax
in terms of its potential to be a counter-productive government policy.
I
believe that the long delayed introduction of Universal Credit and the
way that it has been targeted first at 'single people making a fresh
claim' in any area has been partly designed so as to avoid Poll Tax
levels of opposition.
Despite its apparent hap-hazardness, it now looks like Universal Credit roll-out has been conducted as a military operation in the war against claimants
 |
| First Universal Credit targeted single Jsa claimants at Ashton-under-Lyne jobcentre making a fresh Jsa claim who met certain criteria |
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| Second, it rolled over similar Jsa claimants using Wigan jobcentre |
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| 2014: Divide and roll-over single claimants makingfresh Jsa claim elsewhere... |
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| .... then couples in Hammersmith, Bath... |
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| Universal Credit roll-out 2016 'Live Service Areas' and 'Full Digital Service Areas' defined |
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| November 2014: families — couples or lone parentswith children. "Anyone claiming Universal Credit as availy were entitled to Free School Meals for their children." |
Universal Credit -- at least in its current design with income caps -- attacks the working poor as well as the much demonised claimants of out-of-waged work benefit claimants, and so it can be regarded as a Trojan Horse for attacking the 'working poor' while debt slavery is introduced via the back door.
So what can claimants and their allies do about this 'divide and rule' matter?
As can be seen from the above screen captures, the history of Universal Credit roll-out can be regarded as a military operation.Now for 'full roll-out', there is geographic phasing.
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| 2016: Universal Credit roll-out 'Live Service Areas' and 'Fully Digital Services Areas' defined |
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| 2017: Universal Credit 'full roll-out' in 'Full Digital Areas' |
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| 2018: Universal Credit 'full roll-out' in 'Full Digital Areas' |
Perhaps a way of overcoming the geographic phasing barrier could be to do some 'town' or 'area' twinning between those who are yet to 'get it' and those who have already 'had it'?
Sunday, 12 November 2017
Should Universal Credit 'full roll-out' be halted or scrapped entirely? And what of the 'Department for Work & Pensions'?
I would say that this approach
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| Yahoo News: Jeremy Corbyn calls for Universal Credit to be halted 'before millions of people are made worse off' |
does not go nearly far enough. What about those who have already been made worse off under the so-called 'Universal Credit'?(2)
The 'Universal Credit is too big to fail' consensus of acquescence that has existed hitherto within the Labour Party and also the other main political parties that 'Universal Credit is a good idea' is one based largely on ignorance and prejudice.
The 'Universal Credit is too big to fail' consensus of acquescence that has existed hitherto within the Labour Party and also the other main political parties that 'Universal Credit is a good idea' is one based largely on ignorance and prejudice.
Not only does 'Universal Credit' need to be 'stopped and scrapped'(2), but the Department for Work & Pensions needs to be changed from the benefits denial factory it seems to have been designed as
A
major problem with any existing DWP system is that it leads the way to
further abuses against claimants, as can be seen from my blog post Terra firma benefits services closures leave the economically vulnerable in the lurch.(3) Even before it became the Department for Work & Pensions, its decision-making by remote control mechanisms were designed as what could be called the 'detached torturer syndrome', with pay-per-minute and long delays calls to add to the financial punishment for being poor enough to require help.
Further
still to the evidence brought up in that blog post about DWP as what might be called a
'claimants' rights denial factory', is Labour's previous role in
bringing in Employment & Support Allowance as a more 'active labour-market
programme' oriented payment, and Yvette Cooper's tightening of 'eligibility' restrictions even further in response to claimants' tribunal victories.(4) The Tories were left to pilot the outgoing Labour DWP Secretary's 'Work Capability Assessment' Mk 2 after 2010 General Election.(5)
Further reading
- http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=corbyn+universal+credit
- https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/the-connection-between-universal-credit-ordeals-and-experiments-that-electrocute-laboratory-rats/
- http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2008/05/22/voice-risk-analysis-makes-claiming-benefits-more-stressful/
The above is one benefit claimant's analysis, and I 'declare an interest' in that I am a Green Party member. What do readers of this blog post say? Please comment.
Blog post by Dude Swheatie of Kwug
Blog post by Dude Swheatie of Kwug
Notes
- https://uk.yahoo.com/news/jeremy-corbyn-calls-universal-credit-074737762.html
- https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/summit-hears-calls-on-direct-action-assessment-boycotts-and-hate-crime/
- http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/terra-firma-benefits-services-closures-leave-the-economically-vulnerable-in-the-lurch.html
- http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/timing-of-current-turmoil-and.html
- http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2010/10/15/assessment-that-fails-its-own-test/
Thursday, 9 November 2017
Save Our Job Centres — a 1 minute 45 seconds video by Shootroot
Video of demo outside DWP HQ, Caxton House, Monday 6 November 2017
This video was originally posted at https://youtu.be/p8jnYVjqtfQ
with this description:
See also the Kwug Blog blog post Kwuggies and friends at Caxton House as protectors of jobcentres, Monday 6 November 2017
http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/kwuggies-and-friends-at-caxton-house-as-protectors-of-jobcentres-monday-6-nov-2017.html
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Placard: Tell Department for Work & Pensions Freedom of Information is not 55p per minute extortion lines!
Placard: Tell DWP to FoI!
Placard inspired by the work of Kate Belgrave,(1) and John Pring.(2)
Dude Swheatie of Kwug, Human Placard Flower of the KUWG
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| Placard: Tell DWP to FoI! |
Dude Swheatie of Kwug, Human Placard Flower of the KUWG
Notes
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