Draft Deregulation Bill: Government moves to shut down judicial supervision and criticism of DWP-Atos decision making by abolition of duty by Tribunals’ President to publish annual report

fREEDOM IN pERIL

 

There is a proposal in the Draft Deregulation Bill, which was presented to Parliament in July, to repeal the Senior President of Tribunals’ duty to prepare & publish;

an annual report on standards of decision-making in the making of certain decisions by the Secretary of State against which an appeal lies to the First-tier Tribunal.’

http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm86/8642/8642.pdf Section 35 (Page 32).

Draft Deregulation Bill Published July 2013

Administration of justice

35 Repeal of Senior President of Tribunals’ duty to report on standards In section 15A of the Social Security Act 1998 (functions of Senior President of Tribunals), omit subsections (2) and (3) (which require the preparation and publication of an annual report on standards of decision-making in the making of certain decisions of the Secretary of State against which an appeal lies to the First-tier Tribunal).

In the past the Senior President’s report has been highly critical of the DWP and Atos:

‘This deeply flawed medical assessment process was identified for a long time by His Honour Judge Robert Martin as President of the Appeal Tribunals. For over a decade Judge Martin’s consecutive annual reports constantly identified serious problems with the AH medical assessments (8).

Indeed, Judge Martin was insistent that:

“..the same problems and errors are repeated year after year, with no sign that anyone takes any notice of feedbacks from Tribunals”

as confirmed in evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee.(9)

The evidence confirmed that almost half of the Appeal Tribunals find in favour of the applicant (9) with 70% of claims being upheld for claimants who have representation at the Appeal Tribunal.(10) However, the stress and distress of the need to wait for several months to attend an appeal, in order to retain financial support to which these claimants are morally entitled, is totally ignored.

If these were civil cases, generous compensation would be offered as an acknowledgement of the unnecessary distress and suffering caused to the many victims.

However, all successful applicants can expect is a reluctant reinstatement of their disability payments, and a back dated award to when they were forced to accept Jobseekers Allowance instead of Incapacity Benefit or, more recently, the new Employment Support Allowance.(ESA) DWP letters to their many victims remain unnecessarily hostile and the enforced disability debt is an ever growing problem.

These victims of this AH assessment system loose their disability funding instantly, when they fail to obtain the necessary points at assessment. Yet their DLA payments are already committed to fund their Motability car or to identify the need for essential home care as provided by local authorities. 

This is brutal, and these consequences appear to be dismissed by the government.

See: DWP/UNUM/ATOS SCANDAL ~ ‘WELFARE REFORM – REDRESS FOR DISABLED PEOPLE’ ~ Report by Mo Stewart WRAF (RTD) Posted on September 8, 2012

 

(8)  HH Judge Robert Martin: President of Appeal Tribunals, Report 2007-08 

http://appeals-service.gov.uk/Documents/SSCSA_PresRep07_08FINAL.pdf

Memorandum submitted by HH Judge Robert Martin

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmworpen/memo/decision/ucm2702.htm

Senior President of Tribunals’ Annual Report 2012:

http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Reports/spt-annual-report-2012.pdf

Senior President of Tribunals’ Annual Report 2013:

http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Reports/SPT%20Annual%20Report_2013.pdf

(9)  Decision making and appeals in the benefit system.  Second Report of Session 2009-1 – the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select committee:

www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmworpen/313/313.pdf

 __________________________
 
 
There’s an invitation to submit evidence to the joint committee considering the Bill – see:
 
 
Black Triangle Campaign in union with DPAC and other campaigning groups and individuals will be expressing our concern that taking away this duty from the Senior President of Tribunals is utterly inappropriate at a time when such a large number of DWP decisions are being appealed and a high proportion of those appeals are successful.
 
We encourage all groups and individuals to do the same and for everyone to contact their local MPs to protest. 
 
Plunder
 
This again bears unmistakable parallels with the 1930’s where the Nazi régime moved to shut down all criticism, including judicial oversight, of its activities curtailing the fundamental human rights of its citizens. 
 
Related: WRA S.102 Sched.11 ‘Clause 99′ has been introduced from April to ensure wrongful ‘fit-for-work’ decisions are practically impossible to challenge Posted on February 9, 2013

 

 

 

Amid the avalanche of welfare reforms being implemented by a government intent on reducing the benefits bill by £18bn, one controversial measure that seems to have fallen below the radar is a change to the appeals process for welfare benefit claimants.

There are fears that the change, which will deny people the right to appeal decisions about sickness and disability benefits until the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has first reconsidered their case, could leave claimants penniless.

Moreover, its introduction, just as legal aid is abolished for many welfare benefit cases, could leave thousands of vulnerable people unable to access the law to secure the income they are entitled to. The double whammy has been attacked as “a disgrace and a scandal”.

The revised appeals process, called “mandatory reconsideration”, will be applied to anyone who, from October, fails the controversial work capability assessment (WCA) and wants to challenge the decision to deny them sickness benefits.

The government has refused to set a time limit for how long the DWP could take to reconsider a judgment by the mainly computer-led fit-to-work test, but while cases are being reconsidered, claimants who were on employment and support allowance (ESA) will no longer be allowed to claim this sickness benefit and will be automatically transferred to jobseeker’s allowance (JSA)…

Change to disability benefits appeals process could leave people penniless A double whammy of a revised appeals process and the abolition of legal aid threatens to deny benefits to vulnerable claimants The Guardian

Suspension of Human Rights by invoking a state of emergency recalls the actions of the Nazi Party after the Reichstag fire of 23rd February 1933 Picture: Robert Livingstone
Suspension of Human Rights by invoking a state of emergency recalls the actions of the Nazi Party after the Reichstag fire of 23rd February 1933 Picture: Robert Livingstone

92 thoughts on “Draft Deregulation Bill: Government moves to shut down judicial supervision and criticism of DWP-Atos decision making by abolition of duty by Tribunals’ President to publish annual report

  1. Keith Woods says:

    Could someone please sum this up for me. I don’t fully understand it. Once I do I can then contact my MP. Thanks!

  2. PAULA says:

    DICTATORS AND NOW TURNING INTO COMMUNISTS, WHATEVER NEXT?, I SUPPOSE THE NEXT THING WILL BE TO BRING BACK THE GALLOWS FOR APPEALING!

  3. Mo Stewart says:

    Brilliant John – well done.
    I knew this was coming and they need to be exposed in the nationals if that’s possible.
    Most people don’t know about these important reports and will have access to them denied if this Bill goes ahead.

  4. Joy Birdsey says:

    I run grain disabled and carers. I have sen for myself what happens to disable people, we have had three successful appeals . However the stress that these disabled people have gone through has been horrendous . We have had one death after the guy was told he was fit for work. Now we are a small village, so it makes me wonder what the bigger picture of suffering is over the UK. I am a tax payer I have no problem with my taxes being used to help disabled people, but I do have a problem with my taxes paying for MP’s expenses.

  5. kelpiemare says:

    Next stage of Tory changes to our nation’s constitution? Removal of the working class’s right to vote.

    1. Alex says:

      Or, maybe the introduction of compulsory voting like Australia. No matter who we vote for, the Government wins.

      1. Karen M says:

        The way to get round that in compulsory voting is to have a box to tick for “None of the Above”

      2. Korenwolf says:

        To be clear, Australia does not have compulsory voting, it has a requirement that you turn up to vote. Not that you cast one or do not spoil your ballor.

  6. Steve Davies says:

    Everyone is using strong words and quite rightly referring to the Atos/Unum/DWP congenital tripartite gang as Fascist and extreme right wing ( I will not use the National Socialist logo as I despise it ). However we do need action and bring on board the ” anti fracking brigade ” and ” animal protection guys ” to guide and advise. I have written to my MP , to no avail…..tried to contact MEP = nil response. Will try Mick Jagger, Prince William , and Richard Branson might have more luck.

    1. Karen M says:

      Sign the WoW e-petition. 100,000 signatures will mean a parliamentary debate on important DWP/Atos issues.

  7. Sam says:

    We’ve a UN rapporteur visiting the UK right now, investigating the effects of the bedroom tax (with regard to this country’s signatory obligations).

    How do we get the UN to take an interest in the WCA process as well? And the Court of Human Rights, in view of the wholesale demolition of the human rights elements of the justice system here, exemplified in this thread?

  8. Karen M says:

    John and Mo, great work. Thank you. Cynical old me is wondering how the government will “bury” this bad news- perhaps by sending in the missiles on Damascus without UN approval. This Draft Deregulation Bill has certainly bypassed the media and perhaps shows vividly (along with the DWP-Unum issue) that the freedom of press is very seriously compromised if not defunct.

  9. Mr jeffrey l davies says:

    you bet the longer they can drag the tribunals outs the more of my brothers and sisters die by the road side not even getting there but even this sustistic they not tell you,perhaps taking our money away for helping us at tribunal will now keep us quiet and if that doesn’t work oct no monies while going to appeal yes they got it all sown up has our ids jeff3

  10. disabled-dave says:

    They may abolish the DUTY to provide a report, but they don’t seem to be trying to ban a report from being made. I just hope that the person responsible will decide to make a report even if it isn’t one of their duties. Get ready to put pressure on the post holder if they don’t make such a report.

  11. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Personally, i am glad they are starting to twitch. Its like a murderer trying to erase any evidence they have left behind.
    Wiping fingerprints off tables, windows and door frames and sweeping the ground with a twig to eliminate footprints.

    The net is closing swiftly. In an effort to bury the pure evil they have rained upon the weakest, they are starting to panic…..

    The DWP are now under public scrutiny, pressure is building as they try to wriggle out unscathed.

    Every day more and more disgruntled people are bombarding them with freedom of information requests. They are struggling to cover up the folly of their doctrines. Lies are becoming more apparent. Newspapers identify the horrors they leave in their wake.
    Mortality rates have rocketed as a result of botched welfare reforms. They hurriedly try to distance themselves from the figures they already hold while pretending to be oblivious to the carnage they created.

    Staff are pissed off with the stress of the universal credit fiasco whilst millions are being thrown at it in an effort to substantiate Duncan Smith’s megalomaniac, hair brained fantasy……….

    Once in a corner it’s hard to escape, especially when the demons are coming all at once.

    “Keep looking behind you”, the wrongs of the past have a habit of catching up…..

  12. Charlie Hawkins says:

    I cannot see judge Martin sitting back and taking this,he is a man of principles,and unlike most of us he has a voice,and people listen to him.

  13. Veronica JONES says:

    Our MP has written to Ian Duncan Smith to ask him to explain why the DWP have placed my husband in the WRAG when the ATOS assessor, even though she failed to include in her report some important information that was recorded at the assessment and used imaginative language, said in her prognosis that my husband was unlikely to work in the next two years ! The whole system is flawed and those that implemented it should be made to pay for the misery that they are causing. This system is akin to what the Nazis did !

  14. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    From: MEREDITH ONG (Account suspended)

    29 July 2013

    Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
    You recently wrote the following in response to the removal of
    Lifetime and Indefinite Awards…

    Finality
    01150 A decision made by a DM, the FtT or the UT is final1 unless
    it is
    1. revised (decisions of DMs only)
    2. superseded
    3. terminated after an award has been suspended
    4. changed or replaced on appeal
    5. corrected or
    6. set aside (decisions of the FtT or the UT only).
    Note: See DMG 01180 – 01191 for guidance on finality of
    determinations.
    1 SS Act 98, s 17(1)
    01151 Where a decision is changed or replaced as in DMG 01150, the
    new or revised decision becomes
    the final decision on the claim or application, even where it does
    not change the outcome1. But see DMG
    01152 – 01153 where an outcome decision is not replaced on appeal.

    With reference to the above;

    Can an award that was made at a tribunal hearing that was attended
    by one or maybe two professional GP’s, be taken away by a DWP
    decision maker who has no medical background?
    The aforementioned text seems to imply this.

    Why would an award be retracted if the claimants condition had not
    altered or got worse?

    How many claimants have had their “lifetime or Indefinite awards”
    taken from them, having attended the controversial ESA examination?

    Yours faithfully,

    MEREDITH ONG
    GEOFF REYNOLDS | August 30, 2013 at 9:25 am | Reply

    Almost sinister……..
    Ask yourselves, why have they not responded to such a simple question?

    Can an award that was made at a tribunal hearing that was attended
    by one or maybe two professional GP’s, be taken away by a DWP
    decision maker who has no medical background?

  15. Karen M says:

    I noticed this while reading through the Draft Bill ” “Alternative and more direct methods for providing feedback from the judiciary to the Secretary of State have in practice been developed which have made the annual report of the Senior President of Tribunals unnecessary as well as burdensome on his time.” i wonder what Judge Martin thinks. What is the feedback and is it as rigorous?

  16. Nigel Simmons says:

    GAGGING BILL TO STOP OUR VOICES
    UK gagging law August 30th, 2013 by David
    I’ve just got back from my summer holiday. I read last week’s email, “38 Degrees under threat“, whilst I was away camping. Not exactly what you want to see when you’re trying to relax!
    I must admit I hoped I’d get back in the office and find my colleagues had been guilty of some exaggeration. I’ve spent the last couple of days speaking to lawyers and other experts, to get to the bottom of what’s going on.
    I’m afraid it’s really bad. The proposed gagging law would have a chilling effect on British democracy and our right to speak up on issues that matter to us. The draft law could effectively stop organisations like 38 Degrees from speaking out for the whole year before a general election. From May 2014, we would be banned from holding politicians and political parties to account in ways we do all the time at present.
    Community groups, charities and campaigning organisations would all be hit. On the big issues of the day – whether or not to go to war, the future of our NHS, the environment, welfare, immigration, etc – we’d all be gagged.
    Why are they proposing this? It’s hard to say for sure. Maybe it’s an unintended consequence of a badly written draft law. Or maybe it’s a deliberate attempt by politicians to silence their critics.
    Either way, they’re trying to rush it through. MPs have their first chance to debate it this coming Tuesday, with crunch votes lined up for soon after that.
    Please can you help stand up for democracy and send an urgent email to your MP now?
    It’s clear that 38 Degrees members have a key role to play in stopping this gagging law. We know how to move fast, and we know that when enough of us act together we can make politicians sit up and take notice. Already, by sending thousands of emails to the minister in charge, Chloe Smith, last week, we’ve started to force the issue into the open. See Tom Brake MP’s rather rude response to us here, and comprehensive rebuttals of his position by a campaigner and a lawyer
    MPs have spent the last few weeks on their summer break, and the last few days focused on Syria. A huge flood of emails right now is critical if we’re going to get this worrying law onto MPs’ radars in time to persuade them to vote against it.
    . So let’s come together and stand up for democracy and our right to be heard. Please email your MP urgently and ask them to oppose this terrible new law
    . So let’s come together and stand up for democracy and our right to be heard. Please email your MP urgently and ask them to oppose this terrible new law.
    David
    Executive Director, 38 Degrees

  17. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Oh what consternation! The tyranny of it all!

    Had to chuckle to myself this morning when i read the BBC, pre-arranged news bulletins.

    Apparently Duncan Smith’s Department of Social Justice, (seems a joke in itself), has recognised a chilling rise in the amount of persons dying from the use of “legal highs”, as they have come to be known.

    Deaths this year are quoted as 52, up from 28, last year.
    His department are set to ban a wide range of, over the counter, widely available on the internet,mind enhancing substances.

    Strange as they can record and act upon the demise of this amount, but prefer to walk away from the thousands who have died as a result of “Welfare reforms”.

    This cosy little relationship with the media is a springboard for false reporting…………………………

    Even as i speak, the media is still hellbent on selling war as a commodity the British people must have. Even Cameron is still kowtowing to the Yanks by insisting he is fully behind their policies against Syria.

    The MPs of this country don’t represent the views of the electorate one iota…………….

    How come, in opinion polls, between 9 and 11% questioned wanted to take action against Syria, yet the vote in the commons had only a majority of thirteen votes?

    When it comes to stealing money from the weakest and poorest, this is totally acceptable, as is the spiraling death rate.

    Money is always available for overseas combat to rid a nation of a despot ruler, why don’t the Yanks attack us?

    While the likes of our food banks are put under strain and more and more are driven into destitution, our government distance themselves, social deprivation is now the norm of our once great land.

    “SOCIAL AND ETHNIC CLEANSING IS UNDERWAY IN BRITAIN”

    ………..carefully buried under the guise of legislation.

    1. Nigel Simmons says:

      BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – MEDIA KNOW WHEN TO KEEP STUM
      Cameron,Blair,Murdoch,Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulsen are all in or were in the same swim,it’s in very murky waters attached to number 10 & Media Presentation.The Media’s lack of any unbiased reporting on the Syrian issue speaks volumes.Is it because of the MOD’s D notice or still the manipulation by Government and the Press to feed the Public encouraging BS to support the Governments intentions whether they be right or wrong.Anything of value or interest to the Public is either suppressed or withheld.Blair survived on this for years having daily meeting with Brooks at 10 Downing Street each morning.Whilst we were fed BS about Blair & his Intended Policies.Blair did the ground work for his Tory allies to implement when in Power.His private chats with Unum,which now the DWP is a subsidiary could not have taken place within the time the Tories have held the helm.”Were all in it together” BSB.Blair is Murdoch child’s Godfather – Cameron is Brooks friend & neighbour
      http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

      1. Sam says:

        I could almost cope with the conspiracies, if it weren’t for the COCK-UPS.

        Then again… no, I couldn’t!

  18. Iain says:

    Conservative ministers are proudly announcing that they are planning to withdraw from the Human Rights Act; they are proud of their creeping destruction of civil protections.

  19. Nigel Simmons says:

    BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – THE MYTH OF GOVERNMENT
    No Governments do the general Public any Favours,we are Taxed whether Employed or not ,through Vat ,set commodity pricing or Draconian Measures introduced such as the Bedroom Tax , Benefit Sanctions, and not fit for purpose ATOS Assessments .Imagine the Social Senario of an audience of the Public watching a Pantomime ,some of the ‘informed’ audience are watching actors on stage either ill-informed or misinformed portraying ‘Life as it is’ .We all shout “behind you” do they take any notice .Eventually but the new Laws introduced have crept up on them without them knowing.Where is the Media then.We all strive to make our way in life but are totally thwarted by people who supposedly represent us.Some MP’s are totally genuine others are threatened by whips “toe the party line or your career is over”.Recently 15 MP’s wrote to the House of Lords stating this Fact over the Gay Rights Bill.It got passed.
    http://brokenbritishpolitcs.simplesite.com

  20. PAULA says:

    NO MATTER WHO YOU VOTE FOR, IF YOUR GULLIBLE ENOUGH TO DO SO, NONE OF THEM ONCE SWORN IN WILL GIVE A RATS ARSE ABOUT YOU, ITS CALLED HUMAN NATURE, FOR CHRISTS SAKE EVERYBODY WAKE UP TO IT!

  21. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Strikes me that the whole idea of the bill has nothing to do, whatsoever with lobbying, its an exercise in gaining immunity from public opinion after making ill thought out legislation that has a detrimental effect on human life……………………..

    Everything and everyone must be able to be challenged at whatever level.

    Public criticism oils the wheels of politics, step out of line and you pay the consequence at the next election.

    This bill seeks to do one thing only, silence the cynics whilst creating an uneven playing field that favours the coalition.

    The grown ups version of kicking the ball away…………….

  22. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Whoever dream’t up the old adage, “Proud to be British”, has a lot to answer for………

    Colder weather is on our doorsteps already and my body is telling me the pain is yet to come as the thermometers start to drop.

    Having my disability benefits stolen by the caring, DWP, has left me in a precarious position where my partner, my son and i, are trying to exist on £110 per week.

    Luckily, i own my own home and have no mortgage or rent to pay. This is a huge bonus.

    The law states that you need £71 a week to survive, yet no exercise has ever been done to see if this is enough to sustain a human being.
    I know this, as i asked via a freedom of information request to the DWP………

    Amazing, isn’t it?, a country as big as ours, the seventh richest in the world, but no exercise has ever been done to see if the benefit you are afforded, can sustain you!!!!

    The word shocking comes to mind……..

    Our gas fire has never been lit for four years now. We cannot afford to heat the house and have hot water as well.

    Masking tape will be put around the front door and letterbox to insulate from the cold.
    Two or three, second hand fleeces will be worn to keep out the cold, these will be thrown back onto the beds later as we retire to sleep.

    It seems strange to witness the warm vapour from your breath as you huddle indoors in the chill of the room……..

    “Proud to be British”, you must be joking…………….

    Its cheaper to cook using a barbecue tray with charcoal than light the gas. they are only a pound in the cheap shops that now litter the high streets as our economy goes into freefall.

    Trouble is, have to be careful of fatal emissions of co2 from the charcoal, so we have to open the door which then lets in the cold air………….

    Seldom do we find anything to grill, apart from the out of date sausage from the reduced counter, or a piece of fresh roadkill, usually just a value can of cheap soup which we thin to go three ways.

    I see myself as lucky. How many pensioners will succumb to hypothermia this year as the energy giants rub their hands with glee over their grossly unexplainable profits?

    No proper statistics will ever be released as this is the new “norm” of the coalition, to pretend it’s not happening.

    The regulators have no teeth and are in fact paid by the very firms they are supposed to monitor…………..a huge joke really!

    Not much left of Britain nowadays, anyway. The evil witch privatised everything of value and all the assets are strewn across Europe. The other year they tried to flog the port of Dover, how sick are we really becoming?

    Charles Dickens was somewhat of a visionary as well as an author.

    I am sure he would turn in his grave if he saw the saga of ” A CHRISTMAS CAROL”, unfolding in modern times………..

    1. veronica jones says:

      Very well said Geoff, lets hope that the Nasti party and their runt of a friend literally get punished for the misery that they are inflicting on their own people. Did we win the war against Nazis to allow this to happen to our own people ?

  23. geoff reynolds says:

    Nice to see the Labour Party has been dealt a good kick in the bollocks!!

    Once the party of the working man, but now the springboard for corporate bankers, has suffered a big blow……….

    The GMB union has reduced its union funding to Labour, from £1.2 million to £150,000.

    “You should never shit on the goose that lays the golden egg”

    Complacency and failure to come up with a viable policy strategy have brought this issue to a head.

    It’s probably the wake up call that they smugly thought would never happen………….

    Get your house in order or else!

    Will other unions follow suit?

    Watch this space……….

  24. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    TAKEN FROM THIS MORNINGS SCOTTISH DAILY RECORD

    United Nations fly in special investigator to probe whether hated bedroom tax has broken human rights laws
    5 Sep 2013 07:20

    UNITED Nations Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik will be looking at whether or not the tax breaks Article 25 of the human rights law.
    Envoy Rolnik will investigate Cameron’s tax Envoy Rolnik will investigate Cameron’s tax
    Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images

    A UNITED Nations investigator has flown to Scotland to find out if the Con-Dems’ hated bedroom tax has broken human rights laws.

    Special envoy Raquel Rolnik will look into whether David Cameron’s Government are flouting Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by penalising poor families for the size of their homes.

    The Con-Dems claim they invited her, but the UN’s involvement is a major embarrassment for them.

    Thousands of vulnerable Scots fear eviction because they can’t afford the
    bedroom tax.

    The Record is campaigning to scrap the tax and has documented the despair of poor families facing hardship.

    Rolnik is meeting tenants in Glasgow and Edinburgh. She also wants to talk to Holyrood housing minister Margaret Burgess, the Scottish Human Rights Commission, civic leaders and academics at Glasgow University.

    The Brazilian architect and urban planner is UN Special Rapporteur on housing and one of the world’s leading experts in the field.

    She strongly condemned the Israeli government in a scathing report last year, accusing them of presiding over a system biased in favour of Jewish settlers where Palestinians had no housing rights.

    Rolnik meets Palestinian family who lost home to settlers Rolnik meets Palestinian family who lost home to settlers
    Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images

    Rolnik said the UK faced a unique moment, when the challenge of providing proper housing for all was on the agenda.

    Her comments are being seen as a direct reference to the bedroom tax.

    Article 25 says housing is part of “the right to a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing”.

    Rolnik said: “The UK has voiced its commitment to human rights on repeated occasions.

    “This mission will give me an opportunity to assess in-depth to what extent adequate housing, as one central aspect of the right to an adequate standard of living, is at the core of this commitment.”

    The Con-Dems imposed the bedroom tax on poor families in April this year. As a result, thousands of Scots have had their housing benefit cut by between 14 and 25 per cent.

    Councils are already reporting increased rent arrears as a result.

    The Con-Dems say the move will save £1billion by 2015. Critics insist it will increase the welfare bill by forcing social housing tenants into more expensive private rented homes.

    They also point out that there are no smaller homes in the social housing sector for most bedroom tax victims to move into.

    SNP MSP Christina McKelvie welcomed the UN’s examination of the “utterly inhumane and unjustifiable” tax.

    She added: “It penalises disabled and economically deprived people for where they live when smaller alternatives are simply not available.”

    But Labour’s Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran said: “Raquel Rolnik also needs to look at what the Scottish Government could be doing to help people out.

    “While David Cameron is responsible for the bedroom tax, Alex Salmond is refusing to act to make life any better for people who are hit.”

    Because of diplomatic formalities, Rolnik’s visit is technically at the behest of the UK Government. A member state needs to formally invite the UN in before an inspection.

    She will spend two weeks in Britain, visiting London, Belfast and Manchester as well as Scotland, and will reveal her initial findings next week.

  25. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    The condems say it is they, who invited this UN inspector.

    Am i mad in thinking this is a preposterous statement?

    Why would anybody “invite” an inspection of the effects of an ill thought out policy that penalises the poorest and disabled in society, given that it was them who introduced it?

    Are they really trying to justify that the dreaded bedroom tax is acceptable in society by inviting a foreigner to judge it after it has been implemented, or is it a crude attempt to hide the ramifications of the horrors they have perpetrated?

    Only time will tell…………………………..

    I would like to think that the inspector is visiting housing tenants in several areas, of her own volition, and not been taken on a government guided, “coached arena”,
    that tries to mask the true poverty in Britain today.

    If the lady is given the right to go where she pleases, she will come to understand the vile consequences of the ethnic cleansing that is hidden in the agenda of welfare reforms……

    Bearing witness to the squalor, deprivation and stress inflicted on the least able to put up a fight.

    The true extent of poverty in our land may hopefully be brandished across worldwide media for all to see,,,,,,,,

    Meanwhile, i wait with baited breath, acknowledging the extent of the billions of pound cover up that is now underway…..

  26. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    “AS THICK AS THIEVES”………………………

    A contract to treat NHS patients with brain tumours has been awarded to a controversial American healthcare firm that is a donor to the Tory party.

    The multi million pound deal with Hospital Corporation of America arose as it was confirmed that they had donated £17,000 since they came to power.

    As usual, it was squeezed through quietly just days before the government handed responsibility for cancer care to NHS England.

    Opposition MP’s branded it “scandalous”.

    HCA is already mired in controversy, along with two other firms for overcharging around £193 million between 2009 and 2011……………

    IT GETS WORSE………

    HCA has a chequered history in the US and has been fined over a billion dollars for mis-selling health care!!!

    Seems the only way forward for the government is to introduce the “COMPLETE DROSS” of the disability denial scams from the yanks, onto our shores…………

    Keep your eyes on the toffee nosed bastards who are systematically selling you down the river whilst filling their unsatiable greed with dirty money.

    The scumbags on the front benches don’t give two fucks who dies next as long as their wallets and purses are busting from the pressure of undeclared bungs from unscrupulous crooks…………….

  27. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    The DWP ARE SINKING TO ANOTHER ALL TIME LOW…………..

    IT SEEMS THE DEPTH OF THEIR DEPRAVITY HAS NO LOWER LIMITS.

    CAMERON BOASTED THAT JOB CENTRES HAD STARTED REFERRING PEOPLE TO FOOD BANKS WHEN THEY REPORTED AS BEING IN DIRE STRAIGHTS FINANCIALLY AND HAVING INSUFFICIENT FUNDS TO EAT………..

    THE TRUSSEL TRUST CHARITY WHICH HAS SET UP OVER 380 FOODBANKS, HAS REPORTED THAT STAFF WITHIN THE DWP ARE BLOCKING THE AGREEMENT.

    IN OTHER WORDS THEY HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO HUSH UP THE AVAILABILITY OF AID TO THE STARVING………….

    “PROBABLY ON ORDERS FROM THE VERY TOP TO MAKE THE POOREST SUFFER THE WORST EXTREMES”

    EVIL HAS NO BOUNDARIES WITHIN THIS DEPARTMENT.
    ITS HARD ENOUGH HAVING NO MONEY TO EAT WITHOUT HAVING YOUR FACE RUBBED IN THE DIRT………..

  28. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    I am not being funny, but is it me or is it Cameron who is out of touch?

    Fourteen hundred people died in a chemical act on foreign shores and no-one is really sure who did it, yet the P.M. wants to dive headlong into a war to right the wrongs of the infidels………….

    What does’nt equate, is the DWP, empowered by the coalition government and a weak stance from Labour, have ended many more lives on our own shores.

    The culprits are known to us and the “Cull of those showing least resistance”, is in full flow……….
    Pardon me for trying to be politically correct, but this, surely, is the most hypocritical fiasco i have ever encountered!!

    The DWP carry out murders backed by the cover of legislation and nothing is done, yet Cameron is willing to sacrifice our young soldiers to be butchered in an attack on Syria where the perpetrators are unknown.

    To rub salt into the wound, the recipients of life threatening injuries and amputations would end up in front of an ATOS examination, only to be robbed of any disability benefits.

    Its a wonder, that the wankers who hide behind the title of “Taxpayers Alliance”, (A JOKE IN ITSELF), have not suggested that our unemployed could be utilised within the theatre of war, under the terms of workfare……………..

    I would not piss on our government!!!!

    They are so out of touch with the regular, Joe Bloggs, person on the street, they might as well represent Easter Island.
    At least they would be at home with the other big headed bastards, carved from rock!!

    At the G20 summit, Cameron was forced to defend comments made about us being a tiny island……………

    Its about time he realised, we are, just that, insignificant by our size.

    Britain is like a midget, pissed up, punch drunk boxer.
    Any little skirmish and we jump up shouting “PUT EM UP”

    Putin said some true things today;

    He said the Russians looked upon our country as an empire when we stood up against the evil of the nazis, along with Russia.
    He went on to say Russian attitudes changed when Blair took us into war with Iraq with lies generated by the Yanks, that he sold to our people. We had become Americas poodle………
    After this, Russian attitudes changed towards us, no longer were we looked upon as an empire…..

    How come all opinion polls show the general public, over seventy percent, do not want to engage in another protracted war, yet our politicians who are supposed to reflect our opinions, do?.

    Out of touch, they certainly are……………….

    …………and so is Cameron by claiming the British are proud of their heritage and find it a pleasure to reside here……….

    “Think again you tossbag”, try asking the victims of your heinous crimes against humanity, what they really think?

    You, your cronies and the DWP, would be dangling, lifeless, on a rope thrown over a tree, piss dripping down your legs…………………..

    1. Veronica Jones says:

      Very well said lets hope these b……s get punished one day for crimes towards humanity.

  29. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    “HOW LONG CAN THE CHAINS ON THE CREAKING GATES OF THE DWP’s CEMETERY OF SHAME, HOLD OUT?”

    It seems as though most of the British public are asking the same question.
    Every freedom of information site connected to the DWP, are awash with the same question, how many have died as a result of the ill conceived welfare reforms?…………………

    The real answer would stagger anybody. This is the reason the DWP are reluctant to publish the “KNOWN” figures.

    Controlling the media is easy when you hold the power, suppressing the truth is another matter. Whatever they try to withhold has a way of leaking out.

    Friends at their department update me regularly on the discontent within their ranks and the bullying afforded to them.

    Strangely, the once cast iron cauldron of the goverments nasty arm is starting to resemble a colander full of holes……..
    Wherever they place their fingers to stop the truth leaking out, it finds another channel.

    Daily they are bombarded with freedom of information requests. They give out replies but the public are no fools, finding time after time, they have been lied to. Answers they gave on one request, contradict that given on another……..

    You have to have a good memory to be a good liar!!!

    Foolishly, they employ more than a handful of employees to answer requests. Each employee is out of touch with what their colleagues have posted, therefore gaping errors are being seized upon, to their regret………………

    I hope you have all requested the information that the DWP hold on you.

    It costs nothing but it costs them time and money to collate it all. Why not put in a request today?

    My information was seven inches deep and contained all my medical history. The same history that they request from you at an ESA, but is already in their domain.

    Don’t hesitate, put in a request today!!! It costs you absolutely nothing, zero, zilch………

    The chains are starting to stretch on the gates of the DWP’s cemetery of shame, the question of the day will be, “Who will take the wrap?”

    Will it be the man at the top, Duncan Smith, the evil witch, Mcvey, or will it be put firmly on the shoulders of Gunnyeon, the medical chief of the DWP, “THE ANGEL OF DEATH”, who sold his soul and the lives of thousands to the greed of the private health insurers………………………….

    Lobbying has it’s perks, but the needs of the hangmans halter have to be met………..

    Who will fall first? Only time well tell.

    THE BLAME GAME IS YET TO START, BUT WHEN IT DOES, WHO WILL BE CARRYING THE PROVERBIAL CAN?

    ……………the mind boggles.

    1. jay says:

      Superb post Geoff “The DWP Cemetery of Shame”
      A title that describes them well.
      I will be asking for all the information that they hold on me and when I have to next attend the interrogation I will slam it down hard on the Atosser’s desk and say “There is your proof”
      Inevitably when I score 0 points I will also do the same at the tribunal, I urge everyone to do the same.
      Enough is enough let’s take on these scum and expose them.
      The up-to-date figures need to be published, surely there is a whistle-blower that works for this corrupt department that will show compassion on their fellow man and leak this information.
      We can make it go viral on the net and bypass the so called free press and the British ‘Propaganda’ Broadcasting Corporation

      Has anyone working for the DWP got the balls to do this?

      1. geoff reynolds says:

        Absolutely agree with you one hundred percent, more whistleblowers are needed……….

        One thing i have noticed when scrutinising freedom of information requests, is the evidence of more jobcentreplus documentation in the public domain……..

        This proves somebody has a conscience about the hostility and rising death count of the DWP ASSASSINATION BUREAU……..

  30. Veronica Jones says:

    Proverbs 22:22 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
    and do not crush the needy in court,
    23 for the Lord will take up their case
    and will exact life for life.

    Isaiah 32:6 the hungry they leave empty
    and from the thirsty they withhold water.
    7 Scoundrels use wicked methods,
    they make up evil schemes
    to destroy the poor with lies,
    even when the plea of the needy is just.

  31. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Upon failing my ESA medical, of which i was classed as disabled for “life”, formerley………..

    Not to mention an accident at work in which i was awarded “Industrial Injury Benefit”……

    ……..I RECEIVED NO POINTS!!!!

    Having my Incapacity Benefit stolen, i appealed immediately.

    Upon my appeal i was informed that in order to get an benefit i would have to furnish, “STATEMENTS OF FITNESS FOR WORK CERTIFICATES” from my GP.

    In a freedom of information request by PAUL MALPAS to the DWP, he received the following quote;

    In the decision dated 2 July 2013 (ref VTR2728/13), it was confirmed that General
    Practitioners are not trained to make an assessment on a person’s capability for work
    according to legislation.

    I challenged the DWP over this issue, stating that according to legislation my GP is not trained to make an assessment on a persons capability for work according to legislation.

    After sending them the full FREEDOM OF INFORMATION response that they made to Mr. Malpas, they sent me this reply today;

    ” This response is not an official reply from the Department of Works and Pensions and no record of a request to the department has been made ”

    THEY ARE DENYING THAT THIS REQUEST WAS EVER MADE, THEREFORE I WOULD LIKE TO SUBMIT IT FOR PUBLIC SCRUTINY……….

    https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/162095/response/417463/attach/html/3/IR587%20P%20Malpas%20Final.pdf.html

    1. Veronica Jones says:

      `Expertise in this field qualifies the HCP to give an impartial, independent assessment on the way in which a claimant’s illness or disability affects them in carrying out of a range of
      everyday work-related activities`. So they are impartial and independant, well, that`s a relief, but even if they are the DWP still placed my husband in the WRAG after the assessor awarded him 26 points and said in her prognosis that he is not likely to work in the next two years. The whole system is flawed but then look at who is running it, IDS, the man that has a whole lot of faith in his beliefs but he can not back them up with the facts.

  32. Mo Stewart says:

    The whole system was designed to be flawed as it is designed to deny disability. Regardless of the assessors, who make no decisions regarding benefits, the so called DWP Decision Makers are not qualified to interpret medical opinion and, by their own admission, they cannot understand medical reports by GPs and Consultants. QED, the Decision Makers are incapable of deciphering the evidence they are required to consider and so simply ‘rubber stamp’ anything concluded by the WCA.

  33. jay says:

    A very appropriate tune. I saw the Dead Kennedy’s many years ago around the time this was released.
    I didn’t think Jello Biafra singing about Killing The Poor would actually become reality all these years later in the UK!

  34. jeffrey davies says:

    whot about greyling cutting off at the pass of appeals ids and co at work again pinched from j void

    New post on the void

    Chris Grayling: The So-Called Justice Secretary Who Wants To Be Above The Law
    by johnny void

    bungling-chris-graylingThe 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

  35. Nigel Simmons says:

    BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – THE SYRIAN ISSUE HAS DOMINATED THE MEDIA – WHAT IS IT COVERING UP ON THE HOME FRONT
    All the Sabre rattling over Syria has dominated the Media for weeks now but what has it been shielding us from on the Home Front.Similar to the ‘Meat Crisis’ that never was that Dominated the Media the CCP ACT (Secret Court Hearings) was being rushed through Parliament.If it wasn’t for Miliband spitting his dummy out the vote for action on Syria would have been passed.A new Gagging Order Bill disguised as something to do with the curbing of Lobbyists is worming its way through the murky corridors of Power.More Draconian Action against Jobseekers,and the Decimation of the Legal Aid System.If the Gagging Order Bill is passed it will silence everyone that has a voice against Government including Independent Websites that are our Voice and Support.Media & Government are still hand in Glove.BSB
    http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

  36. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    I KEEP TELLING PEOPLE, ” YOU ARE ENTITLED TO ALL THE INFORMATION THAT THE DWP HOLD ON YOU”

    RING THEM UP OR ASK BY LETTER, THEY MUST FURNISH YOU WITH THE INFORMATION.

    COST TO YOU, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, ZILCH, ZERO………………

    I RECEIVED THREE HUGE ENVELOPES CONTAINING ALL MY MEDICAL RECORDS, A PILE OF PAPER SEVEN INCHES HIGH!!!!!!

    THEY ALREADY HAVE ALL YOUR RECORDS………..

    FOR MY APPEAL I JUST SENT IT TO THE APPEAL BODY……………

    IN EFFECT THEY ARE JUST TAKING THE PISS, ASKING FOR INFORMATION ALREADY IN THEIR DOMAIN………..

    ” I WOULD URGE ANYONE TO REQUEST THEIR INFO IMMEDIATELY”

  37. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Not very often we get good news but i welcomed this. It should make a few jaws drop in parliament, but how do you put right the anguish and suffering of those who have already succumbed to this policy and lost their home as a consequence?

    By Nick Sommerlad

    Bedroom Tax DOES breach human rights and should be scrapped, says the United Nations in landmark decision
    10 Sep 2013 23:59

    UNITED NATIONS special envoy Raquel Rolnik will call on the Con-Dems to scrap the tax, which she believes breaches the basic right to housing.
    United Nations envoy, Raquel Rolnik with the Daily Record dossier United Nations envoy, Raquel Rolnik with the Daily Record dossier
    Garry F McHarg/FOCAL (Scotland)

    DAVID CAMERON’S hated bedroom tax breaches human rights and should be scrapped, a top UN official will demand today.

    Special rapporteur Raquel Rolnik will call on the Con-Dems to scrap their decision to cut benefits to tenants with a spare room. She will say the policy breaches the basic right to housing as there are not enough smaller properties for tenants to move into.

    Rolnik is ready to reveal her findings today after an unprecedented two-week tour of the UK meeting campaigners, bedroom tax victims and officials.

    Ironically, it was the Tory-led Government who gave the Brazilian housing and architecture academic permission to carry out the study – and she is set to deliver a harsh critique of Britain’s housing crisis.

    The Government claim cutting housing benefit for tenants who have a spare room will save £500million a year. Households with an extra bedroom will have to find an extra £14 a week or move into alternative accommodation.

    But critics say the policy will create huge suffering for 660,000 victims and dispute whether it will save money.

    Rolnik has visited London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Manchester over the past fortnight.

    ……………………………………………………………………………

    One thing i am really glad about is the impression that this gives our counterparts, of Britains concerted hate campaign against its poorest.

    The jigsaw pieces are falling nicely into place, letting the world see the true nature of our politics and the division of wealth and chastisement………………………
    Reply

  38. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ………a few days ago this was the headline from a newspaper;

    Raquel Rolnik, a senior United Nations official, is in the UK at the invitation of the government to examine whether the “bedroom tax” will impact on human rights.

    This morning this was the response from “LITTLE SHIT SHAPPS”

    The Conservative chairman brands Raquel Rolnik an “absolute disgrace”.
    Conservative chairman Grant Shapps speaks at last year’s Conservative conference in Birmingham.

    After the United Nations’ special investigator on housing, Raquel Rolnik, visited the UK and warned that the bedroom tax was having a “shocking” effect on the vulnerable and should be abolished, one might hope that the government would engage with her concerns.

    Rolnik, a former urban planning minister in Brazil, said of the measure, which reduces housing benefit by 14% for those deemed to have one “spare room” and by 25% for those with two or more, “I was very shocked to hear how people really feel abused in their human rights by this decision and why – being so vulnerable – they should pay for the cost of the economic downturn, which was brought about by the financial crisis. People in testimonies were crying, saying ‘I have nowhere to go’, ‘I will commit suicide’.”

    ……….strange how attitudes change when someone pisses on their bonfire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  39. geoff reynolds says:

    ……………felt slightly dishonest today. As my neighbour left his house, i looked in his bin. Could’nt believe my eyes, a full loaf of bread unopened. I took it but was careful to see if anyone was watching me. I hobbled back to my front door glancing from side to side to ensure i had not been seen.

    Upon opening the bag i noticed that around threequarters had gone blue with mould, but the rest was ok.
    The fridge is empty barring an old tube of tomato puree. I spread the puree on the bread and hungrily bit into it………

    It made me wonder, did the ATOS HCP, Emma BRODRICK,
    really understand the reality of what she was doing when she picked up her wages of sin?

    Was she aware of the sleepless nights, the worry, the anguish and the burden of not only me, but my family?

    Did she ever think for even a single moment, of the horror of her ways?
    If roles were reversed, i do not think i could do the same to her, the torment should never be placed on a human being……….

    If only EMMA BRODRICK could have experienced what i have, i am sure she would never do it again………………..

    “To condemn someone to hell is the the job of an assassin, not a registered nurse”……….

    Please forgive her as she is oblivious to the error of her ways. The money completely clouded her judgements…….

  40. jeffrey davies says:

    atos nurses and doctors work under the illusion that they getting us back to work whot work still waiting to now about , but greed is the the only thing responsible for their ways supping with old nick not seeing whot they do but they know whot they do they heard enough about it perhaps when it really comes out they will be shown up for whot they have done but one wonders if this carries on much more how many more will be left to complain not many we pop our cloggs

  41. jay says:

    It’s all about the money, cold hard cash. They sold their soul for money.

    We are nothing but a commodity to be dispensed with when we are no longer productive ie. there is no profit to be obtained from us. So they try and claw back the little we are given in social security benefits after paying NHI for years.

    The bedroom tax will supposedly save 500 million, yeah right! more figures plucked from the sky, meanwhile Vodafone walk away without paying 6 billion in tax they owe. It was supposedly a good deal for the taxpayer, more Orwell doublespeak.

    The BBC happily trumpet the news unemployment has fallen, no wonder if you skew the figures by excluding all those on workfare, sanctions and other manipulative schemes.
    It’s time the figures were made available how many people are claiming JSA whether or not they are on schemes, sanctions and the figures made available for the last ten years.
    Then we would really see the stunning rise in unemployment as it really is and not these fake stats.

    The 8 page report by the UN inspector is required reading, especially her views on public land being sold for private gain.
    She advocates a Land Tax and states very eloquently why it should be brought in.

    A very intelligent lady who saw right through the Con Dem’s propaganda. We need more like her to investigate Atos, Unum & those profiting from the WCA and private healthcare and stop these corrupt public officials feathering their nests at our expense and put a hault to the (as Geoff correctly calls it ” The DWP’s cemetery of shame.”

    The UN inspector’s report is available here:

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/11/full-statement-special-rapporteur-raquel-rolnik

    1. geoff reynolds says:

      Marvelous report, Jay. It shows our government up for the liars they really are………

      Shithouse Shapps, made out that she hardly met anybody of importance from the governments of our countries, on the contrary she met no end of prominent people from a host of different organisations.

      She has proved, without doubt, that she was invited by our government, to give an opinion of what she encountered.
      On visiting a host of differing communities in differing areas, she met many people who gave a true insight into the plight facing our people…………

      Her report shows a high level of intelligence in all matters of human rights, no wonder the Wankers of Westminster chose to vilify her damning report………

      I would have thought ATOS would have been called upon to make a report on Human Rights, they have all the information as they have been instructed to breach it at all costs, regardless of the death toll that ensues………..

      Jay is right about reading the report. It gives a good, detailed account of the horrors that face the weakest and poorest as the ill thought out, welfare reforms take hold.

      No wonder our coalition clowns wish to suppress the voice of the people, (and those of Brazil), it seems……

  42. jay says:

    thanks Geoff. A bit more on the response to the report and its findings:

    Raquel Rolnik, the United Nations special investigator has said “she has never faced such a hostile reaction from a country” after her preliminary findings on the coalition’s bedroom tax policy prompted a vicious response from the right-wing media and Conservative politicians.

    The Daily Mail headlined her as “A dabbler in witchcraft who offered an animal sacrifice to Marx”

    The Daily Express “How dare this idiot preach at Britain on human rights?” fumes Leo McKinstry

    (How can this supposed journalist get away with such slander?)

    and then he says
    “but what about the rights of taxpayers, often on low incomes, who have to fork out £23billion to pay for the housing benefit racket?”
    (Conveniently forgetting that the 23 billion housing benefit racket has been caused by private sector landlords profiteering. No rent cap means landlords can charge anything they want and can get away with it at the expense of the tax payer)

    Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps said he had written a formal complaint to the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon demanding an investigation and claiming Rolnik had not met relevant ministers or officials to discuss the policy. He demanded that she withdraw her report.
    (never heard of democracy and freedom of speech Shnappy old boy)

    Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, said Rolnik had undermined the impartiality of the UN, adding it was “staggering” she had come to her conclusions without access to official information (ha! ha! that will be the official information he believes in and made available courtesy from the top of his bald head)

    Tory MP Stewart Jackson said Rolnik was a “loopy Brazilian leftie with no evidence masquerading as a serious UN official”
    ( a woman-hating bigot with no evidence he is a human being)

    I urge everyone to read the report, the link is above and determine for yourself.

    What a way to treat an intelligent woman thoroughly doing her job, absolutely nothing can justify the abuse and shocking behaviour by the media and right wing hawks.

    THIS IS THE REAL FACE OF THIS DISGUSTING GOVERNMENT – NOTHING WILL CHANGE THEIR MINDS – THERE CAN BE NO REASONING WITH THEM.

    Have you ever heard such twisted, perverse and bigoted utterings. Simply because someone doesn’t agree with their ideology

  43. geoff reynolds says:

    Well said Jay. Everybody should read the report. It is the opinion of an outsider who was truly shocked at the inequality within our, once proud nation.

    Regardless of what politicians may be saying, the noose is beginning to tighten around their necks………….

    They recognise that people hate them so much, they will stop at nothing to curb dissent.

    REMOVE THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE, PROPAGATE THE MEDIA WITH LIES AND FEEL THE WRATH OF THE PEOPLE START TO FESTER……………………
    THE HOUSING BUBBLE WILL NOT BE THE ONLY THING THAT BURSTS AS TENSIONS REACH FEVER PITCH.

    WESTMINSTER’S ELABORATE WOODEN PANELS WILL GLOW AS THE TINDERBOX OF DISCONTENT SHOWS THE UNEQUAL MINORITY WHAT THE HARRASSED MAJORITY, STAND FOR……………………………………………

  44. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    WHILST THE DEATHS OF THOSE WHO HAVE SUCCUMBED TO THE FALLOUT CAUSED BY THE TRULY EVIL CRIMES OF WELFARE REFORMS SPIRAL HOPELESSLY OUT OF CONTROL, THIS IS THE ANSWER FROM OUR GOVERNMENT;

    “PLASTIC BAGS ARE TO COST 5 PENCE”

    WHAT FUCKING WORLD DO THESE IMBECILES BELONG ON?, IT CERTAINLY IS’NT THE ONE WHERE I LIVE!!

    PENSIONERS ARE DYING OF HYPOTHERMIA, PEOPLE ARE HAVING THEIR HOMES TAKEN, DISABLED ARE BEING STARVED TO DEATH AND MORE CHILDREN ARE BEING BORN INTO POVERTY THAT AT ANY TIME SINCE THE LAST WAR.

    The only thing that is booming is food banks, yet these gormless bastards who got more for attending a parliament call back for Thatchers death, than i get to live on for a full year, have the impudence to place “a shilling tariff on plastic bags”, at the top of the agenda…………………………

    They chose to ridicule a report by a UNITED NATIONS inspector on the real plight of our nation, while they pass legislation on a bag………………………….

    The leaking of the bag tariff, has taken the thunder from the Lib Dems conference…….it has been revealed!!

    WAKE UP YOU DELUDED TOSSBAGS!

    “THERE MUST BE MORE BRAIN CELLS IN A DISCARDED SHOWER CAP THAN THE WHOLE OF OUR REPRESENTATIVES IN WESTMINSTER”

    WORDS FAIL ME. WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE A GOLDFISH ON A LEAD………………………

  45. geoff reynolds says:

    “A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST TO THE DWP ON, WHAT DO THEY KNOW, WEBSITE”

    From: C Robinson

    8 September 2013

    Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

    I am writing this FOI because I have seen many differing views
    regarding clause 99 and the catch 22 situation that it puts sick
    and disabled claimants in,

    So my questions are thus:

    Q1 When a person is refused ESA and appeals against the decision,
    what benefits can he claim if s/he has no income?

    Q2 If an ESA refusal claimant is too “fit” for ESA, but too sick or
    disabled for JSA what is there recourse?
    (i) How will they pay their bills?
    (ii) How will they be able to get medication? (as they will not be
    on any benefits to qualify for free prescriptions)
    (iii) What about their homes? Will you still cover the rent? Or
    will you be setting up modern-day workhouses?
    (iv) Where are their human rights? I refer to article 6 and 25
    respectively. Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights
    act is a provision of the European Convention which protects the
    right to a fair trial. In criminal law cases and cases to determine
    civil rights it protects the right to a public hearing before an
    independent and impartial tribunal within reasonable time, the
    presumption of innocence, and other minimum rights for those
    charged in a criminal case (adequate time and facilities to prepare
    their defence, access to legal representation, right to examine
    witnesses against them or have them examined, right to the free
    assistance of an interpreter). Article 25. (1) Everyone has the
    right to a standard of living adequate for the health and
    well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing,
    housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the
    right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
    disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
    circumstances beyond his control.

    Q3 How can someone have a fair hearing (see article 6 above) at a
    tribunal when you have driven them into a catch 22 situation? i.e.
    A claimant refused ESA, through sheer destitution has to sign on
    and as soon as they do it cancels out their appeal, even though
    they are too ill to work and have no chance of getting a job. How
    legal is this since the UK signed the Human Rights act? Pursuant of
    this how many appeals will be made to the ECHR?

    Q4 When a person is turned away from the JCP because s/he doesn’t
    fit the criteria to sign on (their illnesses means hospital
    appointments, etc) what are their rights if any?

    Q5 What impact will Clause 99 have on the Infrastructure? i.e:
    (i) The NHS?
    (ii) Foodbanks?
    (iii) Social Services?
    (iv) The Police (people HAVE turned to crime when they have no
    income whatsoever)
    (v) Local Councils (How can people pay the council tax with no
    money)?
    Q6 How long will it be before the application of Clause 99 causes
    chaos and meltdown?
    Q7 How many deaths will this cause?

    Yours faithfully,

    C Robinson

    Link to this
    https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/clause_99_and_the_catch_22_situa

  46. veronica jones says:

    Well done, maybe IDS will answer you with all his beliefs in welfare reform. I find it strange that a man like IDS who calls himself a Christian should make so many people`s lives a misery !

  47. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    So we are turning a corner! I would argue that we are sinking faster than any time in post war history.
    Everyone i talk to is down on their arse, hard up and struggling to live………………………..
    Jobs are in abundance, or that is what is being peddled by the “wankers of westminster”.

    Everybody and i mean everybody, knows the unemployment figures are being twisted to try and prove Xanadu and Utopia really exist, the only ones in denial are those peddling the lies.

    You can put everyone in the UK on workfare to create startling figures, it means absolutely nothing, zilch………….

    Why have a minimum wage that is not adhered to?

    Forced workfare will only have a positive impact on two recipients, namely the slavedriver employer who will replenish their skivvies at will, and secondly the governments falsified figures bureau……………..
    The slaves will not benefit one iota. You can employ as many bullshit agencies as you wish, the only thing that counts is the ability to afford to live and enjoy a fruitful existence.

    Workfare offers nothing at all………………………….

    The very people who exploit the governments slave labour want putting out of business, and i mean this sincerely.

    I thought William Wilberforce had brought about the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

    Yes we are turning the corner, a corner of history that saw the likes of William Hogarth’s “Gin Lane” and Dickensian Workhouses.

    We are accelerating backwards……………..

    To see where we are going, we must first realise from where we are coming………

    Kicking the weakest in our society, the disabled, did not even stir those who are able bodied, they chose to look away…. For this reason, the Eton Boys had been given the green light to fuck everyone else who would not be capable of fighting back, namely the poorest.

    I can assure you all, the only thing around the corner is a rebellion on an epic scale………………………….

    If i was party to the crimes that have been perpetrated under the guise of legislation, i would be wearing a white shirt and looking for red laser dot on my chest ……………

    1. Sam says:

      I hope nobody does shoot them.I mean it. Assassination would be far too good for them. They need to SUFFER, see all they dream of brought to nought, all they care for rotting under the feet of those they despise, their l loved ones in the workhouse. THEN I don’t suppose I’d mind so much…

      I don’t really like them very much, I guess…

    1. Annos says:

      “We congratulate our members on their determination to resist this draconian attack on civil liberties. We instruct our members to take industrial action short of strikes from 00:01 on Thursday 19 September 2013 until further notice, by booking on and off duty using the established method and not using the biometric machines.”

      http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/node/4461

  48. jeffrey davies says:

    got to agree with all you Geoff r but you forgot the best one they brought carnie across to cook the books further yet they all in it we aint ,carnie and Jamie diamond one of the biggest crooks alive and still free

  49. Tommaz Jay says:

    Here we go again. Let’s attack the feckless unemployed. The sick, lame and lazy.
    Oh, don’t forget the Mentalists, the nutters and the skitsos’,the feeble minded and the morally deviant single mother.
    Let’s attack anyone but the people who got us into this mess in the first place. Let’s resume the demonization of the weakest in this wonderland of political utopia. Let’s get one figure higher that will make a difference. Let’s make suicide a viable alternative. Now that will make a difference and cost us “nothing governor”. Now that’s a real return to core conservative values.
    We have squeezed them until the pips squeak what next, “oh yes we have a solution it’s tried tested and really works, been around for as long as anyone can remember and will be all that is required and be true to our political ideology”,
    Now we need a name, what about the DWP solutions. No sound too much like a government department. What about “mortem sibi conscivit solution” a nice latten word that the sniveling upper class will understand, maybe. What about words that the ones who were being “Jolly well Rodgerd by the prefects” and missed Latin at Eaton. “well ok I’ve got it, silly me it has a name all along, great.
    FINAL AND UNIVERSALLY ASSESSABLE SOLUTION. Of Couse it will be acceptable the shorten it to “THE FINAL SOLUTION” to save paper and for the fagots from Eaton.
    Now that sounds like a really good idea!

    I like many others because of mental and physical illnesses and the constant bullying from the “snouts in the trough inbred ruling classes” have nothing more to give and are at the end of our metaphorical ropes.
    Many like myself despite overwhelming evidence from my doctor’s reports and other professionals are routinely dismissed as if they were liars, cheats, scroungers, work shy, criminals, malingers , need I go on any further, you get the picture painted by the two twats at the top of the page.
    It is not being believed is the worst pain imaginable to any one with those illnesses. As we try as best we can but at every turn of a news page we are pilloried by a press and government who are in terminal moral panic and decline. We are now, as one of the many groups suffering from the backlash of hate stirred up by the two main sociopaths are afraid and see death as our only alternative.

    It only takes one letter or phone call from the DWP or comment from press or government indoctrinated individuals to push us over the ultimate cliff. Believe me I have been there myself on many occasions and only by my own ineptitude am able to write this now.
    I was one told by a professional that to commit suicide was my choice if I thought it was the right thing to do and no one could stop me. Is doing the right thing what this eugenic led government want us to do for the good of the “Hard working tax paying families who get up early and trudge through the sow to get to work”?

    If we don’t or can’t do the right thing will the government ultimately assist us? If we won’t do the right thing what then, will we see our own final solution implemented?
    We now have forced labour and we had until the late seventy’s Government Training centers that by compulsory attendance under threat of denial of benefit, housing and removal of children into care forced the indoctrination of the unemployed into the ethics of hard labour.
    So as we now have the right mood in our country for the have and have not’s, the skivers against the strives, the ill versus able-bodied and the idle rich against the plebs. If we have the forced labour and the training camps is ultimately the final solution not that far away.
    NOW THAT SOUND LIKE A MASTER PLAN
    Tommaz Jay
    Ashamed and frightened to be a member of the society that once cared and now wallows in its own putrid shit.
    Please Google the word sociopaths. It fits IDS and CaMoron like a glove

  50. Humanity2012 says:

    The Victimisation of the Poor and Vulnerable by the ” Mainstream Media “Shabby Pieces of Rubbish called ” Newspapers ” Needs to be Challenged

    The UnderDog Needs Representing Not Victimising and Oppressing

    The Rich are the Scroungers because they are the Ones Hoarding Wealth to their Selves instead of Sharing it out like in a Proper Socialist State

    Let the October Revolution of Common Sense Begin

  51. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    One things for sure, when the shit hits the fan, all you will see is a cloud of dust and the back of their heads as the “yellow bastards” disappear over the hillside……………………..

    The DWP’s favourite weapon of choice is the ubiquitous brown envelope. It is the act of a craven coward, designed solely to inflict the maximum pain and ultimate death on those who are weakest, poorest and ill educated in our society.

    They hide in their ivory towers, anonymous to the claimant, serving out shit to the millions……………………

    They are not human beings, just the lowest of the lowest, something that should be scraped from the bottom of your shoe.
    It’s so easy to say, “I was only doing my job”.
    They are completely oblivious to the evil that they distribute on a daily basis, knowing full well that the victims will never have the chance to identify them………..

    In effect, they are government assassins………..

    I personally hope that the brunt of this nations anger is directed straight at these faceless bastards, for it is they who are kicking the fallen…

    It was publicised on this site, and many others, that the DWP were going to celebrate the barrage of sanctions that have robbed people of their humanity, their homes and their lives…….

    Such an organisation should never exist in modern Britain, it needs raising to the ground and left on the same par as it’s forgotten victims.

    “THE CHAINS ON THE GATES OF THE DWP CEMETERY OF SHAME ARE BUCKLING FROM THE DEATHS THEY HAVE CAUSED”

  52. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    I WAS ALWAYS WONDERING HOW CERTAIN PEOPLE ON THIS SITE HAD IGNORED ALL ATTEMPTS TO GO TO ESA TESTS AND NOT HAD THERE BENEFITS STOPPED;

    APPARENTLY BY ACCEPTING DOCUMENTATION FROM DWP ABOUT ESA TESTS AND REPLYING, YOU ARE FALLING INTO A TRAP THAT ENABLES THEM TO SAY “YOU HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED”

    THIS NOTIFICATION ACCEPTANCE IS ALL THEY REQUIRE TO STOP YOUR EXISTING BENEFITS.

    IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOU DO NOT REPLY TO THE ESA QUESTIONNAIRE, THEY HAVE NO POWER TO FORCE YOU TO ATTEND AN ESA.

    THE PROCESS IS HIDDEN WITHIN THE SMALL PRINT
    AMENDMENTS OF THE EMPLOYMENT AND SUPPORT ALLOWANCE ( TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS, HOUSING BENEFIT AND COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT) (EXISTING AWARDS) (NO2) REGULATIONS 2010.

    PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY;
    11. All the letter actually says which bears on the requirements that must be met in order to qualify for conversion is that “To decide if you are entitled to Employment and Support Allowance we need to assess and understand how your illness and disability affects the amount and type of work you could do”. In particular, it is of note that this says nothing at all about the degree to which a persons illness or disability must limit the amount or type of work they could do. As such it does not bear at all on what the requirements for conversion actually are.
    12. It is plain that the purpose of Reg 4(2)(c) is to ensure that a claimant knows about the nature of the test they are to be assessed with so that they can prepare for the examination. A further purpose is clearly to put in legislation a requirement that a claimant has been given a clear and accurate explanation of the process into which they are entering (the anxiety caused to long term ill claimants by the process having been widely anticipated.
    13. As the notice does not do this, it is submitted that the claimant is not a “notified person”. Therefore, the SSWP had no power to make a conversion decision in this case and the tribunal is invited to find that the purported decision is of no effect.

    ……………………………………………………………………………..

    YOUR BENEFITS HAVE BEEN SIMPLY REMOVED BECAUSE YOU WERE TRICKED BY THIS;

    “To decide if you are entitled to Employment and Support Allowance we need to assess and understand how your illness and disability affects the amount and type of work you could do.

    APPARENTLY THE EXPERTS WHO WROTE UP THE LAW COULD NOT DO IT BY THEMSELVES, THEY NEEDED YOUR APPROVAL THAT WAS HIDDEN IN SMALLPRINT.
    Reply

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