New Sanction Trap For UC Claimants With £250 Incentive For DWP Staff

The more that Tory governments do with regards to welfare benefits make it clear that welfare is not part of the process and punishment is becoming more and more its objective.

Rather than pay DWP staff incentives to do more, why not increase benefits for claimants, especially those who do get into work for a period of time, while they adjust to manage with work and assess any difficulties they could well experience.

Benefits should be there to help and not punish, the government needs to be educated, perhaps for the first time.

Same Difference

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

Universal credit (UC) claimants are to be faced with a new sanction trap disguised as help to move into work. The scheme has been condemned by the DWP staff union who say the government is “hellbent on making it more difficult for people to claim benefits”, even though jobcentre workers stand to gain from a £250 ‘incentive’ if their office tops a league table.

UC sanctions are already at a record high. Over 98% of all sanctions are for failure to attend an interview, with over half a million claimants being sanctioned for this reason last year.

Yet, under the new Additional Jobcentre Support scheme claimants are being forced to attend  a jobcentre 10 times over a two week period.  In these obligatory sessions they will have “work search conversations” and “support sessions”. Missing a single session is likely to lead…

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The DWP has become Britain’s biggest debt collector. Surely during an energy crisis it should press pause | Gordon Brown | The Guardian

Deductions to universal credit loans and bills will cause destitution as families struggle to keep up with fuel payments, says former prime minister Gordon Brown

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The DWP is supposed to be the Benefit Agewncy, a Government organisation that pays welfare benefits to claimants who have been assessed to be need of help to finaner their lives and those of their families.

But, the DWP as also beoe a debt collection agency as Gordon Brown is saying, taking money, uch needed money from claimants before payment of benefits have been made without any consideration as to whether the claimants can still afford to live on the reduced benefits being paid by the DWP.

This is Government policy, the same Government who intoduced benefits with such a delay in initial payments when delays should not be, so that claimants were forced to reuest advanced payments. The benefit syste should have been formuated so that payments were made immediately they were approved. This could have been easily done by processing eah laiant application as though it would be approed so tghat when it was payents ould be made immediately and not in some weeks delay.

This is as though there is some punishment when there should be none.

This is not welfare but a crime commited by what should be a  caring Government.

Source: The DWP has become Britain’s biggest debt collector. Surely during an energy crisis it should press pause | Gordon Brown | The Guardian

DWP Refusing To Follow Recommendations During Cost Of Living Crisis – The poor side of life

Under the cover of Queen Elizabeths death the DWP (Department of work and Pensions) have been busy inflicting cruelty upon claimants. They never miss a chance to show their hatred of social securit…

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The DWP should be there to assist claimants, but, in fact, there whole agenda is to do the opposite, more than likely under the orders of this Government. This requires action in every way on every occasion to force the DWP to comply, as they will only do so after a formal legal decision from the Courts and even then they will fight all the way and when eventually ordered to do so, will do it as slowly as possible.

It appears to be run by robots who have been programmed to work in the most unempathetic and demoralising way possible.

This is showing they have no respect for human rights, safeguarding, just to punish claimants for being there.

 

Source: DWP Refusing To Follow Recommendations During Cost Of Living Crisis – The poor side of life

Thérèse Coffey says she wouldn’t publish reports exploring impact of welfare reform | The National

A MINISTER in the UK Government has been accused of deliberately attempting to hide the impact of wide-ranging welfare reforms by concealing a…

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The Work and Pension Secretary Thérèse Coffey, MP one of the most useless Ministers in the Boris Johnson Tory Government, for she is totally inept and lacking any knowledge, only thing she is good at is supporting Boris Johnson, so another wrong decision in a catalogue of many.

Lets hope she will no longer be any Minister when either Truss or Sunak become Prime Minister and that whoever becomes DWP Minister will be better, but that won’t be difficult from the low base set by Coffey.

Source: Thérèse Coffey says she wouldn’t publish reports exploring impact of welfare reform | The National

MPs ask Coffey why she is hiding nine secret DWP reports – Disability News Service

MPs have asked the work and pensions secretary to justify her refusal to release nine potentially embarrassing reports about her department’s work, at least four of which focus on disabled claimant…

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Transparency, honesty, accountability and trust should be there in every aspect of public organisation governess, but the opposites non-transparency, dishonesty, unaccountability and distrust are usually evident in many instances.

This is so proving the case in respect of the DWP and certainly, it appears, with the Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey MP.

This is all on top of the spectacle of ‘Partygate‘,  so it appears many elements of this Government are unwilling to abide by the concepts of transparency, honesty, accountability and trust and many within the UK feel this will never change.

The ‘House‘ needs to ensure that change will occur and be sustained, but will it, for no previous UK Government has abided by these concepts to any large extent, if at all, irrespective of which Party formed the Government.

Is it that ‘power’ corrupts or were there leanings to corruption to start with.

But this is not just confined to the UK and many would say that the degree of corruption is much more evident in some other countries than the UK, but that should not be seen as good for everyone deserves better. The ‘House’ should be doing all it can to ‘cleanse’ itself, rather than spending so much time doing the opposite.

So, I support Stephen Timms MP, chair of the Commons work and pensions committee and his colleagues and also the DNS.

Source: MPs ask Coffey why she is hiding nine secret DWP reports – Disability News Service

High Court rules against legacy benefits claimants | Multiple Sclerosis Society UK

The High Court has decided the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) did not act unlawfully by denying nearly two million disabled people emergency funding to help them survive the pandemic.

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Yes, yet again disabled people not supported by the legal system, are our courts really independent from politics or are they as the US Courts.

No justice again, we know the Government doesn’t care about disabled people, but the courts should.

Source: High Court rules against legacy benefits claimants | Multiple Sclerosis Society UK

DWP admits wrongly rejecting disabled people for benefits at record rate | The Independent

Exclusive: Warnings that ‘flaws in the system’ have led to almost 80,000 Personal Independence Payment decisions being overturned at initial review

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Why is this news, especially to the DWP and the Government as from the introduction of PIP in November 2017 they were warned that there were problems with assessments, but they appeared to be blind and deaf to the comments made.

The UN also have advised this Government about their discrimination to persons with disabilities, but the Government refuted this.

Now they have promised £5.4 billion spread over 3 years for health and social care, but this is an insult to social care as it is way insufficient as it should be at least £12 billion, just for social care alone and not spread over 3 years but given immediately.

This Government has not got a clue or just doesn’t care , especially the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey MP.

So, it is not just the Welfare benefits that are not sufficient and the assessment processes, but the whole Government attitude to persons with disabilities. Coping with their disabilities and life is more than enough and also for their families, but until you are there you will never comprehend what they have to take onboard and contend with, as if drains the life from you, causing more stress on stress until it becomes, but you have to continue, for there is no alternative, as social care is too a large extent not there and won’t be until it is sufficiently funded.

Many mistakes were made in 1948 with the creation of the NHS and the Welfare State, not that it should not have been created for the creation was great and much thought was put in, but events over years as meant changes should have been made, especially the creation of one body to encompass both the NHS and Social Care. As to have it split means there are many duplications of processes and lack of communications between the organisations on many levels.

Source: DWP admits wrongly rejecting disabled people for benefits at record rate | The Independent

DWP Now Allows Claimants To Audio Record PIP Assessments On Their Mobile Phones | Same Difference

With many thanks to Benefits And Work. A newly updated version of the PIP Assessment Guide suggests that the DWP have abandoned the struggle to prevent claimants openly or secretly audio recording …

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This is very welcomed and not before time and should improve the assessment process.

However, as stated there could still be problems, especially where the assessor is not fully compliant with the guidance and here the claimant should not be penalised and it should be the assessor who should back  down and if necessary get further guidance from their supervisor or manager. For an assessor could be aware of the guidance, but be unwilling to allow recordings to be made, so by failing to adhere to the rights of the claimant is disadvantaged.

Also, I see no reason why, now that audio recordings can be made that video recordings are also not allowed. For that would be of greater degree beneficial for the claimants in that not all problems can be discovered by audio recordings.

To not allow implies there is something wrong either with the assessor or the assessment process, which with the degree of appeals being made and the success rate proves that there are. To not allow is an abuse of power by either the DWP or the assessor or both and makes the whole process to be unequal and thereby against the human Rights of the claimants.

The DWP, the Assessors and the assessment process should be fully transparent for all concerned, otherwise it could be deemed to be ‘unfit for purpose’.

 

Source: DWP Now Allows Claimants To Audio Record PIP Assessments On Their Mobile Phones | Same Difference

Capita Pay Substantial Compensation To Family Of Philippa Day

At long last Capita have had to pay for their gross misconduct and so should the DWP, and I hope there is more to come, but will it make a difference?

Well, it might, if this is not a one off, so everyone who has suffered at the hands of Capita and DWP should put in claims. But really this gross misconduct should not be occurring, is it too much to ask for Capita and DWP to put their own houses in order, well that depends on whether the gross misconduct was deliberate or done by accident, I know which one I believe so no change and gross misconduct will continue until they learn that when they do, it will cost them.

Same Difference

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

Capita have paid ‘substantial’ compensation to the family of Philippa Day, a single parent who took her own life after she was told that she had to attend a face-to-face PIP assessment in spite of her anxiety, depression and agoraphobia and in defiance of pleas by her CPN. It is believed to be the first such payment made by a DWP health assessment provider.

Ever since her death in 2019, Philippa’s family have been fighting to make the DWP and Capita admit their role in her death and to change the way vulnerable claimants are dealt with.

In a call the DWP tried to prevent the coroner making public, a clearly very distressed, sometimes crying, Philippa told a DWP call handler she was “literally starving and cold”, “genuinely can’t survive like this for much longer”, was “in…

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Claimant Died Underweight, ‘Unkempt And Dirty’ After ESA And PIP Wrongly Stopped

Again more DWP failings, when will this end, where is the accountability, when will heads roll, perhaps never for to do this there has to be accountability which there appears to be not.

It appears that the DWP is there to hinder rather than help and are not concerned about themselves than the claimants they are there to help.

Do they really care or are claimants seen has a hindrance to be discounted at every occasion.

The current Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions Thérèse Coffey MP was appointed on 8 September 2019 and has been ineffective since her appointment, she needs to go and someone who is capable appointed, if there is in fact, anyone who is. The situations at the DWP could not be worse if there was no Minister.

Same Difference

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

A disabled claimant died underweight, ‘unkempt and dirty’ after the DWP wrongly stopped both his ESA and PIP. The DWP left the destitute claimant to be supported by their elderly, disabled parent who themselves needed daily carers and meals delivered. £14,000 in backdated PIP was eventually paid to the claimant’s next-of-kin, the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) has reported.

According to ICE, the claimant had severe depression and physical health problems and was classed as vulnerable by the DWP.

For a long time, their elderly parent was their appointee for benefits purposes. But the parent became too ill to continue and informed the DWP.

At this point the DWP should have found another appointee for the claimant themselves, as their guidance requires, but they did not do so.

Over the following months the claimant’s ESA and PIP were repeatedly stopped due to failure to…

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