Happy New Year …

So here it is, that time again, where I resolve to give up eating chocolate, drinking wine and try to be nicer to people!

One of my other New Year resolutions is to make people aware of the harsh regime currently being inflicted by this unelected ConDem Coalition government.

Give yourself a reality check if you think that you will be unaffected.

Consider this, imagine you succumb to a serious illness or accident and as a result are unable to work; all those National Insurance contributions you may have paid in won’t do you much good I’m afraid. You will only be entitled to contributions based employment support allowance for ONE YEAR! by which time you will be expected to recover and if you haven’t well then the fun begins on the work capability assessment (WCA) merry – go round!

Do you think that someone suffering with a terminal illness or progressive illness won’t have to work? Not a chance the WCA WILL find you fit for work, you will appeal, you will win your appeal, you will have a few weeks respite, then you will be called for another WCA and so on and so forth.

When you make your appeal, it will not go straight to tribunal. There will be an internal DWP reconsideration which will take months and in the meantime you will be left with no money. You will be forced to apply for JSA only to be told by DWP that you are not well enough to work

Being broke and cold is like having an unrelenting headache. You can think of nothing else until it’s passed, at which point you proceed as if nothing ever happened..

So you’re too ill to work but also fit to work …. even Kafka couldn’t have come up with that!

You may be placed on mandatory workfare which could involve stacking shelves in Poundland, working in a Salvation Army Shop, digging holes for TCV. You won’t be paid any extra though… oh no. You will receive your normal JSA (£50 to £70 per week, depending on your age) You’ll have to do it though or you could lose your benefits for a period of 4 weeks to 3 years.

Mandatory workfare is classed as EMPLOYMENT. Why? so that this unelected government can distort the employment figures (by getting them down to 7% so that the Governor of the Bank of England can increase the interest rate  – it currently stands at 7.6 to 7.4%)

Read this interesting Hansard Q & A about workfare here;

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-10-23e.124129.h

The other interesting thing is that these companies receive a “fee” from the unelected government for taking on these “workers”

The workers only receive JSA not NMW, so the company is quids in…a fee for taking them on, no wages paid, so no tax/NI paid…looks like the taxpayers losing out here doesn’t it.

Because of benefit sanctions and delays, people are HAVING to use foodbanks. You can’t just walk in as Lord Freud (or Lord Fraud seems to roll off the tongue better) you have to be referred by Drs, Health Visitors, teachers etc.

The Trussell Trust were keeping details of the reason for referral from the DWP however, the DWP have now unilaterally altered the form so that those details are no longer on there. All credit to the Trussell Trust though, they are keeping their own stats, much to the chagrin of the “delightful” Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) who has accused it’s Director Chris Mould of “publicity seeking”

It’s a CHRISTIAN CHARITY FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!!

I think Christian and Charity are two C words you could never ascribe to IDS. I can think of one C word (…4 letters, ending in T) that you could use to describe him.

There have been deaths too…. unofficial statistics put it in the region of 10,600 of those who were deemed by DWP and it’s Atos henchmen, to be fit for work. Why unofficial statistics? Well even though the DWP hold those figures they are not releasing them (they had done so previously) Now why would they not release them…? Could it be because to publish the massive increase in these deaths would bring about a National outcry?

I can tell you that people who have requested that information from the DWP under FoI are being told that their request is “vexatious” . The DWP decision is then being upheld by the ICO …. Collusion anyone?

So.. think it couldn’t happen to you..think again and remember “No taxation without representation” because all of these ill thought out reforms are costing the taxpayer a huge amount of money.

“No taxation without representation” is a slogan originating during the 1750s and 1760s that summarized a primary grievance of the British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies, which was one of the major causes of the American Revolution. In short, many in those colonies believed that, as they were not directly represented in the distant British Parliament, any laws it passed taxing the colonists (such as the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act) were illegal under the Bill of Rights 1689, and were a denial of their rights as Englishmen.