Five reasons why the benefit cap is wrong

The £26,000 cap, which is introduced in four London boroughs today, will raise child poverty, increase 
homelessness and cost more than it saves.

The claim on which the policy rests - that a non-working family can be better off than a working one - is a myth since it takes no account of the benefits that an in-work family can claim to increase their income. 

By applying the policy retrospectively, the government has chosen to penalise families for having children on the reasonable assumption that existing levels of support would be maintained. While a childless couple who have never worked will be able to claim benefits as before (provided they do not exceed the cap), a large family that falls on hard times will now suffer a dramatic loss of income.

For all the political attention devoted to it, the cap is expected to save just £110m a year, barely a rounding error in the £201bn benefits bill. But even these savings could be wiped out due to the cost to local authorities of homelessness and housing families in temporary accommodation. 

The cap will increase homelessness by 40,000 and force councils to relocate families hundreds of miles away, disrupting their children's education and reducing employment opportunities (by requiring them to live in an area where they have no history of working).

Iain Duncan Smith talks passionately of his desire to reduce family breakdown but the cap will serve to encourage it. As Simon Hughes has pointed out, the measure creates "a financial incentive to be apart" since parents who live separately and divide the residency of their children between them will be able to claim up to £1,000 a week in benefits, while a couple living together will only be able to claim £500.

Bedroom Tax Appeal Group

This group is for those who are appealing, want to appeal, or have appealed the bedroom tax, you can share appropriate links, give advice, share the outcome of your appeal should you wish to do so. 

Pleased be advised that this group is solely for the appealing process, so any posts that have no connection to that process may be removed without notice, this is so the group does not get sidetracked.

When Can a Landlord Rightfully Evict Someone?

Illegal eviction is an issue that is taken very seriously by the courts. 

 
Tenants have many rights when it comes to periods of notice to quit a property, and landlords must obey these rights. 

Any tenant that is being harassed or threatened with illegal eviction will be able to pursue the matter through the court system, and there can be severe consequences for the landlord.

What is Illegal Eviction? Illegal eviction is a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. There are only a very few circumstances where a landlord can evict a tenant without giving notice or obtaining a court order.

It will be deemed illegal eviction if a landlord evicts a tenant without giving notice, usually one to two months notice. It will also be illegal eviction if a landlord evicts without a court order and harasses a tenant that he or she is trying to evict.

Take a look at this site, very useful information to have and see what LEGAL eviction entails.

Grassroots Welfare

We are a disability welfare campaign and support group.  

  
WE SUPPORT ALL PEOPLE CLAIMING WELFARE We Would like those with skills to help us use law and set up alternative vision for the future. 

Join them for information, support and to offer suggestions.

Blair 'deserves a funeral as big as Thatcher's'

Despite claims that Britain is unlikely to see another political funeral on the scale of Baroness Thatcher’s, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said he would have no objection to a similar service when Mr Blair passes away.

But the source added: ‘Francis Maude has made it clear he would not object to a similar scale of funeral for Tony Blair, who like Margaret Thatcher did win three general elections.

People can achieve so much more when they work together - UNITE

Unite’s mission is to organise people to strive for a society that places equality, dignity and respect above all else. 

But our union recognises that we can only achieve this if we bring people together from all walks of life. 

Even now in the 21st century, too many people in our country are being pushed to the margins of society. 

They deserve to be heard;they too deserve the support to organise collectively. It is with this in mind that Unite has founded its community membership scheme.

Unite's community membership scheme brings together people from across our society. Those not in employment are welcomed into the union family, adding another dimension to our strength in thousands of workplaces across the UK.

Organising and activism are at the centre of strong communities, which is why Unite’s community membership provides a way people can find and use their political voice.

Whether it is taking a stand against a service closure or coming together to improve your living environment, as a community member, Unite will be on your side.

These are seriously hard times for ordinary people. Incomes, housing, our health, education and legal services – the very pillars of our society for more than 60 years - are now under assault. It is only as standing together that we can defend and improve our lives. 

#Help! We really need you to help us slow down the Tory Destruction of our NHS

Next week will see the NHS face one of its biggest challenges since its creation. 

 In order to get the NHS Bill through parliament last March, the Tories had to promise that they would not race ahead with privatisation. The clause in the Tory NHS bill that allowed for 49% of the NHS to be privatised, we were told, was never likely to become reality and simply academic.

Assurances were given that Free-Market Competition would not be forced upon GPs when they were making commissioning decisions.

It will not come as a surprise to you to learn that the Tories lied. They have in the last few weeks introduced Regulations (S.I., 2013, No. 500) that forces doctors to commission NHS services to private profiteers under AQP (any qualified provider). 

This AQP status is open to virtually any health hustler eager to profit from your ill health.

Their desire to create a profit margin from your ill-health is something I object to in principle, I'll be honest.

Crucially, however, it is also something for which there is no place for in practice.

The NHS is strapped for cash, as the Tories have failed to increase year on year spending as they promised. The NHS is already facing the greatest health pressures of its age. As a result there is simply no room for taxpayers to gift private health firms a profit margin. 

More than ever before, our patients require a cost value and high quality health service. Forcing privatisation and profit into this equation means either cost value or patient safety must suffer. I don't want either to suffer, and I suspect you might agree.

I have created a gadget above (click the link at the top of this post to access the gadget and the rest of this article) that you can use to email your MP.

Please ask them to consider signing Ed Miliband's Early Day Motion (1188) that calls on the Regulations to be annulled. 

You can check if your MP has already signed the EDM by reading the list of MPs who have signed at this link (click here).

The "regs" will be debated in the House of Lords next week. I'll create a gadget in the next day or two that allows you to lobby peers to halt these dastardly clauses that force our Doctors to carve up our health service. 

R.I.P. to #Equality Rights in the UK

R.I.P. to Equality in local and national government, NHS and other state-funded services.

 
Today (Wed 17th April, 2013) is a very sad day for equalities' communities, although you wouldn't know it from the newspapers and media etc today.

 Yesterday (Tuesday 16th April, 2013) in Parliament, the Conservative (coalition) government voted (by 310 v 244) to get rid of the general Equality Duty (to promote and address inequality) that applies to all statutory sector organisations and all those organisations commissioned by them.

 What it means for you...

 You've lost quite a few Equality rights in the UK now, and this effects everyone. Here's what it means for you now:

(1) people’s ability to achieve their potential is limited by prejudice or discrimination.
(2) there is no respect for and protection of each individual’s human rights.
(3) there is no respect for the dignity and worth of each individual.
(4) each individual does not have an equal opportunity to participate in society.
(5) there is no mutual respect between groups based on understanding and valuing of diversity and on shared respect for equality and human rights.

 This important news story, got lost.. got ignored by the UK Press and Media. The only way to tell people about this change, is to blog about it, and make sure the media knows about these changes.

What you need to know about Atos assessments.

Courageous Scottish nurse Joyce Drummond, who made a heartfelt apology to Atos assessment victims, has submitted evidence to the Scottish Parliament Select Committee on Welfare Reform. From Austerity Britain fb page

 Source here at Kitty jones

Anonymous The March To Parliament. (Jarrow Crusade Anon Version)

Saturday, 22 June 2013Northumbria To Parliament London 

This event will see Anonymous march to parliament as did the 200 men in 1936. 

For the same reasons as today so what has changed?? This event will be like no other Anonymous has done before.

This is a walk like no other as the jarrow crusade left from jarrow to parliament . And we as like the rest of this country's people, we are NOT HAPPY! With Government and how this country is dying from with in.

Its people are unhappy and very sleepy with no voice. We will wake them and they will find that voice that will rock parliament and this and future government to its core..

Protest at Thatcher Funeral

The BBC claim there were no protests today. Dear BBC, could you please therefore explain this photograph?

From Éoin Clarke  @DrEoinCl on twitter

Tories block key company libel reforms

Lords amendment to defamation bill that would have prevented corporations from suing their critics removed.

 The Conservatives have succeeded in their attempt to water down defamation laws which would have prevented large companies ranging from McDonald's to Tesco from suing their critics unless they could prove financial losses.

The Conservatives won a vote in the House of Commons to remove a House of Lords amendment to the defamation bill to tighten up the laws which critics say allow corporations to stifle free speech. 

But during the Commons debate, the justice secretary Helen Grant promised to reconsider the amendment after the vote to get the support of the Liberal Democrats. But Labour denounced Grant's concession as a sham and it is almost certain the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Lester, who has led a three-year battle for libel reform, will move to reinstate the amendment when the bill returns to the Lords.

After losing the vote 298 to 230, shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: "The government gave the impression there would be last minute concessions but this has proved false."

Labour MP Paul Farrelly said "the issue here is not just about big corporations which want to bully like McDonalds intimidating the little people just because they could … it's also about the desire of big businesses to silence its critics".

Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley made an impassioned plea with his fellow politicians not to vote to remove this clause said that although case law had established, under the so-called Derbyshire principle, that councils could not sue, this did not extend to private companies such as Atos Healthcare, a company employed by the department of work and pensions, which has threatened disability blogs and websites with legal action. 

Agreeing with Bottomley, Khan said: "Just because a school, prison or hospital is run by a private company doesn't mean it should be insulated from public criticism."

UKIP’s Disappearing Welfare Policy: Claimants are “a parasitic underclass of scroungers”

Even some claimants have been sucked in as the party has gone deliberately quiet about their own welfare policies

 
When @boycottworkfare began tweeting their workfare plans to claimants who thought UKIP might be on our side, they decided to ‘disappear’ their welfare policy summary from their website.

Luckily it was still available on google cache, where it won’t stay for ever so it’s reproduced below. They also forgot to remove the full policy document from their server which can be downloaded here.

This is well worth reading and describes benefit claimants as “a parasitic underclass of scroungers”. 

UKIP’s welfare policies include forced unpaid work for all Housing and Council Tax Benefit claimants, Incapacity Benefit (now ESA) slashed to Job Seeker’s Allowance rates and childcare support for working parents demolished. 

 Don’t trust them.

Margaret Thatcher the tax snatcher? Mystery of her £6m house with links to THREE tax havens

Financial experts said it could have been a scheme which would help her estate avoid millions of pounds in inheritance taxMargaret Thatcher’s £6m London townhouse is owned by a mysterious company with links to THREE notorious tax havens. 

But because her affairs are shrouded in such extraordinary secrecy it may be impossible to find out. The trail leads to offshore businesses in the British Virgin Islands with links to Liechtenstein and Jersey.

The £6million property she lived in for more than 20 years is owned by Bakeland Property Company, based in the BVI. The company’s official address is a PO Box in a small town in Liechtenstein and it had its original roots in St Helier, Jersey.

Any suggestion of avoiding a £2.4m inheritance tax bill will spark outrage following the row over who is paying for Thatcher’s lavish £10m funeral. 

Records at the government’s Land Registry HQ in Croydon, South London showed that on March 29, 2006, Bakeland paid £2,395,807 for the house at Chester Square in Belgravia, London. It is unclear who they purchased the house from because they were also named on the lease when the house was originally bought on October 30, 1991 for a reported £700,000 in 1991.

There are two leases on the property, which a Land Registry source described as “unusual”. The first one was taken out on October 18, 1991, and lasts until December 25, 2030. The second was taken out on July 29 and runs out in 2055. The latest lease mysteriously stated: “The airspace above the building is excluded from the title.”

Tax campaigner Mr Christensen added: “There are huge financial benefits for an offshore company to own a property or leasehold particulaly in connection with stamp duty and inheritance tax. “A company doesn’t die. If a person dies the property has to be passed on to someone else – obviously this is not the case with a company. 

“This can be very beneficial indeed and can save a large amount of money in taxes which would be othewise due.” The Mirror called the British Virgin Financial Services Commission which confirmed that the company which now owns Thatcher’s house had been based there since August 19, 2005. 

Margaret Thatcher Funeral: Five Other Things Which Should Bring A Tear To Osborne's Eye

Here are five other things that might make our lachrymose chancellor want to shed a few more tears.

 
1) WHERE HAVE ALL THE JOBS GONE?

"The total is the worst since last summer," reported the Press Association, "giving the UK a jobless rate of 7.9%."

 2) FALLING OUT OF LOVE WITH THE IMF

On Tuesday, however, the IMF downgraded its growth forecast for the UK by 0.3%, both for this year and next, and called for a Plan B

3) OOPS. THOSE AUSTERITY SUMS WERE ALL WRONG.

In recent years, one of George Osborne's key advisers on austerity has been Harvard economist and ex-IMF official Kenneth Rogoff. On Tuesday we discovered that Rogoff and Reinhardt are wrong.

It turns out that they selectively excluded years of high debt and average growth from their results, used a questionable method to weigh the economies they evaluated and - I kid you not - failed to update a key row formula in an Excel spreadsheet. 

and more ...

Personal Independence Payment: is it fit for purpose?

From the outset, this reform has had a ‘savings first, support second’ approach with an upfront commitment to reduce spend on disability benefits by 20 per cent.

The Government has now estimated that over 600,000 fewer people will qualify for PIP by May 2018 than would have qualified for DLA. This in fact looks more like a cut of 28 per cent – and as a result will strip away the very support that enables many disabled people to be independent and in work. This, and the lack of support for carers, is likely to lead to increased pressure on already over-stretched social care budgets and the NHS.

PIP have been developed using the medical model, which defines the problem of disability as the individual, the impairment (or condition) they have, and the things they can’t do. In contrast, the more inclusive social model of disability recognises that the lack of accessible technology, public transport or services is what limits/prevents disabled people from fully participating in society – not their impairment. For example, a wheelchair user who cannot access a building because it has steps is not ‘disabled’ by their impairment but rather the lack of a ramp.

Disabled people have already taken more than their ‘fair’ share of cuts – more than any other group. Within the next few years, over 600,000 fewer disabled people will get the support they need from disability benefits and risk plunging their households into poverty as a result.

Read more about the PIP assessment and the impact that it will have on advice services in my blog this week. For information and advice on PIP visit CAB Advice Guide

Atos apologises to long-term sick wrongly assessed as fit for work

Healthcare company 'takes complaints seriously' but says it only runs assessments and that decisions are made by the DWP. 

 In her first public interview, Lisa Coleman, the manager who oversees the firm's contract with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), was asked by BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme if she would like to apologise. She replied: "If we get something wrong then I'm very happy to say sorry."But, she added, Atos did not make decisions on what benefits people received, and its responsibility was only with properly conducting the assessments.

"The Department for Work and Pensions make decisions. We don't make decisions."Although the coalition has conceded that the assessments could be improved, there is little doubt that ministers intend to increase their role in the welfare system. 

Ministers claimed last month that 878,000 people who were on incapacity benefit dropped their claim to the payments rather than undergo a tough medical test.

The Conservative party chairman, Grant Shapps, said the figures "demonstrate how the welfare system was broken under Labour and why our reforms are so important". 

 But it later emerged that this figure was calculated by adding up the 20,000 claimants every month who leave the benefit system without undergoing a work capability assessment over four years – which DWP's own research says is largely owing to the fact many people will see an improvement in their condition, or will return to work regardless of whether their condition improves.

A DWP spokesman said: "We are committed to helping thousands of people move from benefits and back into work if they are capable, while giving unconditional support to those who need it.

Thatcher's funeral was a political broadcast

This wasn't simply a funeral. It was a political stunt; a taxpayer funded political broadcast; a triumphalist victory parade.

Along with her friends, loved ones and Britain's political elite, some of the most repellent figures on Earth had generously turned up to pay their respects. One was Henry Kissinger.

 Contrast all this pomp to Clement Attlee: Churchill's deputy prime minister when the country was at war with Hitler, whose party won a higher share of a vote than anything ever achieved by Thatcher's Tories, whose government rebuilt war-ravaged Britain and founded the NHS and welfare state.

His was a modest funeral, attended by 140 guests, which “epitomised Attlee's love of simplicity and directness,” as newspapers put it at the time.

Harold Wilson led Labour to four election victories, and was quietly buried in a Sussex churchyard.

But today, Britain's Age of Austerity was suspended for a day – to remind us which side won.

UK unemployment rise adds to pressure on Osborne's austerity strategy

Unemployment jumped by 70,000 in the three months to the end of February and pay rises registered the lowest increase since 2001, adding to the mounting pressure on George Osborne to adopt a more aggressive growth strategy.

However, a steep fall in manufacturing and construction output this year has undermined hopes of a strong resurgence in growth. The low level of pay rises will be a particular worry to the chancellor after the rate fell to 1%, the lowest since records began in 2001 and well short of the 2.8% inflation rate.

"Overall, the data fuels concern that the labour market's recent strength is fraying as the economy continues to struggle for even modest sustained growth. Meanwhile, earnings growth remained very weak in February. While weak earnings growth is clearly helping to keep unemployment down, the flip-side of this is that it continues to limit consumers' purchasing power.

The Bedroom Tax Movement - A message from Anonymous

Benefits withdrawal led to man’s suicide

A FORMER farm labourer shot himself after learning that his benefits were being stopped, an inquest heard. 

 Nicholas Peter Barker, of Bridge Farm Close, Helmsley, was found dead in his front garden with a shotgun at his feet by his neighbour on December 10 last year.

Mrs Barker said he was due to attend an appeal hearing on December 18 against a decision to stop his benefits. “He was always a happy man and never spoke about private matters in public, so I knew this was worrying him as he had talked about it in front of other people,” she said.

A statement from Mr Barker’s doctor said they had spoken on the phone on December 4 and he had been upset because his benefits were being stopped after an annual assessment as he did not have the required number of points to qualify.

Thatcher's Right to Buy legacy: 40% of ex-council homes owned by private landlords

Nearly 40% of ex-council homes in the London borough of Wandsworth are now in the hands of private landlords, an investigation has revealed. 

Of 15,874 dwellings in council blocks in Wandsworth where tenants acquired the leasehold under Right to Buy, 6,180 are now owned by private landlords who rent them out to private tenants.

"It shows private businesses making vast profits from the public purse while the people these homes were built for sit on waiting lists that never move.

 "To add insult to injury many are using offshore tax havens to avoid paying tax on these profits. "These homes were built and designed to be rented by ordinary London families.

The investigation exposes Mrs Thatcher’s flagship policy of Right to Buy for individuals as nothing more than a charter for the exploitation of our social housing for private profit. Her plan to create a home owning democracy has turned into a “buy to let” bonanza.

Welfare and Cuts: Iain Duncan Smith Caught Out Lying Twice in One Week

From Political Scrapbook

LIE ONE: Iain just loves to claim that Britain is full of inter-generational shirkers: “often three generations of the same family have never worked” Except academics have found that this , errr, isn’t true.

Even the data used by IDS’ own department gives “clear evidence” that even two-generation-never-working-families are rare. Another study sent researchers out to deprived areas of Glasgow and Middlesbrough looking for such a skiving brood — they couldn’t find one.

LIE TWO: The apposite Sun feature shown above provided a platform for IDS to whinge that the BBC were unfairly targeting him — by using the words “cuts” instead of “reform”: 

“The word ‘reform’ very rarely passes their lips but the word ‘cuts’ is always in their broadcasts.” But according to IDS’ own measure, the BBC provides him the most sympathetic coverage of any media outlet in a cross section examined by Scrapbook – proportionately mentioning the word “reform” more than any other in comparison with the word “cuts”:

Npower's three years of zero corporation tax

The boss of energy giant Npower has admitted that the company hasn’t paid UK corporation tax for three years after coming under fire over rising electricity and gas bills from outraged MPs.

Paul Massara, the firm’s chief executive, claimed it was because of a “simple accounting UK rule,” but the news will spark fresh anger at energy firms, which have been accused of forcing millions of ordinary people into fuel poverty while making huge profits while.

Crackdown on the letting agency cheats that demand nefarious amounts in one-off fees

Tenants charged rip-off fees by rogue letting agents will be able to get back unjustified charges.

For the first time, anyone who feels cheated by extortionate costs can complain to an independent property regulator with powers to force agents to hand back unfair fees.

The clampdown on unscrupulous middlemen, announced yesterday by the Government, comes as the numbers renting soars.

There are 3.84million households renting in England, up from 1.9million in 2001.


Landlords typically pay a letting agent to act as a go-between with tenants. But some greedy middlemen charge as much as £500 in non-refundable fees for basic administration tasks, such as a credit and reference check.

Other tricks include forcing the tenant to pay for an inventory check when they move in and then again when they leave the property.

Reputable agents split this half and half with the landlord.

In October, Money Mail warned how tenants are being forced to stump up £2,200 in fees and deposits before they can move in.

Then, when they move out, agents are increasingly trying to hold on to the deposit unfairly. The problem has intensified with hundreds of small-scale unregulated agencies springing up in cities such as London and Birmingham.

Four in ten letting agents operate outside of a protection scheme, so either the tenant pays up or has to take the company to court.

The new rules will force every agent to sign up to a government-approved ombudsman-style service. Agents that refuse will face fines and a ban from trading.

Campaign for Benefit Justice

The Benefit Justice Campaign brings together organisations, campaigns, and individuals to fight the vicious benefit cuts hitting millions across the UK. On the 19th January over thirty tenant groups, trades unions, disabled people and community organisations, campaigns and networks met to draft a joint statement (below). On the 9th March we met again in London to coordinate and work out the next steps we plan to take.

Follow them on twitter.

Follow their blog here.

Harrogate council says bedroom tax may help homeless

A report to be considered by councillors in Harrogate says encouraging people to move to smaller homes could free them up for larger families and they could be used to help the growing number of rough sleepers - sometimes sent to B&Bs or to Leeds as there is not enough temporary accommodation in the district.

Andy Kirk, leader of the Harrogate Homeless Project’s No Second Night Out scheme, which provides emergency shelter to those at risk, told the Yorkshire Post “shocking” number of people were coming through the doors of its hostel.

“We, of course, have a lot of people with issues historically associated with homelessness such as drug and alcohol dependency. But there is a real shift from this group to people who have found themselves homeless following relationship breakdowns, redundancy or being asked to leave by family and friends – basically through no fault of their own,” he said.

Notts Bedroom Tax Campaign

The Notts Bedroom Tax Campaign was founded on Saturday 16th March at the first rally against the Bedroom Tax in Nottingham.

 Our aim is to defeat the tax in our area by whatever means are necessary. 

Petition, rally, appeal letter, eviction prevention – however far it goes, we will stop it.

We need to organise everyone in Nottingham and surrounding areas who is affected by the Bedroom Tax – and everyone who isn’t affected but who sympathises and wants to add their name and energy to the fight.

We need to get into every social housing estate and inform every householder that they are not alone, and they will not have to lose their home – that it’s possible to defeat the tax, if we all work together.

Join the facebook group here. 

Join them on twitter here.

Labour’s real guarantee: Workfare

Last week saw the Labour Party announce its own form of workfare: the Job Guarantee.

 
Labour, who introduced workfare and welfare reform into the UK whilst in government, now guarantees a number of things: It guarantees that yet again politicians will give billions of taxpayers’ money to subsidise big private businesses – probably the likes of failing and government contract reliant A4E, and workfare-users ASDA – helping them to drive up their profit margins.

It guarantees to further undermine real job vacancies as companies replace job roles with subsidised compulsory short-term placements.

Some in Labour realise exactly what workfare means and are privately aghast at this policy initiative.

While Labour join in promoting the idea that everyone who is unemployed is a scrounging benefits cheat, the fact is that spending on JSA is just 3% of the DWP’s budget. 

The majority of the social security budget is spent on pensions, and paying in-work benefits to those in work on low wages, wages made lower all the time by workfare.

Yet ignoring such facts, this year one MP has promised that Labour will launch a ‘Workers not Shirkers’ campaign, guaranteeing to boost government spin which demonises those who are unemployed. Labour guarantees workfare. We guarantee to fight it.

NHS boss warns charges will have to be considered

Any future government will have to consider charging people to use the NHS unless Britain’s economy strengthens, the chair of NHS England has warned.

“It’s not my responsibility to introduce new charging systems but it’s something which a future government will wish to reflect [on], unless the economy has picked up sufficiently, because we can anticipate demand for NHS services rising by about 4 to 5 per cent per annum,” Professor Grant said.

 He added that it was not up to him to decide where any future funding would come from.

 The NHS has been charged with making £20 billion in efficiency savings by 2015.

Chris Grayling MP - Benefit Scrounger & Hypocrite

Leeds City Centre - Demo APRIL 20th

Saturday, 20 April 201312:00Victoria Gardens (Outside Leeds Art Gallery)Stop the Bedroom Tax - No Evictions! 

 Organised by Hands Off Our Homes. 

Big Demo in Leeds City Centre calling for no evictions due to the bedroom tax and an axing of the tax.

Together we can defend our homes! This is a protest to show our strength and what can happen if we get together and get organised.

We have not got all the details yet except it will be on the Saturday, April 20th and it will be in Leeds City centre but check here for updates, save the date and spread the word.

We want this to be BIG! How you can help: - Click 'invite friends' above and invite anyone who might be interested. - Share this event on your wall - Spread it by word of mouth - get in touch with us (handsoffourhomes@gmail.com) to help put up posters and flyer around heavily effected areas in Leeds. 

Even the smallest amount of work will help!

Birmingham Benefit Justice Campaign Protest 12 Noon Saturday 20 APRIL

People of Birmingham get off your backsides and support this, stand up for your rights, the more the merrier 

Poole council leader accused of “scaremongering” after painting picture of ‘financial apocalypse’

WITH a £2.4million budget surplus likely at the end of this financial year, Poole’s council leader has been accused of “scaremongering”.

 
But Cllr Elaine Atkinson, whose proposed 1.94 per cent council tax rise was outvoted at the budget meeting, says the borough is still teetering on the edge of a financial “abyss”. 

Liberal Democrat, Cllr Phil Eades, said the figure could rise even further when the final accounts are produced next month. 

“It was scaremongering in the least for the leader to paint a picture of financial apocalypse at February’s budget meeting when she should have known the extent of the current year’s profit made at the expense of the people of Poole,” he said.

“This figure proves that the council would have been vastly overcharging local residents if council tax had risen as the ruling Conservative group wanted and voted for.

People can be thankful Lib Dem and Poole People councillors voted this out and froze the tax again.” Cllr Atkinson warned: “We really are on a financial abyss” and reiterated her fears that the council could face bankruptcy in future. 

“The reason the Conservatives wanted to put up council tax wasn’t so we could fill the coffers,” she said. The budget was not a “short term one-year view that assumed the bucket was full on April 1 2012 and should be empty on March 31 2013.”

There were enormous pressures from both children’s and adult social services. “We still have to find over £14m over the next three years in savings and cuts and accepting a council tax freeze grant puts that up to just under £17m.” 

She said much of the surplus came from arrangements with the NHS, including the health service picking up the care costs of people with continuing health care needs and the transfer of psychological services.

Free school meals may be scrapped by councils under 'tidal wave' of cuts

Think-tank warns of 'a tidal wave of cuts that makes the 1980s look like a day at the beach'

 

Free school meals could soon be scrapped and people paid to look after elderly neighbours as councils take desperate measures to deliver a “tidal wave” of spending cuts, ministers will be warned on Tuesday. 

Closures of municipal theatres, leisure centres, libraries and play groups will accelerate because of a 50 per cent reduction in local authorities’ spending power, according to a report from an independent think-tank.

The New Local Government Network said town halls will struggle to cope with a £16.5bn gulf which could, under current Coalition plans, open between their income and the demands on them.

The disparity will leave them facing huge problems meeting their commitments to care for the millions of “baby boomers” reaching old age and educate growing numbers of children. 

The financial pressures could become so acute that ordinary householders could even be paid to look after elderly and vulnerable neighbours as a cheaper alternative to employing skilled carers, the organisation speculates.

Forest YMCA offers converted shipping containers to homeless

Young homeless people in east London could soon be living in converted shipping containers as part of plans to help them save up for permanent homes. 

The containers, which cost £20,000 each, will see residents pay 30% of the minimum wage - about £75 per week. 

They have a bed, television, small kitchen and a toilet and shower. Charity Forest YMCA hopes the temporary accommodation will act as a "stepping stone" for young people moving towards independent living.

 No deposit will be needed and the charity hopes to pay for them through donations and government funding.

Forest YMCA has run a trial of the project for the past nine months in a car park while it applies for permanent planning permission for sites in Leytonstone and Walthamstow. About 120 people are on the waiting list.

Ouch! It's a Disability Thing

Ouch! is a blog and internet talk show which goes beyond the headlines to reflect disability life. Add your comments to the frequent posts here, and listen to the podcast every month.

David Cameron hands bankers who fuelled credit crunch £1.9billion tax break

Chancellor George Osborne’s decision to cut corporation tax for big businesses has gifted fat cat City firms another £300million at the same timeDavid Cameron has handed bankers who fuelled the credit crunch a £1.9billion tax break, the Government’s own figures show. 

 The Prime Minister’s levy on the banks has brought in £1.6billion less than he promised over the last two years. And Chancellor George Osborne’s decision to cut corporation tax for big businesses has gifted fat cat City firms another £300million at the same time. 

The shocking figures come after Mr Osborne slashed income tax for the super-rich from 50p to 45p while hitting the poor and needy with benefit cuts. 

 Shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie, who unearthed them, said it was outrageous that the Tories are rewarding their mates in the City while families struggle.

The Labour MP is set to tackle ministers about the bankers tax break in the Commons tomorrow. And he said: “This is effectively a tax cut of nearly £2 billion for the banks at a time when millions of working people are being forced to pay the price for this government’s economic failure.

Disability Rights UK

Disability Rights UK works to create a society where everyone with lived experience of disability or health conditions can participate equally as full citizens. 

 
We are disabled people leading change to: Mobilise disabled people’s leadership and control – in our own lives, our organisations and society.

Achieve independent living in practice Break the link between disability and poverty Put disability equality and human rights into practice across society

Our Mission: We strengthen the voice of disabled people to make our rights real, as an effective national organisation led by people with a wide range of impairments or health conditions. 

Disability Rights UK was formed through a unification of Disability Alliance, Radar and National Centre for Independent Living on 1 January 2012.

Letwin: 'NHS will not exist under Tories'

Oliver Letwin has reportedly told a private meeting that the "NHS will not exist" within five years of a Conservative election victory.

The remarks, which have been furiously denied by Mr Letwin, were last night seized on by Labour as evidence of the Tories' true intentions towards the NHS.

It is not disputed that Mr Letwin met a gathering of construction industry representatives in his constituency of Dorset West on 14 May. During the meeting he urged the group of around six local businessmen to work together to win contracts for a new PFI hospital to be built in Dorchester.

Mr Letwin then astonished his audience, however, by saying that within five years of a Conservative election victory "the NHS will not exist anymore", according to one of those who were present.

Although Mr Letwin's aides later insisted that his remarks had been misinterpreted, it is the second time in recent weeks that his candour has landed him in trouble.

The Full Facts Forum

The Full Facts

A guide to ESA and ATOS claim form, and medical examination assessments.

This is excellent forum for information and support.

Disabled People Against Cuts

Benefit Justice Summit 2 Sat 11 May 11 am Central Hall Westminster

 

DPAC is about disabled people and their allies. DPAC is UK based but we know that disabled people in other countries are suffering from austerity cuts and a lack of fundamental rights.

We welcome all to join us in fighting for justice and human rights for all disabled people. 

Disabled people should not be the scapegoats for the financial mistakes of governments, should not be constantly told that there is no money to support them by millionaire politicians. 

We will not tolerate further erosion of our living conditions or our human rights, nor will we sit quietly while they try to take our rights away.

Personal Experience from Gina Ravens

I had gone to see her, was due to ATOS. I had waited some time for this.

First came the telephone call to tell me I was to receive a form and to be sure I was clear as to what that meant. A few weeks later, at the beginning of March, the form arrived, with a deadline return date of 1st April. That seemed like plenty of time on the surface, let me tell you how things went.

...

The need of Government to reduce expenditure is irrelevant to the people who require state support because they are too ill to work. Let government find a solution to their requirements without endangering the vulnerable. Let’s be really fair, not just fair from the perspective of the wealthy.

May 2nd: UK Uncut VS.HMRC/ Goldman Sachs

On Thursday May 2nd UK Uncut Legal Action will be going head-to-head in the High Court with HMRC over their sweetheart deal with Goldman Sachs.

Our lawyers from Leigh Day & Co will be arguing that HMRC must face a day of reckoning for breaking their own rules when letting banking giant Goldman Sachs off at least £10 million in interest on a tax dispute.

Our aim is for the High Court to declare that the agreement reached by HMRC with Goldman Sachs was unlawful.

If we win our case it will send a clear message to HMRC – rich and powerful corporations must not make and break the rules.

The Welfare News Service

The Welfare News Service is a news provider and aggregator service and was born out of the lack of news providers dedicated to welfare related news stories in areas such as welfare benefits, the NHS , Education and Social Justice, among many others. 

 It’s time that this gap was filled and so we have set up this site in the attempt to help keep as many people informed as possible as to what is happening in the world of welfare news.

The Welfare News Service scours the press and wider media to locate all the biggest news stories so that you don’t have to. With fresh news appearing all the time it is never difficult to locate the next big scoop.

Benefit cap from 2013

This content applies to England only. From April 2013, the 'benefit cap' puts an overall limit on the total amount of welfare benefits many people can claim.

 
Find out how the benefit cap could affect you, and what action you can take if it does.The benefit cap was introduced in four London boroughs on 15 April 2013. 

It will be extended to the rest of the UK over the summer months.

Under the benefit cap, the total amount of benefits that can be received by any individual or family will be limited to a maximum amount of: £500 per week for single parents and couples with children £350 per week for single people.

Housing benefit will be reduced to prevent the total benefits received going above these limits. You will probably be affected by the benefit cap if you are out of work and claiming benefits such as income support, jobseeker's allowance, employment and support allowance. 

Housing benefit counts towards the maximum amount of benefit that can be paid. The cap won't apply to you if you work enough hours to be eligible for working tax credit. Some other groups of people also won't be affected.

Black Triangle Anti-Defamation Campaign in Defence of Disability Rights

To defend, protect and fight for humanity with disability. 

  
Motto: "Disabled People Fighting for Our Future ; Custodians of Our Past"

 
This group is established to galvanise opposition to the current vicious attack on the rights of the disabled by the Government using "Work Capability Assessments" to re-classify genuinely sick and disabled individuals as "fit for work"

Coalition of Resistance: Can't Pay, Won't Pay

The Coalition of Resistance supports all national and local anti-cuts events.

As you are no doubt aware, the welfare state is under enormous threat from the current government. A new broad-based Coalition of Resistance has been formed to resist the cuts, and put forward an alternative agenda.

 The Coalition of Resistance has today issued a statement calling for a mass campaign against the Con-Dem cuts and associated attacks on the welfare state, and has already been signed by dozens of trade unionists and activists (see below for a list of the signatories).

We are now asking others to join us.