Restart Reboot Reskill

 

This Blogger will be vigilant and publish as soon as it is published. 

“The government’s Plan for Jobs is helping millions of people across the country who have been directly impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19). We know that those who have been out of work for longer periods might need extra help to move back into employment.

The new £2.9 billon Restart scheme announced at the Spending Review on 25 November 2020, will give Universal Credit claimants who have been out of work for at least 12 months enhanced support to find jobs in their local area. Restart will break down any employment barriers that could be holding them back from finding work. Providers will work with employers, local government and other partners to deliver tailored support for individuals.

Referrals will be made over a 3-year period and Restart will benefit more than 1 million Universal Credit claimants who are expected to look for and be available for work but have no sustained earnings. The scheme will provide up to 12 months of tailored support for each participant. Early access can be considered on a case by case basis where conversations with a work coach suggest this is the most appropriate route for the individual.

Commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Restart will be delivered across England and Wales in 12 different Contract Package Areas. Providers on Tier 1 of DWP’s refreshed Commercial Agreement for Employment and Health Related Services framework (CAEHRS) will be invited to bid. “

 

 

 

 

 

The Tier one providers

Lot 1 – Central England

• Adecco Working Ventures
• Maximus UK Services Limited
• Reed in Partnership
• People Plus Group Ltd
• WISE Ability
• Pinnacle Housing Limited
• Serco Group
• Jobs 22 Ltd

Lot 2 – North East

• Adecco Working Ventures
• Capita Group Plc
• Ingeus UK Ltd
• Maximus UK Services Limited
• People Plus Group Ltd
• Pinnacle Housing
• Reed in Partnership
• Serco Group

Lot 3 – North West

• Adecco Working Ventures
• Capita Group Plc
• Ingeus
• Fedcap Employment Limited
• Maximus UK Services Limited
• People Plus Group
• Reed in Partnership
• G4S Regional Management (UK&I)

Lot 4 – Southern England

• Capita Group Plc
• People Plus Goup
• Pinnacle Housing
• Serco Group
• Ingeus UK Ltd
• Reed in Partnership
• Fedcap Employment Limited
• Seetec Pluss Ltd

Lot 5 – London and the Home Counties

• Ingeus
• Maximus UK Services Limited
• People Plus Group
• Pinnacle Housing
• Reed in Patnership
• Serco Group
• G4S Regional Management (UK&I)
• Shaw Trust

Lot 6 – Wales

• Adecco Working Futures
• Capita Group Plc
• Fedcap Employment Limited
• Serco Group
• Jobs 22 Ltd

Lot 7 – Scotland

• Capita Group Plc
• Fedcap Employment Limited
• Ingeus UK Limited
• Maximus UK Services Limited
• People Plus Group

Many of these will now contact other local organisations to help them implement on a local level.

“The third phase of the government’s plan will be set out in the autumn with measures to support the longer-term recovery through a Budget and a Spending Review. These will detail further plans to invest in public services, to support innovation and growth-enhancing infrastructure with a National Infrastructure Strategy, to seize global opportunities and to level up opportunity across every region and nation of the UK.”

Kim Chamberlain Associate Director for Work had this to say:

“I am hopeful though that the Restart Programme could provide the framework within which the right response for workers in this older age group can be crafted. It’s important for our economy and for the individuals concerned that we do not let this slip – and at the Centre for Ageing Better we would be happy to help where we can. 

Prior to COVID-19 the employment rate amongst the over 50s was rising. As healthy life expectancy increased more people were looking to extend their working life with the result that nearly third of the workforce was over 50. In March this year 41% of men and 32% of women were still working at 65. Back then we also knew that 300,000 people aged between 50 and 65 were out of work but wanted to work. We cannot hide from the fact that as a population the UK is ageing and we need people to remain active for longer for our economy to work. 

We all welcomed the extension of furlough for what will be a full 12 months, but as much as it is helping, it is also masking the reality of who actually has a job to return to and who is effectively redundant.  Over the summer we saw that furlough had affected younger workers and older workers more than the people in the middle age range but by September we could also see that older workers were the least likely to have returned to work when rules were relaxed. It is tempting to think that these people are taking time to sort out their retirement options, but our research shows that COVID-19 has adjusted older workers’ expectations. Significantly, a minority of older workers employed immediately before the crisis are now retired: 6% of those aged 66-70 and 11% of those aged 71 and older, but one in eight (13%) of over 50s have changed their retirement plans as a result of the pandemic. 8% planning to retire later (tend to have seen their pensions value decrease, and/or working from home)​. 5% planning to retire earlier (tend to be wealthier and/or those furloughed).The upshot of all this is that in March 2021 we are likely to see a large number of older jobseekers flowing off furlough to look for work who have not been near the labour market in over 12 months. Many from lower income groups will need to work for longer than they had previously anticipated because their pension value has reduced.  It’s also likely that they will be coming out of sectors that are in decline and so many will need to reskill to move into a new sector. By then they are likely to have many of the characteristics that develop with being long-term unemployed, such as a loss of confidence and a need to brush up digital skills. However, media coverage suggested that under the proposed Restart Programme, they wouldn’t be eligible for support for a further 12 months.  This group will be large enough and important enough to merit a tailored service, which could include products such as pensions advice which are specific, perhaps even exclusive to the group.”

This Blogger expects more to be released in the new year via the green Paper

Update Contracts finally announced

https://www.base-uk.org/news/restart-contract-winners-announced

No Going Back,The New Normal Is Coming

 

 

 

 

 

 

This month we have seen the stark reality of future issues which has been exacerbated by Covid -19 crisis. This blog is going to be a long non sugar coated one.

We have seen both of main parties reject a citizens income a version of UBI, while others push the idea forward as a panacea to deal with the fallout of Covid 19 and Brexit and an economy that’s in free fall. The gap between rich and poor has never been wider since the great depression.

I would be the first to stick the boot into the Tory government and they have made some serious errors and mismanaged the crisis on a grand scale, but in all fairness we are dealing with an invisible enemy that is wiping out millions of the world’s population and it changes constantly which is not always the governments fault as they try to react accordingly.

Let’s be honest this airborne virus is going no place soon and until we have an effective vaccine millions more will meet their demise prematurely. Meanwhile the present government is trying and failing to manage precious NHS resources in a stage managed scenario to stagger deaths and hospital admission so the NHS doesn’t snap in two. We have NHS staff dying from this Virus alongside patients, many of our elderly and disabled are by far the worst affected groups due to co morbidity issues, and beds and equipment in short supply across the UK and care homes are a breeding ground for those discharged from hospitals having supposedly recovered or enabling the spread.that’s without schools and universities and pubs adding to the mix.

The world economy has crashed as many have lost their jobs plunging them off a financial cliff as government spends a small fortune trying to plug the holes in a sinking vessel of capitalism. The left have become a blunt tool to tackle this crisis; meanwhile we have various other factions on the street protesting about their rights for being enforced into staying home to protect others.

Anti- mask, anti- vax , covid denying eejits are swarming the streets around the country acting as super spreader events, by spreading it to their families and others in their communities because they have been told ‘NO’ (which they are not used to hearing) and a mental health crisis is emerging because they are not used to having wide ranging freedoms curtailed. This really is a matter of life or death for some people and the utter disregard for each other as Thatcher’s Individualism shows its true ugliness of the failure of social responsibility as a society towards others more vulnerable than ourselves.

So let’s get down to the ‘nitty gritty’ of this last month, where we have see huge rises in hate crimes, massive rises in unemployment as businesses go into administration plunging many into the abyss of Universal Credit, Debt, and financial and food insecurity.

Those on the sharp end of the stick of welfare reforms for the last decade know fine well what a cruel and arbitrary system Universal Credit is, but many who have never claimed a penny of state support in their life are about to get the sharpest learning curve of their lives.

Covid has shown some of them via the furlough scheme, grants etc the government put in place what a utter shit show this really is and the government bowed to pressure of giving an extra £20 week to those on furlough while leaving others on Legacy benefits minus the little bit extra yet still expected to meet the demands of their household expenditure,  which is still rising  as basic costs rise exponentially. Some were unable to claim anything at all, due to either their savings or having a partner still in work, and the self employed cut adrift in many cases with nothing to live off. Their only way of survival is via a food bank or relatives generosity to bail them out until they get money in. This government is oblivious to the many types of hardship that working families are facing and they are all ill prepared post Brexit , post Covid to deal with the consequences . They are used to be able to manage and have a income to meet the family’s needs,  unless you are on zero contract low income or in need of state support then sadly you fall into the abyss.

This week the house of lords have launched a scathing report  on Universal Credit demanding change and saying it isn’t working, well we could have told you that early 2013 when it was passed into law. Despite many claimants, agencies etc  this reform and its multiple problems continue even with the constant changes which left many without vital support and in some cases resulting in deaths of claimants. There have been lots of changes but the administration of this benefit has been a disaster of mammoth proportions, from falsifying assessment reports by the contractors involved, to the 5 week wait, to grants being turned into loans which have to be paid back.

Covid has exposed it’s flaws even further yet millions are being forced to claim it or face destitution. The government currently has 480,000 vacancies for the 3.1 million unemployed and yet still rollout the work and health program and insist work pays.

“As of July 2020, there were as estimated 5.6 million people in UC, around 42 per cent were in the ‘Searching for Work’ conditionality group. 2.4 million new starts had been made on UC between 13 March and 14 May 2020. “

Well it might if you have a job that pays a decent wage, but for many the unemployment rate even by most conservative estimates of 5-7 million will continue to rise as the economy collapses further. Then the Centre of Social Justice  this week which is Iain Duncan Smiths project think tank says, ok we know we are failing and must try harder to get people into work so give us 460 million each year for next 5yrs to ensure we can push people into non -existent jobs or onto work and health programs to ensure those who need to get skills and park the many on basically schemes to retrain them at the cheapest cost, which we all know are ‘parking schemes’ who won’t be counted in unemployment figures. This Government has done nothing but spaff billions of taxpayers’ money on various projects which achieve very little by their own admission over the last decade.

 ‘Universal Support MKII ‘ will be rolled out January if not already which includes changes to Troubled families program ,IPS,IAPT,Social Prescribing, work and health schemes where individuals can get a key worker and a myriad of services which refer individuals via GPs, NHS, and local authorities who pass the buck to third sector contracts to deliver local support on the ground to push you into work.

Guess who they are blaming again …….Yes you for not trying hard enough!

Mind you I’m hearing they are recruiting benefit claimants for the many work coach/advisor vacancies they need to fill , as most of the decent staff are leaving in droves plus many other roles they need to fill so if you are lucky and fit criteria they might give you a job to hound the crap out of others .

The new mantra is Rethink, Reskill, ,Reboot  or Jobs Jobs Jobs, Build Britain Back, Resilience bullshit. Boris thinks he Churchill but he will go down in history as King Canute .

Yes I know I have probably got many of you to rather depressed if you wasn’t already, but these are the harsh realities we all have to face in the future if we survive the onslaught of this Virus , Brexit etc the world has changed and there is no going back. We cannot find the solutions until we have stability which is not going to be anytime soon. Many are trying to redesign the system of the welfare state Most if not all will fail, because the government is clear and intent on keeping Universal Credit,  and the Work and Health program to ram those unfortunate not to have work or be able to work into abject poverty while blaming them for their circumstances and absolving themselves from failure and responsibility to protect the people of this country who find themselves in a situation they did not create.

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/core/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CSJJ8435-Universal-Credit-Universal-Support-201007.pdf

Independent Disability Studies Researcher Takes Aim At Social Security Commission Led by Experts by Experience

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guest Blog by Mo Stewart

Mo Stewart Is the UK lead researcher and project manager  for the Preventable Harm Project which was completed in Nov 2019 following ten years of independent research has challenged the newly set up commission. It is in itself is a good idea, however  Mo  points out that they have missed a few obvious things. Pushing user led disability ideas to the forefront is commendable and long overdue but are they realistically achievable  given so far no party has shown any great interest in the needs of disabled people in practice, just asked for ideas and what needs changing and then consigned it to the shelves of Westminster to gather dust. Leading academics have already demolished the (WCA) assessment process as flawed .

 

Read this Submission Below

To Read More of Mo Stewarts research please go to   https://www.mostewartresearch.co.uk/

https://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/about-us/centre-fellows/mo-stewart.html

Transitional Payment -Mobility Loan Sharks

 

 

 

 

 

In 2012  The government announced it was scrapping DLA and replacing it with PIP.  It sent shock waves around disabled peoples movement at yet another change after the move to ESA and all the problems that caused. So the Government and Motability Scheme released a  joint statement, assuring disabled people that nobody would lose out and that a transitional support package would help people if they lost their awards under the introduction of PIP, to remain mobile. The Package had  two options dependent on when you joined the scheme, disabled people would be compensated for the loss of a vehicle so many rely on to live independently in their communities.

 

So when my transfer to this new benefit came and I was invited to apply for PIP in 2018 I went through the motions like so many before me. I Lost my award after 20 yrs so I challenged it firstly via Mandatory Reconsideration and ended up at the appeal stage, which I finally won. During these challenging processes I was contacted by DWP /Motability to say my award was ending. So I rang Motability as I knew I was eligible for one of the two transitional Packages but wanted an explanation in detail to help me choose the right one for me and try to stay mobile and attend my appointments and socialize with friends. I spoke to a very helpful man who advised me that option two would be better support for me while awaiting decision outcome of my challenges as I was concerned about if my challenges failed I would owe them money which I hadn’t got and he said they could extend it to 26 weeks and longer in required. So I told him this is option 2  I would take based on the information he provided as I had recently had eye surgery and was blind temporarily hence my call.

So Today I went to look at returning to the scheme at my preferred dealer to order a new vehicle. going through all usual documentation my application was submitted and rejected. This confused both myself and the agent who has known me since joining the scheme so he said it a glitch I’ll ring them, which he did.  What transpired was a restriction was on my account and he was put through to someone who could explain this. Imagine my horror when it was relayed to me that this restriction was because I owed them £1570.90p which I had not received any correspondence about for more than 12 mths and that DWP had also not advised me that should I get back payments I would have to settle this with Motability. Unless I’m mistaken Option 1  take the money and run and after 6 mth rejoin at no additional cost seems unjust. Now I don’t mind paying what I owe if I know about it!

 

I understood the reduction in the option 2 I had chosen were to cover the monthly payments for the continued use of my vehicle. Guess what it doesn’t! This package in effect is a ‘loan’  until you get award back  and repayable and until this debt is paid you are not able to return to the scheme. Even the agent was shocked as in all his many years he had never come across this with other clients. Imagine I was pretty angry firstly at the misleading advice given I couldn’t read it until my eye had healed, and secondly at DWP for not advising  claimants that if they were on the scheme then some of this back payment would have to settle the repayable debt which I didn’t know of. Both are equally as Guilty as the other. I’m very lucky as a  close friend  remedied the impasse which still leaves me in debt for a long time with them, but enables me to have a vehicle to suit my needs. I went onto the Motability site to hunt down the quotes at the end of this blog and also state it is in the letters sent to the claimant, but given at time I couldn’t read anything seems a bit pointless after the fact. So please be very careful to read the small print as nobody seems to talk to each other and are separate entities, unconnected, when it suits.

 

So I ask other disabled people  who have been affected to please contact DPAC if you have had a similar experience. Email mail@dpac.uk.net

This blogger has emailed the Work & Pensions Committee demanding clarity for claimants and for them to ensure changes are afoot. Yet another example of poor communication and disabled people getting shafted when they have so little in the first place.

I Hope Motabilty Patrons IDS and Theresa May are happy with themselves shafting disabled people day in day out they must piss themselves laughing every night especially the former.

 

See Below Quote from the Motobility website

 

How much financial support can I expect as a car customer?

“If you became a Scheme customer by 31 December 2012 and return the car to the dealership in good condition and within eight weeks of the DLA payments stopping, you will be eligible for a one-off £2,000 transitional support payment. However, to give you more time to consider alternative mobility arrangements you can choose to keep the vehicle for 26 weeks after the DLA payments stop, but if you choose this option your transitional support payment will be reduced to £500.

If you first became a Scheme customer between January and December 2013, or you rejoined the Scheme during this period following at least a one year break, and return the car to the dealership in good condition and within eight weeks of the DLA payments stopping, you will be eligible for a one-off £1,000 transitional support payment. This reduced, yet still significant, amount is because information on the Government’s plans for PIP has been publicly available since this point. Alternatively you can choose to keep the vehicle for 26 weeks but your transition support payment will be reduced to £250.

Please note that there are only two transitional support payment options for returning the car – at eight weeks or at 26 weeks and the relevant transitional support payment will apply regardless of if the car is returned between the eight to 26 week period.

Will I be penalised for ending the leasing agreement early?

No further rental payments or costs will be applied to customers whose leases end early as a result of a PIP reassessment.

If I apply for PIP in the future and am successful, will I need to pay this money back?

This is a one-off support package to help with the transition from the Scheme and we do not expect that you’ll need to pay this back if you are later awarded PIP. However, if you decide to rejoin the Scheme within six months of receiving the transitional support package, you will need to speak to us to discuss your options.

If you are later awarded the Enhanced Rate Mobility Component of PIP you may receive a backdated payment from the DWP covering the period of time from when your allowance stopped. Should this period cover time when you still had a Motability Scheme vehicle, we will ask you to repay this period to us if you wish to re-join or remain on the Scheme.”

If you became a customer from 1 January 2014, or you rejoined the Scheme during this period following at least a one year break, you will be eligible for a £1000 stopped allowance support payment, if you return the car to the dealership in good condition and within eight weeks of the DLA payments stopping.

Please make sure that both the DWP and Motability Operations Ltd have your correct contact details so there is no delay if we need to send you information regarding your support package, where eligible.

 

Update: 25th Feb.   Take the 2k and rejoin scheme after 6 mths you dont pay it back,  Option 2 take £500 pay it back out any back payments, but if you dont rejoin the scheme you pay back sweet FA and if you dont rejoin the scheme you pay nothing back and Motability dont chase the outstanding debt? How much is that costing?  DWP are invoiced weekly by Motability so I was informed today they kindly gave me a list of payments too.

Independent Researcher Blasts Secretary of State Coffey over DWP Indifference to Preventable Harm

 

 

 

 

 

Mo Stewart Author of Cash not Care and Independant Researcher, who has been a continued supporter of disabled people, being a Disabled Veteran and Health Professional herself, has lashed out at the continued injustice metered out to disabled people via  her ‘Preventable Harm Project’ over the last decade.

 

In the evidence recently given to the WPSC, the DWP Permanent Secretary celebrated the success of the roll out of Universal Credit (UC).

Apparently, all is well, ‘customers’ are quite happy with their experience, and the Secretary of State uses her much celebrated PhD in science to analyse various aspects of UC that will help people chose their dream job and improve their ‘careers’…. Oh dear….

https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/d8df2ad7-4c03-45be-a922-b077d4c0e537   (WPSC live evidence session 16^th Oct 2019)

Now Therese Coffey’s claiming that ‘Universal Credit is the biggest change programme in Europe, and the UK is seen as a world leader in welfare…’

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2019-10-31.HCWS66.h&s=welfare+reform#gHCWS66.0

 

Time for a reality check, so I dropped the Permanent Secretary a line.

Letter to Peter Schofield

DWP Permanent Secretary

https://www.mostewartresearch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/REDACTED-letter-Peter-Schofield-DWP-Permanent-Secretary-DWP.pdf

To look at her website please click the link: https://www.mostewartresearch.co.uk/

Health Transformation Programme – The Next Step

Reader Trigger Warning for those with sensitive disposition >>>>

Since March 2019 the mutterings of  merging assessments has been muted which sent shivers through people with disabilities as they felt another onslaught was coming and saw this as a negative move. Its linked in part to Health and Work Programme too, which Department of Health combined to help design,  to enable DWP plans to close the disability employment gap and get more people into work. This doesn’t exclude other groups in society as it all part of welfare reforms and part of Universal Credit  and Social Prescribing is likely to be part of this complex joined up thinking by the government.

Contracts were first noticed in 2019 when the then Minister was Amber Rudd made a statement  on Improvements to Universal Credit, so when I went looking and  it’s part of ‘Intergrated Health Assessment Services’ Contract.

I remembered reading about it in the government 2016  ‘Improving Lives’ the work,health and disability Green Paper,which like most things are slipped in under the radar, by the DWP Ninja’s with the date of 2021 start date. I also recall IDS flunky Charlotte Pickles writing about it and Dame Carol Black in think tank reports way back and Pickles has just been given a new post too.  This week Theresa Coffey the new minister being grilled about  by the DWP Select Committee about universal failures of Universal Credit, where she lost the plot when Frank Field  challenged the minister ,and she blurted out they were not uncaring they were trying to make things better quoting the previous ministers statement, which jogged my memory. So off I went down the rabbit hole which is my archive documents to search for these mutterings.

OBR & Rudd

“The idea of of this was the cost involved in repeat assessments which were costing the DWP millions when 72% of PIP appeals were overturned according to Rudd and ESA appeals on top were also very successful,which seriously highlighted the administration of this in turn cost the taxpayer a small fortune. Contracted assessors should have been shown the door and financially penalized, but no this government instead extended those contracts to continue carrying out the assessments while they still were getting the majority wrong. The OBR report showed:

“The admission, quietly revealed in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) economic outlook report, suggests the DWP never had sufficient staffing levels to carry out the repeat assessments for personal independent payments (PIP) alongside its other workloads.Repeat assessments to check eligibility for PIP, a benefit intended to help pay for extra living costs as a result of having a disability or long term condition, have been labelled “unnecessary and stressful” for claimants.

Those transferring from DLA to PIP were also being failed adding to the pressure in the dept and like it or not Rudd was one of the better ministers to hold this post before quitting over Brexit.”

The issue is as Coffey announced they are looking at more reforms, the new forms designs, the IT structure to enable this project will cost more taxpayers money but also cost disabled people a lot more in terms of stress. Is it for instance one assessment which means you are eligible for both benefits as suggested by many in field, or is it really one assessment lose all scenario as that could potentially mean PIP is going to become means tested which it currently isnt?

Lots of disabled people also just get one of these benefits for instance and work already. many severely disabled people with chronic illnesses get both as they are deemed unfit to work, and others can be looking for some limited type of work they could manage. The last ten years have left many traumatised by the DWP and sadly some have taken their lives over DWP tyranny inflicted upon  the disabled community as a whole as fighting for what they are genuinely entitled to.

Many DWP projects are dressed up as the dept being helpful and inclusive with IDS mantra of ‘Work Sets You Free’ ideological warfare, this is unlikely to be a positive experience either.

Only last week they were caught red handed asking people to downplay their illness to make them more employable and use positive statements and avoid using certain words to describe their disability or Illness. What many have failed to spot is the managed migration of those deemed too ill to work date also starts in 2021-23 is the date coincidence, I doubt it!

Rudd stated

“The corporate empire will be able to rake in millions of pounds more from the ‘Work Capability Assessment’ – to pave the way for a massive shake-up in 2021.Benefits outsourcing giant Maximus will have its contract for hated ‘fit-for-work’ tests extended by more than a year, ministers announced today.

The corporate empire’s benefit testing firm will carry out ‘Work Capability Assessments’ for ESA payments for a further 16 months to July 2021.

The extension – the second since the contract began in 2014 – will allow the firm to rake in millions of pounds more taxpayers’ money from the tests.

But ministers insist it is a temporary measure to ensure “stability” ahead of a huge shake-up of disability benefit tests to help claimants.

Two separate tests will be merged into “one unified, integrated service” from 2021, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd announced.

The tests are Work Capability Assessment for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit – run by a subsidiary firm of Maximus called Centre for Health and Disability Assessments Ltd – and separate assessments for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), run by Capita and an arm of Atos. Today’s extension comes despite more than two-thirds of appeal tribunals (68%) overturning fit-for-work tests last year.

Yet confirming the contract extension, Ms Rudd argued it would pave the way for “a more joined-up claimant experience” in future.She added: “This will allow for a safe and stable service now, and as we transition to the new integrated service.” The announcement came ahead of a wide-ranging speech by Ms Rudd vowing to improve the disability benefit system after years of warnings it is throwing people into destitution.She admitted disabled people feel “put on trial” by the DWP process and “we need to do more” to “close the gap” between intentions and reality. She said the enormous rate of appeals ruling against the government – 72% for PIP last summer – is “of particular concern” and the number is “too high.” according to The Mirror in March this year.”

IDS in 2015 when he launched Universal Credit claimed 

“I have said many times that I believe work is the best route out of poverty.

It provides purpose, responsibility, and role models for children.

As a one nation government, we believe everyone in the country should have the chance to benefit from the security and sense of purpose that comes with being in work.

That is why our guiding principle has been to place work at the heart of everything we do in our reforms.

Getting people into work is more than just earning a salary and certainly more than balancing the public purse.

These matter, of course, but they are not the primary reasons.

For culturally and socially, work is the spine that runs through a stable society.

Let me be clear – a decent society should always recognise that some people are unable to work because of physical or mental ill health – or both.

It is right that we protect these most vulnerable people in our society. And that support is there.

For despite the scaremongering, it is worth reflecting on the fact that we in this country spend more on sick and disabled people than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average.

To put that in perspective – and according to the OECD, the UK spends more on incapacity than France, Germany, or Japan.

However, we are also ensuring that the resources are in place to support people into work.

I’m proud that we are providing significant new funding for additional support to help claimants into work – £60 million in 2017 rising to an additional £100 million a year by 2020.”

This will no doubt strike fear into the heart of the disabled community as it will many other groups who will be targeted on Universal Credit,via its Health & Work Programme and its Social Prescribing of  Intergrated Health Asessment Services. No Guidance is currently available. Its been a very long journey for many of us campaigners ,who are also trying to inform and support many as well as look after their own health and manage their own disabilities, but it appears that this journey still has still a long way to run.

“DWP under the Health Transformation Programme (HTP) are exploring the future delivery of Health Assessments with the objective to transform the health and disability assessment services provided for people with disabilities and health conditions.
The Health Assessments help by providing advice to DWP Decision Makers to determine eligibility for benefits paid to claimants across a range of benefits including Personal Independent Payments (PIP) Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Universal Credit (UC) and a number of smaller benefits.
Currently the services are delivered through a multi health assessment provider base with varying commercial and delivery operating models. The aim of the transformed service will be a more effective, efficient integrated service for customers.”

Please try to read some of the links provided below as I know this blog has been a long one for those who cannot deal with Info overload.

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/health-and-wellbeing

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/work-health-and-disability

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/564038/work-and-health-green-paper-improving-lives.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-awarded-to-help-people-with-health-conditions-stay-in-work

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/40-million-personalised-support-package-for-long-term-unemployed-disabled-people-launched

https://inews.co.uk/news/dwp-quietly-admits-never-had-capacity-pip-reviews-pensioners-disabilities-dwp-benefits-505474

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-extends-maximus-fit-work-14089513

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2019-04-11/HL15269/

http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/gp-topics/legal/government-could-automatically-access-gp-patient-data-for-benefits-assessments/20038333.article

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dwp-benefit-claims-medical-data-sharing-nhs-healthcare-doctors-charities-a8797991.html

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/19/dwp_health_data_tool/

https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/digital-outcomes-and-specialists/opportunities/8859

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-03-05/HCWS1376

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dwp-universal-credit-pip-and-welfare-reform-outsourcing-contracts-bill-revealed_uk_5c17a7a9e4b05d7e5d84273e

https://blog.sense.org.uk/2019/03/is-combining-pip-and-esa-assessments-really-a-good-idea/

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/closing-the-gap-between-intention-and-experience

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/08/jobseekers-told-to-call-their-depression-low-mood-on-applications

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/359865b3-b1e1-4071-8bc6-f02067c9f216?p=%40FQxUlRRPT0%3DNjJNT08%3DU&fbclid=IwAR1l0AvqucHKCGYBU-cWx0V-0YwBSP0zV2id_2kh4UhgudPu4K6c7t9u9b4

Updated July 2020: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2020-07-09/HCWS353/?fbclid=IwAR3Q4jLRyQ09LJOgMNb_fs1R1Un5iWuStsgRZgukcAqvbRKO_5a5dMQRfMg

Independant Researcher Mo Stewart Challenges DWP Cheif Medical Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Independant Researcher Mo Stewart today challenged the Chief Medical Officer at the DWP Prof Dame Sally Davies in a letter  at the research that she and many others have done over many years, regarding the preventable harm committed by the state on disabled people in the UK.

 

The DWP are found wanting on many levels as the truth is becoming more transparent to many people who circumstances means they need state support, under the falsehood of Austerity.  After years of welfare reforms and the terrible consequences of these policies in the media cannot be hidden any longer,although the press have colluded in this failing to report such cases. Disabled people have taken to direct action and doing research which has been presented to the UN who were scathing of the Government reforms and treatment of disabled people In UK, stating ‘Grave and Systemic Violations of disabled people in the UK’.

 

Now Universal Credit the flagship policy  by Iain Duncan Smith is causing widespread criticism and hardship has hardly been out the headlines due to it endemic failures of administration which is cumbersome to say the least, let alone very costly to the public purse and the savings forecast at its launch will be unlikely to emerge  . The Government’s cavalier attitude ‘carrying on regardless’ attitude is a failure of the state to protect the very people they said would be protected and who thus far have born the brunt of savage cuts to welfare spending than any other group in society so far.

 

 

Link : Mo Stewart letter

 

Redacted Letter Prof Dame Sally Davies 3rd MAY 2019 by Gail Ward on Scribd

The Death of the Welfare State-Joining the Dots Series -Part 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Blueannoyed  and Paula Peters

So lets look at the next stage of where it all went badly wrong and joining up a few more dots.

Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes were introduced to the UK under the John Major Government in the 1990s, with the first project Skye Bridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDDTu7kZUjA .Tony Blair’s New Labour Government significantly expanded PFI as a convenient way of funding public infrastructure “off balance sheet.” Despite frequently calling for an end to “Labours flawed PFI program” whilst in opposition, in 2011 Chancellor George Osborne re-branded and continued the PFI gravy train under the “PFI 2” banner. NHS Trusts owe £80bn in PFI loan repayments and “unitary charges,” the technical term describing the extortionate ongoing running costs of maintaining PFI hospitals via PFI – where private contractors are granted 30-year monopoly rights to deliver maintenance and services.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/joel-benjamin/seven-things-everyone-should-know-about-private-finance-initiative

In recent years reform of the welfare system in Britain began with the introduction of the New Deal programme  introduced by the Labour government in 1997. The aim of this programme was to increase employment through requiring that recipients make serious efforts to seek employment. The Labour Party also introduced a system of tax credits for low-income workers. The Welfare Reform Act 2007 provides for “an employment and support allowance, a contributory allowance, [and] an income-based allowance.”. The objectives of the Welfare Reform Act of 2007 were to increase the employment rate to 80% from 75%, to assist 300,000 single parents find employment, to increase the number of workers over 50 by 1 million, and to reduce the number of people claiming incapacity benefits by 1 million.

In the 2009 Welfare Reform Bill This welfare reform proposed an increase of personal responsibility within the welfare system. The reform eliminated Income support, and allocated funds over to the Jobseeker’s allowance, to encourage employment. It also encouraged increased parental responsibility by amending child support laws, and requiring births be registered jointly by both parents. This is basically how we got to David Cameron In power with the help of the Lib Dems. Building on Thatchers Legacy they all equally promoted on the capitalist world stage.

Disability campaigners saw this coming this is how the main groups in 2010 like DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) Black Triangle Campaign in Scotland and Spartacus Campaign,Pats Petition,WOW Debate MHRN (Mental Health Resistance Network)and many others were created to fight against the forthcoming erosion of the welfare state and austerity measures in the pipeline that was to be foisted onto the most vulnerable in society in the hope there would be little opposition, well they got that wrong! Disabled people started to take to the streets warning of what the end game was yet they were often dismissed as scaremongering by the general public but that did not deter them. When people start to die you just cannot sit and do nothing and boy did they take to social media too,  all working together behind the scenes collectively to raise awareness of what was happening to people under these new reforms .  The campaigns that hit headlines were Spartacus twitter  campaign ‘I Am Spartacus’, DPAC ‘s  Independant Living Campaign (ILF) 2010  one thing for sure disabled people were not going to suffer in silence they were going to take this fight to the government and still are! DPAC disruptive direct actions are notorious and they took their concerns to the UN over deaths that were occurring as people slipped through the cracks, while others produced hard evidence of what was going wrong and how to fix it by lobbying ministers to their plight.

ATOS  was the main contracted  outsourced provider of new Biopsychosocial model assessment regime designed by the likes of Mansell Aylward , Gordon Wadell,  (The biopsychosocial approach systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery.)  Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Freud,Frank Field et al  grabbed this flawed research with gusto and turned it into something brutal and unrecognizable removing the safety net of the welfare state for those who need it. This government have created a hostile environment for anyone who needs state support with lies about claimants taking taxpayers money while they are working hard to pay taxes. The demonisation started by IDS et al all feeds through to the general public  via the media that those needing support via his scrounger rhetoric, lazy ,feckless , money for nothing,hard working people are just a few of the soundbites used harking back the the victorian days of blaming the person rather than state failures to provide jobs in a failing economy since the 2008 global crash.

 

Iain Duncan Smith (Center for Social Justice)  -Between 1997 and 2001, he was Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security and then Secretary of State for Defence. From 2001 to 2003, he was leader of the Conservative Party and then from 2003, having stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party, he set up the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ). The CSJ was an organisation dedicated to focussing on the problems facing those in the lowest income groups in society. It published a series of reports, perhaps the most significantly, “Breakthrough Britain: Ending the Costs of Social Breakdown”, focusing on the five pathways to poverty and a Conservative way to implement social justice and improve the quality of the poorest in society. It is also worth noting that in 2013, the CSJ published the paper on modern day slavery, “It Happens Here: Equipping the United Kingdom to Fight Modern Slavery”, which subsequently led to Theresa May enacting legislation on this matter. In 2010, Iain Duncan Smith became Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, a position he held until he resigned in a dispute with the Chancellor over his determination to reduce his expenditure on disability benefits by over £1 billion. During his time as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, he undertook the most significant programme of welfare reform in modern times, transforming the benefit and pension systems, as well as employment services and support. Perhaps the most significant reforms were the introduction of Universal Credit, (bringing together the six unemployment and sickness benefits), the Work Programme, for the first time bringing together private and voluntary sectors to get unemployed people back into work, and the introduction of the Single Tier Pension simplifying the State Pension.

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/

 

Many battles have been fought since then and the Labour Government started to listen and ministers started to support disabled people in their fight and Ministers from all parties started to have their surgerys full of cases where this regime change was causing preventable harm. Meanwhile the Tories continue to ignore it and dismiss it as ‘work as a health outcome’ and disabled people as scaremongering despite extensive evidence to the contrary.

Further reading:

https://dpac.uk.net/research/

http://www.welfareconditionality.ac.uk/2017/07/demonising-disabled-people-public-behaviour-and-attitudes-during-welfare-reforms/

https://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/killed-by-the-state/

https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/campaigns-and-policy/facts-and-information/independent-living-social-care-and-health/ilf-one-year-on/

https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/rogue-company-unum-had-a-profiteering-hand-in-the-governments-work-health-and-disability-green-paper/

https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2015/07/18/a-brief-history-of-social-security-and-the-reintroduction-of-eugenics-by-stealth/

Spartacus Reports:

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/search/node/spartacus?fbclid=IwAR0oZ4h1GCEG62yOm4M1V8ir_UnEPN-Oq0jJuhlXBpzLHIPgxko3Luy4H6U

https://spartacusnetwork.wordpress.com/?fbclid=IwAR1uGHwGNaggW9dMo7cbdG1WCT33SJK979fd99uQ4lENhKvi1v5bW-KLA3E

 

Health & Work Programme Part 2

Well Folks as with my previous blog on Universal Credit there are 4 stages to this training programme so I am just going to put the shit shows on this blog so you can see for yourselves the behavioral science behind this horror of a policy. Apologies for its length.

 

Introduction;

View this document on Scribd

About Me;

View this document on Scribd

My 4 Steps;

View this document on Scribd

My Values;

View this document on Scribd

My Action Plan;

View this document on Scribd

Panorama -Universal Car Crash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BBC  Panorama Highlighted some of the issues with Universal Credit  with the focus on Housing Benefit Direct Payment process. While this may have been a overall a shock for those who watched the programme who may have never even heard of it, It wasn’t a shock to Disability Campaigners and those who need to make a claim!  The Media has been in full swing recently highlighting the many issues this controversial benefit failings, forcing the Government to make significant changes to the managed migration process as MP’s,charities,many DPO’s including CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) and SSAC (Social Security Advisory Committee) all advising the Government that changes must be made before the next cohort is transferred Secretary of State Ester McVey made considerable concessions to appease the outrage,which combined with fact the UN Rapporteur Philip Alston was visiting the UK looking at Welfare Reform and Poverty felt like a PR stunt to fend off recent criticism.

They focused on 3 Groups of the many that will be affected Unemployed,those who are Sick, and Low Income families. Using Government rhetoric of ‘making work pay’ more than benefits which the government has successfully ingrained into the mindset of many in society through the scrounger rhetoric since 2010.

Anthony the first  man lost his job is 63 so found that while he thought work was out there couldn’t secure employment and had 4K of rent arrears and had had been sanctioned losing 200mth just because for whatever reason  he had failed to comply because no phone or computer skills to manage his claim, and facing eviction, and even when he did make contact was sanctioned again as the advisor was not in the Jobcentre. One can only assume while he was doing everything required to look for work this was due to failed appointments which are generally online or via text notifications. Many in society will most likely exclaim well he was smoking roll ups and not attract much sympathy such a sly move by BBC to present him in this manner, saying well he can afford fags although I’m certainly they will defend this as usual.

Second Guy James Dade was single dad reliant on the food bank for survival but very little was said about his circumstances.

We then saw a Councillor state when people have limited choices they will choose to feed their kids and stay warm than pay their rent  nugget dropped into the programme implying reckless budgeting decisions. even though across the UK the average rent arrears is £663 compared to £263 on legacy benefits which on average is 2 and half times higher and recently over 1/2 claimants found online process difficult hinting yet again that its the claimants fault rather than a design fault.

The next couple Richard and Rita  claimed the benefit as Richard had a car accident  and consequently lost his job telling the public they were forced to sell things in the home to manage due to the fact the design features within the system were paying them less than they should have got, and being taken to court for council tax arrears while they tried desperately to sort their claim out leaving them in debt. they both eventually found Jobs.

Keith  the next claimant was a fellow suffering depression who admitted he was hopeless budgeting relying on the local food bank had lost his job, and faced eviction in November,due to rent arrears and without support unable to cope with system.

Professor Paul Hickman was interviewed  saying that direct payments to claimants rather than landlords as the previous system did was ignored by the DWP. Alok Sharma from the DWP was then interviewed spouting the same Tory script they must have learnt verbatim just like the actors they are, and displayed typical indifference to the plight of those on the receiving end of this vile policy claiming 90% of social sector will soon be signed up to the Landlord Portal which is being rolled out.

With 5821 evictions in the UK and many already homeless on the streets struggling we then had the council highlighting cuts from central government have left councils UK wide unable to pick up the slack and find homes due to lack of Social Housing properties that the country so desperately needs. Councils have seen their landlord lists plummet as many private landlords  refuse to let to those on social security and those needing Alternative Payment Arrangements such as Domestic Violence  victims  unable to get this arrangement and councils unable to help as the agreement has to be done via the landlord not a third party.

 

This programme really barely scraped the surface of the design faults within this policy, many things are changed as an after thought because the policy wasn’t properly thought through and administration is so bad and training is so bad that even those who should be helping haven’t a clue about the constant changes and are mis -informing claimants causing further chaos with long waits on the phone which campaigners call the ‘Vivaldi Line’.

In July 2019  as the Government rolls out a pilot sample of approx 10,000 claimants with many transferring in November 2019 in tranches this chaotic policy is only going to cause considerable harm to many families across the UK. The government knows fine well many of these  families will face hardship and tells them to stand on the beach looking at the wave that is a reality a tsunami waiting to hit them and their children. Yes done properly with support people could transition more easily hence the CAB contract of Universal Support recently announced will help many navigate the complex process of doing so, but support is soon going to be difficult to get appointments due to the volumes involved.

The most severely disabled will if they don’t have change of circumstances will start this process in 2020.

One thing is for certain is the noise about Universal Credit will get worse and louder as this government tries its best to hang on bloody mindlessly instead of scrapping it and admitting this policy should never have been introduced without making sure it was robust,practical to implement and the structure was sound. Now it is only fit for the waste basket of many government projects which has wasted Billions of Taxpayers money while UK citizens find themselves back in Victorian times and seen by the elite as undeserving and feckless poor who situation is their fault, absolving themselves of any responsibility for this total failure ,while the architects have long since retired with a golden peerage  and a hefty financial handshake.

If you missed it here it is;