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George Rolph is on Hunger Strike because of having his disability benefits denied. He has been censored by Facebook

June 3, 2013

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Today, 3rd June, 2013, George Rolph was banned from Facebook, without reason. He is in Day 14 of his Hunger Strike, which he is doing for others going through what he has had to endure, whilst also trying to get the general public to wake up to what is happening to the most vulnerable people in the United Kingdom, a country which once cared for all those less fortunate than ourselves.

 

He will not stop this Hunger Strike until the British Government and ATOS stop their Persecution of the Sick, the Disabled, the Poor, the Carers, the Unemployed, even if it means he has to die in doing so.

 

Please, share his story, and please note that the government, are pushed, albeit unwillingly, by the public’s reaction, and have now reinstated George the benefits due to him, but he remains on Hunger Strike until this horror stops, for so many have already been driven to take their own lives, and many have died because they are ill and cannot cope with the strain of a revolving door process: having the money they need to survive on taken from them, repeated assessments and appeals. It’s wicked persecution and bullying of the worst kind, and directed at our most vulnerable citizens.

 

Full story here -

 

http://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/george-rolph-on-hunger-strike-because-of-having-his-benefits-denied-is-censored-by-facebook/

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Archbishop Tartaglia has written to Ian Duncan Smith asking for a review of Government health benefit reform following multiple cases of human dignity being trampled upon.

Dear Mr Duncan Smith

 

I am writing to you to express my concern at the impact on very many vulnerable people in this Archdiocese and beyond, of the assessment system currently being operated by the firm Atos, under your Department's supervision, to review the benefit entitlement of people currently deemed unfit for work.

 

I do not write as a politician, and the concerns I express are not party political. I acknowledge your own personal commitment to improving the benefit system and I know that you have visited this city on more than one occasion to learn about the local situation. For this I thank you.

 

My concern is as a bishop whose people are suffering. It is not the Church's role to define benefit levels or set targets for savings. It is, however, the Church's role to speak out against injustice, especially when those affected are often weak and without means.

 

I have been made aware of cases of terminally ill people being summoned for assessments; people with severe learning difficulties being asked to present themselves for assessment not knowing what the process is all about; people being passed as fit for work and having their benefits stopped when they are clearly still seriously ill. People’s human dignity is being trampled upon and glaring errors are being made (reflected in the fact that 40 per cent of appeals are, I believe, currently successful).

 

These circumstances, together with recent revelations by nurses and doctors who have spoken out against the tests they are being asked to perform on people, and which they, in conscience, can no longer collaborate with, must surely mean the time has come for a re-think.

 

In addition, it is wrong for Atos to be profiting when sick and disabled people are suffering because of the harshness and bluntness of the work capability assessment, and there are many in this city who question the wisdom of having them as sponsors of the Commonwealth Games. But while Atos implements the assessments it is your own department's responsibility to regulate the system, and so it is to you that I address my appeal.

 

My concerns are shared by very many people of all parties and none, of all faiths and none. And while I recognise that you cannot comment on individual cases or respond to specific claims, surely the large number of successful appeals, the widespread concern among parliamentarians and the press, and the testimonies of health professionals who have spoken out against the indignity and injustice of the process must lead you to the conclusion that a rethink is needed.

 

In response to this situation, I ask you to consider ordering a review so that thousands of the most vulnerable people in this city and beyond may be spared the anxiety and distress which has already befallen so many.

 

Philip Tartaglia

Archbishop of Glasgow

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Never mind. In under a year and a half we'll be affiliated to the Independent Nation of Scotland and President Alec will have undone all bad stuff the nasty big man in Westminster has gone and done to us and we'll be wallowing in a land of plentiful milk and honey. :roll:

 

Politicians - lying, cheating, theiving ********, if you think the English toffs are handing out a rough deal to the plebs, just wait and see what the wannabe Edinburry toffs have in store - consider the present good training for the worse that is to come. Ruled from Edinburry for a few years and we'll look back wistfully on 2013 and wonder what the hell folk had to moan about back then.

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Unum’s Game Plan

 

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2011/09/15/unums-game-plan/

 

And perfectly summed up by a poster in the comments below the presentation who says -

 

They bought into the UK Benefits and Welfare system criminals disguised as a ‘financial services authority’ – a “systematic welfare and disability denial factory†is how they were described by the Supreme Court in America. Unum were subjected to millions of dollars in fines for ‘unethical behaviour’ – a significant judgement which, UNDER U.K. FSA LAW AND REGULATIONS SHOULD HAVE EXCLUDED AND BARRED UNUM FROM EVEN BEING CONSIDERED FOR THIS GOVERNMENT ‘TENDER.’ Parliament AND the House of Lords are INSTITUTIONALLY CORRUPT, LIARS, SWINDLERS AND FRAUDSTERS OF ALL WHO BUILT AND MAINTAINED THE WELFARE STATE! Their EXPRESS INCLUSION AND USE OF UNUM IS A CRIMINAL ACT – IN DEFIANCE OF ALL BRITISH LAWS OF FRAUD AND FLAGRANT DISHONESTY! THE COALITION ARE ALL TAINTED BY THIS, AS IS THE PREVIOUS LABOUR GOVERNMENT (ESPECIALLY PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN WHO MAY WELL HAVE A FINANCIAL INTEREST IN UNUM..) THE DWP ARE LINING THE POCKETS OF FRAUDSTERS – AND THE BRITISH PUBLIC ARE BLIND, DEAF AND DELIBERATELY IGNORANT OF THAT FACT!

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Rising inequality threatens everyone in a sick society

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/rising-inequality-threatens-everyone-in-a-sick-society.21278846

 

Yesterday's speech from Ed Miliband simply confirms what many believed would come about.

 

The two main political parties at Westminster agree about being tough on welfare. There is no substance behind this, merely a move to try to regain some ground on the Tories' lead on Welfare reduction. Whatever happened to conviction politics, rather than soundbites, spin and rhetoric?

 

Despite high unemployment and a faltering economy, those who have the misfortune to be out of work are going to face an increasingly belligerent regime of harassment and sanction.

 

Labour and the Tories are vying for the affection of the many people who have come to believe that shirkers are bringing the country close to bankruptcy, that idleness or a something-for-nothing attitude are the root causes of our many problems and that benefit fraud is rife.

 

Listening to all of this I'm reminded of the widespread affection that a previous generation had for National Service or the short-sharp-shock approach to youthful misdemeanours – these are instinctive and rather vengeful ways of dealing with ill-defined problems.

 

Whilst the purpose of such policies is to win over or assuage swing voters in the coming General Election, the consequences are more profound. Lives are ruined; good, honest people are humiliated, and self-respect is undermined. Democracy itself is the poorer because a whole swathe of our population will be left without representation, forever alienated from a politics which exploits their circumstances and caricatures their problems. It should be no surprise that very few of our poorest citizens bother to vote.

 

The scale of the chasm which is opening up between the haves and have-nots is quite breath-taking. In January this year more than 8000 people in Scotland were sanctioned off benefits – a huge increase on previous years.

 

The bedroom tax has cut the already minimum income of many others. The gradual introduction of Universal Credit and the unwinding of the 1% ceiling on inflationary uplift will drag thousands more to the verge of destitution.

 

We are creating an underclass which has no investment in our society and no reason to conform to its norms and values. Those who are responsible seem quite content to blame the victims and to collude in the illusion – or should that be delusion – that there is no other way; that their cause is just – or, to use one of their favourite words, "fair".

 

This stuff is hopeless. For a start it is economically illiterate. The cost to the welfare state can only rise as more demand for emergency services outstrips any benefit savings. Health, housing and social work services will face soaring demand. There's a wider cost, too, in the growing division between rich and poor with rising crime, drug and alcohol addiction and the many other ailments of a sick society. Rising inequality threatens us all.

 

But the sustained assault on self-esteem is the most pernicious of all the consequences. Following recommendations from Campbell Christie and the Chief Medical Officer, taking an asset-based approach has become the method of choice in working with people who need help and support.

 

Building on a foundation of existing skills and capacity makes it possible for people to gain a measure of control over their lives and to make progress. Needless to say, a tougher benefits regime with its accompanying rhetoric heads off in the opposite direction.

 

Public services to help unemployed people have always been a political football as successive governments vie with each other to deride their predecessors and promote some new brand or deal.

 

The latest version, ironically called the Work Programme, has been spectacularly unsuccessful, finding employment for only 3% of its customers. The Work Programme was always doomed for failure because it didn't invest in real jobs. By forcing people to work for free, the only thing it achieves is helping private companies to make millions on the back of the misery of worklessness.

 

But the recent promise of an even tougher life for Work Programme graduates who have yet to find work begins to sound sadistic. It might just make sense to lean on those who are in long-term unemployment if the jobs market was booming, especially if well paid work was plentiful in every community.

 

Even the most optimistic of economists don't expect that to happen anytime soon, so we are down to political posturing rather than practical impact as the shallow reason for this whole shoddy exercise.

 

Labour had three years to formulate their policies and instead they have opted to unite with the Conservatives in a conspiracy based on an illusion. Of course there are a few people who try to defraud the system – but they are a tiny minority. And doesn't this aggressive narrative rather obscure the reasons for the crash? What about being a bit tougher on greedy bankers, corrupt politicians, tax avoiding multinationals and the vultures who pose as loan companies?

 

We should expect our politicians to protect the most vulnerable, otherwise our democracy will drown in self-interest.

 

There's a price to be paid for this arrogant conspiracy to divide and rule. I spent last Saturday with the growing band of people who have set up food banks up and down the country.

 

The stories they told of the people they have helped in 21st century Scotland would make you weep, but the way these communities are coming together to do their best for their fellow citizens sets an inspirational example for us all.

 

Martin Sime is Chief Executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.

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Benefit sanctions sky rocket under coalition!

 

Benefit sanctions sky rocket under coalition!

 

But why so many?

 

2.25 Million Jobseeker’s sanctioned since Coalition came to office!

 

Are they serious?

 

These figures are truly earth shattering.

DWP figures which you can access here show that since May 2010 an astonishing 2,257,000 claimants on Jobseeker’s Allowance have had their benefits referred for a decision on whether to cut their benefits for a fixed length period. The numbers of sanction referrals has rocketed from around 5,500 to 6,000 per month since 2000 right the way up to 2007, since then they have slowly increased but it is only since the Coalition took office that sanction referrals have sky rocketed to levels we have never seen before. A study conducted by the DWP in 2006 showed that around 130,000 claimants in total were subject to sanction referral in a year. These latest figures are seeing figures of over 110,000 in a single month.

 

Full article here -

http://www.cantpaywontpay.org/publish/?p=6068

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'Soaring' numbers need urgent help from Citizens Advice Bureau after welfare changes 'drive people to despair'

 

Tougher sanctions and hardship payments for those on Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) prompted a 40 per cent rise in people seeking assistance

 

The number of people seeking urgent advice about benefits problems is soaring as vulnerable Britons are being “driven to despair†by Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms.

 

Citizens Advice has seen a surge in the number people asking for help to navigate a “blizzard†of benefit changes in England and Wales, figures given exclusively to The Independent show.

 

Tougher sanctions and hardship payments for those on Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) prompted a 40 per cent rise in people seeking assistance in the year to March. There has also been a 50 per cent jump in the numbers approaching the charity for help with the controversial sickness benefit, the Employment Support Allowance (ESA), with 458,000 problems reported to the service.

 

Full article here -

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/soaring-numbers-need-urgent-help-from-citizens-advice-bureau-after-welfare-changes-drive-people-to-despair-8650251.html

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Disagree With An Atos Decision? Then Starve Says DWP

 

http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/disagree-with-an-atos-decision-then-starve-say-dwp/

 

The DWP have laid a vicious benefit trap which will mean severely sick and disabled people will have no legal entitlement to benefit at all if they choose to appeal an assessment by the notorious IT company Atos.

 

Atos carry out the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), the test for the sickness and disability benefit Employment Support Allowance. This crude computer based test has been use to strip benefits from hundreds of thousands of people by declaring them ‘fit for work’.

 

From October this year claimants will not be able to appeal against a ‘fit for work’ decision until they have first requested a ‘mandatory reconsideration’ by a DWP decision maker. Only if the claimant disagrees with this decision will they be able to take an appeal to a benefit tribunal. This process is likely to take months.

 

A recent response to an FOI request (PDF) confirms that claimants will not be able to claim ESA whilst waiting for this process to be completed. The DWP say that claimants will instead have the: “option of applying for alternative benefits, such as Jobseekers Allowance, however they must meet the conditions of entitlementâ€.

 

One of the key conditions of entitlement for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) – the benefit for those unemployed not unwell – is that the claimants is able to work.

 

This will mean that those appealing an ESA decision and claiming Jobseekers Allowance will be placed in a potentially fraudulent position. They will be appealing an ESA decision based on the fact they do not believe themselves able to work, and will be claiming JSA based on a claim that they are able to work.

 

Already many claimants have been left in a benefit limbo, after Atos have declare them ‘fit for work’ but Jobcentre staff do not believe this to be the case. All those on JSA must be actively seeking work, ready to start work immediately and can be sent onto four weeks workfare at any point in their claim. For many of those who have had ESA stopped, this is an impossibility. JSA claimants can have benefits stopped completely, for up to three years in some cases, if they fail to complete jobseeking activity or workfare.

 

After these changes to appeals come into effect, any claimants who disagrees with a decision made by Atos is likely to be forced to go without any benefit at all whilst appeals take place. These people are not just already amongst the poorest in the country, but those with cancer, MS or other life threatening conditions.

 

This appears to be a vindictive attempt to bring down the number of successful appeals against sickness benefit decisions which have been a continual embarrassment to both the current and the previous Labour governments.

 

The new message from the DWP seems to be appeal if you want, but don’t expect to eat or heat your homes whilst you are waiting. The end of result of these changes will no doubt be less appeals. The price of that will be more people dying at the hands of this callous process, which increasingly seems precision-engineered to drive sick and disabled people into destitution.

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Final Report: ‘From The British Welfare State to Another American State’ by Mo Stewart

 

Mo Stewart is a former healthcare professional, a disabled female veteran and, for the last 3 years, has researched the links between the DWP, Atos Healthcare & Unum Insurance.

 

To date, the research evidence has been quoted during welfare debates in the House of Lords, the House of Commons and in Westminster Hall.

 

Mo routinely shares all research evidence with academics, medical and healthcare professionals, frontline national charities, selected politicians and service users.

 

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2013/06/10/final-report-from-the-british-welfare-state-to-another-american-state-by-mo-stewart/

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