ATOS

[go.oot.by.dog]

"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER" says the Con Dems. At a time when there are many new food banks opening up every week and their services have never been in such demand, at a time when they have capped benefits to a 1% increase which will be a real terms loss after inflation, at a time when you are imposing the bedroom tax on the poorest in our society, at a time when you are employing Atos to do the Work Capability Assessments who have been the means of over 11,000 deaths that we know about (real figure probably much much higher and rising all the time) at a time when you are cutting the Disability Living Allowance which helps people with disabilities to try and maintain some sort of independence and Mr Osborne has been in Brussels to try and stop the bankers bonuses being capped at 100% of their salary as he feels this is not enough for them http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/05/george-osborne-eu-bank-bonuses they who are mainly responsible for the mess we are in right now!!! And you say "WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER" What a f**kin joke......

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Well done to MP Michael Meacher who is at least trying to take some action against ATOS -

 

http://www.michaelmeacher.info/weblog/2013/03/programme-for-action-over-atos/

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Welfare reform will drive up demand and tip the vulnerable into poverty -

 

Changes to the welfare system could lead to a deep-seated crisis for local government as money is taken away from the most needy.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2013/mar/08/welfare-reforms-drive-up-demand

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Atos = Genocide -

 

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A list containing the stories of some of the people that have been lost as a result of the Welfare Reform

 

http://calumslist.org/

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Surprised by Carmichael – Ian MacKenzie Telfer taken from Readers Views in this weeks Shetland Times

 

Because of cost of living factors rural poverty can be more pronounced than urban poverty. It is often hidden, as people in our countryside tend to cover up their social deprivation with stoic forbearance.

 

Despite lucrative returns from the oil and fishing industries which some groups in the community benefit from, nevertheless, there are many people in Shetland who strive to exist below the poverty line.

 

As an ordnance surveyor, who worked in every part of Shetland, being based at Lerwick, Boddam, North Roe, Brae, Vidlin and Unst, I can write authoritatively on the socio-economic structure of these islands.

 

With this backdrop, I was astonished that Alistair Carmichael, MP and Better Together campaigner, voted for the iniquitous bedroom tax.

 

I have no doubt that in an independent Scotland we would have a more caring society and I am surprised that Mr Carmichael, an islander himself, has opted to support the Westminster Tory-led regime’s punitive tax without any thought for his more deprived constituents.

 

Ian MacKenzie Telfer

 

6 Ben Bhraggie Drive

 

Golspie

 

Sutherland

 

Well said Mr Telfer, he does not appear to be overly bothered about how some of his poorer more deprived constituents will cope with such changes, it is just a shame that the some of his own constituents have not spoken up against the way his party are treating the most vulnerable and least well off. I must say i am also quite disappointed that Mr Tavish Scott has not had very much to say on the subject either, i suppose you could say his silence is deafening and speaks a thousand words, after all as they say "we are all in this together"

[go.oot.by.dog]

If anyone is interested here is a couple of petitions to sign to try and help put an end to the treatment being suffered by the most vulnerable people in our society.

 

LETTER TO THE ICC AT THE HAGUE - RE MISTREATMENT OF THE DISABLED AND SICK

 

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/letter-to-the-icc-at-the-hague-re-mistreatment-of-the-disabled-and-sick

 

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We call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform, and a New Deal for sick & disabled people based on their needs, abilities and ambitions.

 

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154

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Archbishop of Canterbury attacks Government welfare reforms -

 

In his most significant political intervention since taking office, the Most Rev Justin Welby has warned that “children and families will pay the price†if plans to change the benefits system go ahead in their current form.

 

Mr Welby and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, have backed a letter to The Sunday Telegraph written by 43 bishops who say the benefits cuts will have a “deeply disproportionate†effect on children.

 

The move will come as a blow to Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, who is attempting to steer the reforms through Parliament.

He has said the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill, which will cap benefit rises at 1 per cent a year until 2016, is needed to help get spending “back under control†and create a fairer deal for taxpayers.

 

However, Mr Welby, who will be formally enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on March 21, said the legislation will remove the protection given to families against the rising cost of living and could push 200,000 children into poverty.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9919844/Archbishop-of-Canterbury-attacks-Government-welfare-reforms.html

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http://www.independent.co.uk/n…..31584.html

 

Majority of British children will soon be growing up in families struggling 'below the breadline', Government warned

 

 

The majority of British children will soon be growing up in families which are struggling “below the breadline†because of welfare cuts, tax rises and wage freezes, the Government is warned today.

 

Within two years, almost 7.1m of the nation’s 13m youngsters will be in homes with incomes judged to be less than the minimum necessary for a decent standard of living, according to a new report.

 

The figures, which emerged a week ahead of George Osborne’s Budget, suggest that an unwanted legacy of the Coalition’s squeeze on spending will be to leave more children living close to poverty.

They coincide with a new survey for the Resolution Foundation think-tank, which found that almost seven in ten of people believe the Government does not understand the financial strains they face.

The impact on children of the economic downturn and austerity measures was underlined by an analysis that concluded that the number of under-18s living in households below minimum income standards would increase by 690,000 between 2010 and 2015. The definitions of acceptable living standards are drawn up by the respected charity, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

 

Today’s report said 460,000 children would be pushed below those levels by the increase in VAT and cuts to tax credits, 170,000 by sluggish wage growth and 80,000 by the curbs on public sector pay. Just 20,000 would be raised above the minimum level by the new Universal Credit system, which begins to come into force in October.

 

The TUC, which commissioned the research by the economist Howard Reed, said the figures should “shame†any civilised society and challenged Mr Osborne to cut VAT to ease the pressures on the lowest income families.

By 2015, a lone parent with one child is calculated to require an annual income of £19,226 to have a decent standard of living, rising to £23,992 for a lone parent with two children, £24,643 for a couple with one child and £29,093 if they have two children. But Mr Reed calculated that 54 per cent of youngsters will be living in households with income below those levels in two years’ time.

 

His report concluded that 90 per cent of families will be worse off in 2015 than in 2010.

 

Only the poorest ten per cent will be better-off – and then by £29.60 a year, or 57p a week. The boost they received from raising tax thresholds has been virtually wiped out by the increase in VAT to 20 per cent in 2011.

Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: “Families are suffering the tightest squeeze in living standards in nearly a century. On top of wages that do not keep up with prices, government policies are making life even more miserable for millions of low to middle-income families through tax increases and cuts in benefits and tax credits.

 

“By the 2015 election, the majority of children in Britain will be living below the breadline. For any civilised society, that should be shaming.â€

The Department of Work and Pensions accused the TUC of choosing an “arbitrary measure to support their own point of viewâ€. A spokesman said the Government was committed to eradicating child poverty by tackling its root causes including unemployment, educational failure and family breakdown.

 

He added: “Our welfare reforms will improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities, with the Universal Credit making three million people better off. And by next year, we will have taken two million of the lowest earners out of paying tax altogether."

In the Resolution Foundation poll, 69 per cent of people thought the Government did not understand the “financial pressures†they and their families were experiencing. The sentiment was shared across all income and class brackets in the poll conducted by Ipsos MORI.

Just 19 per cent said they believed ministers appreciated the pressures they were under.

 

Vidhya Alakeson, the foundation’s deputy chief executive, said: “Faltering prosperity is a key issue not only for the government of the day but for all political parties as we approach an election in two years’ time.

The TUC will stage a pre-Budget rally today at which it will urge the Chancellor to focus on jobs, growth and family next week.

 

Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, will tell the gathering: “Austerity is OK if you are rich. It’s OK if you are one of the 13,000 millionaires in this country because austerity means you get richer. That’s because if you are rich, you’re in line for an extra £100,000 tax break, taken from the pockets of the poor.â€

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More of the same from the Lib Dems who are nothing more than the Conservatives lap dogs. They vote in favor of the bedroom tax so in their eyes it is ok to take money from someone who is trying to exist on as little as £71 a week but not to tax mansions which are worth worth over £2 million pounds! They certainly have lost all their morals and think that they should maybe have a read of their own constitution as most of them seem to have forgotten what they stand for.

 

http://www.libdems.org.uk/constitution.aspx

 

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http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/lib-dems-another-u-turn-vote-1759876

 

Lib Dems do another U-turn and vote against their own plans for a tax on millionaires' mansions -

 

THE Lib Dems completed their betrayal of voters yesterday by refusing to back their own plan to tax millionaires’ mansions.

 

Nick Clegg’s party re-awakened memories of their shameful U-turn on university tuition fees by rejecting proposals they themselves came up with for a levy on houses worth more than £2million.

 

And the Lib Dems, who claim to be a party of social justice, have signed up to the Tory bedroom tax, which will penalise social housing tenants on housing benefit deemed to have more rooms than they need.

 

Labour recently adopted the idea of a mansion tax, a manifesto commitment of the Lib Dems at the last election, and advocate using the money raised to cut taxes for the lowest-paid.

 

Just last month, Clegg called for “taxes on mansions, tax cuts for millions†while campaigning in the Eastleigh by-election.

 

He said: “The mansion tax is an idea whose time has come.†He added that its opponents should “join with the Lib Dems and the chorus of voices seeking to make our tax system fairâ€.

 

But yesterday the Lib Dems refused to back a Labour motion in the Commons calling for the tax.

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A fact sheet from Disability Rights UK on the upcoming bedroom tax which may be of help to anyone who is going to be affected by it -

 

http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/f57.htm

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SIC ‘deeply concerned’ at impact of welfare reforms on cash-strapped households -

 

http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2013/03/13/sic-deeply-concerned-at-impact-of-welfare-reform-on-struggling-households

[go.oot.by.dog]

If we can't afford for people to be disabled, what's the plan?

 

Those with the greatest needs comprise 2% of the population yet are taking 15% of cuts. That's more than a loss of dignity

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/13/whats-the-plan-for-disabled-people

[oddtablet]

SIC now have the Discretionary Housing Payment application form on their website bur I've not found it yet....

 

[go.oot.by.dog]

SIC now have the Discretionary Housing Payment application form on their website bur I've not found it yet....

 

 

Try this link -

 

http://www.shetland.gov.uk/about_benefits/DiscretionaryHousingPayments.asp