Welfare Reform

Depth_Charge

Hi

I have only just seen this (I must be slipping, nahh not yet, still plenty of fire left in the hole)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24482948

Edit..

Our Gillian again tells it how it is -

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_index/press_office-20131011.htm

My take

Depth_Charge

Hi

BBC article from yesterday providing an interesting slant so to speak

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24553611

The gas price rises also have to impact hard

Difficult to comprehend how people will even be able to afford the basics

Really lost for words on a professional level

My take

Upsidedown_Bear

Depth_Charge wrote: »

Hi

BBC article from yesterday providing an interesting slant so to speak

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24553611

The gas price rises also have to impact hard

Difficult to comprehend how people will even be able to afford the basics

Really lost for words on a professional level

My take

I thought work was supposed to be the way out of poverty?
Boy have the government got that wrong.

Your job must be very difficult for you now and I imagine it's unlikely to get easier any time soon.
Just wish I didn't feel so helpless about it. I'd like to do something but what? I do get involved with charity campaigns, foodbanks and so on but it doesn't seem enough.

Thanks for sharing as always.

Growurown

Depth_Charge wrote: »

Hi

BBC article from yesterday providing an interesting slant so to speak

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24553611

The gas price rises also have to impact hard

Difficult to comprehend how people will even be able to afford the basics

Really lost for words on a professional level

My take

Me too!

The report stated:-

'The nature of poverty has changed. Today child poverty is overwhelmingly a problem facing working families, not the workless or the work-shy. Two-thirds of Britain’s poor children are now in households where an adult works. In three-quarters of those households someone already works full-time. The problem is that those working parents simply do not earn enough to escape poverty.'

Someone is making a lot of money at the expense of working people.

Upsidedown_Bear

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/oct/18/thousands-court-council-tax

"Many were muddled by the summons letter, which told them on page one that they should appear at 9.30am at the magistrates court, before informing them in huge block capitals on the third page that they did "not need to actually attend the court".
Sczerina Perot, a volunteer lawyer advising people on how to challenge the summons, said this was a "well-crafted" attempt to discourage thousands of people from turning up at the court. "But if you don't attend court, you automatically have a judgment made against you. It is an irritant for the court when people turn up," she said."


So they told people they didn't need to turn up but if you don't the judgement goes against you.
How can that be right?


At least 157 000 people have already been summonsed across the country.

fatbelly

This was posted earlier on the Discussion Board. It's a half-hour Radio 4 programme on UC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03c4htq

Universal Credit

In The Report this week Simon Cox finds out why the Department for Work and Pensions has struggled to create an IT system that can deliver Universal Credit.

The government announced in 2010 that it planned to create a single payment - combining six of the current benefits available for those struggling financially. The plan for Universal Credit was developed in Opposition by Iain Duncan Smith, now Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

It was envisioned that there would be a pilot in April 2013, with the system rolled out to all new out-of-work claimants by October 2013. By 2017 all those in receipt of benefits should be claiming Universal Credit.

However, it was announced earlier this year that the pilot would only include a very small number of new claimants - the most simple to process. The national roll-out has now been scaled back. And in September this year the National Audit Office produced a damning report, saying the project had been beset with problems.

But was the plan too ambitious in the first place? Or could better management have delivered the project to the timescales originally set out? Simon Cox travels to the areas of Greater Manchester where the new benefit is being trialled to see how Universal Credit is being welcomed.

thewhiteavenger

Benefit cap 'not encouraging work or saving money'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24630321

If the cap is supposed to encourage people to find a job, why is it applied to those on Income Support who, by definition, have a reason not to be jobseeking, like incapacity or childcare responsibilities?

Depth_Charge

Hi

Very recent article on the 'bedroom tax tenants' hit by rising rent arrears from Inside Housing -

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/care/bedroom-tax-tenants-hit-by-rising-rent-arrears/6529176.article

DC

thewhiteavenger

Welfare changes for disabled people delayed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24680366

Work and pensions minister Mike Penning said the process of reassessing people was "taking longer than expected".

Depth_Charge

Hi

Citizens Advice media release on benefit sanctions -

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_index/press_20131025.htm

The people affected and those that have to deal with these type of situations will tell you what the knock on effect can be with debt, housing, relationships, health, communities and more

It can really only get worse the way things are going.

And remember this: nobody can ever be sure or confidently predict what is round the corner.

My take as always