Monday 21 January 2013

Read It And Weep 1


2013

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Forced Labour (WP/WF/WCA), Welfare, Entitlements and General

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Alarm at rise in UK suicide rate

Male suicide rate 'at highest level in nearly a decade' 
 
Suicides associated with the 2008-10 economic recession in England: time trend analysis

MPs approve bill to limit benefit rises
 
Welsh find funding to block council tax benefit cuts
 
Osborne reveals plans for even deeper cuts if Tories win in 2015

Coalition sharpens knives for another cutting frenzy 

Borrowing is rising after all
 
Barnet's 'easyCouncil' faces judicial review over outsourcing
 
Our welfare state is being dismantled under false pretences
 
From Pillar to Post: Council tax blow to people on benefits

Laying into the poor
 
Benefit Cuts – Share Your Story

CALLOUT! Benefit cuts “skivers versus strivers” – The Guardian wants YOUR story
 
Conservative Council Leader Quits Over ‘Lie Detector’ Tests On Benefit Claimants
 
‘Compassion bypass’ as Coalition puts the squeeze on benefits and wages
 
Rents Set To Soar as Wages and Benefits are Slashed
 
Mark Hoban Begs For Help With Floundering Welfare Reform
 
The Great Disability Scam? (BBC)

Charities' silence on government policy is tantamount to collusion (Guardian)

Charities 'gagged from speaking out' by Government (Telegraph)
 
Charities 'gagged by Government'
 
Nick Hurd: Charities free to criticise the Work Programme

Government texts to encourage part-timers to work longer hours (Telegraph)

Get religious groups on board with Work Programme, think tank urges (Independent)
 
Improving employment outcomes (DWP)

Government to help workers boost their earnings  (DWP)

Opinion: The Tory Agenda
 
Up To 4 Million Low Paid Workers Could Be Helped By “Living Wage Cities” – IPPR

Churning

Higher Earners and Child Benefit
 
SEETEC Serious Concerns
 
Time to talk about the tax uncollected that would have spared us every turn of the screw
 
Majority of voters disagree with government’s new cap on benefit rises
 
Assuming the worst: public attitudes to poverty ~ Has middle Britain really became more Scrooge-like over the recent past? (Guardian)
 
Operations Manager - Work Programme - London
 
PayPal Gets A Slice Of £25m DWP Identity Contract
 
How to reform public services?
 
Bold new programme to get young people ready for work (DfE)

Can vocational learning tackle youth unemployment?

IAIN DUNCAN SMITH: WE WILL CATCH BENEFIT CHEATS (Express)

The real cost of benefit fraud in Britain 

Improving Employment Outcomes with Lord Freud and Mark Hoban MP

Who will speak up for the universal welfare state now? (Guardian)

Waiting... Again...

Help us! We're Begging You

Is Parliament fit for purpose?
 
The Truth Behind Philip Hensher’s Bike Riding Slur

Some people on disability benefits are fit to work (independent)

DWP/Atos/WCA: Unanswered questions demonstrate the Coalition’s cruelty

Paralympic Legacy? Not For Sick And Disabled Savaged By Tory Welfare Cuts
 
Is the bedroom tax unlawful? Yes it must and has to be!

Is the bedroom tax unlawful – part 2

Is the bedroom tax lawful part 3 – a financial imperative for the coalition emerges!

Work Programme Attendance (FOIR)

In the working class suburbs of Liverpool the battle with poverty is very real (Independent)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Judicial Review of the DWP-Atos Work Capability Assessment ~ Mental Health Resistance Network

Children of the poor will suffer most under Osborne's benefits squeeze (Guardian)

3 Landmark FOI #WorkFare appeals hearing set for Tues 26th March 2013

Welfare, workplace and repression news: Mid-January round-up

Can the Government boost the economy by tackling sick leave?

Credit where it's due: Tory MP J Lefroy in WCA debate

Protesters Gather at the Courts to Oppose Atos

Atos comes under attack in emotional Commons debate

Thursday 17th January 2013 DWP-Atos Work Capability Assessments House of Commons Debate

MPs tell their own Atos horror stories

Disabled? Lose £156 A Year: Government Admit Strivers’ Tax Has Hit 3.4 MILLION – Mirror Online

Angry Twitter Mob Confronts Philip Hensher’s Benefit Bullshit

Unum, Atos, the DWP and the WCA; Who gets the blame for the biopsychosocial saga?

Persistent misdirection will perpetuate the Atos nightmare

Atos Debate: A Game Of Chinese Whispers

Michael Meacher MP: ‘My speech on ATOS Work Capability Assessments’

Oh irony! Tory minister decries 'demonisation' of.. WCA PROCESS

Thousands of sick or disabled people have died after undergoing assessments to find out whether they were fit to work, the House of Commons was told today

Lord Fraud Announces Atos For Everyone! The OBC will directly create MORE £100kpa HB families you breeding idiot!

Long-term Unemployed less likely to get jobs in Work Programme

Work Programme - Hansard

Universal Jobmatch employers (FOIR)

Lords debate Taxation: Families

Mayor should introduce safeguards for back-to-work schemes to protect Londoners, Assembly urges (GLA)

‘Monitor the effectiveness of London’s work experience programmes’ says London Assembly
 
Benefits and child credits squeeze pushes 200,000 children into poverty  (Guardian)

Long-term unemployment: The national emergency that refuses to go away (LFF)


The Tory Attacks on the Unemployed Constitute a Hate Crime (HP)

Welfare reform: the bedroom tax, 'a policy that has no logic (Guardian)

Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness (unless thou is the Salvation Army fibbing about workfare)

Cameron is HB Special Agent 0.00009898794%

‘More Daily Mail Disability Deception’ ~ The Iron Bridge

ConDems fiddling employment stats: 105,000 on workfare schemes
 
UK jobs ‘soar’ – unpaid work schemes have inflated latest employment figures

CALLOUT RE: ‘Thousands to lose disability benefit after Government makes eleventh hour changes to fitness test boundaries’

#esaSOS: YOUR HELP NEEDED URGENTLY!

Government Responds To Petition Against The Abolition Of Disability Living Allowance

Proposed benefit changes could 'exclude disabled' (BBC)

Personal Independence Payment (DWP)

PIP timetable

Personal Independant Allowance (PIP)

200,000 Children To Be Plunged Into Poverty Due To Lower Than Inflation Benefits Uprating

Raise Taxes For The Super Rich And There Would Be No Need For Benefit Cuts – Michael Meacher MP

Number of Black and Ethnic Minorities who got work or training through Governments Work Programme. Please specify the number of ethnic minorities in London who got either work or training through the Governments Work Programme (FOIR)

Jan 14 2013 

UK Government's benefit changes are a 'social atrocity' - Minister (WOL)

"A Welsh Government Minister has launched a blistering attack on benefit changes being introduced by the UK Government – labelling them a “social atrocity” that amounted to neo-Thatcherite reforms “at its foulest”."

Sanctions and the Work Programme

***** Work Programme evaluation: Findings from the first phase of qualitative research on programme delivery (DWP) *****

Another Public service filling the cuts with workfare

New public service card to crack down on welfare fraud (Eire)

Why we’ll never have full employment – even though we need it

Co-op Ditch Atos – Keep Up The Pressure, It Works

Work Capability Assessment Faces Court Challenge

Disability benefit changes 'should be reconsidered' (BBC)

Tuesday 15 January 2013 15.55 GMT 

Statistics cast doubt on coalition's '500,000 new jobs' claim (Guardian)

"Government claims to have created an additional 500,000 jobs in the past year have been called into question after it was revealed that one in five of the people involved are on government work schemes, including tens of thousands still claiming unemployment benefits."

"Statistics cast doubt on coalition's '500,000 new jobs' claim"

Saturday, 12 January 2013

How I View The Work Programme
Tea and Sympathy?

"Dread, it seems to pervade my life in dealing with this new order. Dreading appointments, dreading being given appointments, dreading travelling to appointments, dreading having to wait an hour in the cold for the next bus home after the appointment, dreading whether my benefit will be stopped, dreading whether i have to do this or that. This is what the DWP brings out in me and it's completely beyond their remit of help and assistance."

16th January 2013

Centre Manager-Work Programme

"The Centre Manager post will involve taking full responsibility for the delivery of contractual performance targets on the Work Programme. You will develop and motivate a team of advisers to work to their full potential and achieve individual and team targets. The role also requires strong financial acumen with the ability to produce and analyse financial documents to remain within budget and identify areas for development."

Praise for Wirral Autistic Society job training scheme (WG)

Tory councils to defy David Cameron’s tax rise ban (Telegraph)

Poll Tax II: the coalition plans even bigger cuts to Council Tax Benefit (New Statesman)

Government denies further council tax benefit cuts

Liverpool public meeting: Combat The Bedroom Tax!

Angry Liverpool Bedroom Tax Meeting Vows 'Can't Pay, Won't Pay'

The future’s terrifying – if the future’s Tory
 
Millionaire’s government will make paupers of us all

Matthew Oakley: Tory Stooge Appointed to Independent Welfare Scrutiny Commitee

Government announces new member to the Social Security Advisory Committee

Manslaughter by Ministers
 
Incapacity Benefits: Deaths of recipients (DWP)

Benefit changes 2013 – What’s going to happen

Benefits reform ‘to force 1 in 4 into poverty' (Scotsman)

Government to hire private companies to find work for long-term unemployed (Eire) 

My experience with the work programme so far


NCVO: Rehabilitation reform must not repeat mistakes of Work Programme

'Job-ready' claimants get priority in work programme, say academics (Guardian)

Don't mention the Work Programme

A4e's Emma Harrison paid £1.5m dividend despite pre-tax loss
 
£1.5m dividend for Harrison despite fall into red for A4e

A4e's accounts for 2011 - 2012 published 

The Work Programme: what is the role of skills?
 
Threat to derail £26,000 benefits cap as Labour plans to support bishops' call for amendment (Daily Mail)

Work and pensions chief defends benefit cap (FT)

Iain Duncan Smith defends benefits cap before Lords vote (Guardian)
 
Benefit cuts 'will see more children taken into care' (Independent)

The Beginning Of The End (Of The Journey)

Revealed: soldiers, nurses and teachers hit by benefit curbs (Guardian)

Iain Duncan Smith’s shirkers and scroungers: Soldiers, teachers and nurses

Westminster and welfare: the politics of 'them and us' (Guardian)

Work Programme Attendance (FOIR)

ACEVO with Shaw Trust and CDG launch inquiry on future Work Programme challenges

Work Programme sector inquiry Managing the Impact of Housing Benefit Reform and the Work Programme

Benefit uprating about fairness? No. The OBCs systemic flaw makes that clear

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Universal Credit

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The Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2013
 
Universal Credit: part-timers to get monthly statements and texts from DWP
 
Universal Credit - An Introduction
 
Universal Credit is coming. The time to act is now!
 
Workers who claim benefits told to increase hours or lose universal credit (Guardian) 

Universal Credit

Universal Credit Poll January 2013
 
Universal Credit – what is it? The new benefits system explained

Universal Credit – 800,000 more households stand to lose
 
Consultation: Universal Credit service charges – guidance for landlords
 
Universal Credit: Preparation and Implementation

Media release: Addressing flaws in universal credit could stop more Scots falling into poverty

Is the public prepared for the benefits battering of 2013?

How GPs Can End the Atos Death Toll
 
Universal credit could lead to a 'benefit crisis'
 
Matthew d'Ancona: So IDS won his benefits cap but Universal Credit and taking on grey power will not be so easy (ES)

Lucy Powell MP asks Prime Minister’s Question
 
Disability Rights UK Factsheet: Universal credit (UC)
 
Lone parents worse off under Universal Credit, warns Barnardo's

Message to private landlords: give universal credit a chance (Guardian)

Lone parents hit by childcare costs

Full Impact Assessment of Universal Credit Published

Universal Credit - Impact Assessment (IA) (DWP)

More On Universal Credit - Stable Door Edition 

Universal credit worrying all the time about it 

Universal Credit - What is Universal Credit?

Universal Credit and Landlords

IB to ESA I got the form

Universal Credit and Conditionality (FOIR)

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Universal Jobmatch

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SolFed launches Universal Jobmatch info site

Universal Jobmatch: Key Facts for Benefit Claimants
 
Universal Jobmatch Guide for Jobseekers
 
Revoke consent when already given on Universal Jobmatch (FOIR)
 
Universal Jobmatch Not Mandatory PCS Confirms
 
Universal Jobmatch toolkit chapter 3 (FOIR)

Universal Jobmatch: 5 critical facts and tips for jobseekers
 
Universal Jobmatch fake?
 
jobsearch.direct.gov.uk / universal job match Has Been Overtaken By Spammers

Universal Jobmatch: Update (PCS)

Universal Jobmatch: How to remove DWP account access if given

DWP’s ‘Universal Jobmatch’ site attracts criticism

Universal Job Match

DWP issues Universal Jobmatch reminder to Jobcentres: Not Mandatory, No Directions & No Sanctions

Scrap jobcentre's universal jobmatch

Councils ousted from welfare board

Are jobcentres bullying claimants illegally?

Universal Jobmatch and rights guaranteed by the Data Protection Act 1998 (FOIR)
 
Universal Jobmatch: 5 critical facts and tips for jobseekers (10/1/13)

Universal Credit Needs Universal Jobmatch – So Do Not Tick The Box 

Universal Credit Needs Universal Jobmatch – So Do Not Tick The Box

Universal Jobmatch employers (FOIR)

Universal Jobmatch: “claimants will not be required to apply for jobs” only on Universal Jobmatch (FOIR)

DWP Central Freedom of Information Team  (FOIR Response)

Universal Credit Needs Universal Jobmatch – So Do Not Tick The Box

Universal Jobmatch service (FOIR)

Universal Jobmatch blocked jobs (FOIR)
 
Universal Jobmatch positive publicity (FOIR)

Information returned from cookies on universal jobmatch  (FOIR)

Internet Access Devices (IAD) for Universal Jobmatch  (FOIR)

dwp: Stop the mandatory nature of Universal Jobmatch

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Getting Britain back to work (BN)

Friday 04 January 2013

Do government work schemes ever work? (C4)

"As Labour announces plans to guarantee jobs for the long-term unemployed, Channel 4 News assesses whether government schemes - from the new deal to the work programme - actually work."

Evening Standard comment: Labour’s jobless plan and a welfare debate  (ES)

1/1/13

Will the UK topple down a 'welfare cliff' in three months' time?  (Guardian)

"The US turmoil over fiscal matters has a mirror in the crisis approaching the welfare state, argues Dan Silver, as use of UK food banks rises six-fold "

Benefits Rise By 1%, Food Prices Rise By 5% ?

It wasn't Labour who spent too much, it was the banks. How did we forget this? (Guardian)

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The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2013

2012

New research shows 400,000 people will spend a second successive Christmas on the dole (LFF)

Change to the Work Programme Requirements of Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) Credits Only Claimants (DWP)

Work Programme performance statistics: Inclusion analysis (Inclusion)

Social Market Foundation response to Work Programme figures (SMF)

SMF briefing on the Work Programme (SMF)

Welfare and Employment: Evaluation of the Work Programme (SPRU)

Only 3.5% of people referred to Work Programme find long-term jobs (Guardian)

Data shows Work Programme failures (Guardian)

Work Programme: why I knew the figures would be awful (Guardian)

Is the DWP preparing to bury bad news on the Work Programme? (New Statesman)

FactCheck: Why the Work Programme isn’t working – yet (C4)

Work Programme - Work and Pensions

Work Programme - Advice Needed

The Work Programme New Thread

Back-to-work scheme scrapped by Cameron 'produced net gain for UK' (Guardian)

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Universal credit is falling apart insiders claim

Are social landlords complicit in the bedroom tax?

Latest on Universal Credit (DWP)
 
Latest updates – Universal Credit for local authorities (DWP)
 
Implementing Universal Credit: will the reforms improve the service for users? (Inclusion)

Introduction to Universal Credit (NCVYS)

Universal Credit (DWP)

Universal Credit: welfare that works (DWP)

Universal credit plan 'is a disaster in the making', says minister just months ahead of launch (Daily Mail)

Universal Credit implementation: meeting the needs of vulnerable claimants (HoCWaPC)

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MHRN WCA Judicial Review Update

Mental Health Resistance Network

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Long-term unemployment in 2012 (Inclusion)

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Work Programme statistics (DWP)

Work Programme Provider Guidance (DWP)

Work Programme Provider Live Running Memos (DWP)

Statistics on Employment Programme support (DWP)

Nigel

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