Sunday 17 November 2013

The conversion of the Express?

An extraordinary story popped up in the news feeds this morning - extraordinary because it's in the Express.  Headlined "Food Bank Britain: Thousands need charity handouts because of welfare system failings", it talks about "scores of cases" which their investigation has "uncovered" of "administration errors and punitive sanctions".  It goes on to list cases of ludicrous sanctions and a few admin errors, and it ends with the verdict of the director of Oxfam's UK poverty programme.  They haven't bothered to ask the DWP for a response, just quoting Esther McVey's platitude that sanctions are only used against people who were "wilfully rejecting support for no good reason" and going on to prove her wrong.  The comments facility isn't available under the article.  Why?
What has brought about this startling conversion by the Express?  Perhaps it's just opportunism.  They've realised that there's a story here.  But I bet we see an article about the workshy before long.

20 comments:

  1. It's the Sunday, rather than the Daily Express, so may well have a different editor with a slightly different viewpoint - think something similar came out on a Sunday once before. I don't think the Express in general is going to let go of one of its favourite bones any time soon...

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  2. I don't think it's a conversion either. At best a very temporary blip. As the saying goes, a broken clock / watch is right twice a day.

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  3. One of the unemployed said that he had to apply for 20 jobs per week (a bit much) I have to apply for 14 weekly and am running out of places to apply for also,when I informed the JCP/WP clerks of this I was threatened with a sanction,I asked if they could find me 14 a week but "That is what you get paid JSA for" instead the JCP clerk presented me with the Yellow Pages and said to start contacting companies,I asked if I could use their phone "No,you need to visit them personally and drop of a CV" I asked if Bus fare would be covered? "No,walk,failure to do so will result in a doubt" I asked if I could have this in writing and if it was mandated or a direction,No response,see what happens tomorrow.

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    1. Please follow up on this- will be interested to see where it goes.

      I have to apply for 20 jobs a week and take a further 60 steps to find work as well as sending my CV to two local recruitment companies. I ran out of recruiters local to me in 3 weeks and have, on instruction from the Jobcentre, started sending my CV to as far afield as Nottingham [I live in Portsmouth]. Madness.

      I spend so much time 'looking for work' that I don't actually have time to look for work. Only people that have had to deal with the endless, nonsensical logic of JCP will understand what this means.

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  4. It could me that one of the editors friends has suffered this and thats why its in the press, and it may have stimulated compassion..But i doubt it..watch tomorrow and next week more hate stories..

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  5. I signed on today for the second time [been on the dole 4 weeks now after working for 8 years]. was told that a doubt was being raised because i need to buck my ideas up! [her words] even though i have 100% complied with my jobseekers agreement. i wont get paid this week and they will write to me to let me know how to appeal.

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    1. You really do need to write down exactly what has happened, what you have done, what the employee said (include her name) and everything that happens after this. Contact your MP. To sanction you they need to have a specific reason, and that will be quoted by the DWP.

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    2. I should Historian, but I really can't handle the cynicisim and abuse. I have a few hundred quid in savings and will just close my claim now and hope that i can get a job soon. the jobcentre have been nothing but cruel and unhelpful since i started my claim

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    3. I agree with Historian,their is a real malicious attitude at the JCP right now,I asked the clerk the other day about what advice can they give to increase my chances of employment,you would of thought I asked for their first born,I was accused of being uncooperative,because I asked questions,when a Manager approached because the clerk raised her voice and asked what the problem was? the clerk outright lied and said "I refused to sign up for UJM" I produced a file with over 200 UJM screen shots as proof that I had signed up and use UJM on a daily basis,the Manager accepted this,but told me to act in a more polite way in the future to the clerk,at this point it was useless to point out that I had maintained a polite attitude through out and the clerk was aggressive and ill informed regarding DWP Policy,as this would be considered argumentative..A no win situation!

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    4. Anonymous, please don't close your claim. When you need to sign on again it could take many weeks to get any money. Hard as it is, this kind of abuse has to be combated, and the only way to do that is to give it publicity. Hang in there.

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    5. As much as I appreciate your advice, I'm too old to take the abuse [and I know that is a strong word but it's fitting] from the JobCentre.

      I went in this afternoon and asked them to close the claim. I was invited into an interview room and they asked why I wanted to close the claim. I told them that I had been sanctioned and that I didn't want to go through the fortnightly abuse just for the sake of a National Insurance credit. To be fair the lady I spoke with initially was very polite but after about five minutes she began to interrogate me about exactly where my money was coming from now I had decided to stop claiming. Was I working 'on the black market' [that phrase was used at least five times] or was I receiving money from another source? What steps would I be taking to find work now that I was signed off? Had there been a change in my circumstances?

      I told her no- I had simply saved up a little bit [not much, a few hundred pounds] during the last decade when I had been a taxpaying citizen.

      She didn't say anything to this, just screwed up her face at me and gave me a smug smile.

      Anyway, they closed my claim and let me know that if I claim again they will need to do an investigation into where my money is coming from. After that, I was allowed to leave- a security guard had been posted at the door of the interview room throughout and he had to check with the lady I spoke with that I was 'allowed' to leave.

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    6. She had no right whatever to interrogate you. Once you had given your reasons you should simply have walked out. I know it's easy to say after the event, but this treatment is appalling. Had you been prevented from leaving, you could have threatened legal action.

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    7. You should have informed her to mind her own business, got up and left. I really dont know why you bothered to explain yourself, your not claiming anything. How you manage now is your business not hers.

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    8. Soon you will have to take a lawyer with you to make sure you are treated right..What a scary world...The security guard had to check it was ok for you to leave.. scary stuff

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  6. PLEASE any one on JSA allowance record all conversations with any JSA advisor cos they think that they are GODS, did you know that you can sue them for loss of income? Please see this FOI
    https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/suing_the_dwp
    they soon paid someone I know when they threatened to do this

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  7. You should recive a letter saying you have been sanctioned, a reason given and for how long.

    My memory from three years ago when they pulled a fast one on me, was that they give you a date when the sanction will come into effect and it's duration.

    Your Housing Benefit isn't affected.

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    1. Just a quick observation - HB shouldn't be affected, but very often it is. Councils see it as a change in circumstances and suspend payment; many people don't realise that they can have it reinstated by making a 'nil income declaration'.

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  8. I cannot believe what is going on in this day and age, both stories are equally sad. A man who has worked all his life and a professional couple fallen on hard times due to unforseen circumstances.Neither has sucked the life out of welfare benefits system, why are they punished unforgivingly by the dole. It is an absolute disgrace how hard working people who deserve/need a helping hand are left out to dry,through no fault of their own. When is this going to end, nobody seems to care anymore. This government needs to wake up and smell the coffee, you will find crime on the up, more homelessness, food banks strained, support agencies unable to cope because of their funding cuts.....

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  9. Here we go, back to normal: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/10461175/Labour-Well-scrap-benefits-for-under-25s.html

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    1. Not true - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25017406

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