... and we are the sixth richest country in the world ...
Bonnie Blue the MSM should stop all reporting.
Daughter not allowed to know new baby’s name until she visits him
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Housing benefit
(62 Posts)This is a rant but I need to vent.
I already claim my teacher's pension due to ill health and a few months ago I was contacted by another pension that I had paid into prior to becoming a teacher. I applied for ill health payment from that pension too and it was accepted. It pays me the grand sum of £33.62 each month.
I promptly declared this new pension to the Housing Benefit people and sent them all the documentation regarding payments that I had. They immediately stopped my housing benefit until I sent them more information. I didn't know what more I could send them so I phoned. They wanted to know what was the pension payable before 6th April and how much it had increased by since then. The pension people were very helpful and sent me the information which I forwarded to the Housing Benefit people. They reassessed my benefit. Told me I owed them money and how it would be deducted from the amount I was entitled to each month. About a week later I got a letter telling me they needed more information and were stopping my housing benefit. I again got them all the information they asked for and jokingly said the only thing left was my blood.
Guess what? Today I got another letter from Housing Benefit telling me they were stopping my benefit until they got more information. I phoned and even the person I spoke to said he'd never heard of this being asked for before. So I've contacted the Pension people again and they're now going to send me details of how much they'd have paid me in November 2014 (had I been claiming at that time) and May 2015 (just after I started claiming) even though if the Housing Benefit people did some basic arithmetic using the figures they already have they could work it out for themselves.
In the meantime I get no housing benefit. I pointed out that without it I can't pay the rent. The reply was that it would be back dated when it was sorted out. I'm sure my landlord will accept back dated rent (not).
This isn't the first time Housing Benefit have messed me about. It happens each time I tell them about a change in income.
I can't help thinking I'm too honest.
My housing benefit has been sorted out....well on paper. They're not going to pay me until next month.
Despite my best efforts it seems that I now owe them money so, although I only qualify for housing benefit because I am deemed to be officially poor and therefore need all the money I am entitled to, someone has decided that I will repay the amount owed at the rate of £11.45 a week. This will be deducted at source so I have no choice in the matter.
This is on top of the 14% reduction they make because I have two bedrooms.
No wonder Ian Duncan Smith is laughing. Stop a veterans benefit. Yay look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. More evidence of a) catching cheats and b) saving public money.
Come the revolution....
People have had a field day re the "made up" stories for the DWP leaflets e.g.on Twitter this week and some of the responses have been very funny.
However, using 'stock photos' to illustrate (government) leaflets is and always has been common practice, can you imagine the outcry if real benefit recipients were photographed for this purpose.
Anyway the department's Comms Director and Department should be answering for this.
I don't like IDS nor do I think the leaflets were a good idea, in fact most leaflets like that are a waste of time and money. I'm just saying ... in the interests of "to be fair".
That's true Grannyknot. Do you believe, tho, that the views expressed are typical of the views of benefit claimants?
DWP call centre staff have now been given "guidance" on how to deal with claimants who say that they feel suicidal.
m.heraldscotland.com/news/13620988._Suicide_guidance__given_to_benefits_staff_preparing_for_desperate_calls_on_welfare_reform/
It's not about the photos. It's about concocting a "story" that purports to be a real life account of a person whose benefits have been stopped. Naturally, such "real life" stories don't include negative experiences of having benefits cut but promote the idea that benefit sanctions have actually helped some of the people affected. The photographs merely added to a false sense of authenticity.
For the sake of balance, perhaps they should have included this true account (from the Observer January 2015) in their leaflet:
"In July 2013, David Clapson, 59, was found dead in his flat in Stevenage from diabetic ketoacidosis, two weeks after his benefits were cut. And new information provided by the Disability News Service via a freedom of information request has uncovered that the Department for Work and Pensions has carried out 60 peer reviews following the deaths of customers."
Or this:
"Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Four-week sanctions are wreaking havoc with people’s ability to find work. People need a transparent system that can take into account their situation, set suitable work-search requirements and, where appropriate, apply sanctions at a level that won’t limit their chances of employment.”
So some poor little call centre clerk is suddenly going to have to decide how real the threat of suicide is and live with the consequences if they get it wrong. Typical of this caring government.
far north I don't know is the short answer, but I doubt it is representative of typical views.
eloethan I didnt see leaflets purporting to show people who were doing well despite benefit sanctions. The two examples I saw in the Press tried to convey a message about the importance of rescheduling appointments; and of having a CV. Well those are the two I saw anyway. Ridiculous, anyway.
It is dreadfully sad when people die or commit suicide because their benefits have been stopped and they have no recourse or can see no other way out.
Sorry for repetition, I didn't preview my editing.
vampire I'm sorry for you caught up in the.system. it's a mess all right.
One of the (fictitious) examples I saw said something to the effect "I had a hospital appointment so I contacted the jobcentre in good time and got my review date rearranged."
Somehow, I think the appalling treatment vq told us about is more likely to be the case.
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