News for those concerned about poverty in the U.K.

MissAdventure, I am so sorry you are struggling with all those problems, thank you for sharing , it helps me understand x

The “system” (whatever the hell it is) is clearly not working MissA people who genuinely need a helping hand are being let down. I wonder how many of the people making the descisions that effect people’s lives so much have actually experienced what you have to go through, my guess would be none. How on earth do they expect people to fund the ridiculously expensive bus and train fares to get to work without some help? No wonder some people just give up . It’s so frustrating .

I understand more now. I struggled being a one parent family, reading the electric meter every night etc, but I had widowed mothers allowance, it was taken into account for tax but it was there every week, not allowed sick pay even though had to pay NIC, couldn’t claim unemployment benefit, but that one weekly payment was a small safety net. I remember applying for sickness benefit , was told - we keep you once we are not keeping you twice over.

Now our local job centre has closed people have to travel by bus or train to the next town.The local papers have people every week who have been sanctioned because they were late for an appointment due to trains being cancelled or busses not turning up etc.The answer apparently they are given is leave MUCH earlier .Not always that simple when families have to be considered ,children got to school or nursery so their benefits are stopped .How helpful is that? What are they expected to live on ,how do they pay their rent or even the train fare to get to the job centre?
The benefits system is a joke ,but not a funny one.There is a severe lack of jobs in this area ,seasonal,zero hours,minimum wage is the norm .Maybe they think people having it tough should just lie down and die .

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JajY37UalI
If you can bear it please watch the video and listen to this song by Reg Meuross. Many people live with the anguish caused by having insufficient money to live and sadly, many of them also die.

2380 people have shortly died after being declared fit for work since the introduction of the draconian measures by this government

DWP figures from 2011/4014

How and why did they die?

That information is classified

Have you a link?

It covers 5 years

You're welcome Annie.
I feel very let down by the system.
All I have needed is some time to mourn the loss of my only child, and to adjust to having my grandson to live with me (taking into account his loss, too) and I have been hounded to go back to work.
It was always my intention to go back to work anyway, but I have sometimes had 8 or 9 dreaded brown envelopes a day coming through my letterbox.
The 'work coaches' at the job centre have no interest and genuinely no knowledge of help for people.
You have to give them the details of your job seekers account, and they log into it, to check that you have spent 35 hours each week looking for work.
They couldn't help me with any enquires I had about child minders, their fees, or even suggestions about how to go about finding one.

missadventure the welfare system is lacking any humanity. So unfair to someone like you who is trying bring up a bereaved grandchild on your own.

This is a very short video on Austerity and how it causes so much poverty yet still doesn’t reduce government debt. Worth a watch.

www.facebook.com/763996933693821/posts/1845579438868893/

The so called “work coaches” at the job centre are at best incompetent (I daren’t say what I really think of them). Their only job is to find a way to get you off benefits and they don’t give a monkeys toot how they do this. It doesn’t necessarily involve getting the right job for the individual either, or any job at all for that matter, just as long as they succeed in getting you off benefits. Of course they don’t take into account they are dealing with real lives and all the very real problems many people have. Talk about kicking someone when they are down ! They are just blinkered.

I’m not surprised you feel let down MissA I think most people in similar circumstances would feel the same. It makes me so angry when people think we have this brilliant benefits system designed to help real people when they need it most, because it’s clear it is failing big time.

I do hope things look up for you soon.

MissAdventure, you are doing a great job. Stay strong. Hope things improve for you and your grandson,

Ah, thank you all for your well wishes.
I just wanted to show how it is from the 'inside' as I had no understanding myself until I experienced it.
I'm sure things will slowly start to improve, but absolutely no thanks at all to the system that is supposed to support people who are having a bad time.
I always thought it ridiculous that people might end up suicidal 'just' because they benefits stopped, but it really isn't just about that.
Its the whole humiliating procedure.

It is cruel MissAdventure, being humiliated drags one down so very low x

MissAdventure Yes bureaucracy is often like that, and was exactly like that for my family ( the 1950’s)
Now and again you get an intelligent and helpful individual
Working in these places, but too many of the other sort as well.

I think compassion died when they started calling it "benefits or welfare" it is and should be Social Security thats what its for its not handouts its a helping hand .
Now we get bombarded by folk telling us that its scroungers or people who haven't worked hard enough or cant budget so are wasters ,spending "taxpayers money" we have them on here dont we.

The folk who think we should turn the clock back and leave families to go hungry or lose their homes because they managed to live on tuppence a week in a cardboard box with a hole in it !! Is that the "great" Britain they talk of?

How many people die shortly after starting a new job? My uncle collapsed and died at his desk a few months after he started a new job. He had, until then, no known medical problems.

For how many was the cause of their application the cause of death and not something else like a road accident or similar.How many applications were ill founded, not everyone applying for a disability benefit meets the requirements, however interpreted. I used to be a volunteer Benefit advisor and, on occasion, completed application forms for people who undoubtedly had problems, but not severe enough to qualify for benefits.

One statistic like that quoted by Iamnotarobot means nothing without comparisons with similar figures for the rest of the population

But some believe it when they read it MOnica and it is repeated as a fact.

As a CAB advisor we see huge numbers of people who are really struggling through no fault of their own. There are very few scrounges or lazy people, or fraudulent claimants, compared with the many who are not getting the help they desperately need.
We don’t need inspections or surveys to know that the system is broken and human beings are suffering.
Assessors of disability benefits work for private companies whose remit it is to allow as few successful clams as possible. The majority who go to Tribunal are successful, but that is after lengthy delays and considerable stress, not to mention the administrative costs.
Those who use food banks are typically in poverty because of delays or errors in benefits.

Close friends and relatives of mine have had to go to appeal over disability benefits decisions. One was awarded no points initially, after two appeals she was awarded full points, but very stressful and unnecessary to have to go through all that.

I’m sure we’ve all heard about people with advanced cancer being found fit for work just a week or so before dying. Then there are many others who having been denied benefits and left with no income, kill themselves.

The film “I Daniel Blake”, based on real events, is heartbreaking. When I watched virtually the whole cinema was in tears.

Just a reminder to watch grannyactivist’s link.
youtu.be/-JajY37UalI

Yes mostly “I Daniel Blake” was based on all too real events . Agree you would have to have a heart like a rock not to be moved by this film .

MissA, I am so sorry you are having to work your way through this brutal and unfeeling system while you are grieving for your daughter and supporting your grandchild. Frankly it makes me ashamed that this is being carried out 'in my name' as a taxpayer. So sorry. I do hope you eventually manage to get things sorted. You are one of thousands, and still people perpetuate the myth of benefit scroungers, I hope that those on here who think that way have read your post, maybe, just maybe they will realise the ugly truth of needing help today.