New Year Honours List

NHS doctor launches petition against Iain Duncan Smith receiving knighthood
The decision to knight the former Conservative minister has sparked fury amongst his opponents, particularly Dr Mona Kamal Ahmed, a NHS psychiatrist, who claims Mr Smith was responsible for "some of the cruellest most extreme welfare reforms this country has ever seen"

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-doctor-launches-petition-against-21174937.amp?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&__twitter_impression=true

Maybe Bercow can be a Dame - in a pantomime production! He loves the limelight and theatrical performances.

Nice one Urmstongran

Can anyone doubt that Bercow didn't get an honour because he put a stop to Boris's plans?

Ken Loach refused an OBE. Well done Ken!

Well of course that’s why Bercow didn’t get a gong. Did you really think Boris would agree to him having one after he did everything in his power to scupper Brexit?

I would rather Brecow had been honoured than Duncan Smith ...

Bet Mrs Sally Bercow is p****d off. Actually, just remembered she went off and had an affair with JB’s cousin. That’s some brass neck.

Then she and Bercow reunited.

At least JB has a pension pot of over a million. That should cushion his disappointment.

We are no longer a democracy. Rewarding a man for cruel and systemic persecution of those already vulnerable and suffering is beyond disgusting.

HOW can anyone want those people in power?

I do.

The U.K. benefits system was in dire need of an overhaul. Way back, Tony Blair asked Frank Field ‘to think the unthinkable ‘.

Labour had a bloated, fragmented and piecemeal benefits system.

Disability allowance
Careers allowance
Pension credits
Housing benefits
Child tax credit
Jobseeker’s Allowance

UC is designed so that no-one faces a situation where they would be better off claiming benefits than working.

Under the old system many faced a "cliff edge", where people on a low income would lose a big chunk of their benefits in one go as soon as they started working more than 16 hours.

In the new system, benefit payments are reduced at a consistent rate as income and earnings increase - for every extra £1 you earn after tax, you will lose 63p in benefits.

It needed an overhaul.

I agree it probably did need overhauling. But what IDS created is horrific. It desperately needs fixing and they are refusing to look at it.

I appreciate, Brexit etc. BUT how can you want this system which punishes the most desperate, most vulnerable? It's inhumane.

WHY reward him for this horror? It is a disgusting abuse of power.

When I started work in 1971 I worked a month then got paid for it. So you ‘worked a month in hand’. That was also the period of notice to be given if you wanted to leave the job.

UC is similar. One lump sum to be paid into your bank as such - for example:

Ben has lost his job and makes a new claim for Universal Credit on 22 July.

This makes his assessment date 22 July. It means he will be paid on the 22 of each month.

He needs to wait one assessment period (that’s a calendar month) to 21 August because Universal Credit is paid monthly in arrears.

He also needs to allow up to seven days for the money to reach his account.

He should expect his first payment of Universal Credit no later than 29 August.

If 29 August is a bank holiday Monday, he should receive payment on the last working day (Friday) before the holiday.

Sorry but I don’t think it’s draconian at all.

Plus it’s amazing how many people STOPPED claiming once it was introduced! Anything to do with all those dots being joined up and separate departments sharing information together, by any chance??

Both main political parties agree that UC is a good thing, but
The way it was first implemented was thoughless.After a while it was helped by a loan as far as I remember, but the initial long wait was totally and inexcusably wrong.
That doesn’t mean the whole policy is wrong.

Yes lemongrove that’s correct.

I honestly think the premise of UC is sound.

Money grabber ‘Mr Austerity’ George Osborne, announced a future £3.2 billion a year cut to the overall Universal Credit budget after an attempt to cut Tax Credits. Fortunately mostly that didn’t happen.

Then after pressure, the government was urged to make telephone calls over UC free for claimants, which was done in 2019.

Yes, it’s not perfect. Yes it needs tweaking. But employment has gone up. It IS working in the majority of claims.

We do have to remember - this is OUR money being given out. Taxpayers money. It needs to be targeted to be delivered fairly but appropriately.

I wonder how and why the Beckhams have missed out yet again.

Because they’re annoying?

The way that you usually introduce a change such as UC is to trial it in small areas. If there is a problem then you stop the trial re-adjust the method and start again. You don't roll it out to the entire population until you've fixed the snags. Unless of course you are doing this for political reasons and you don't care about the people who will suffer because the system is faulty.

@RLong_Bailey

Iain Duncan Smith’s knighthood comes as millions are forced to use food banks, rough sleeping is on the rise and so many children live in poverty.

This government is no longer even pretending.

It has no regrets and no shame over what it has done in the last decade.

@NadiaWhittomeMP

Today I’m thinking of the millions of people whose loved ones have been killed by Iain Duncan Smith’s policies.

Because they’re annoying?

That's a good enough reason for me Urmston!

The main point of the petition ( link here again - chng.it/b6FJyLJtWT ) is that people with disabilities are made repeatedly to fill in difficult, intrusive forms and to attend assessments, knowing that their own doctors' diagnoses may be overturned resulting in their benefits being reduced, or stopped.

The petition has been started by an NHS psychiatrist who has had to help people whose mental health has been seriously affected by this.

Urmstongran were you docked a few weeks wages if you, once, turned up 5 minutes late?
Or if you did not turn up at all because you were taken ill and were in hospital?

These are typical of real situations where benefit sanctions were imposed, meaning people had no income for weeks on end.

I am pleased IDS has an honour as I like him.

He was responsible for getting thousands off benefits and back to work which can only be a good thing for the people themselves as well as the country of course.

The whole honours system though is a joke.

Some woman who won a tv cookery programme is honoured. What on earth is that all about? Crazy.

The problem with UC is that most people do not have 6 weeks worth of savings to rely on to cover them for that wait, therefore have lost their homes, are attending food banks and the like, and if there is no family in a position to lend it, then their landlords find out they are on benefits which they do not like and they lose the roof over their heads!

UC is designed so that no-one faces a situation where they would be better off claiming benefits than working - BUT if you are working and get paid 4 weekly, (usually folk in lower paid jobs) you then get the situation where you can be paid TWICE in one assessment period, so get ZERO UC that month - how can you budget? These people again do not have the savings to cover the loss of that extra money to pay their rent etc - this has happened to my daughter 3 times - twice jut before a new baby was born and they have had to borrow but are unable to pay it back - the DWP lost a case over this in the High Court, but haven't done anything about it, and work will not change the payment schedule as it will cost them too much ....

Then of course UC is designed so that no-one faces a situation where they would be better off claiming benefits than working - what if you are unable to work??? Oh well they get free cars thinks the majority of people - NO THEY ARE NOT FREE! They are lease cars and we lose our money depending on which car is suitable for our needs, PLUS a down payment that gets bigger again depending on the type of car you need. Then you get reassessed, the aim of that game is to get as many off the benefit as possible, and they have done that, although 73% of claims taken to Tribunal, win - how is that for a dreadful waste of taxpayers money? HMCRTS are currently debating whether to fine the DWP for allowing cases that are bound to be overturned get as far as the court system - I hope they do!

I hope none of you that voted for BoJo don't have your fortunes overturned suddenly or you too will realise jut how difficult it is for some people .....

Some might argue that it’s completely irresponsible not to ensure we all have at least six weeks worth of savings to tide us over temporary hard times.

It is not the government’s job to bail out those who seem to think it is the responsibility of the State to provide for them.

Urmstongran said When I started work in 1971 I worked a month then got paid for it. So you ‘worked a month in hand

Can I ask what you lived on that month?

When I started work, aged 15 in 1962, I still lived at home and my Mother had to feed and cloth me and sub me my bus fares for the first month. When I got my first month's salary she reclaimed my dig money and bus fares leaving me with a couple of £££. It continued thus where I was paid a month in arrears, while I paid for my keep a month in advance. It took a few years with annual increments before I had some spare cash to call my own.