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welfare reform

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well it looks like the day of reconing has finally come for many
after this i might even stop claiming personal petrol allowance

:thumbup::thumbup:
Quote by Kaznkev
Having read the article i dont see anything new.
Job clubs ran by the private sector and paid on a performance basis already exist,you loose benifits if you turn down work,loans are available for those wishing to set up their own bisunesses.
Incapacity benifit we have shared some of our personal experiences on before,i fear that legitimate claims will be denied if it becomes a results based rather to an extent it is now,which is why you have the horrific situation of people with cancer being assesed fit for work.

The lib/dem idea of raising the tax threashold may be the simplest and best way of cutting the economic disincentive to work,but someone who doesnt have to take their crocs off to count to 20 will be better commenting on that lol

yes and all done under new LABOUR and proof of what a mess they truly was
i am hopeful that this time it will work and if it did then i`d be the first to welcome a increase in income tax or vat
as for counting to 20 i can only reach 19 as i have a toe missing flipa
They also want to speed up the assessment of all those on incapacity benefit - paid to those unable to work due to health problems. All those deemed able to work are likely to be moved onto jobseeker's allowance

Incapacity benefit has not existed for over 3 years now.
It was replaced by employment support allowance.
All those on esa are medically assessed as to their ability to work.
If they are judged fit for work, any work, they have to move their claim to jobseekers allowance. So they go from esa ( to jsa (
Apart from that, nothing changes.
People genuinely ill will still not be able to get employment(many ARE ill and were made unemployed by extensive illness).
Interestingly, those who have a good employment record (worked for decades) and are now unemployed get paid far less in benefit/s than those who have rarely worked. This is because there are two grades of allowances.
Contribution based (paid a lot in - get not much out)
Income based (paid little in - get a lot out)
The reported fact that the ones now running the shop have no idea what they're talking about (yet) is worrying.
The other problem, as discussed on other posts, is that putting people onto "menial" work is hardly going to help....since there are other people already doing said "menial" work (most of which seems to be picking the rubbish up that is deposited by their "betters" upon the streets and parks and carparks, so keep-on dogging and not cleaning the dross up after !)
Another major shake-up of the taxation system is also to be done....IR35 will be revamped to reclassify self employment....apparently some are still able to claim self employment even though their status is not so.
Waited for for some years by, for instance, building and construction unions to end the bogus self employment that is still rampant in their trade/s....it seems the coalition may deliver what the labour party did not.
June will see major shake-ups in the public services, with some prophesying the demise of the DfWP, at least in the massive form is has now. It may also see a rapid one-off rise in the age to claim state pension with women to need to work several years more before being able to claim....and mens rising in future years...
So far nothing seems to much different to before they were there.
Incapacity benifit we have shared some of our personal experiences on before,i fear that legitimate claims will be denied if it becomes a results based rather to an extent it is now,which is why you have the horrific situation of people with cancer being assesed fit for work

That is because the assessment is not whether a patient with cancer SHOULD work, it is whether a patient, with any illness, is fit for ANY SORT of work.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the assessors are, in many cases, not doctors or nurses, but occupational therapists. It also begs the question as to why the government use private companies (many French owned) to do the job when the nhs provides occupational health services.......
A good link Rob.
This comment though is quite relevant...
" Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith is set to create a welfare to work programme and make benefits more conditional on willingness to work".
There lies the major issue for me, whereby so many can work but choose to live on the gravy train of hot and cold running benefits.
Yes I agree that there is always some that will be forced into work that possibly should not be but...IF it gets a lot of the lazy bad back shirkers back to work, it surely has to be worth a try?
As the article also states that if someone does go to work they are then called " morons ". That is the culture that 13 years of Labour rule have created where to work in so many cases is frowned upon, and why would they work when we see how much benefits some do get....hardly worth getting out of bed to look for work with that crazy system going on.
Genuine cases to be given all the help and support and money that is available but....the lazy workshy scroungers...get them back into work by force and stop their benefits. The only people that will really suffer are the Bingo halls and the fag and drink companies.
Which gravy train.
The maximum cash paid to the average unemployed person is 64 quid per week.
The other dollops of gravy are, called benefits, paid to councils etc, directly.
And those on the "gravy-train" for years are classified as "disabled", and whether genuine or not they are not to be medically assessed for some years...if ever.
ESA (PKA incapacity benefit) is not the same as disability.
Run through the list of benefits available to those registered as disabled.......all not going to be looked-at...yet.
And which jobs are they going to get anyway.....where are all these jobs ?
The "menial" jobs that are going to be handed-out are already BEING done by people on the national minimum wage....what are they going to do when 1-2-3-4 million people start working for £64/wk ?
As I have pointed-out before, some jobs that are "menial" need crb_enhanced clearance....loads actually...ALL jobs at hospitals, schools, old-persons homes....etc
You cannot even clear-up in a park now without a crb check....
Even small companies play the pre-employment health questionnaire game now....
Looks like cleaning the graffiti will get interesting.....costly to provide the training (necessary by law...health and safety)....costly in provision of protective equipment (necessary by law....and common sense.....health and safety (and a criminal offence to not so do))
The idea of letting a resentful idiot loose with solvents and a pressure washer makes me worry about going to the park to view the graffiti....
Excellent thread, Lizaleanrob - thank you :thumbup:
Much of what Mr. Duncan-Smith proposes is actually new - and in my view quite refreshing, although elements of detail are subject to comment. Ever thus!
The full report from his "think tank" is in the public domain and can be downloaded from the website of the above organisation. Just enter the title into your search engine and follow the link to "Dynamic Benefits".
NB I will comment on this thread shortly as I am still reading through another report on it and would like to let you have the best of both worlds, but in the meantime anyone who is really interested ought to visit the above Website, although I would mention that the paper is rather long.
Plim wink
Plus ca change...another look at the size of my bollocks refusal to actually look to the root of the the name of the benefit and carry on as normal
Quote by Lizaleanrob
as for counting to 20 i can only reach 19 as i have a toe missing flipa

Nice shot sir
Quote by JTS
They also want to speed up the assessment of all those on incapacity benefit - paid to those unable to work due to health problems. All those deemed able to work are likely to be moved onto jobseeker's allowance

Incapacity benefit has not existed for over 3 years now.
It was replaced by employment support allowance.
All those on esa are medically assessed as to their ability to work.

Just for info, Incapacity Benefit is still in existance and is still being paid, however, people cannot make new claims for it and are expected to claime Employment Support Allowance
As you way, they are assessed and dependent on their 'allegid' capability, they either need to claim Jobseekers Allowance (if they are found fit for work) or they are moved into a support group (meaning they are completely unfit for work) or a Work Related Activity group where some work is considered possible.
The former Labour Government did announce in 2008 that it would be stopping Incapacity Benefit and moving all these people onto ESA and I did think that it was planned for this year, but with the new Government, and all their (not so new) changes, anything could happen wink
Funnily enough there was a report on the bbc about a woman who was made jobless by the DfWP because her illness made her "unfit for work".
She went onto ESA, was medically assessed, and found "fit for all work" and moved onto JSA (52 page form). Weird.
Mind you, the JC+ was advertising for female escorts not so long ago.
And loads of "own transport" "self employed" jobs going, delivering pizzas with your own transport....bit of a pain to have to pay the £900 - £1300 for the extra insurance though.
Then there was the female cleaner for a family....of men....sex at 6 quid an hour...hmmm.
Yep. Not much change.
OK on getting people into jobs....but the local papers are full of council jobs, hospital jobs and with public services soon to be hit with money-saving-vouchers (etc)....and manufacturing is still in the doldrums (or China and India).
I wish them well: except that the long-term unemployed are going to be last in the queue.
And unemployable. Not a good time to be a council street-sweeper I think.
And an easy target anyway....let's see some action to cut-down deliberate tax fraud by business.
13.7% of VAT revenue is lost to fraud, and some estimate the total revenue fraud bill to be as much as 70 billion a year (the real figure may well be lower, or higher....)
Quote by JTS
I wish them well: except that the long-term unemployed are going to be last in the queue.
.

And today they have also announced that all the subsidies they put in place to encourage employers to take on the longer term unemployed have also been removed to save money.
Yep, I would hate to be at the back of this growing queue :sad:
They got loads more.....I expect the JC+ to force the jobless to work for 64 quid a week and charge the employer 300 quid a week. 236 profit.
Mind you....there is talk of separating the JC+ from the DfWP and handing them, and the staff, to local employment agencies to run....
Result !
lower public service pay and lower PS pension.
Oh..many of the JC+ staff are on fixed-term contracts....rolling 12 month.....so they will need paying-off on the contract.
I also hear that fuel tax is to rise with inflation + 1%......
I think I'll go to E4 diesel...
so tell me
is it if you avoid a little of the taxes knowing that there probably gonna pay for some lazy ike that doesn`t want to work (really they do exist )it is considered a hang-able offence dunno
but sit indoors watchin daytime tv ramped up with benefits wont work cant work leaching of every hard working British citizen should be awarded with an obe or a mbe :doh:
tell me who is nominated as the last working man in the uk
who is going to deliver bread, milk
where is the food coming from ,the clothes ,the heating the tv`s
no place to cash the giro whats the state coming to it is my right to be feed, watered ,heated ,housed someone has to work to support me as i do believe it s my right to get all this for free with little or no return
Have to say Rob, that one lost me completely.
Quote by Gillianthe1st
Have to say Rob, that one lost me completely.

sorry frustration gets the better of me it seems this benefit frendly world we live in is far more accepted than i thought dunno
ah well ive worked since i was 15 apart from a couple of years off when we lived abroad, went back to work when we came back to England and at the time had to pay in full for fulltime childcare, so nope it doesnt hold with me very well as when i thought i might take a year out when i moved back to yorks I was promptly told i couldnt claim anything lol
Oh I could if i lied about my child support from my ex husband, tell the csa they cant contact him cos he beats you was the advice the more clued up gave me. I hasten to add that I didnt.
Disgusting...
Quote by Lizaleanrob
so tell me
is it if you avoid a little of the taxes knowing that there probably gonna pay for some lazy ike that doesn`t want to work (really they do exist )it is considered a hang-able offence dunno
but sit indoors watchin daytime tv ramped up with benefits wont work cant work leaching of every hard working British citizen should be awarded with an obe or a mbe :doh:
tell me who is nominated as the last working man in the uk
who is going to deliver bread, milk
where is the food coming from ,the clothes ,the heating the tv`s
no place to cash the giro whats the state coming to it is my right to be feed, watered ,heated ,housed someone has to work to support me as i do believe it s my right to get all this for free with little or no return

Thing is you don't know where your taxes are going perhaps they're the ones needed by the baby unit at your local hospital
Quote by Staggerlee_BB
so tell me
is it if you avoid a little of the taxes knowing that there probably gonna pay for some lazy ike that doesn`t want to work (really they do exist )it is considered a hang-able offence dunno
but sit indoors watchin daytime tv ramped up with benefits wont work cant work leaching of every hard working British citizen should be awarded with an obe or a mbe :doh:
tell me who is nominated as the last working man in the uk
who is going to deliver bread, milk
where is the food coming from ,the clothes ,the heating the tv`s
no place to cash the giro whats the state coming to it is my right to be feed, watered ,heated ,housed someone has to work to support me as i do believe it s my right to get all this for free with little or no return

Thing is you don't know where your taxes are going perhaps they're the ones needed by the baby unit at your local hospital
Yeah to all the underage Mothers, who will then spend eternity on the benefit gravy train??
Quote by Staggerlee_BB
so tell me
is it if you avoid a little of the taxes knowing that there probably gonna pay for some lazy ike that doesn`t want to work (really they do exist )it is considered a hang-able offence dunno
but sit indoors watchin daytime tv ramped up with benefits wont work cant work leaching of every hard working British citizen should be awarded with an obe or a mbe :doh:
tell me who is nominated as the last working man in the uk
who is going to deliver bread, milk
where is the food coming from ,the clothes ,the heating the tv`s
no place to cash the giro whats the state coming to it is my right to be feed, watered ,heated ,housed someone has to work to support me as i do believe it s my right to get all this for free with little or no return

Thing is you don't know where your taxes are going perhaps they're the ones needed by the baby unit at your local hospital
tell me stagger does the benefit cheat/workshy not also starve the nhs of funds or even their little cash in hand bonus`s of much needed tax`s also :dunno:
Quote by Lizaleanrob
so tell me
is it if you avoid a little of the taxes knowing that there probably gonna pay for some lazy ike that doesn`t want to work (really they do exist )it is considered a hang-able offence dunno
but sit indoors watchin daytime tv ramped up with benefits wont work cant work leaching of every hard working British citizen should be awarded with an obe or a mbe :doh:
tell me who is nominated as the last working man in the uk
who is going to deliver bread, milk
where is the food coming from ,the clothes ,the heating the tv`s
no place to cash the giro whats the state coming to it is my right to be feed, watered ,heated ,housed someone has to work to support me as i do believe it s my right to get all this for free with little or no return

Thing is you don't know where your taxes are going perhaps they're the ones needed by the baby unit at your local hospital
tell me stagger does the benefit cheat/workshy not also starve the nhs of funds or even their little cash in hand bonus`s of much needed tax`s also :dunno:
Yes...both are unacceptable I've never said any different
You are confusing the legitimate benefit claimant with the person/s fraudulently claiming benefit.
The person claiming invalidity/disability benefit for a bad back, and also working while claiming (their employer would also be a criminal in that case...if they could be shown to have known (precedent exists)).
The last in the queue to be investigated will be those claiming disability...
I won't even mention (well...I will) the woman living a street away who has a blue badge because she cannot walk far....because her legs won't support her 20 stone and her lungs won't support them either because she smokes too much.
Nor the self-employed window cleaner with a warrior for biz use....who also runs a combo for windows and the warrior for social.....
Fortunately along with the assault on benefit use there is to be more investigation by hmrc into businesses taxes. Cutting fraud works both ways.


The tip of a very large business tax-fraud iceberg.
I have considered, for many years, that every business should have an hmrc investigation every year....
European VAT fraud is growing at an alarming rate – both in its quantum and its level of sophistication - to the point that it is today beginning to affect the accuracy of Member states’ trade statistics. Estimates vary concerning the actual level of VAT losses, with figures ranging from €60bn - €100bn per annum for all Member states
Report presented to the European Commission - March 2007
Quote by JTS
You are confusing the legitimate benefit claimant with the person/s fraudulently claiming benefit.
The person claiming invalidity/disability benefit for a bad back, and also working while claiming (their employer would also be a criminal in that case...if they could be shown to have known (precedent exists)).
The last in the queue to be investigated will be those claiming disability...
I won't even mention (well...I will) the woman living a street away who has a blue badge because she cannot walk far....because her legs won't support her 20 stone and her lungs won't support them either because she smokes too much.
Nor the self-employed window cleaner with a warrior for biz use....who also runs a combo for windows and the warrior for social.....
Fortunately along with the assault on benefit use there is to be more investigation by hmrc into businesses taxes. Cutting fraud works both ways.


The tip of a very large business tax-fraud iceberg.
I have considered, for many years, that every business should have an hmrc investigation every year....
European VAT fraud is growing at an alarming rate -- both in its quantum and its level of sophistication - to the point that it is today beginning to affect the accuracy of Member states' trade statistics. Estimates vary concerning the actual level of VAT losses, with figures ranging from €60bn - €100bn per annum for all Member states
Report presented to the European Commission - March 2007

these and about a million more and those who don`t want to work
by clamping down on tax breaks and not the the people who have no wish nor will to work the employed/selfemployed start to feel like a cash cow for those with 5 kids and the equivalent to 40k a year in benefits
international vat fraud is at crisis level that's for sure but you are certainly not going to convince me that anything should be done regards taxation until the benefit system had been made the most unattractive place to be even for the most hardened slackers and bad back brigade
ps if it means creating a job shoveling shit for the very long term slackers then i for one hope its a very long contract indeed
Any system designed to attack fraud will have to start at the BACK and work FORWARDS (first start on the long-term) to have much effect.
But it won't; because long-term unemployed are not what employers are looking for.
And in any case, the person illegally claiming benefit/s is better versed in the "culture" than those administering the system.
So those recent claimants are got off-the-books to leave the ones who have been there years to continue....and then there are the appeals against decisions....these can cost up to several hundred thousand pounds when the silks get involved....and can take years to define.
Have a look:
Quote by JTS
Any system designed to attack fraud will have to start at the BACK and work FORWARDS (first start on the long-term) to have much effect.
But it won't; because long-term unemployed are not what employers are looking for.
And in any case, the person illegally claiming benefit/s is better versed in the "culture" than those administering the system.
So those recent claimants are got off-the-books to leave the ones who have been there years to continue....and then there are the appeals against decisions....these can cost up to several hundred thousand pounds when the silks get involved....and can take years to define.
Have a look:

so there's no hope your saying ,so carry on paying the long term scroungers their scrounge
i got a better idea lets force the feckers to the front line bring our boys back from afgan and see what they think they are entitled to then
id be happy to lets them all starve i have no humanitarian feelings towards parasites
jmho
Quote by Lizaleanrob
so there's no hope your saying ,so carry on paying the long term scroungers their scrounge

Sorry to snip just this bit, but to a point there is no hope of identifying and doing something positive with every person who is taking the p**s out of the system.
There are thousands and thousands of people on incapacity benefit, income support (including all the young mothers who Kent often refers to) long term unemployed (JSA etc) who do not want to work, have no intention of working and will do anything not to work. However there are a dam sight more who do want to work and will work even if they are financially no better off than they were on benefits. I used to work in a Jobcentre from the early 90's to the introduction of all the 'activation' policies that the labour government introduced (New Deals etc) and I have dealt with people from all backgrounds making new and repeat claims to benefit. As part of some work I am presently am doing for my Masters Degree, I am now researching the impacts of active labour markets and the impact on Unemployment so I am in regular contact with people who are not in work (well, I would be if my work wasnt so dam busy and I had chance to get on with my Uni research) wink
We do have a percentage of people who 'wont work, cant be arsed to work' and we still have generations of people whose parents never worked, so why should they (often as a result of the high unemployment from the 1980's who have never lived in an household where work is the norm). A culture change is needed for a lot of the young people out there, and for a lot of the so called scroungers who cant be arsed to work. Work needs to become the norm rather than something obscure and distant. I cant quote percentages as any studies which have taken place with unemployed people (working age customers and those removed from the labour market due to not being able to work) will not be accurate and would be tainted by the customer saying what they thought they should say (ie of course I want to work). But you have to remember that a dam high percentage of those who are in work due to health problems, lack of vacancies, would do anything to be able to go out to work, to support themselves and to be off benefits. Unfortunately, the likes of the Mirror, the Sun etc take great pride in highlighting what is a small minority of people and making it out to be much worse than it is.
So, although full employment and identification of every 'scrounger' will never be a possibility, a lot of work can be done to move people out of 'relative' poverty and into a working household. However some unemployment will always be a necessary evil, and living in a supply and demand country is what helps to keep inflation at a managable level (or so I am told) lol

Now that is a lot of people.
I shall give you a scenario of madness which is a true account, and am sure this is not an isolated case either.
My Daughters ex boyfriend is now married to a woman who three years ago had a kidney transplant.
Very tragic indeed for a woman who was only 22. At that time she had only done three months work since she left school, even though her kidney problems only started when she was nearly 19...she left school at 16.
Her Husband who is a tad older is now 27....not the brightest spark in the box by any stretch of the imagination. He has had a few jobs...bottle washer in a hotel, that kind of thing so you get my drift as to his capabilities.
Anyway the last job he actually had was nearly five years ago. When his wife fell ill ( she was not his wife at the time ), she was obviously entitled to additional benefits, as she was now genuinely ill.
Eventually she luckily enough for her managed to get that kidney transpalnt, and along with the anti rejection drugs she had to take, obviously needed care at home, which her then boyfriend provided. They then got married over two years ago and after three years she is fine and dandy but....and here is the but, HE is now her full time carer even though she is perfectly ok now, and he has been that carer for some two years now. He does not even bother going to the hospital with her as he cannot be bothered to " hang around for hours ".
I am not sure of all the benefits they get but I do know she receives Mobility allowance.
Now they are in a situation where he has not worked for years, he has jumped on the bandwagon of more benefits by saying he is her full time carer, so he does not even have to look for work and get this.....they traded in the Mobility allowance and now have a 59 plate car which was new when they got it, they are currently in Spain on a ten day holiday.
Now I know of many people that have never had a new car, and some have not been on holiday for years yet....these two live the life of bloody Riley. Yes she was ill, yes she deserved all the help the state provided but...she is perfectly ok now, but what really pisses me off is that HE can work but now has the system eating out of his sweaty palms, and he knows it.
They get a nice ammount of dosh every month, and it is probably with everything else they get, a damn site more than people who have to get up everyday to get themselves into work, and they could not afford a nice new shiny car, and a foreign holiday.
This is not isolated by any means...I have provided a link above which are official figures of how many people are on over 15 grand a year, and there are many others who after having a gaggle of kids who they expect the taxpayer to foot the bill for, are on well over the average wage. On the BBC news last night there was a family on over 40 grand a year, and she was moaning it was not enough ffs.
Why the feck should the taxpayer have to foot the bill for anyone just because she cannot keep her knickers on? We see it all the time where some have up to nine kids with another on the way. Yes they are certainly not the norm, but they do exist and I hate to see my money being spent on these kinds of piss takers.
It would have been cheaper to buy them a nice big flat screen telly, as they may well have watched that a bit more, rather than being a baby machine courtesy of the British taxpayer.
I hope this Government get a grip on this and help the needy, but give the scrounges the kick up the arse they so richly deserve.
But the likes of my Daughters ex boyfriend will play the system because whilst he is as thick as shite, like so many he knows exactly what he can and cannot claim for, and he takes every single penny he can scrounge.
I hope they catch up with this piss taker but because there are just so many now, it has become an almost impossible task. But it is a start and that is what you have to do to sort out any problem.....at the start. Unlike under Labour where they just made it even easier for the scrounger, people in any doubt should look for the ammount Labour were paying out in welfare benefits pro rata to the national average....scary ammounts of money.
The system needs reform anyway, never mind the crooks.
It is cumbersome and paper-hungry.
The JSA form is immense but can be filled-in by the JC over the phone (which is the best way because they know what is what)
The ESA form is even more immense and should be filled-in with help from a trained adviser (age concern say they've never had anyone fill one in themselves correctly)
And all of them are scanned into the system anyway.
Electronic age meets papyrus age = confusion.
But those on disability Mr Kent are not in the queue for reform, for a long time.
They will, however, be investigated upon a complaint/inform. Your choice.
You would not believe how many mountains and routes have to be traversed to obtain these excessive benefits....I already mentioned the JSA form....now we can come to housing benefit and council tax benefit.....
No, I cannot stand the headache.....
Many who have been unemployed for a long time really NEED a boost to get a job, and many are not scroungers....just bored and depressed. So these "reforms" are maybe good, as long as it doesn't go down the route of expecting someone to do a 40hr week for £64. If the guy/gal is doing the work they should get a decent rate for the work. Or the others doing it for the decent rate will make life unpleasant. Human nature to extract the urine will always overcome a companies anti-bullying policy (if they have one even).
But, cons being cons, they will set-up a welfare-payback "gang" (complete with hi-viz waistcoats with WELFARE PAYBACK on the back)( to rival the COMMUNITY PAYBACK of crooks) and have them run by "gangmasters" who will be retired cops or fat security guards moonlighting.
another edit: Most of the reforms announced to date were already in operation before the election. Months before. :end edit
Just a quick point re mention of "the 59 plate car". Some people don't realize that these Motability cars have to be paid for - if they didn't have the car, they would be left with the equiv cash from the Benefit - the car is not on top of the benefit, it's finance etc. is taken out of it.
Plim