I'm currently struggling with (that means 'for') someone who having been hospitalised for over six week now finds themselves in the situation where benefits have ceased and every day means that they are clocking up debt because certain things will not be paid.
Now this is not (as some kind and cheery soul implied) 'another one of the long-term scroungers' but an honest person who through a combination of things (none of them of their own making) find themselves in a position where work is never really going to be an option. The biggest area of concern probably resides in the 'spare room' tax area and this is the last coin in the paper boat of life that sinks it!
Today I have been hearing about the 'two year' rule, that piece of thinking that is designed to give people who have been out of the workplace for two years or more some experience, getting them to do 'community service'. The first problem is that for most 'community service' is what is doled out (excuse the unintended pun) to those who have fallen foul of the law; for community service is a punishment. Thus it would seem that the answer to the question: 'What's in a name?' has to be (as ever) lots!
I will have to admit that I'm confused by the 'No to work' position as it appeared weak and unfocussed but I am also confused by the, 'They should be sent out to sweep the streets for nothing or pick up leave,' brigade - for it sounds good but what of those who are employed to clean streets and manage our parklands, wouldn't that merely make them unemployed too?
The quick, or vote-winning, response is rarely either and, according to the National Audit Office (NAO), the new 'Universal Credit' does no one any credit and costs the taxpayer dearly. Whilst I applaud the harmonising of information systems such that there is but one, as a former IT person I can see this is a route fraught with difficulties and one that is destined to be what my Mum used to refer to as a 'lazy man's load' (meaning you work hard to ensure that there's little to do at some stage - problem is the easy part is rarely ever reached).
Being in an estate church / urban priority area I see many who are struggling more than they used to. Some are in debt because benefits that were payed directly to the right body are now paid to the claimant who has to pass them on - and some are poor at managing their finances to the extent that they don't have it to pass on because of other needs (food, children's clothing and the like). These are not the people the Daily Fascist and other rags would have us believe spend it all on booze, fags and drugs but are merely decent and honest people who for a multitude of reasons (circumstance, education, health and folly) are struggling. Jobs are difficult to come by and skill sets are changing (would you like to make that a large?) and we are struggling to maintain our welfare state and the health service, education and so many other areas we (especially the middle class we) assume are doing the job.
So a plea:
Please find out what's happening where you live and make sure that you and those you know are engaged and understanding the realities, the needs and the excesses that are occurring across the board. I don't care about party politics but I do care that people are afforded the respect and the support that is right and properly theirs through our social, health and welfare system.
Please look to see how you can become engaged in supporting those who have needs through drop-ins, FoodBank, mental health care, old age clubs and the like.
Where you see a need - meet it.
Where you see a wrong - right it.
Where you see poor practice and wrong policies - campaign and act against them.
And pray - for prayer is effective and vitally important
And as you do, remember that prayer without works is impotent and not what, or who, we are called to be.
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Thursday, 5 September 2013
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
IDS - that £53 comment
Sad to say that as much as I struggle with our political parties at the moment (and let's be honest, who wouldn't) I not only find that there is little to separate the ConDem coalition from it's ComThem opposition (the party formally know as 'Labour') I do wish people would portray them properly.
The latest example of this is that poor man's champion (not) being the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith (IDS), who is a firm supporter of the changes that are occurring within, and to, our welfare system.
That the man thinks that many of these changes are fair is something that will be responded to when the hustings come a knocking but the reporting of IDS' engagement with David Bennett (thanks to the BBC's 'Today' programme leave a little to be desired. The issue surrounds Mr. Bennett's question, 'Could you survive on £53 a week?'
The reply was, 'If I had to I would.' It was not, 'I can live on £53'
The 'having to' and 'can' are two very different kettles of caviar; people might be able to exist on £53 a week but they certainly cannot live on it. I have to say that I doubt whether IDS would be able to match his current lifestyle on £53 a day but should he, like so many I work with, find himself out of work and having to live on benefits he'd have no choice but to to make it work, for like those upon whom he is legislating by means of the changes, he would have to!
I am worried that we will let this gross misreporting fuel a backlash that vilifies the man and draws attention away from the realities, which (in case you have forgotten) are:
The bedroom tax which hits those of a working age who receive housing benefit (including those whose partners have cancer, who are parents of handicapped kids and many more besides).
The reduction of legal aid (an essential for those who have not to be represented and afforded the same rights as those who have!)
The changes from council tax benefit to a locally run council tax support
The below inflation cap on tax credits and working-age benefits
The new independence payment which replaces Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
The overall benefit cap for those who are of working-age people
The Universal Credit system
People on benefits who have a history of struggling to manage money will soon find themselves faced with them receiving benefits which they will need to pass on, and for some who have addiction problems (drink, drugs, gambling) this may well see them in arrears with their rent and heading towards being homeless.
Let's stop jumping on the crass reporting of the newspapers; diverting our fire at shadows created by the press and let's start making a focussed and structured stand for those who HAVE to live on £53 a week.
The latest example of this is that poor man's champion (not) being the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith (IDS), who is a firm supporter of the changes that are occurring within, and to, our welfare system.
That the man thinks that many of these changes are fair is something that will be responded to when the hustings come a knocking but the reporting of IDS' engagement with David Bennett (thanks to the BBC's 'Today' programme leave a little to be desired. The issue surrounds Mr. Bennett's question, 'Could you survive on £53 a week?'
The reply was, 'If I had to I would.' It was not, 'I can live on £53'
The 'having to' and 'can' are two very different kettles of caviar; people might be able to exist on £53 a week but they certainly cannot live on it. I have to say that I doubt whether IDS would be able to match his current lifestyle on £53 a day but should he, like so many I work with, find himself out of work and having to live on benefits he'd have no choice but to to make it work, for like those upon whom he is legislating by means of the changes, he would have to!
I am worried that we will let this gross misreporting fuel a backlash that vilifies the man and draws attention away from the realities, which (in case you have forgotten) are:
The bedroom tax which hits those of a working age who receive housing benefit (including those whose partners have cancer, who are parents of handicapped kids and many more besides).
The reduction of legal aid (an essential for those who have not to be represented and afforded the same rights as those who have!)
The changes from council tax benefit to a locally run council tax support
The below inflation cap on tax credits and working-age benefits
The new independence payment which replaces Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
The overall benefit cap for those who are of working-age people
The Universal Credit system
People on benefits who have a history of struggling to manage money will soon find themselves faced with them receiving benefits which they will need to pass on, and for some who have addiction problems (drink, drugs, gambling) this may well see them in arrears with their rent and heading towards being homeless.
Let's stop jumping on the crass reporting of the newspapers; diverting our fire at shadows created by the press and let's start making a focussed and structured stand for those who HAVE to live on £53 a week.
Friday, 25 November 2011
Governed by Children - Elastic Money
Listening to R4 this morning I was entertained and enraged in equal measure as those who occupy the House of commons put on an early season pantomime.
We had the Conservatives looking all too fixated on the trade unions and whilst we know that Milliband (whom I liked more when he was working with Grommit*) and his party owe their position and much of their money to these bodies, it spoke greatly of something sinister lying beneath the surface.
Better still we had plans unveiled to put young people (NNETs) into some for f training or employment. There was talk of funding apprenticeships and it was all sounding rather familiar until the source of funding was pointed out - it will come, in part, from the young person's family's Tax Credits being 'squeezed' i.e. they won't rise with inflation with the effect that there a family member might have a job, albeit temporary, and the family will suffer for the privilege!.
Wow, at last we are seeing Biblical from the government in that those who have will be given even more and those who have less will see it taken away! When I said I wanted to see Biblical stuff associated with the running of our nation, this wasn't what I had in mind!!!
Turning over there was a trade union representative who was bleating about the fact that the government was illegal and undemocratic as they, "Didn't vote for them!". What a plonker, the reason we have a coalition is because no party received the mandate to form a government! (PR isn't the remedy to this situation either). As the unionist continued it transpired that what they meant was, "The government isn't a Labour government!" A blinking good thing when you see the mess they made of their time in office.
The very bestest bit came this morning when we were regaled with, yet another, way in which the money that a 'banker's tax' will be used to aid those less well off. This was the seventh use of the same pot thus far and it made me realise that perhaps the monetary assumptions made by our younger children might not be as flawed as we assumed. After all, one gets a tenner as a birthday present and for the next month they ask if they can have 'mmm'? When asked how they can pay for it, the same old tenner is mentioned. Seems Gorgeous george (Osborne), Calamitous Clegg and Camaeron (the calamitous twins?) are all using the same mathematics!
So where are the Christian voices being raised over this nation and the way it is being run (reading the Daily Fascist perhaps?) and the fact that I meet families whose children are NEET (Not in Education, Employment of Training by the way) because they have lost £20-30 a week EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance). I wonder how much of that sum is now paid in JobSeekers Allowance and what the monetary cost to this nation will be when we take into account those who will be untrained or uneducated such that they swell the ranks of the unemployed (and receiving benefits) in the years ahead. I deal with children who eat once a day because they receive free school meals (so what happens on an INSET day or in holidays?) and no one even flinches. Shameful!
* QED
Pax
We had the Conservatives looking all too fixated on the trade unions and whilst we know that Milliband (whom I liked more when he was working with Grommit*) and his party owe their position and much of their money to these bodies, it spoke greatly of something sinister lying beneath the surface.
Better still we had plans unveiled to put young people (NNETs) into some for f training or employment. There was talk of funding apprenticeships and it was all sounding rather familiar until the source of funding was pointed out - it will come, in part, from the young person's family's Tax Credits being 'squeezed' i.e. they won't rise with inflation with the effect that there a family member might have a job, albeit temporary, and the family will suffer for the privilege!.
Wow, at last we are seeing Biblical from the government in that those who have will be given even more and those who have less will see it taken away! When I said I wanted to see Biblical stuff associated with the running of our nation, this wasn't what I had in mind!!!
Turning over there was a trade union representative who was bleating about the fact that the government was illegal and undemocratic as they, "Didn't vote for them!". What a plonker, the reason we have a coalition is because no party received the mandate to form a government! (PR isn't the remedy to this situation either). As the unionist continued it transpired that what they meant was, "The government isn't a Labour government!" A blinking good thing when you see the mess they made of their time in office.
The very bestest bit came this morning when we were regaled with, yet another, way in which the money that a 'banker's tax' will be used to aid those less well off. This was the seventh use of the same pot thus far and it made me realise that perhaps the monetary assumptions made by our younger children might not be as flawed as we assumed. After all, one gets a tenner as a birthday present and for the next month they ask if they can have 'mmm'? When asked how they can pay for it, the same old tenner is mentioned. Seems Gorgeous george (Osborne), Calamitous Clegg and Camaeron (the calamitous twins?) are all using the same mathematics!
So where are the Christian voices being raised over this nation and the way it is being run (reading the Daily Fascist perhaps?) and the fact that I meet families whose children are NEET (Not in Education, Employment of Training by the way) because they have lost £20-30 a week EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance). I wonder how much of that sum is now paid in JobSeekers Allowance and what the monetary cost to this nation will be when we take into account those who will be untrained or uneducated such that they swell the ranks of the unemployed (and receiving benefits) in the years ahead. I deal with children who eat once a day because they receive free school meals (so what happens on an INSET day or in holidays?) and no one even flinches. Shameful!
* QED
Pax
Friday, 9 September 2011
The role of education - Obama
Delivering a speech on the state of the US of A, the President delivered a couple of interesting thought, the first (speaking of putting teachers back into work) seemed to sum up the role of education as the process that delivers earning potential. I quote the (perhaps less) esteemed gentleman:
"Let's put teachers back into work so our kids can get good grades, go to college, graduate and get good jobs."
Back in the dim and distant past an English teacher (Colin Chapman - but not the Lotus chappie) told our class that as the number of people going to university rose and as access to higher education became easier the day would come when, "You'd need a degree to become a dustman!"
Labour Day 2011 saw the President in Detroit and one of the reports on the day consisted of interviews with people in that place, the majority of whom were unemployed, regarding their situation. One young man had been unemployed for four years and spoke of the ways that he and his wife struggled to make ends meet. He, like a few others interviewed were graduates and in fact he'd completed postgraduate studies but was unable to find work. He spoke of how McDonald's had opened a new restaurant and that he'd have killed to get a job there but the queues were too long. Another man interviewed had a doctoral qualification and yet was working as a scrap man to pay rent and eat. Eloquent and educated his words brought me back to that lesson in the late sixties and the teacher's words.
Seems my English teacher might just have been a visionary!
We need to pray and work with those who are marginalised by the recession(s) and the financial instability caused by the greed of others. Oh yeah, and get our attitudes to education sorted - we need more vocations and less pushing our children into areas that are merely 'earners'.
Pax
"Let's put teachers back into work so our kids can get good grades, go to college, graduate and get good jobs."
Back in the dim and distant past an English teacher (Colin Chapman - but not the Lotus chappie) told our class that as the number of people going to university rose and as access to higher education became easier the day would come when, "You'd need a degree to become a dustman!"
Labour Day 2011 saw the President in Detroit and one of the reports on the day consisted of interviews with people in that place, the majority of whom were unemployed, regarding their situation. One young man had been unemployed for four years and spoke of the ways that he and his wife struggled to make ends meet. He, like a few others interviewed were graduates and in fact he'd completed postgraduate studies but was unable to find work. He spoke of how McDonald's had opened a new restaurant and that he'd have killed to get a job there but the queues were too long. Another man interviewed had a doctoral qualification and yet was working as a scrap man to pay rent and eat. Eloquent and educated his words brought me back to that lesson in the late sixties and the teacher's words.
Seems my English teacher might just have been a visionary!
We need to pray and work with those who are marginalised by the recession(s) and the financial instability caused by the greed of others. Oh yeah, and get our attitudes to education sorted - we need more vocations and less pushing our children into areas that are merely 'earners'.
Pax
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