WELFARE ADVISOR’S response to I, Daniel Blake
“I, Joanne Ritson am a welfare rights advisor. I help all the Daniel (& Daniella) Blakes caught up in what Ken Loach has called this Government’s conscious cruelty.
- Conscious cruelty that finds women fit for work for the “crime” of missing Jobcentre appointments whilst in hospital. Women in diabetic comas or with near fatal doses of pneumonia.
- Conscious cruelty that tells frightened pensioners to cancel their home insurance to pay back pension credit over payments (due to DWP error) or they will be sent to prison.
- Conscious cruelty that finds a young man fit for work after “recovering from hospital treatment”. (He’d had his leg amputated six weeks earlier).
- Conscious cruelty which (on the 1st anniversary of her husband’s death) takes away a 60 year old woman’s bereavement allowance, makes her go & sign on to look for work and charges her bedroom tax.
- Conscious cruelty which leaves vulnerable people with nothing with which to pay their bills or feed themselves or their families for weeks or months on end.
- Conscious cruelty that wrongly denies old men with terminal lung cancer industrial injuries disablement benefit because removing old, decaying asbestos insulation isn’t classed as “asbestos insulation work” so they “don’t qualify”.
- Conscious cruelty that “loses” paperwork, or delays decision making for so long that people die before they get the money that should rightly have been theirs.
- Conscious cruelty that forces these & many many more of my clients through degrading assessments, pointless mandatory reconsiderations and appeal hearings in the hope that they will give up – which they often do.
What Ken Loach calls conscious cruelty, the Tories call “making work pay”
I, Joanne Ritson am a welfare rights advisor.”
Brilliantly said. Tears in my eyes through anger and frustration. Get them out!
it is high time this was criminally investigated
A very brilliant film highlighting the struggles of society today from all the cruel bureaucracy from a tory-led government.
I completely second the article in this post given by this Welfare Advisor. I hope that the method used by exploiting vulnerable people under these conditions/sanctions are made obsolete soon and quickly because, people are dying as a result.
I like some people in dwp they actually think they do no harm every is faking it and is a bum god forbid they ever need the system
holocaust on the poor in the uk
Yes, I Daniel Blake is unfortunately true. Shame on these wicked politicians, this shows clearly shows their inhumanity.
After suffering 3 brain haemorrhages and 1 stroke i was first denied PIP. I was originally awarded 0 points. My Mum was on the phone for my behalf. Shes a retired neuro nurse. I was then awarded 6 points.
11 months of gathering letters and input from my local MP i attended a tribunal and was awarded 19 points.
During this i was sent for an assessment for ESA ccondducted by a “Healthcare professional” who clearly hadnt a clue about brain injuries.
I use the analogy of asking your dentist to read your car manual and give you an MOT.
Shed said i looked ok. The fact is i was going through so much stress my BP was high and i was purple.
I was placed in the Work Related Activities Group cos i VOLUNTEER 2 hrs a week at a food bank helping people. As im placed in the WRAG i get less money .
Cos im trying and giving it a go i am penalised
This is exactly how your treated and I was sobbing at the outcome of this poor guy just makes me wonder how many more ppl have to loose they’re lives after genuinely working hard paying taxes and into they’re pensions all for what to drop dead such a disgusting murderous government we have
In 1942 Beveridge designed the welfare state for post-war Britain. He said the government could tackle the evils of poverty by giving everybody the right to work, affordable housing, free education, a free NHS and the right to welfare. In 1945 Clement Attlee won the election by promising to enact the Beveridge Report. Ever since the 1970s we have been dismantling his right’s revolution. Thatcher might have been inhumane but Cameron-Osborne-May are inhuman.
I worked for DWP/Jobcentre Plus for nearly 23 years . After watching this film I spoke to some of the women and men I used to work with when dealing with customer’s face to face on a daily basis. We used to assist with completing benefit application forms, when making New Claims to Income Support etc and there was a 10/11 day target on claims being processed, so why now does it take up to 6 weeks for a Universal Credit claim to be processed also? We advised when customer’s were expected to receive their first benefit payments and also advised re Crisis Loans, if money had been lost,spent, stolen or a new claim to benefit had been made (Alignment of benefit). There was no need to refer to food banks. We advised customer’s on whatever information was required based on their individual circumstances and would also seek further advice if necessary. Mandatory Reconsideration’s weren’t in place at the time, however, when introduced later if a customer rang up, calls were dealt with within a 3 hour turn around unless further information was required or a customer would receive a phone call the next day if they had rang late afternoon. We also assisted with appeals. We were appalled by the staff’S behaviour portrayed within the Jobcentre. Daniel being told he hadn’t done enough to look for work, he had done everything possible and I’ve never known a staff member ask for a receipt when handing their C.V. to a potential employers. The supervisor telling the member of staff who did try to help Daniel it wasn’t part of her job…What a disgrace….What happened to Customer Service?? We all said the same should go back to the old days and although the younger generation are up to date with doing claims online and digitally , alot of customer’s aren’t.. However who are we?? Well we were the members of staff doing the job for years and doing it properly but who listens to us????.
During DLA i was constantly told that because i could walk some that i wasnt entitled to full mobility. I only found out when i transfered to PIP that the rule was 50 metres and PIP brought it down to 20. My doctor told them i can walk no more than 15 metres but having never seen me walk they assessed me at 20-50 metres anyway. Ive been trapped in my house for over 10 years because of this as they know this threshold entitles me to a car. But at 20-50 metres this means that for 8 years before PIP i should have been given full mobility instead of the lies i was told never mind the fact that they are still ignoring my doctors advice. I dont fight them as their own propaganda makes me afraid of losing the inadequate money they do give me. I have no life. Ive been out of my house 3 times with much help from some amazing support staff for providing assistance to disabled travellers. Apart from that i go to the doctors once a week in a taxi and thats my life thanks to this government. Before i lost my health in a car accident i worked every day of my life. But they can claim over payments back from me for any period ago yet i can never fight them for the lies they told me about DLA. This government is shameful and need to go. Quite how working class or middle class people think they are better voting tory is beyond me. I just cant get my head round it. We need a labour government that will treat people fairly and with compassion. I had to laugh at the advert below this post from a financial advice firm. How far will your £1 million pound savings last you in retirement. Hahaha lol. One million savings. Oh gosh what a dream.
Tories, heartless self-serving shits with Victorian values. Ken Loach is a 21st century Dickens.