1/ Whilst everyone is focused on the Tory £20 Universal Credit Cut, unmentioned & under the radar & possibly crueller is this Tory Government’s continuing attack on the sick & disabled.
So much for a promise.
2/ Johnson’s Govt had claimed that disability benefit recipients would be no worse off on UC.
2 severely disabled men shortchanged by about £180 a month when forced to move to the benefit are having to launch a high court challenge - for the 3rd time🤦♀️
3/ Both severely disabled men have already won two high court verdicts & one court of appeal verdict ruling that the cuts were unlawful & that they were entitled to compensation
They were forced to transfer to UC when moving to a local authority area where UC had been rolled out
4/ In the process of applying for UC in the new local authority area, they lost the severe disability premium (SDP) - needed to meet substantial additional care needs & costs of living with severe disability.
5/ In July 2018, they won damages for distress for the ‘cliff-edge’ drop in benefits & were promised ‘transitional payments’ by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).
6/ An ‘SDP Gateway’ to prevent other severely disabled people facing the same difficulties & guaranteeing their benefits until January this year.
However for thousands who’d already moved to UC, the DWP shamefully decided to set the transitional payments at £80 a month.
7/ Thousands on the reduced transitional payment left claimants facing severe hardship.
Again, the men’s lawyers Leigh Day, again challenged the policy, only for the DWP to set the transitional payment at £120 a month - still £60 short.
8/ The 3rd judicial review is likely to take place next month.
One of the men said: ‘Over the last years I should’ve had much needed support in place to help me get through the challenges I face on a daily basis as a result of my disabilities’.
9/ Continuing the man said:
‘I hope this is the last time we have to fight the secretary of state for support that is so obviously needed.’
Sadly the answer is probably no. Utterly shameful @theresecoffey utterly shameful.
1/ The Ben Elliot model for the Tory party is based on his business.
Quintessentially it is a concierge service for rich people who want introductions and invitations at the top level of society.
The Tory party in a nutshell.
2/Mohamed Amersi, Tory co-chair, looms large in the Pandora papers.
Amersi has deliciously called the system “access capitalism”, a term that deserves to find its way into a dictionary of quotations.
You buy your way in.
Forget elections. Forget democracy.
The Conservatives.
3/ Now Pandora’s box has been well & truly opened.
Boris Johnson, the big winner from this rotten financial system, needs to explain to British voters why the Conservative Party appears to be funded by a new class of super-rich tax avoiders.
‘Police are Institutionally Sexist’
14 Officers Targeted Vulnerable Women for Sex’
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary & Fire & Rescue Services report found nearly all forces have dealt with cases where there has been an abuse of position for a sexual purpose bylinetimes.com/2021/09/22/14-…
2/ Exclusive analysis of Freedom of Information requests by the Byline Intelligence Team reveals how police officers abuse their power over witnesses & victims to get sex.
1/ Today in S.E London the petrol panic continues unabated with long queues at most forecourts no matter the sellers
On community hubs good news that the supermarkets, Asda, Sainsbury’s & Tesco, are receiving new deliveries but utter frustration at the suddenness of long queues
2/ Not every driver is a panic buyer.
Many that need to make essential journeys are being left high & dry, adversely impacted by the energy crisis.
Key workers, supermarket, transport, hospital staff & patients, rural population, economic losses as main routes snarl up…
3/ Many are very clear as to who they hold responsible for the energy crisis:
• Irresponsible press, mainly Tory, Mail, Sun, even the Torygraph for stoking it up
•Selfish panic buying
•And the buffoon in No.10
2/ The “Levelling Up Fund” is a huge £4.8bn fund which pretends to be the centrepiece of a levelling up agenda – but we think it’s just a way to funnel money into constituencies of political benefit to the Conservative Party.
3/ This permission decision means Govt will have to defend itself in Court. It’s the latest in a string of permission decisions that have gone in @GoodLawProject favour. Of 14 cases we’ve issued since start of 2020, the Court has granted permission in 11 at first time of asking
2/ As the DWP drags its feet over reform of the terminal illness rules for benefits, it has been revealed that more than 100 people a month are dying whilst still fighting for an award of PIP in spite of having less than six months to live….
3/ A report by the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Marie Curie found that in the 18 months between April 2018 and October 2019 1,860 people died within six months of being refused benefits.