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Benefit sanctions


Fide

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So not only stop their benefits but put their children into care, with that magnificent track record? I don't know if you know, or hope you don't, how brutal the interview techniques have become in the trial areas of Universal Credit. I spent a short time last year enduring it, as a relatively stable and intelligent client/customer/whatever. It was horrendous, I was supposed to prove in a diary that I'd spent 35 hours a week looking for jobs, when I suggested it would be impossible they said to pretend I had to walk to Nairn and back for an interview which would fill in a few hours. I got a 4 week sanction for saying my dog ate the diary, but luckily I got a job a couple of days later.

I don't really have a dog.

I've helped a couple of people prepare for them. I'm not defending the hoops people have to jump through or processes seemingly set up to make it easy to fail, however there have to be some consequences for the people who simply can't be arsed too.

I've had many tenants for example who simply can't be bothered to fill in Housing Benefit forms. I offer to fill in the forms for them and ask them the questions but they don't have the time or whatever. Most of them realise later on when it's too late and they're in thousands of arrears and face eviction. They're the minority, but they do exist and it's a personal choice.

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Good. This should be standard practice for anyone working with children or vulnerable young adults, regardless of what condition the benefits system is in.

*sigh*

Again, the training is not what I'm complaining about ibis the conditions that have been created that means it is now seen as necessary.

Whether or not it should be done in any case is neither here nor there.

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Blame the no voters is standard pish on here.

Maybe you should just start a thread on all the things that no voters are gulity of.

I think allowing a Tory Government to continue punishing the poor is enough to be going on with for now.

Don't you?

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There's a lot of truth, but blaming "the people at the dole office" is naive. It's the people giving them their targets.

Pretty much. However you'd be surprised at the number of "work coaches" who deliberately set out to make life difficult for particular claimants, usually those who have previously successfully had decisions overturned, ie "troublemakers".

But yeah, in the main target - setting managers are the biggest problem.

In a wider sense you have to hand it to wankers like IDS and dishface. Between government and the media your average Joe is convinced that the guy getting £73.10 a week is the problem, not large scale tax avoidance by major companies.

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Between government and the media your average Joe is convinced that the guy getting £73.10 a week is the problem, not large scale tax avoidance by major companies.

This.

A billion times this.

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In a wider sense you have to hand it to wankers like IDS and dishface. Between government and the media your average Joe is convinced that the guy getting £73.10 a week is the problem, not large scale tax avoidance by major companies.

Agree to an extent, but I would also point a massive finger at successive governments who spend far too much of the public purse on things the public purse shouldn't be spent on. Redirecting a lot of what the UK does have, on top of what you say would make a massive difference.

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Agree to an extent, but I would also point a massive finger at successive governments who spend far too much of the public purse on things the public purse shouldn't be spent on. Redirecting a lot of what the UK does have, on top of what you say would make a massive difference.

Going further with Jupe1407's post, if successive Governments had been on the ball with large scale tax avoidance, the public purse wouldn't be any sort of issue.

For the record, I don't grudge one penny of whatver proportion of my tax goes towards benefits. The public perception of "benefit cheats" has been inflated massively by the media and Tories.

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Going further with Jupe1407's post, if successive Governments had been on the ball with large scale tax avoidance, the public purse wouldn't be any sort of issue.

For the record, I don't grudge one penny of whatver proportion of my tax goes towards benefits. The public perception of "benefit cheats" has been inflated massively by the media and Tories.

I don't either. For the people who could work, but refuse (they're in the minority), I still see this as something that needs to be tackled because of fairness rather than any invented 'reason' the government come up with to justify cuts. They are a small minority, but I don't think a blind eye should be turned because of this.
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I don't either. For the people who could work, but refuse (they're in the minority), I still see this as something that needs to be tackled because of fairness rather than any invented 'reason' the government come up with to justify cuts. They are a small minority, but I don't think a blind eye should be turned because of this.

Do you know how much "benefit cheats" cost Britain each year in comparions to tax avoidance/ evasion?

I can't remember the figures but it's microscopic in comparison. Not to say that people abusing the system shouldn't be stopped, but a little perspective is needed.

Going after "benefit cheats" as a way of saving the country money, over and above tackling tax avoidance/ evasion, is ridiculous, and, like many Tory policies, entirely ideological.

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Do you know how much "benefit cheats" cost Britain each year in comparions to tax avoidance/ evasion?

I can't remember the figures but it's microscopic in comparison. Not to say that people abusing the system shouldn't be stopped, but a little perspective is needed.

Going after "benefit cheats" as a way of saving the country money, over and above tackling tax avoidance/ evasion, is ridiculous, and, like many Tory policies, entirely ideological.

Oh I know. It's a tiny proportion. It shouldn't be used by the government to justify spending cuts because it is so small. However, I certainly see why it annoys people when their neighbour could work but doesn't, while they struggle away. There are surely ways to deal with it however than the huge attack the Tories have done .
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Maybe they shouldn't, but we don't live in an ideal world. Anyone working with children or who have regular contact with vulnerable people should be fully trained up on spotting the signs. Not just for poverty but also for signs of abuse. I've sat in meetings with social services and other service providers and most of the time the cause is the parents mental illness. In one case I had a couple who had a petty fall out about who did what jobs in the house and it ended up with them both stubbornly refusing to do anything, including the shopping or feeding the kids. It only came to light when the school raised concerns.

The world can be a horrible place sometimes, so it's vital teachers are trained to spot any signs.

I work in aftercare and we all had to do a new Safeguarding course that was created just a few months ago. Detecting signs of abuse was a big part of it.
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I work in aftercare and we all had to do a new Safeguarding course that was created just a few months ago. Detecting signs of abuse was a big part of it.

Aye I've been on quite a few safeguarding courses too. I think a lot of people would be shocked as to how much neglect, financial abuse ect, goes on. I know a case I had to attend meetings for and where children were taken from the parent and the level of neglect was astonishing. The mother then started this strange social media campaign targeting social services especially and got loads of people in the town backing her. I don't envy the job social services do one bit.
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Oh I know. It's a tiny proportion. It shouldn't be used by the government to justify spending cuts because it is so small. However, I certainly see why it annoys people when their neighbour could work but doesn't, while they struggle away. There are surely ways to deal with it however than the huge attack the Tories have done .

It's always been possible to lose your benefits because you didn't bother to follow the rules. I signed on in the eighties and if you missed a couple of appointments you were called in on pain of losing your claim, which was fair enough. If you didn't sign on, you didn't get your money. What they didn't do was invent an appointment, not tell you about it and then cut your benefits because you missed it.

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