To ask you to all sign this petition asking the government to investigate 9,580 benefits-related deaths?

[BowieFan]

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/170364

The excellent Jack Monroe has started a campaign on twitter and has been collating stories of awful experiences with the DWP, Atos, Capita and Maximus. Some of the stories are heartbreaking.

Please, please sign this petition - at the very least, the families of people who died because of the DWP deserve some closure.

Take David Clapson - former soldier who died of hunger and insulin-related shock. He had been sanctioned for being late for an appointment, and couldn't afford to pay for electricity for his fridge to keep his insulin cold. The coroner said his stomach had had no food in it for upwards of three days. Nobody should be dying like that in 2016.

I recommend you check out Jack's twitter (@MxJackMonroe) and read some of the stories using the #HungerHurts hashtag. It's heartbreaking, but we need to confront this.

If that means that some defraud the system then to my mind that's a price worth paying. and when theres no money left to pay anyone, and taxes have to go up we'll all be so much better off

Sad to see some posts on here which have brought into the DM rhetoric or won't signeed something that could help the vulnerable because they don't like the person who started the petition.

Whatever you think about Jack Monroe, there is a petition here which might make some people in government rethink their methods. It might not too. Probably not. But if we never sign anything because what's the point then nothing will ever be done. Statistics skewed or not there is no doubt that some people have died due to the system finding them fit for work and stopping their benefits. Even if it's not 10000 so what? Even one is too many. Civilised society? Pah.

Disabled people have been marginalised and targeted with the cuts in the name of the ideological system of austerity. How easily we forget, or get taken in by the media. It sickens me.

Those who get fit for work - where do you think they end up? In work? Mostly not because employers do not want someone unreliable who misses a lot of work and who struggles even when they're in work. On job seekers allowance? Nope. They don't fulfil the job centre's criteria of fitness for work.

So they end up in limbo. With nothing at all.

This is what our government are doing to vulnerable people in 2016.

I will sign, just as I have all the others and will continue to do, because I will never give up, even if nothing is ever done. Even if - especially if - it gets work.

Get a hold of yourselves, those who won't sign because they don't like Jack or think all folk on benefits are scroungers. Try and imagine a life where you are so ill you can't even drag yourself out of bed. Day after day after day. But you probably can't because you decide not to, you decide people who are like that are faking. For the free car.

worse not work.

No assessment system will ever be perfect or work perfectly all the time. It just won't.

So you have to make a choice about which way it's more important to you, to have the system lean.

If the most important thing to you, is that nobody is ever assessed as eligible for disability benefits when they're not, and you'd prefer that disabled people died rather than that there be any person committing fraud, then you will tilt it one way.

If the most important thing to you, is that nobody dies from lack of disability benefits they're in need of, and you'd prefer to support 0.5% of mispayment and fraud (DWP's own figures even pre the 2008 benefits restructuring), then you'll tilt the system the other way.

The question is, what sort of country do we want to be?

And yes, Balls we have to pay for that through taxes, just as we have to pay for the NHS if we want it, and the police if we want them, and universal education if we want it.

What do we want? Who do we want to be?

comfort seriously, how much would your tax have to up to really impact on your take home pay ? I'm a pensioner and I am still a tax payer. Perhaps chasing big corporations for their contributions would free up some spare cash. It's a ridiculous argument. Bring back the workhouse.

I've signed.

But I cannot stand Jack Monroe. And their recipes are shite!

And people do die if you get this wrong. If you withdraw food, shelter, warmth, hygiene - the necessities of life - then people die. And they die more quickly if they're physically or cognitively vulnerable.

Signed. People who did my 'fit for work' and PIP and they lied through in both thankfully i could prove it.
Bastards

So all tory voters are thick

You're quite right to pick up on that. All Tory voters are not thick. Some are ignorant/ selfish/ greedy/ lacking in empathy/ bigoted etc as well.

Sorry for typos, really should wear my glasses all the time like i'm supposed to

thanks Itsallgoing you've made me smile. Much needed.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine Wed 02-Nov-16 20:03:58
So all tory voters are thick

You're quite right to pick up on that. All Tory voters are not thick. Some are ignorant/ selfish/ greedy/ lacking in empathy/ bigoted etc as well.
🍪

ComfortingKormaBalls

We're not going to run out of money.

Money lost to benefit fraud: £1.3bn
Amount the DWP underpaid claimants: £1.6bn
Amount of benefits that go unclaimed: £24bn
Money lost to tax evasion: £39bn

DWP Fraud department: 3754 people
HMRC Fraud department: 700 people

How much benefit does the public think is fraudulently claimed? 29%

You really think there's nothing troubling there? The fact that many people have been brainwashed by the media into thinking benefit fraud is worse than it is so that they can cut more? Or that the DWP has four times as many people looking into fraud as HMRC despite losing thirty times less in terms of money?

kali110

Same happened to DS2 with his DLA. They claimed we said things we didn't and outright lied - good job I covertly recorded the assessment, isn't it? Funny how as soon as the recording was sent to him he was suddenly awarded the higher rate!

Thank you Bowie for adding the figures, this shows this policy up for what it is but I doubt it will change anyone's mind, logic and facts never help with bigotry.

I didn't say all tory voters are thick, but it's the thick tory voters who believe the spin. There's a difference.

Nope. Another one who won't be signing. There have to be rules in place when claiming Benefits, ie turning up for your appointments at the benefits office when you should, having medical assessments when requested (you can't expect to receive benefits for life without some form of regular assessment - it would be madness), proof that you are looking for work if you are able, before getting JSA etc etc. The soldier's death was very sad, but the fact he died was not the responsibility of the DWP. People who are suggesting no assessments should be done and it's quite okay to either turn up late for an appointment or not bother at all, are barking.

If that means that some defraud the system then to my mind that's a price worth paying. and when theres no money left to pay anyone, and taxes have to go up we'll all be so much better off
Alternatively we could collect the full revenues owed by Starbucks, Amazon et al and use some of that, rather than demonise and penalise those least able to afford it.

Bowiefan, the fraudulent figures you quote are the ones that the DWP know about. I'm sure you realise there are probably loads more people who claim fraudulently and get away with it, and they won't be reflected in those figures. The DWP admit they don't have the resources to track down everyone who commits fraud.

Livelovebehappy

Yes, there need to be rules, but there needs to be compassion as well.

E.g. in the case of the soldier - he had told the DWP on several occasions that he had issues with his post delivery and any appointment changes needed to be told by phone. The DWP didn't do this and sanctioned him as a result.

There was no need for that.

Nobody is saying there should be no assessments, but that the ones we have now are not fit for purpose. We're saying that medical professionals who have known you and your condition for years know better than a paramedic or nurse who has known you for 5 minutes.

But why am I bothering arguing with you? You are blindly believing the government on everything. Of course you don't realise that the DWP has targets for sanctions and often sanctions people for no reason at all.

Livelovebehappy

Actually no, that's based on the cases the DWP knows about but they have used that data to calculate how much it would be using those figures for the entire claimant database. So, whilst they might not be able to find all of it, that figure is fairly accurate.

livelove The figures are done to reflect an unknown element. But that's not really the point, is it. The point is that the majority are being penalised for the few. People are going cold and hungry, they are becoming ill, they are dying because the Tory rhetoric has decided to scapegoat those least able to do anything about it. Those least able to fight. In the meantime, bankers are still getting away with ridiculous amounts of money, Starbucks, Amazon, Sir Phillip Green. In the meantime Corporate tax is being decreased.

Livelove

Once someone has been assessed as needing lifelong payments, why on earth would they then need to be reassessed, and reassessed, and reassessed? Their circumstances have not changed!!! It is cruel and unnecessary.

True, Minesril.

I heard an interview on R4 with a woman who is registered blind. She was talking about having reassessments every 6 months I think. Utterly ridiculous - the government is paying people (or paying a company to pay people) to sit at a desk and basically tick the "yes, still blind" box Rather than giving the £ to the people who really need it.

Now that's not to sauy there have been no people die shortly after having claims stopped, but it certainly isn't thousands.

Personally I think 1 is 1 too many. I don't care if it is thousands or hundreds or just a handful, no one should be dieing in 2016 because they can't keep insulin cold or can't afford to eat.

(you can't expect to receive benefits for life without some form of regular assessment - it would be madness)

Sorry but when you have a permanent disability like having a leg amputated what is the point of turning up to be assessed every 3 years? Is it to see if it has grown back? How much of a waste of money is it to reassess people who have had the same amputation for 30 years.