Where are the headlines about the billions unclaimed in benefits??!!

There’s usually fanfare, hype, sensationalist and screaming headlines in the right-wing press when it comes to benefit fraud. And the journos wait with baited breath when the official statistics are released so they can apply the same old reactionary stereotypes and phrases… ‘Britain’s sicknote culture’, ‘benefit cheats’…and so on. Of course, as well, the screaming headlines will pass into the collective consciousness and memory of the readership. The lazy assumptions between claimants and fraudsters. These headlines and stories make good copy albeit lazy journalism.

But where’s the screaming headlines over this? Where’s the indignation from the Tory press along with continually indignant Theresa May? Where’s the shock and horror over this? Or does this just slip past them because it doesn’t correspond with the right-wing populism that the media likes to peddle?

Well, here it is ….Charities challenge government over £16bn unclaimed benefits

Yes, over £16bn of benefits are unclaimed…. No fanfare over this.

The charities point to glaring examples where take-up is falling far short. Latest official figures show that:

* as many as four out of five low paid workers without children (1.2bn households) miss out on tax credits worth at least £38 per week – a total of £1.9 billion
* as many as half of all working households entitled to housing benefit (worth an average £37.60 per week) do not claim it – that’s up to half a million households.

Other benefits showing signs of significant under-claiming include council tax benefit and pension credit. Up to three million households are missing out on an average £13 a week in council tax benefit, while as many as 1.7 million pensioners are missing out on an average of £31 a week in pension credit.

Take-up of housing benefit and council tax benefit have both fallen over the last decade, while take-up of child tax credit is far lower in London than in other parts of the country, and generally 10% lower among families from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Just how will Yvette Cooper respond??!!

Why is this? The benefits system is one massive bureaucratic Kafka-esque nightmare and that other minefield known as means tested benefits. And surely the impact of the bureaucracy, increased conditionality, difficulties and stigmatisation will push people out of the benefits system as they will be inevitably put off from applying. Hence more deprivation and more poverty…if you try to climb out through working claiming Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit can turn your life into a bureaucratic nightmare. It is a choice between going hungry or having your nerves torn to shreads.

And what about non-means tested benefits, how much is unclaimed there?

But the message is all about the benefit scrounger. Where are the posters and adverts advertising about benefits people aren’t claiming. Can you just see the strapline, “Claim it, you’re entitled”..something like that. Except no… that just goes against the ideological grain. Let those benefits go unclaimed more money for NL to spend on bailouts for the financial markets and illegal wars…

The spotlight falls on the poor in this society, and also the amount of money lost due to ‘error and fraud’ with lots of trumped up tabloid hyperbole never mind that this is a drop in the financial ocean when comparing it to tax evasion and avoidance (something in the region of between £97bn and £150bn is lost in tax theft).

Taken from Happymarx

Civil service workers set to strike on 8 and 9 March

The battle is on to stop an assault on civil service workers.

The PCS union is calling on over a quarter of a million workers to strike on Monday 8 March and Tuesday 9 March.

This follows a ballot which saw over 63 percent vote yes for strikes and 81 percent support an overtime ban.

The strikes, which will involve Jobcentre staff, tax workers, coastguards, courts staff and driving test examiners, are a result of the government and Cabinet Office making unilateral changes to the civil service compensation scheme.

The changes being proposed to the compensation scheme will see staff robbed of up to a third of their entitlements and lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of a job.

The government is looking to save £500 million through the changes. This is the same government that is failing to address the yawning “tax gap” of £120 billion—money that could be collected if the rich and the corporations paid the right amount of tax.

But that means employing more civil service workers, not fewer.

The battle of civil service workers is part of a much wider one in which the government, backed by the Tories, want workers to pay the price for bailing out the bosses and the bankers.

If the government gets its way it will be much easier to ram though mass job cuts and privatisation in every area.

That means it is vital that the upcoming strike involves as wide a layer of civil service workers as possible, with lively picket lines and demonstrations, but it is also vital that every trade unionist supports them in their battle.

Taken from Socialist Worker

Poor paying for energy profits

Crippling energy costs hit the poor and elderly as companies cash in on cold weather

Households across the UK are facing record energy bills this month as a result of the recent freezing weather conditions. After one of the coldest Januarys in over 25  years gas and electricity bills are set to rise from an average £156 to £237 – a massive 52 per cent increase, according to official figures, with many people falling further into debt in order to pay.

The extreme weather during the first month of 2010 saw average temperatures slip below 3c with widespread heavy snowfall and sharp frosts across most of the UK. According to the Met Office the minimum temperature recorded was (minus) -22c. The extraordinary weather over the winter period is estimated to have caused a 30 per cent surge in energy consumption, as families and the elderly struggled to cope with the freezing temperatures.

Economically it means the UK’s 27 million households will pay out a total of £6.1 billion on their energy bills for the last month, an increase of £1.89 billion despite the decrease in the cost of fuel. Wholesale gas prices fell by 60 per cent during 2008/9, but the savings have not been passed on to consumers with customer bills being reduced by less than ten per cent. Critics argue that the major energy suppliers are waiting until the summer to bring down prices rather than risk a cut in profits during the peak energy consumption over the winter months.

The UK’s largest energy supplier, British Gas with 15.7million customers, is set for a 50 per cent rise in annual profits to more than £500million, while Scottish and Southern Energy’s profits rose by 36 per cent in the past six months. Thousands of elderly, meanwhile, have been unable to afford to keep warm during the coldest spell in 30 years. One energy expert commented “There is still scope for significant price cuts for both gas and electricity to ease the burden on hard-pressed households. A lot of people, especially the old, poor and vulnerable, were already struggling to pay their bills even before the sharp drop in temperatures and they need help.”

There were 36,700 more deaths among the elderly during winter than in warmer months, according to the Office of National Statistics, up 12,000 on the previous year. At the same time there are millions of pensioners among the 5.4million who are in fuel poverty. The Age Concern and Help the Aged charity condemned the rise in winter deaths, which it links to ‘cash-strapped older people turning down the heating’. Energy watchdog group Consumer Focus commented: ‘All of the suppliers will be enjoying rocketing profits while millions of consumers worry about how to afford to keep warm.’

The windfall for gas and electric companies comes on the back of an the energy regulators Ofgem critical report that found energy suppliers waiting 65 days after putting up prices before informing customers of the increase, leaving many in the dark over the true cost of their energy consumption.

Taken from Freedom

Official jobless figures reach 13-year high

The number of people depending on Jobseeker’s Allowance reached the highest level last month since new Labour took office, official figures showed on Wednesday.

The claimant count shot up by 23,500 to hit 1.64 million, the highest figure since April 1997.

Figures for the long-term unemployed, defined as people out of work for over a year, also reached a new high under the incumbent government.

It increased by 37,000 to 663,000 in the final quarter of 2009.

While the number of job vacancies rose by 49,000 in the three months to January, the figure of 479,000 job vacancies was still down 24 per cent on the previous year.

And Left Economics Advisory Panel spokesman Andrew Fisher warned that these figures may have been boosted by a rise in insecure temporary contracts and part-time vacancies.

He stressed that “for millions of people, the misery of recession is still being felt – acutely.”

The claimant count rise followed a recent admission by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that jobcentres were “largely unprepared” to help the thousands of people finding themselves out of work.

In a report commenting on the findings of research into jobcentres across Britain, the DWP said: “All the observed offices were perceived to be understaffed, strained further by high staff turnover, and recruitment was ongoing.”

A Public and Commercial Services Union spokesman said that new Labour’s policy of slashing jobcentre positions prior to the recession had put its members under a “tremendous amount of pressure to deliver the best service possible.”

And he added that those cuts had “left an incapacity in the system to deal with helping people to get into work.”

Taken from Morning Star

Also see the BBC News report

Action Around Unemployment

For those who experienced the deprivation caused by the recession of the 1980s, and were galvanized by the strength of the fight against it, there can be a feeling of hopelessness at today’s relative lack of organisation and militancy to defend the position of the working classes as many are pushed into unemployment again.

Vast numbers of people who struggled against Thatcherism will have used one of the many unemployed workers centres and heard the unions protest on behalf of those without work, but what of this 21st century global recession? It must be admitted that the fightback has been slow in gathering strength, but there now appear to be three main strands of resistance appearing. At a national level there are campaigns to protect the rights to benefits and protest against erosion of the safety net welfare state legislation. This is linked with an attempt to revive the unemployed workers centres that have shut. At a grassroots level there are attempts to create action groups with a more combative approach – some of these have been remarkably successful.

Listening to reports from the recent SWP Right to Work Conference, Manchester on 30th January, all three strands were discussed as ways to combat the attacks against the unemployed, and against workers who face the prospect of unemployment. One clear message was that the use of private corporations, like A4E, to ‘deliver’ Job Centre programs clearly adds to the victimization of claimants. This policy has introduced a target/commission based element to driving people into possibly unsuitable jobs at great expense of public funds, and yet the success rates of these companies at finding people work remains notably low – this is hardly surprising, since the much-needed jobs are constantly being cut! Along with battling against new ‘welfare reform’ (in fact, welfare abolition) legislation, resisting this policy of privatisation is central to the national protest campaign.

Defending and expanding unemployed workers centres clearly has its roots in the 80s even though in some form or other they date back to the 1920s. In defending and expanding the unemployed workers centres, the question of how they should be funded is a key concern. Unions, councils and political parties/factions are all possible funders of such centres but each have interests that potentially clash with each other as well as with the interests of claimants. The work done by these centres is invaluable, giving people benefits advice and helping with appeals. Those like the Salford Unemployed and Community Resource Centre are clearly of great importance, but it is also clear that their independence must be assured if they are to genuinely act for the people that they have been set up to defend.

The grassroots strain is heralded by those like the Hackney Unemployed Workers Group whose approach is based on a mix of support, advice and certainly in Hackney an approach of taking direct action. Advice and support are essential to sort problems with as little stress to claimants as possible. This is hard territory with the CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) book providing the law while essential training is necessary to use the indexing and cross referencing correctly. Even then advice must be checked as this is the livelihood of individuals and families that are being dealt with. Groups like Hackney are an inspiration to new organisations which are springing up all around the country – for example, I am involved with a set of activists in Oxford, who plan to form a new Unemployed Workers and Claimants Union, and we hope to learn from their valuable experiences.

When the system fails to respect a claimant’s rights then direct action has been used successfully in Hackney to reverse decisions. Links with the Public and Commercial Services Union have been made in some cases to try and reassure the workers in the Job Centres that they are not being personally targeted and that it is just the decisions that are being fought, though when the case involves bullying of claimants by individual staff this relationship can become more difficult to negotiate. Because the DWP use call centres in regions distant from the areas effected, decisions in the South of England may be made in Glasgow or Belfast, but picketing and leafleting the local Job Centre has still been reported to have had positive results. One legal framework for unemployed unions is the ‘friendly society’, which is reported to not be subject to the same restrictive anti-union legislation affecting actions such as flying pickets, though this needs investigating further.

Ultimately this is one front, the fight to defend the rights of workers and claimants, that can provide a real way for the left to act to protect those most at risk in recession. Taking left politics out of the lecture hall and meeting room is essential if we are to genuinely try and fulfill our aims whilst also to take the ground out from the fascists who falsely claim to offer solutions to the problems faced by the working class.

Taken from the Commune

Britain ‘most unequal society in western Europe’

A high-profile philanthropist has labelled evidence that poverty affects children’s ability to do well in school a “a tragic indictment on modern society.”

Sutton Trust chairman Sir Peter Lampl described as shocking the findings of a study by his organisation to be released on Monday which show that the language skills of the poorest children in Britain are almost a year behind their richer peers.

Of 12,644 five-year-olds who were monitored in 2006 and 2007, just 45 per cent from the poorest fifth of families were ready to read daily by the age of three compared to 78 per cent of children from the richest fifth of families.

The study also showed “the stark educational disadvantage experienced by children from poorer homes before they have even stepped into the school classroom” – the poorest parents in the survey had no GCSEs at grade C or above, while four in five of the richest were educated to degree level.

Sources said the report confirmed that after 12 years of Labour government Britain is the most unequal society in western Europe.

Against a background of over half a billion pounds worth of cuts in higher education – unparalleled in the public sector – Mr Lampl warned against reducing funds that helped disadvantaged children to go to university.

“It is a tragic indictment on modern society that our children’s future life prospects depend so much on their family background, not their individual talents,” he said.

But he also claimed that “good parenting” – such as reading to children on a daily basis, or taking them to libraries, museums and galleries – could “overcome some of the negative impacts that poverty can have on children’s early development.”

The study found that wealthier parents with more free time would be more likely to take their kids on cultural activities.

Left-leaning think tank Compass highlighted the way in which poverty and wealth is inherited by subsequent generations last month.

It found that university graduates are disproportionately more likely to be from better-off backgrounds.

A mere 4 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals go on to higher education, compared to 33 per cent of those who are ineligible.

Taken from Morning Star

Report shows deadly price of being poor

Shocking research published in a major new report has revealed that people living in England’s poorest areas die seven years younger on average than those in its richest communities.

The Marmot review shows that although life expectancy has risen overall in both poor and rich areas, distinct inequalities remain.

Along with a lower life expectancy the report also finds that for poorer areas a greater proportion of people’s lives will be spent unwell.

The government-commissioned report, published by epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot of University College London, estimates that up to 202,000 early deaths could be avoided if the NHS spent more to tackle these inequalities.

He also called for an increase in minimum wage to allow everyone the opportunity for a healthier lifestyle.

Professor David Hunter, an expert in health management at Durham University, said: “There are few votes in health inequalities. There must be a real political commitment at all levels because a fairer society will benefit all.

“As politicians of all hues become increasingly preoccupied with securing electoral advantage, it is questionable whether this important report will receive the careful and considered attention it deserves.”

The report warns that doing nothing to tackle these inequalities would cost the economy more, accounting for £33 billion spent every year.

It calls for NHS spending on preventing illness with more money going to initiatives such as helping people to stop smoking.

Royal College of Nursing chief executive Dr Peter Carter said: “To avoid missing the window of opportunity in a child’s early years, midwifery, health visiting, school and community nursing are vital and need significant and consistent investment.”

Professor Mike Kelly, of the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence, also argues there needs to be a shift away from medical interventions that treat existing illnesses to those preventing them developing in the first place.

President of the UK Faculty of Public Health Professor Alan Maryon-Davis added: “This report is not just about fairness and opportunity – essential though these things are. It is also about hard-nosed investment in preventive strategies that really pay off.”

Health Secretary Andy Burnham welcomed the report and agreed that more work is needed to tackle inequalities.

“It’s not right that where we live can dictate the state of our health,” he said. But many are asking the government exactly what it plans to do.

Haringey TUC chairman Keith Flett, whose area includes some of the poorest areas in the country including Tottenham’s Northumberland Park, said: “The really big question posed is what is going to be done about decent jobs and wages and the impact this has on people’s lives?”

He added that people in Tottenham were literally dying because they were poor.

Taken from Morning Star

More public sector cuts to come

Lord Mandelson has declared that much of the rest of the public sector will face similar funding cuts to higher education in the upcoming year.

Universities learned last week that their budgets were to be slashed by £449 million for 2010-11, with further cuts due to be implemented in the future.

In a speech at the first Lord Dearing Memorial Conference at Nottingham University yesterday, the Business Secretary said: “Much of the rest of the public sector will receive similar constraints in the course of this year or soon after.

“Public funding cuts are the regrettable cost to the UK of saving the banking sector and getting the country through the recession.”

Lord Mandelson dismissed warnings from Britain’s top university leaders that the higher education system could be “brought to its knees” by government spending cuts which could eventually run into billions.

As university applications hit record levels this year, the Russell Group has warned that students face a desperate scramble for places and tens of thousands could miss out.

Yesterday, Lord Mandelson casually suggested that students who miss out on university places due to the massive cuts should seek “alternatives” to full-time study at a time when youth unemployment is at a record high and skills training is scarce.

University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt condemned the Business Secretary’s “failure to grasp the severity of his planned cuts. Lord Mandelson would be better off listening to the academy’s concerns rather than rudely dismissing them.”

The union has warned that the cuts would put 15,000 higher education jobs at risk.

Taken from Morning Star

Home repossessions hit 14-year high

The number of people who had their homes repossessed reached a 14-year high during 2009, figures have shown.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said 46,000 homes were repossessed last year, the highest number since 1995.

That was an increase of 6,000 on the total for 2008, but was lower than the CML’s most recent forecast of 48,000.

Lenders took 10,200 properties into possession in the fourth quarter of 2009 – 13% lower than in the third quarter.

In December 2008 the CML had predicted 75,000 homes would be repossessed in 2009.

However, in an interview with Radio 5 live, Housing Minister John Healey caused controversy when he said that, for some people, having their home repossessed was the best thing that could happen to them.

The shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said ministers had “lost touch with reality” and called on Mr Healey to apologise to “the tens of thousands of families who have lost the roof over their heads”.

‘Challenging year’

In terms of payment difficulties, 188,300 mortgages ended the year with arrears equivalent to at least 2.5% of the outstanding mortgage balance, the CML said.

As it has turned out, things are not nearly as bad as they were in the housing slump of the early 1990s.

Thanks to a combination of ultra-low repayment costs, tougher court rules on repossessions, and a variety of government schemes, fewer people than anticipated are either in arrears with their mortgages or have been evicted.

Last year’s 46,000 repossessions were just 61% of the total recorded in the peak year of 1991, when lenders seized 75,500 homes.

And in the past few months the position has started to improve. The CML’s statistics show that short-term arrears and home seizures eased off as 2009 wore on.

But lenders are worried it may not last. About 75,000 borrowers are stuck with stubbornly high arrears.

Any rise in interest rates may well be too much for both them and their lenders, prompting a fresh bout of repossessions.

This was lower than the total of 195,000 it had forecast, and 3% lower than at the end of the third quarter of 2009. But it still marked a 3% rise on the end of 2008.

CML director general Michael Coogan said: “The fact that mortgage arrears and possessions did not rise as much as we feared in 2009 is testament to the effect of low interest rates and a great deal of concerted effort by lenders, government and the advice sector to help borrowers to address financial difficulties when they occur.”

As a result, the CML said that its current forecast for 2010 of 205,000 arrears cases and 53,000 properties taken into possession may be “a little pessimistic”.

However, Mr Coogan added: “We are not out of the woods yet – 2010 will still be a challenging year for many borrowers, and some households will inevitably find their finances being squeezed if and when interest rates do eventually rise.”

The housing charity Shelter said the number of homes being repossessed was still “completely unacceptable”.

“Behind each one of these numbers is a heartbreaking story of a family losing their home and having to rebuild their lives,” said Campbell Robb, the charity’s chief executive.

“The tragedy is most people simply do not need to be repossessed. By giving clear help and advice to homeowners at risk of repossession, Shelter and other organisations successfully helps almost four out of five households avoid the immediate loss of their home when facing court proceedings.”

Court actions

Separately, figures from the Ministry of Justice showed that the number of potential repossessions in the pipeline in England and Wales is falling.

The number of possession actions – the first stage of an attempted repossession by a lender – launched in the courts in the fourth quarter of 2009 was 20,061. The number was 15% fewer than in the previous three months and 26% fewer than at the same time last year.

The number of possession orders agreed by judges also fell to 16,928 – 15% fewer than in the previous quarter and 42% down on the same period of 2008.

In November 2008, the government introduced the mortgage pre-action protocol which said lenders would have to demonstrate to the courts that they had exhausted all possibilities before going ahead with a repossession.

And last year, the government launched the mortgage rescue scheme, which permits not-for-profit housing associations to buy homes from people struggling to pay their mortgage and then allows them to continue living there by paying “affordable rent”.

Meanwhile, the Treasury Committee said that it would be launching a follow-up inquiry into mortgage arrears after publishing an initial report in August 2009.

The inquiry will focus on households struggling with mortgage arrears and those at risk of repossession.

Taken from BBC News

Nursery costs go through the roof

Some parents are paying more than £22,000 a year for nursery places as the cost of childcare continues to rise faster than inflation, the Daycare Trust has warned.

Sending a child to nursery in the country’s most expensive areas can now cost more than private school fees, the trust claimed.

The cost of a nursery place for a child aged over two in England increased by 5.1 per cent last year – almost twice the rate of inflation.

A full-time nursery place for a child under two cost an average £176 per week, or £9,152 a year.

In London the figure rose to £218 weekly, but some nurseries in the capital charged £425 a week – the equivalent of £22,100 a year.

Average gross weekly earnings nationally are £489.

The rises were condemned by Daycare Trust joint chief executive Alison Garnham as increasing the burden on families already hit by the recession.

Taken from Morning Star