Crisis funds under threat

From April 2015, a £180m a year hardship fund will be abolished. Councils have simply not made a strong enough argument for it it would seem. This is a disgrace and deserves far greater attention as councils struggle to provide for their local residents. "Iain Duncan Smith's axe has struck again. This time its local authority welfare assistance schemes on the block. But we're not talking reform or even cuts. The scheme had already been significantly cut last year. From April 2015 a £180m a year hardship fund will be abolished completely. That's right. Scrapped. A vital safety net will no longer be there. Crisis loans are not really well known as they are applied for when people are really desperate and have few options left it is often recommended to them as the shame in applying for it is huge with a social stigma attached to it too sadly. But this fund is vital and will have dire consequences I fear. "Yet for all the welfare campaigns and demonstrations highlighting changes to the benefit system this has largely slipped under the radar. Crisis funds have not had the attention they deserve. From freedom of information requests to councils across the country, from a sample of 98 local authorities that the average spend in the first six months was around 20% – but in many cases the fund was just not working. The worst authority was Hertfordshire county council, which had spent less than 1% of the £1,765,277 they received for the scheme. In the first six months they had spent just £11,990. The fact that the council had been awarded £373,000 to administer this fund showed the bureaucrats were doing very well at the expense of people who really need help. Other councils were just as bad. Herefordshire had spent just 1% of their funding and their council leader, Tony Johnson, a former banker, went on national radio to say he was pleased with the results. Cumbria had also spent just 1% of their funding, Hillingdon had only spent 2%, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne had only spent 3% and Manchester 6%. In all of these places poverty exists. Even in leafy Hertfordshire there are food banks and 32,000 children in child poverty. Some council have a complete ignorance of poverty. There are examples where small grants to help a family feed their children were withheld until they'd been on a cooking course and one council offering a homeless man a voucher for a tent. The government has to accept a large part of the blame for this. Their version of localism seems to be directing funds towards councils and waiting for them to fail so they can justify scrapping schemes. There has to be better guidance. But I can't help thinking that had there been more evidence of municipal innovation in tackling poverty, with stronger partnerships with the voluntary sector, then the Local Government Association could have prevented this fund being abolished by making a strong argument to retain it. As it stands, both local and central government have failed the most vulnerable people in society. Poverty can never be tackled simply through central government schemes. There is a growing need for more innovative, local approaches. But where will the funding come from to develop these now?" With extracts from http://www.theguardian.com/local-government-network/2014/jan/07/council-crisis-funds-scrapped-poverty

The Demonising of disabled people and the benefits assessment failures

I’ve read some horror stories over the last year or so about fellow disabled people facing difficult decisions and having to go through awful ordeals at the hands of ATOS. A bit of news i’ve come across today describing a blind woman fighting back and winning her appeal. Margaret Allen was forced to give up work after being registered blind A blind woman has won a fight to have her benefits reinstated after she was told to get a job. Margaret Allen had to give up work because of her condition but was called up to a controversial ‘fit-to-work’ assessment – part of the government’s overhaul of the welfare system. The 49-year-old has progressive retinitis pigmentosa – a degenerative incurable disorder – and is registered blind. But an assessor ruled that she was not eligible for help and told her she must go back to work. Margaret has now successfully appealed against the decision but slammed the system for making her feel like a benefits cheat. She said: “The condition gets worse every day. I was diagnosed in 1988 and continued to work until 1999. “I even went part time because I didn’t want to quit but it got to the point where I just could not work safely any longer.” Margaret, who lives with her husband Robert in Chadderton, Oldham, is among thousands of people who have had to take part in the assessments. Those who currently claim incapacity benefit, income support for illness or disability or severe disablement allowance, are being transferred to a new payment called employment and support allowance (ESA). The tests – carried out by adjudicators Atos on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – decide whether claimants are still eligible to receive support. Margaret was called up by Atos in October and claims the assessment was crude with no regard to her medical condition. She said: “The assessor sat there wiggling his fingers in front of my eyes to test me. “I took along my blind certificate which has detailed information on it and asked if they wanted to see it – but they weren’t interested.” Participants must score 15 to be deemed unable to work – Margaret scored just nine points. Nationally, almost half of the sick or disabled people assessed had their benefits removed but about a third of appeals have been upheld at tribunals. Margaret, a former warehouse assistant, had her benefits reinstated after writing a letter challenging the initial decision. Within weeks she had been reassessed as having 24 points. She is now helping other people affected by the work capability assessments through online support groups and has had her case taken up by Oldham West and Royton MP Michael Meacher. She said: “I felt terrible and judged. It made me feel like a benefit cheat. “My whole family have worked all their lives and I worked for as long as I possibly could but I can’t live on fresh air. I’m blind not dead. “If anyone is going through the same thing please do not give up because the truth always prevails.” With extracts from http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/blind-chadderton-woman-ordered-back-1346646

America to join the austerity project of the ruling class around the globe

We hear today of the president of America giving in to the hard right the Tea party who demand hard deep cuts to cut the US's deficit and deal with their huge trillion dollors of debt.

President O'barma who was before using his stimulus package of tax cuts and investment in roads and transport projects has seemingly ground to a halt. The debt celling has been reached and the USA look like they will narrowly avoid a default on their debts as they will agree to raise the debt level for now.

But how ong will this last will they have to revisit this at a later date?

But what is clear now that President O'barma has put his neck on the line and looks to be agreeing for the need for deep savage cuts in public spending in america.

We all know this means austerity and if America is cutting spending too the rest of the world will suffer no doubt. This could however trigger a trade war with China who look to capitalise on this move by America. It is unclear what affect this will have on China it will be interesting to watch.

But what is clear to millions of working class people in America is that cuts to things like Medicare and help for the poor will be cut. All this just like in Europe and the UK to pay for the mess the rich ruling class has got itself into.

Capitalism will always find a way of surviving and more often than not makes the working class pay for something it did not create.

So ordinary working Americans must be prepared for large scale cuts in living standards and a drop in pay and jobs significantly. They must show the feeling of Westconsin where recently there has been mass struggles with unions and the police caving in and joining with the strikers. The struggles in Westconsin must be broadened out across the great nation and spread to every town and city. Only a mass collective action of the working class can push back these cuts and austerity.

Aswell as this ordinary Americans will need a political voice which they do not have at present. With Republicans and Democrats seemingly offering no alternative to cuts. Just like in Britain there is no mass workers party speaking for the interests of ordinary working people. A formation of such a party is needed in America to linking up with the international movement for the need for socialism across the globe replacing this horrible rotten capitalist system which has clearly failed.

Tough times lay ahead for all of us as i have previously blogged about but now is the time to resist and stand up to be counted. Its time to take sides and decide what kind of future world we want to live in. I know where i stand. On the side of the workers. do you ?