The
benefits of benefits
I am not I firmly state , a person who would claim that we have a lifestyle choice , entitled to claim benefits as a career. However, I recently read an article and saw in several other media sources, the suggestion that there might be a human right for the jobless to claim benefits. I repeat, I am not saying that we have a human right to make a lifestyle choice not to work, but I do believe that any government in the 21st century has a legal obligation to guarantee the jobless a decent standard of living..especially if they are sick...
I am not I firmly state , a person who would claim that we have a lifestyle choice , entitled to claim benefits as a career. However, I recently read an article and saw in several other media sources, the suggestion that there might be a human right for the jobless to claim benefits. I repeat, I am not saying that we have a human right to make a lifestyle choice not to work, but I do believe that any government in the 21st century has a legal obligation to guarantee the jobless a decent standard of living..especially if they are sick...
I
do not believe that it is the right of any government to set up a
body which overrules the opinion of a persons GP, and declares them
fit to work, often resulting in as we increasingly hear, deaths due
to the worry and stress and fear this brings..and even deaths by
suicide from people just unable to cope with the loss of their their
only income..benefits...
I
myself am 52, partially sighted with joint and bone conditions,
including arthritis and a severe bone vitamin D deficiency. I suffer
from the effects of fractures, hypertension and a heart condition and
anxiety and depression. However, I have always been considered by the
DWP as at best borderline , even fit for work. I did claim
Incapacity benefit for several years and at one point was declared
exempt from medicals but have now been forced on to job seekers
allowance and my income is less than £400 per month....
True,
there was a time when we put the unemployed and those who had fallen
on hard times in the workhouse or the debtors prison, illustrated in
so many Dickens novels..Dickens own father had been in the Marshalsea
prison, and this and the experience of poverty reflected in his
novels, but just as we don't really still expect to see buses pulled
by horses , or watch TV in black and white, we have moved on since
the days of the Marshalsea...
I
have long come to the conclusion that if a G P with knowledge of
your medical conditions and the effect they have on your daily life,
including fluctuations in your condition declares as mine has that
you are not fit for work, or/and after realistic consideration of
your actual employment chances if perhaps you are on JSA, you are
still unemployed, but prepared to look for work, then benefits should
actually be paid at a higher rate than they are...
The
evidence that has brought me to this conclusion is that the theory
put forward by the government that cutting benefits and forcing
people to live in poverty encourages them to to get a job does not
work and can be counter productive that it can even hinder the
chances of that happening.
The
obvious knock on effect of living on the breadline, and for many
living well below it. is debt problems with unpaid bills , this leads
to court cases , requiring legal help, advice and representation.
This demand on the country's legal aid budget has resulted in savage
cuts leaving very vulnerable people without help and advice for
serious matters such as benefit appeals, debt ..often involving
bailiffs and the threat of prison and repossession of property
resulting in homelessness.
One
of the biggest effects of being forced to exist on an income well
below your even basic needs is being unable to finance your rent or
mortgage...when I did a course around supported housing and
vulnerable tenancies I learned to understand that there are many
definitions of 'hidden homelessness' including being unable to
actually afford the home you live in,Again, this results in huge
demands on what increasingly limited legal help is available, while
people in this position try to cope with the mounting debts. What no
government including Labour ,who in fact were the government who
introduced ATOS assessments for those on incapacity benefit has
recognised ( or admitted) is that to force people to live in poverty
actually holds up their chances of obtaining work rather than helping
it....
People
of no fixed abode, perhaps sleeping on friends sofas... or on the
streets...do not appeal to employers and I know from experience that
you can be so busy trying to sort out your debt , financial and
housing issues or jumping desperately at every get rich quick scheme
that you miss the deadline for many job opportunities.
Another
huge effect of poverty is the effect on our personal relationships
and ultimately our mental health. I am considered to own my own home
( just, in spite of several trips to court with the building society
seeking repossession), and ironically it is cheaper for me to try to
stay here rather than to leave, even though I do not have enough
income to officially be able to afford the property and the costs
associated with it..like many, I pay the vital bills and ignore the
others, i.e. pay who shouts the loudest....
My
credit rating is so badly damaged that I am unable to rent and so I
live in a property which has deteriorated to such an extent that if I
was renting and went to court no landlord would get away with
it..indeed the association which owns the leases of my home are
bringing the properties of renting tenants up to a certain required
legal standard, with tenants having new front doors, kitchens and
bathrooms. Leaseholders can of course have these improvements if they
are able to pay..while I live in appalling unhygienic conditions
including damp ...my kitchen being an unhygienic health hazard due to
a previous flood ..the buildings insurance invalidated by my arrears
on the service charges. I have always suspected that the serious
ankle fracture I suffered resulting in a permanent metal plate and
pins was due to my slipping on a patch of worn stair carpet..shredded
by my cats who I had before my difficulties began and that I cannot
get any animal charity to accept ...they say that they will only take
animals if they are abandoned or in danger of being so and that I
sound like a nice lady who won't abandon them..meanwhile they are
covered in fleas and so are my carpets...one cat has a skin complaint
and the other a cough but I cannot even take them top the Blue Cross
as it is a myth that they treat pets for free....what happens at my
local branch is they give you the full price bill and when you try
to pay what you can afford, the minimum you can try to get away with,
they look at you and hint 'can't you pay more....?
Light
fittings are broken, which is not ideal as I am partially sighted,
yes I could use the handyman services for as small a fee as £10 per
hour but I do not have a spare £10 or the money for the light
fittings to be fitted....benefits do not pay for home repairs and I
do not have enough income to be able to afford to pay back a crisis
loan even if I got one.
Although
it is the elderly that the media focuses on I can assure readers
that you do not have to be a pensioner in the winter to make a choice
between eating or heating..I have gone to bed at 7pm , convincing
myself that I fancy an early night ,,it isn't so easy though to
convince yourself that it is normal to sit indoors in a scarf and
gloves...
Not
surprisingly, the condition of the place has resulted in my not
letting people in, neither neighbours or friends. Many of my
neighbours identify me as 'That mad woman with the cats'..several
friends have been lost while I understandably try to keep them away
from the true state of my living conditions..and to save them from
getting bitten by fleas....
Since
I try not to make a habit of telling people how I live they get the
impression that I am anti-social and do not want them. Some friends
have given what assistance they have been able to offer , like help
with heating bills last winter when put on to job seekers allowance
and considered to be fit and well I did not qualify for a cold
weather payment when the temperature fell below freezing, as I used
to on Incapacity benefit. Although actually it was when
the
temperature was three degrees that it was worse to endure...freezing
yes, but not freezing enough for help with heating costs....However,
everyone is required to give back something eventually...you just
cannot expect to live happily amongst others if all you do is take
what is offered...but what if it is just impossible for you to meet a
friends need even if they have met yours ? Every relationship will at
some time require you to make a small gesture, perhaps a bed for a
while, as happened to a now ex friend of mine who having helped me ,
quite rightly expected something in return when she was beaten by her
partner and I had to refuse because at the time I was fighting
repossession proceedings which had started while I was waiting for
Job seekers allowance. Naturally I felt that it was not the time to
put even more of my problems on to her and so I didn't put her in
the picture...it was the beginning of the end of a friendship with a
history of forty years....Even if I had not been in the process of
being repossessed, there are now just too many problems associated
with anyone even staying here, let alone as she suggested once she
knew the situation...moving in with me....I know what I have to put
up with but I cannot inflict living in a property where you try not
to answer the phone on to anyone else and bailiffs come at 6.30 in
the morning chasing council tax from periods of benefit appeals going
back ten years....after the council tax recovery office had assured
you that the matter was sorted as your benefit is reduced further to
pay it back...when I know that bailiffs are after me I cannot risk
leaving a window open....many a friendship does and will end in such
circumstances....
In
fact I have had two friends who were in a position to and prepared to
offer me many opportunities and open doors..one a published author,
gave me the opportunity to be her publicist ..sales had of course
slumped somewhat since publication but this is normal because to any
publisher they are only interested in promoting your book while it
is their new book...and the next week they have more new books.
Obviously, payment was to be on results but although I was full of
ideas and potential from internet marketing to book talks and
signings I couldn't really do what was necessary...give time to
actually arranging what I said I could do....I needed money urgently
and the only way I get money is to fulfil my Job seekers requirement
to look for a job. This proves my point...that keeping people on an
income which does not even cover their legal requirements means that
they can even end up having to pass on
employment
opportunities, because limited as it is, it is all they have coming
in so they look for a job while eyeing the quickest get rich quick
scheme. These two ex friends like many others had spotted my latent
intelligence but ended up stating that they would be prepared to help
me only if an official request was made to give a statement
concerning my mental health !!! since I am considered fit to work ,
the need for this and any benefit it might be to me is highly
unlikely. Friendship can only take so much and often cannot be
expected to survive the issues that arise in the life of a long term
benefits claimant.
I
have tried hard to turn my website ( see links), my experiences of
job hunting when you are older and not in good health and my ability
to write into a self employed opportunity, but have now been advised
by the Job centre that they cannot guarantee help with the mortgage
if I register for the governments enterprise schemes for new
businesses....therefore according to the Job centre I am to in
effect do as I am told and look for a job, and while claiming JSA I
have to follow the rules. My benefits are not enough to live on but I
do not have enough coming in to have anything at all in reserves to
be able to afford to give up the Job seekers allowance.....
Poverty,
debt and legal issues, plus the sheer loneliness and isolation of the
socio-economic factor in being on benefits can indeed drive a person
to the brink of recognised mental health issues , but as long
as people are increasingly forced on to JSA from health related
benefits, entitled to no support and then have to struggle with the
pittance at which it is paid, these problems will increase and people
will stay on benefit for longer than ever because they have no choice
but to pretend to be fit and well, to go along with the job seekers
allowance requirements to look for work, while trying to deal with
debt and other resulting legal issues... and whether or not they can
then sustain that work if they get it is another matter, because
benefits do not allow for a social life and believe me you can truly
end up with mental health issues even if you didn’t start off with
them. This is only one of my cases in point for paying benefits at a
higher level rather than cutting them...because to do so will in the
long term save money as people will be healthier and more likely to
get back to work sooner..rather than going mad with debt problems and
social isolation... I for one know that my own social interactions
and responses are not at all as reliable as they were and I am only
one of thousands left by successive governments who largely for the
want of a benefit level which would at least allow something of a
normal life have been left deteriorating to the point where ability
to get a job and sustain it gets more and more unlikely...poor diet
and shabby clothes, the need of a good haircut all have an effect on
morale and certainly what jobs you can realistically apply for and
get....I certainly do not look the part for a receptionists job
…..you don't see many of those in elastic wasted
trousers from peacocks which is now all I can afford and fits !! I
heard that the food allowance per day on benefits is calculated at
the point that you can get a ready meal for £1 per day and put it in
the microwave....so you can but would David Cameron eat it ?? I know
as does everyone on benefits, especially those like myself who living
alone have only one benefit income coming in what It is to choose
between milk and toilet rolls..nobody in the 21st
century should have to make that choice....
When
forced to do so, as I know by experience blood pressure and other
health problems worsen due to the stress and that of other resulting
problems of inadequate income and unpaid bills ..and lets not forget
what people in my position cost the NHS in medical costs for blood
pressure pills...
A
panel set up b y the Prime Minister with hopes of scrapping Labours
Human Rights act said it wished to consider suggestions from
pro-human rights groups and believe it or not the public ..needless
to say the Prime Minister is said to not be happy... A point included
was the right to administrative justice, which must sit at odds with
the coalitions cuts to access to legal Aid denying many people help
with debt, benefit and other vital legal issues. Other points
considered were socio-economic rights which included suitable housing
and a right to a minimum standard of living. These points are to be
found in the bills of rights of many other countries while denied it
seems to the UK..I would imagine that an entitlement to a minimum
standard of living was somewhat in the minds of the government which
stopped putting people in the workhouse and it now appears that the
UK has in its human rights taken many backward steps....
Valerie
Hedges
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