[Ssf] Wot I am sending out on welfare meetings

Thu Dec 9 19:44:15 GMT 2004

hi
bit short notice(again) but this is what i am trying
to send out about the welfare meetings, perhaps it
could go on the wiki

btw, keep up the good work folks, your're fantastic!

--- dave thompson <mpower0 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> To: SheffieldME-CFSGroup at yahoogroups.com
> From: dave thompson <mpower0 at yahoo.com>
> Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 11:34:53 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: [SheffieldME-CFSGroup] disability benefits
> meeting:report back
> 
> 
> Hello, 
> 
> Disability Meeting reportback
> 
> (long!)
> People on the list asked for a report back on the
> meeting about disability benefits held recently,
> apologies for the delay in sending a report/feedback
> from the welfare meeting, we are still waiting for
> the
> completed notes from the event  
> 
> ‘However, a brief report: the number of apologies
> due
> to illness, obviously mitigated against a large
> meeting, but it was a lively but very serious
> meeting
> which was very productive, empowering and positive.
> So
> many thanks to all those who made it or made
> suggestions online, etc.  The meeting entitled  ‘End
> the Disability Cuts! Life for those on Disability
> Benefits in Sheffield and Beyond’ allowed people to
> discuss, inform and be informed about the proposed
> changes/reforms in welfare benefits. Just as
> importantly it allowed people to raise awareness of
> the difficulties, health issues and concerns of
> those,
> the disabled and chronically ill who receive these
> benefits and who have no real voice. 
> 
> Colin Hampton (Co-ordinator Chesterfield Unemployed
> Workers Centre) spoke on the wider attacks on
> benefit,
> the use of compulsion, and the reform of the appeals
> system. Also on the levels of benefit being
> insufficient, given that £90 a week is thought to be
> the minimum level people can exist on. In an
> independent survey only 2% of benefits claims were
> found to be fraudulent, yet often all claimants are
> made to feel like ‘criminals’. He also gave us an
> very
> interesting insight into the current Govt attitude
> to
> those who cannot work in today’s Britain
> 
> Importantly, people gave powerful and moving
> testimonies on the difficulties of claiming
> disability
> benefits in today’s Britain, the lack of support for
> carers, and the social exclusion which greets those
> on
> benefits. Concerns were particularly raised about
> Colin’s info on the closing of local centres for
> assessment tribunals and about the pilot schemes
> operating in the Chesterfield area in which disabled
> people have to attend 6 mandatory ‘work focused
> interviews’. However, a very positive(and positively
> far reaching) development was announced by Colin
> which
> the PCS Union (the civil servants union for staff
> who
> deal with welfare) together with the T.U.C
> Unemployed
> Centres have come together to promote a Bill Of
> Rights
>  for people on benefits and the people who serve
> them
> . A charter, which at its heart argues strongly
> against any kind of compulsion. 
> (copies from Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre
> DUWC.SHUCAN at ahtena.shu.ac.uk or tel 01246 2311441)
> 
> This is very timely as a new report from the IPPR( a
> think tank very close to the Govt) has indeed argued
> for compulsory interviews and even mandatory
> 'conditional medical treatment’ for those on
> incapacity benefit. Although, there is a positive
> suggestion to create an 'enhanced' Disability Living
> Allowance to ‘ensure that the extra costs of living
> with a health problem or disability can be met. 
> 
> http://www.ippr.org.uk/press/index.php?rel
> 
> 
> Press Releases > 2004
> Reform of incapacity benefit needed for full
> employment and social justice
> 5th December
> 
> The Government must reform incapacity benefit if it
> is
> to achieve its full employment and social justice
> goals, according to a new report from the Institute
> for Public Policy Research (ippr), published next
> week.
> 
> ‘Mandatory action agreements - negotiated between
> well-trained Personal Advisers and claimants. Agreed
> actions could include steps towards social and
> economic inclusion for those people who cannot work
> such as condition management, or may include
> work-search activity, actions to enhance
> employability
> through training and education; and
> 
> http://www.ippr.org.uk/press/index.php?release=347
> 
> 
> Personally, I felt that at last I wasn’t alone, that
> the burning injustice of how decent people on
> disability benefits were being treated and the wider
> issues of chronic illness were now being addressed.
> I
> think others may have felt the same way, but I won't
> speak for them. A positive outcome of the meeting is
> that people would like to set up a new non party
> political campaigning group to respond to these
> concerns and a second meeting is being held to
> develop
> some kind of response action against the proposals.
> 
> The follow up meeting on disability benefit
> cuts/changes and how we can respond is on Saturday
> 11th December, 2 - 4pm, Quaker
> Meeting House. 
> 
> regards
> 
> dave t
> 
> 
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