Jon Davis (Guardian);

on that 'difficult decision'

#benefits #politics #inequality

Off to the movies. Have a lovely evening - looks like Lego Thatcher did 😡

#UKPolitics #SameTroughDifferentSnouts #Benefits

"And cutting incomes of families does nothing to create high paid jobs"

#UKPolitics #Benefits

Apparently a Govt. 'source' has today suggested that Labour MPs making representations (complaining) about the prospective benefits freezes & cuts are (actually) just 'pearl clutching'

If true then this is both ageset & sexist if being used as an insult (its unclear how else it might be intended), and suggests Labour 'managers' have developed a tin ear for any political development outside the confines of the Westminster Village.

#austerity #politics #benefits

h/t Simon Fletcher/Modern Left

"Labour’s proposed reforms appear to be based not just on budgeting, but a belief: paid work is a virtue (and people who don’t perform it deserve a worse life than everyone else)"
Frances Ryan, excellent as usual.

#Labour #Disability #PIP #Benefits #UKPolitics
Labour mollifies the rich, targets disabled people and claims moral justification. There isn’t any | Frances Ryan | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/10/disabled-people-labour-benefits-system

Fifteen separate charities estimated today that another 700,000 benefit claimants would be forced into poverty if Liebour's welfare cuts are enacted.
Yesterday, Liz Kendall admitted that no risk assessment had been done prior to submitting the recommendations to the Treasury.

Independent: "Scandal of the sick: Ill and disabled benefit claimants die waiting for vital payments"

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dwp-pip-benefit-payments-labour-reeves-b2710913.html

#UKPolitics #NewNastyParty #Benefits

An unnamed 'senior' Labour backbencher (quoted in the Guardian) on the prospective cuts to welfare, echos concerns expressed here (and elsewhere):

'We are a rich country but we have lots of poorer people. Do not target stuff at the poorest and most vulnerable. There are others ways of doing it'!

Well there may be other ways but Rachel Reeves seems unwilling to countenance them....

#austerity #welfare #benefits

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/07/dont-punish-the-vulnerable-labour-mp-uneasy-over-planned-welfare-cuts

So some of the details of Lego Thatcher's plans for the benefits system have dropped, and they make *actual* Thatcher look like Mary fucking Poppins.
ONLY benefits for sick and disabled people are being cut or frozen.

#UKPolitics #Benefits

Once again the Govt (and DWP) are using accusations of benefit fraud to gain access to private information of benefits' recipients;

Proposals are afoot to allow banks to access *all* accounts held by people on benefits to check eligibility claims alongside an enhanced recovery mechanism to bypass courts (making appeals more difficult).

Benefits fraud (incl.DWP overpayment!!!) is approx £8.5bn.

The benefits bill is over £250bn, so fraud actually is not a major problem...

#benefits

h/t FT

“It’s a shame…to disregard 120 senior executive service people,” O’Malley said. “To pick an acting commissioner that is not in the senior executive service sends a message that professional people should leave….”
On #FauxNews on Mon evening, WH press sec Leavitt said she had been fighting “fake news reporters” who had been trying to “fearmonger” about #SocialSecurity payments. Leavitt said #Trump had directed #ElonMusk only to ID “fraud”…, & that seniors’ retirement #benefits would be protected.

In selecting Dudek, #Trump bypassed dozens of other senior executives who sat higher in the agency’s leadership hierarchy, touching off alarm in & around the agency, which has already faced years of budget & staffing difficulties.

“At this rate, they will break it. And they will break it fast, & there will be an interruption of #benefits,” said Martin O’Malley, the #SocialSecurity commissioner under the Biden admin & a fmr Maryland governor.

#law #PersonalFinance #privacy #ElonMusk #InfoSec

Das Hessische Kultusministerium bietet seinen Mitarbeiter:innen nunmehr die Nutzung eines Fitness-Benfefits über den Anbieter Wellhub (Gympass) (https://wellhub.com/de-de) an.

Frage: Kennt jemand dieses oder ähnliche Angebote und kann von seinen Erfahrungen berichten? #fedilz #ftiness #benefits

More evidence that to work for the DWP first of all you have to have your soul & any humanity surgically removed before you are let loose to judge benefits claims....

I'm not sure the DWP can be reformed; like the Metropolitan Police, closure & re-establishment with different, more human mores & practices is what is required.

The DWP is only fit for purpose if the purpose is: denying benefits to people who should receive benefits!

#DWP #disability #benefits

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/09/blind-woman-denied-benefits-because-she-attended-dwp-interview-with-help-of-mother

"Much like when George Osborne aimed to cut the #disability benefits bill by a fifth, “#welfare reform” based on arbitrary cost-cutting says the quiet part out loud: #benefits won’t be awarded based on who needs them – just on what they cost."

#UKpolitics #Labour

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/05/tax-and-spend-budget-disabled-people-austerity

Once again the DWP's inhumanity & callousness are on display in a forthcoming judicial review of the impact of 'non-consensual conception' on the two-child benefit cap.... unsurprisingly, as always, the DWP deploys its rules in a way that offers no inkling they regard befits recipients as people rather than merely numbers on a spreadsheet.

#DWP #benefits

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/04/mothers-to-take-department-for-work-and-pensions-to-court-over-inhumane-benefit-rules-on-non-consensual-conception

Editor’s Note: #Vacation is ‘Vacation’ for Many #Grassroots Journalists. Another reason why @BINJreports can use your support during our big annual #fundraiser (starting today!) https://horizonmass.news/2024/11/01/editors-note-vacation-is-vacation-for-many-grassroots-journalists/ #work #benefits #journalism #indyjournalism #editorial