Universal Credit (UC) makes it easier for people to work flexibly say the DWP - taking part-time and temporary jobs, or accepting extra shifts at busy times. It also helps businesses with the challenge of filling vacancies and recruiting the people they need, when they need them.

With UC available to all new single jobseekers across Great Britain, the DWP have developed a short animation to explain how it benefits employers.

Under Universal Credit your gross income is used for calculating UC. This is a marked difference to how HMRC allows those self-employed to deduct allowable expenses. 

More comments, following the publication of the report - Independent Case Examiner Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints received between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016.

The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) report is also critical about how the JCP are handling complaints against staff. From our own experience, we know that JCP staff - on occasions - are involved in deliberate and flagrant abuse of claimants.

JCP staff actions are being covered-up or ignored by senior manager(s) and this report goes some way towards proving that fact..

Actions for example by JCP staff where they have deliberately withheld or delayed the refund of travel-to-interview expenses, or sanctioned a claimant and then accused them of fraud, without evidence. This was in retaliation to a Claimant making a justified compliant.

We hope that DWP management will seriously consider the points this report makes.

The ICE have been criticized themselves in recent years, by claimant’s for what appears to be frustrating or dismissing bona-fide complaints against the JCP. 

The ICE need to maintain the confidence of the public, lost in part in recent years and to demonstrate 'that they have teeth' and that they are willing to take action. This report is reassuring in that respect.

The ABC feels that 'sanctions' that are appealed should be frozen until a final judgement is reached, and that if this was done we suspect the long delays using Mandatory Considerations and ICE appeals would shorten dramatically. The accuser (the JCP) needs to prove their case 'beyond reasonable doubt' rather than the claimant should have to prove their innocence against an accuser who stands to gain financially, if benefits are stopped or withheld altogether. 

 We also feel that interest should be added to monies withheld [benefits] that are later paid, if the stoppage was found to be unjustified.

At the moment even if a claimant wins their appeal, the DWP have benefitted by holding onto the money without penalty. Whereas, the claimant has suffered considerably if their benefits have been stopped.

This is unfair and against the laws of natural justice.

If a surgeon makes a major mistake, not only can you sue the hospital, but you can take action against the surgeon too. We want to see a system where as - not only the DWP are liable for mistakes paying compensation and interest if money is withheld, but where a Claimant can take individual action against DWP/JCP members of staff, where it can be shown conclusively there were no reasonable grounds for taking the action they did. 

We need to stop the JCP from covering-up and protecting staff that take actions that are malicious and criminally orientated in nature; especially against claimants that have made a complaint or offended staff or branch managers.

We accept that all parties can get upset, however this does not give JCP staff the right to take the 'law into their own hands' and use their position of power over the claimant to take actions that are a clear abuse of their position - confident that senior JCP managers will cover-up such abuse or fail to take any action. 

We need to squeeze out the 'rottenness' in the system. 

The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) state in their report:

‘A theme that has continued with Jobcentre Plus is the way in which they deal with complaints about their own staff. DWP have clear guidance on how to manage complaints about staff. Unfortunately, we are still seeing cases in which the Department have only followed this process in part, and have either failed to document their investigation into the complaint, failed to consider all of the evidence available or failed to inform the claimant of the outcome. During this reporting period we have also seen a number of cases where DWP failed to take any action to investigate complaints.’

The DWP should 'pay close attention to all aspects of every complaint at an early stage' in order to achieve resolution say the Independent Case Examiner.

The annual report from the Independent Case Examiner shows that 72 per cent of investigated complaints about the DWP were upheld or partially upheld in 2015/2016. The DWP recently set aside £22 million pounds of taxpayers money to fight appeals. Money that could better spent on elliminating mistakes in the first place, we would argue at the ABC. 

This report explains the Independent Case Examiner’s (ICE’s) work on Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints received between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016.

The report covers the following areas of work:

• working age benefits (Jobcentre Plus)
• disability benefits
• pensions
• Debt Management
• private sector companies that provide services on behalf of DWP
• Child Maintenance Service
• Child Support Agency

The report also includes information about the standards of service of the Independent Case Examiner’s office.

Please see the full report below:

Live at the ABC

Work and Pensions Committee

Wednesday 19 October 2016 Meeting starts at 9.30am

Subject: Pension Protection Fund and the Pensions Regulator

Witnesses: Dr Baroness Ros Altmann CBE, former Minister of State for Pensions, Tim Sharp, Policy Officer, TUC, Stephen Pugh, Finance Director, Adnams PLC and Paul Duffy, Secretary, SME PPF Levy Consultation Group

Witnesses: Chris Martin, Managing Director, Independent Trustee Services Limited, Andrew Bradshaw, Association of Professional Pension Trustees, and Janice Turner, Co-Chair, Association of Member Nominated Trustees

More businesses employing traditionally lower paid workers are at risk of failure since the introduction of a higher national minimum wage six months ago, according to new figures.13 Oct 2016

The combined number of retailers, wholesalers, transport and logistics firms and bars and restaurants in "financial distress" has increased by 23% since April, according to corporate recovery specialists Begbies Traynor. The firm said that it had seen a "strong link between rising levels of business distress and the implementation of the National Living Wage" at the beginning of April, according to the Financial Times, which published the data.

Separately, the Resolution Foundation has predicted a smaller than anticipated increase in the National Living Wage (NLW) next year, due to its link to median earnings and the impact of the Brexit vote. The think tank said that its predictions showed the "flexibility" of the policy, and answered criticisms from businesses that had argued the NLW should be scrapped in response to post-vote economic uncertainty.

"An increase [in the NLW] to around £7.50 will deliver a welcome annual pay rise of up to £600 for full-time staff," said Conor D'Arcy, a policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation.

"Though that's less than the £800 raise previously forecast, it's sensible that the size of the [NLW] rise adjusts in line with wages of typical workers. This flexibility means that calls from some businesses to scale back the NLW even further are wide of the mark," he said.

The NLW came into force in April, following a surprise announcement by then chancellor George Osborne at the 2015 Summer Budget. It was introduced at a rate of £7.20 for employees aged 25 and over as a premium on top of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), which continues to be paid to younger workers.

Increases to the NLW will be made in line with the recommendations of the independent Low Paid Commission, with the intention that the NLW will reach 60% of median earnings by 2020. It was originally projected to reach £9 per hour by this date. This is now unlikely, according to the Resolution Foundation; which is instead anticipating an increase to £8.60 by the end of the current parliament.

According to Begbies Traynor, the number of businesses employing lower-paid workers that are experiencing financial distress has increased from 78,917 in April to almost 100,000. The firm defines "financial distress" as the business having minor county court judgments filed against it or experiencing a sustained fall in working capital, retained profits or net worth.

Of the over 400 attendees at the recent Restructuring and Insolvency Conference hosted by Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, 62% predicted an increase in business failures over the next 12 months.

Reproduced courtesy of Pinset Masons

Challenge Poverty Week 2016

Challenge Poverty Week is fast approaching, and we’re really keen to hear what your organisation has planned for it.  Challenge Poverty Week aims to bring together organisations from across civil society - from grassroots community groups to national voluntary organisations, trade unions and faith groups to highlight what they are doing to address poverty.

Your organisation has a crucial role to play in raising awareness about poverty in Scotland, and we hope you can be actively involved in Challenge Poverty Week. There are three main ways that you can be involved:

•             * Organising an event or some other activity to mark the Week;

•             * Promoting the week through your websites, facebook pages, twitter, etc.

•             * Encouraging your members or supporters to get involved.

You can find lots of resources to help you organise your event here: http://www.povertyalliance.org/challenge_poverty

You can tell us about your event or activity here: http://www.povertyalliance.org/challenge_poverty/tell_us_about_your_activities

Our calendar of activities which are already planned can be found here: http://www.povertyalliance.org/challenge_poverty/calendar_of_activities

For more information, please email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The U.S. labor market continues to recover from the still lingering effects of the Great Recession, but the question on the minds of many economists and analysts is how long can the healing continue? Or, in other words, has the U.S. economy hit “full employment,” where all the workers who can be drawn into the labor market by a stronger economy are now finding jobs? Understanding trends in the labor force participation rate is key for answering this question. Knowing whether the share of the population actively participating in the labor market can grow much further or whether it will trend down can help determine how low the unemployment rate might go.

First, a quick reminder on how the labor force participation rate affects the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is calculated by taking the number of unemployed workers and dividing it by the labor force, the sum of the number of unemployed and those with a job. So knowing how much the denominator in that situation is going to change will impact the overall unemployment rate. For more on this, read Equitable Growth Senior Director for Policy Elisabeth Jacob’s testimony on trends in the labor force participation rate.

Views on labor force participation today vary on the extent to which structural forces or cyclical effects from the Great Recession of 2007-2009 are still affecting the participation rate. Many economists and analysts point to the role of structural forces or trends that long predate the Great Recession. But the long-term trend that gets cited the most is the aging of the working population as the Baby Boomer generation reaches retirement. The estimates on the effects of aging can vary quite a bit, but anestimate by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers puts about half of the decline in participation from 2007 to 2014 into the “aging” category. When it comes to a policy response, it’s hard to change the age distribution of the population in the short run.

The importance of structural forces and demographics might give an impression that labor force participation or other trends are immutable and have to simply be endured. Regardless of how much slack remains in the labor market (the recent slight increase in the rate may be a sign of remaining slack), several structural factors can be addressed through policy actions.

Consider a new paper by Princeton University economist and former Council of Economic Advisers chairman Alan Krueger. The paper takes a direct look at the labor force participation rate and tries to understand what is depressing participation for men and women who are in prime working ages of 25 to 54. When it comes to prime-age men, health problems seem to be a huge barrier to labor market participation. According to the paper, almost 50 percent of men in this age group are taking medicine to control pain, and about 40 percent of this group say health issues are preventing them from taking a job. This is structural force that is not directly related to the Great Recession, but it certainly is amenable to a policy response.

As Krueger notes, such a trend means increased health insurance may help this trend or policymakers may want to look at pain-management interventions. When it comes to trends for prime-age women, there’s research pointing to the importance of family-friendly policies, or rather the lack thereof. Other countries have seen rising labor force participation rates for women, but we haven’t seen that in the United States as Krueger points out. Policies that help provide childcare and paid family and medical leave seem likely to help push back against these trends, as Equitable Growth’s executive director and chief economist, Heather Boushey, details in her recently published book, “Finding Time: The Economics of Work-Life Conflicts.” And paid leave may also help male employment by allowing workers to take time off for their own health problems.

Of course, there is still the possibility that cyclical forces are pushing down the labor force participation rate. As Matt Yglesias notes at Vox, wage growth hasn’t been particularly strong during this recovery, which points to continued weaknesses in the demand for labor among employers. He also points out that a stronger economy could make some of these structural forces seem less structural as employers would be less picky about which workers they hire. The only way we’ll really know is if policymakers, especially at the Federal Reserve, continue to be patient and help the current recovery continue.

Article reproduced courtesy of the Washington Centre For Equitable Growth

Virgin Money is hiring less: Jayne-Anne Gadhia told a roundtable in London that the consumer finance firm has “held down recruitment” to keep a lid on costs due to the uncertainty around Brexit.

She expected other firms to do the same.

Regrettably we think this will be the norm in the coming months due to BREXIT jitters. 

The plus side is you won't have a low paid job working for Virgin, making the hairy one even richer!

'And the oboe it is clearly understood
Is an ill wind that no one blows good'  

Food Banks struggling to cope - the NHS is on its knees – hard working women getting robbed of their pensions – claimants sanctioned and the disabled robbed. What should we do, say knee-bending MP's?

Let's build a new Royal Yacht!

Fortunately, this idea was sunk in the House of Commons debate, despite the support of among others, Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade.

In a September 2016 speech on international trade, Fox implied that Britain's low level of exports were a result of businesspeople becoming "lazy and fat" off the successes of previous generations, arguing that exporting was a "duty" which businesspeople neglected because "it might be too difficult or too time-consuming or because they can't play golf on a Friday afternoon.

Some might argue that Fox’s expense claims could fund a royal yacht, or at least pay for the anchor?

£19,000 for mobile phone charges does seem rather a lot of money, even if he was abroad? 

While people struggle on £7.20 per hour others live large at the publics expense. Many might say: roll on the revolution. 

In the meantime, let’s have some suitably salty music, one of the most beautiful tracks of all time: