Work TV

Taxpayer Evasion  - yes you heard it correctly. 

Anyone contacting the HMRC to talk about Tax Credits may find themselves being held in a queue for a mere 45 minutes to an hour or more, before being politely cut off.  

HMRC say that the best time to call is between 8.30am and 10.30am, and 2pm to 4pm, Tuesday to Thursday when phone lines are less busy.  Others might argue if those are the best times, what are the worse times like? 

We are forwarding a complaint to HMRC and to the Prime Minister’s office. Five weeks is far too long to process a Working Tax Credit claim, people just starting a part-time job can really need this money.

Making it impossible to speak to a fellow human being is hardly giving support to people ‘doing the right thing’ in our leaders parlance.  

‘Could do better’ as the Headmaster used to say. 

Welfare cuts are on the way in a special budget planned for Wednesday July 8^th where Chancellor George Osbourne is expected to explain where the £12bn of welfare cuts are going to come from. This budget will only last till the end of the current year.

So far only £2bn in cuts have been identified.

After the 2010 General Election, Mr Osbourne’s first budget was held on the 22^nd June, just 90 days after his predecessor Alistair Darling had delivered his own economic programme.

On a more positive note there are plans to create 3m new apprenticeships. However, the centrepiece of the package will be a fresh bout of austerity, with Osborne keen to get unpopular measures out of the way early in the parliament. This would give scope for pre-election give-aways later. 

Provided the economy performs in line with forecasts made by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, borrowing will be reduced to £41bn in 2016-17 and £14.5bn in 2017-18. By 2018-19, the plan is for the UK to be running a budget surplus of £4bn.

This budget  will be looked on with trepidation by many, it is still hard to see where such cuts can be made without causing severe hardship.  

We came across a very interesting fact this week. The UK is very close to setting a new record of a billion hours worked in a week.

According to Wikipedia - previously in British English (but not in American English), the word "billion" referred to a million millions (1,000,000,000,000). However, this is no longer the case, and the word has been used unambiguously to mean one thousand million (1,000,000,000) for some time.

Back in the dark days of 2008 the economy plunged from 950,000,000 to 910,000,000 hours worked and is currently 997,000,000 and climbing.

We must thank the Bob Watson and the Office of National Statistics for that little nugget. Great pub quiz material if nothing else. 

Llewelyn LaVista's campaign to stop the introduction of pre-paid cards has 64,000 signatures now.

'Benefit Street' also started on TV last night - no doubt this will help reinforce the Conservative rhetoric about benefits claimants.

Llewelyn has contacted various organisations, including Gingerbread, Child Poverty Action Group and Church Action on Poverty, plus a number of MPs, including Priti Patel and my own Labour and Green MPs. Llewelyn also messaged the Real Benefits Street Facebook page about it and he says he is waiting to hear from them all.

Have you signed the peition? This is your chance. 

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/re-think-pre-paid-benefit-cards

Iain Duncan Smith is to return to the DWP as the Work and Pensions Secretary.  

George Osborne is considering whether to hold an emergency budget within the next month. This would lead to an autumn spending review in which he will outline the details of the cuts as part of a planned £30bn fiscal consolidation.

The chancellor, who has been given the additional title of first secretary of state by the prime minister, plans to eliminate the budget deficit by 2018-19 by imposing £12bn in welfare cuts, reducing day-to-day government spending by £13bn and raising £5bn from tax-avoidance measures.

The confirmation of Duncan Smith’s post comes before a full cabinet reshuffle which will be finalised on Monday. The first Conservative-only cabinet for 18 years will meet on Tuesday.

The prime minister is expected to say that the chancellor aims to run a budget surplus by the end of the parliament. This means that Osborne and Duncan Smith will have to draw up detailed proposals for the planned cuts.

The work and pensions secretary said the cuts, which are the equivalent of 10% of non-pensioner welfare spending, are possible. However, he says they cannot be achieved through cheese-paring and will instead have to involve changes in behaviour. Duncan Smith has proposed limiting child benefit to the first two children, though the chancellor is wary of this idea on the grounds that it suggests the state wants to discourage large families.

Cameron said during the election campaign that child benefit would eventually be subsumed into universal credit – Duncan Smith’s flagship reform which integrates six benefits. Yet he also said there would be no cuts to child benefit. 

With information from a Guardian Newspaper article

Who will be the new DWP Minister and be tasked with delivering to proposed twelve million in benefit cuts is the next question? With Esther McVey out of the way it is hard to think of whom might take on the position, or let alone want the job?

Esther McVey was meant to be a counter-balance to the ‘posh boys’ Cameron and Osbourne. In fact she was universally hated in many quarters. She even took a lot of the ‘heat’ from the equally unloved, Ian Duncan Smith.

The former employment minister was behind in the polls for most of the General Election race against candidate Ms Greenwood. Turnout was a huge 75.86%, up from 71.52% in 2010 with 42,008 people voting out of a possible 55,377. The result came late and was finally declared following a recount.

Speaking after defeat in what she described as a "brutal" campaign, Ms McVey said: "I'm proud I was part of a government that was helping turn the country around. The public are more likely to remember her for the marathon ‘washing machine’ efforts, as she tried to spin the facts and avoid giving direct answers at the DWP Benefit Sanctions hearings when challenged about suicides.

As a Tory poster girl she even appeared on the front page of the Conservative manifesto.  McVey was supposed to be the image of a Conservative party transformed and ready to win more seats in the north.

It’s likely she would have shouldered the blame for her government’s cuts regardless of her ministerial position, but becoming an employment minister was not a good place to be if you wanted to win popularity.

She did not seem to represent women very well either. Most men might hope that women bring a more caring perspective to politics, and both men and women don’t generally warm to women who have a ‘hard boiled’ image.

Anti-McVey campaigners overstepped the mark with a nasty graffiti attack on a job centre branding her a “murderer”. She create a lot of hate possibly because people expect the posher elements of the Conservative Party to behave badly towards the despised underclass, but here is someone from the working classes, who ought to know better, behaving even worse.

Although Esther McVey wants a comeback in politics, it hardly looks promising.

As for Ian Duncan Smith (IDS) who has targeted the disabled with the fanaticism of Mathew Hopkins (c. 1620 – 12 August 1647) the self-styled ‘Witchfinder General’ – along with help from George Osborne, IDS really gave the ‘Nasty Party’ its image. The fact Duncan Smith was low profile during the election, points to the fact the Conservatives were well aware that it was a potentially damaging image.

A lot of Ian Duncan Smiths schemes were frankly a bit of a disaster, and Universal Credit – a good idea in principal – has still to become fully functioning. The Poundland case saw many Companies distancing themselves from the Work Programme, and saw one amazing plucky female, taking on the might of the DWP and winning.

Over 2,300 people died waiting for disability appeals to be heard and of course there were a large number of suicides; a Claimant who starved to death, and another that died the day after being declared as fit to work.

Ian Duncan Smith was caught quoting statistics that were claimed to be made up, and even his CV, analysed by the BBC showed traits of this ‘creativity’ when it came to the facts.

If Cameron wants to distance himself from the image that comes with all this, perhaps is the time to choose someone less fanatical, better educated, and with a more balanced view. We must wait and see. 

The General Election has caused a few surprises to put it mildly, however it has given the Association of Pension and Benefits CIC (the ABC) some cause for celebration.

Although the ABC only launched on 05th November 2014, the ABC approached the Scottish National Party (SNP) about a Questions & Answers (Q&A session) as well as other political parties. We were delighted when the SNP took part, and we remain impressed by their professionalism, the clarity of their ideas, and the sincere desire to truly care for those they represent. ‘They stood out from the other parties we spoke too, in how well organised they were’ points out ABC founder Simon Collyer. They said what they were going to do and when, and then they did it.

‘Given the success of the SNP, next time an election comes along our top politicos may be more enthusiastic about engaging with us, our audience and our members’ points out Simon.  

The ABC article Key Seat Wirral West on the 02nd April pointed out the vulnerability of former Minister for Employment, Esther McVey of the Conservative Party, who has lost her seat to Margaret Greenwood who won in Wirral West after securing 18,898 votes - just 417 more than Ms McVey.

The ABC article Stop Press - We Wish They Would! Was critical of Sir Bob Russell’s campaign. The Lib Dems campaign looked frankly rather ‘old school the ABC said, compared to their coalition buddies, the Conservative Party. The Lib Dem Campaign used mainly print media - spam publications dressed up to look like free local newspapers and delivered via the letterbox. Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) sent out the Colchester Courier and we then received the Colchester View. Perhaps we asked in our article, the Essex Chronical - a real newspaper - had complained, that the use of 'Chronical' might cause confusion?

The Conservative Party’s campaign using daily email bulletins, YouTube videos and strategically placed billboard advertising and saw Will Quince unseat Sir Bob Russell with a campaign that looked far more fresh and modern in its approach.

Phycologists know that it’s not want you say, it is how you say it, that people remember. Continuous repetition in social media marketing is also key.

Sir Bob's done a great job for Colchester however he was swept away no fault of his own. 'The Bob Russell factor' as it is known locally - was was not enough to turn back the national tide.  

The Conservative Party sewed doubt about the outcome of an election where a Labour dog was left being ‘wagged’ by an SNP tail. It turned out it was a winning strategy. People do not like uncertainty.

The Conservatives had the marketing budget and if you want to start a war, having a bigger chest of ammo certainly helps.

FOR THE FUTURE

Will Ian Duncan Smith be back at the DWP pursing his personal crusade? Will we have another five years of austerity vilifying once again the poorest in our country?  Will the NHS, BBC and our motorways all be sold off? Will we see pensioners being sanctioned for failing to find part-time jobs? Retirement at 70 and the rich getting even richer, as our tax and assets are transferred to those with all the loot already.  

Can our current voting system survive, when so many people have voted for MP’s they did not get?  Will proportional representation come in?

One thing is positive there has been a high voter turnout after years of decline and here again the ABC has played a part, working with the Electoral Commission.

The ABC have not changed the world, but we certainly took part in one of the most exciting election contests for decades. 

 VOTE TODAY

Even Russell Brand has decided to vote it seems.

We urge everyone to join in this election and make your vote count. People have died to get the right to vote, and there has been countless and unimaginable suffering by million,s to be able to live in society where they can get rid of tyrants, or the simply the inept, or unpopular.

PLEASE use the right to vote and use it wisely. This is your chance to make a differance. 

Job Services Australia (formerly known as the Job Network) is an Australian Government-funded network of organisations (private and community, and originally also government) that is contracted by the Australian Government, through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), to deliver employment services to unemployed job seekers on Government income support payments and employers.

ABC Four Corners are internationally renowned investigative documentary makers. Please see the documentary below. 

The documentary below explains that the $18, Billion Australian Job Market has been subject to a massive amount of fraud by commercial and not-for-profit providers, gaming the system.

Fraud by training contractors has been widespread and both the training arm of the Salvation Army, the Salvation Army Plus and the Catholic Church have been caught claiming payments not due to them, according to the documentary. 

At the time this documentary was made Jobseekers number 780,000 are chasing about 150,000 jobs. As in the UK in Australia there are simply not enough jobs.

Breeching is the Australian equivalent of UK Sanctions. Australian Claimants are sanctioned frequently, for no good cause at all say jobseekers.

Organisations representing Jobseekers are resisting the Government’s proposal to introduce a six-month waiting period for many Newstart and Youth Allowance recipients under 30 years of age. Considering that the Department of Social Services has set aside $229 million in ‘Emergency Relief’ to assist job seekers under 30 with money for food and shelter should the legislation pass, it must be obvious that this measure will cause much distress.

In the 2014 Budget, the government announced the following funding cuts to the Welfare State:

- $3.3 billion cut from Pensioners

- $6.2 billion cut from the Disabled and Sick

- $1.7 billion cut from the Unemployed

- $3.4 billion cut from Tertiary Students

New legislation is coming in that will require:

• Newstart recipients who fail to attend their ‘Job Search’ appointment to stronger penalties which will result in a portion of their Newstart payment permanently withheld unless a ‘reasonable excuse’ is provided;
• ‘Job ready’ Newstart recipients to Work for the Dole after only 6 months of receiving Newstart benefits (formerly 1 year);
• Increase Work for the Dole requirements to 25 hours per week (formerly 15 hours) for those aged under 30; and finally
• Require around 37,000 mostly Indigenous job seekers in remote areas aged 18-49 to undertake Work for the Dole activities for 25 hours.

If it all sound horribly familiar, don't be suprised. 

One of the features of the Lib Dems campaign which looks frankly rather ‘old school ‘compared to their coalition buddies, the Conservative Party, has been the use of print media - spam publications dressed up to look like free local newspapers and delivered via the letterbox.

Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) has sent out his Colchester Courier and today we have received the Colchester View.

We wondered in the Essex Chronical, a real newspaper had complained, that the use of 'Chronical' might cause confusion?

We had certainly brought our concerns about advertising dressed up as news to our local newspaper group Newsquest, that incidentally Sir Bob had worked for. Lib-Dem MP Sir Bob Russell career history in the newspaper industry seems to have gone missing from his Wikipedia entry. In his early twenties Sir Bob became the country's youngest newspaper Editor when he took over the Maldon and Burnham Standard before heading for Fleet Street.

An article in the Colchester View at least supports a previous article of ours.

PROPAGANDER v REAL NEWS

1. Propaganda is information that is not impartial and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively (perhaps lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information. 

Edward Louis James Bernays November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995, a nephew of Freud, was an expert in propaganda. He coined the phrase ‘Public Relations’ and used his experience selling WW1 to people such as the Americans and to market products after the war. Prior to WW1 products had been sold on the basis of ‘Need’, but Companies were worried that the war having accelerated mass production, would soon mean that everyone had everything, a new idea had to be found: ‘’Wants’ in marketing terms. We know this today as consumerism.

Soon words like ‘better’ or ‘new and improved’ would pepper the language of the new high priests of product worship - Marketers.

The Jews in Germany and London saw an opportunity to break the stalemate of the First World War, where neither side could break the deadlock on the Western Front nor at home Great Britain was close to starvation due to submarine warfare. The Jews approached the UK government and from that came the Balfour Declaration that would eventually lead to a Jewish homeland Israel in 1948. The French and British had secretly planned to carve up the Middle East in 1916, so no country for example, could field a navy as powerful as the Turkish Navy (on the side of Germany) and threated the Suez Canal. The canal was the route to India.  

The US Jewish dominated film and banking industry just had to use propaganda to persuade the Americans including their many former German citizens, getting involved in European War was a noble undertaking. Many US citizens were uniterested in the conflict, some were against it and others even supported Germany. Enter the 'spin doctors' and the propagander machine. War is business.

Bernays persuaded debutants in the 1920’s to be photographed smoking, as a symbol of female emancipation. A newspaper helpfully described cigarette smoking as lighting: ‘torches for freedom’.

Bernays later marketed the idea of a war in Guatemala, after persuading the American people these impoverished peasants could invade the USA after electing a socialist leader, who wanted to use the counties cash crops to help raise up the poor. An idea not part of the business plan of the United Fruit Company, a US multi-national. 

Bernays invented the ‘press release’ and his pioneering work using the 'news' as more credible medium than pure advertising in forming opinions. His work gave birth to the sinister UK Tavistock Group and their ideas on mass mind control. Bernays, killed millions in pursuit of company profits, with words not bombs. His ideas are right at the heart of our modern media industry.