If any of the unfortunate people emtioned at the top of this thread were realtives of mine id do everything in my power to make sure those responsible were put on trial or brought to book in some way, some of the relatives have actually gone to european civil rights tribunals etc.

In fact bb why don't you just spit on the people listed at the top of the thread?

Im sure any tory reading this thread will totally ignore the following, but it sums up perfectly what is going on in this sick country in the year 2014, that's (for now) just about exhausted this subject as far as im concerned.

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” – Haile Selassie.

Welfare that is not welfare

I believe that welfare provision is NOT a State “handout” or “something for nothing”. It is paid for by us via taxes, and is for us, to provide support at times of need and vulnerability, such as when we are sick, disabled or unemployed (perhaps due to recession – some are now calling it a depression –  that has been created and perpetuated by a totally ideologically-bound and unresponsive Government, for example).

The fact that I felt I had to state that at all indicates plainly just how terribly effective the Government’s anti-welfare propaganda and calumny has been. Huddled in defiant bewilderment, in the face of the finger-pointing, bullying, the mean-spirited, the spiteful, the hideous, dehumanising Tory-led ideological rantings, we the persecuted, marginalised and disabled, continue to organise and fight. We have to.

Our lives have become political and public property, and we are being subjected to imposing and increasing physical and existential limits constantly. We are no longer a part of a civilised and kindly Society that celebrates the achievements of disabled people. We, the marginalised, stigmatised and disavowed, are scape-goated, dehumanised and reduced to socio-economic refugees. We are undeserving folk devils and the Government are generating moral outrage regarding how much we are “costing” the State.

It’s a well known bullying tactic to blame the victim. It’s rather like the mugger shouting loudly that he is being mugged, before, after, and whilst he is busy robbing you.

We know the current benefit system is no longer about welfare, and current policies do not have a core principle –  implicitly or explicitly, despite the rhetoric –  of ensuring or promoting the well-being of sick and disabled people, or any other vulnerable person. The welfare “reforms” – and the word “reform” implies some positive change that certainly isn’t evident here  -  are entirely about stripping away our paid for welfare provision – our social security.

Not one single Tory “reform” is about enhancing lives: they are all about taking money and support away, and so stifling our potential for positive experiences. Through a combination of changes to existing benefits and the new Universal Credit, the UK Government aims to cut £18 billion off welfare “spending”. A further £10 billion is to be cut from benefit provision in the near future.

“When we struggle to meet basic physical needs, we cannot transcend our biology and fulfil other human needs. We become bound and captured by the physical.” –  Abraham Maslow

Benefit rates were originally carefully calculated by a body of professionals and officials to meet basic living requirements only, such as food, shelter and fuel costs. Benefit rates have never reflected anything more than a financial amount to meet these fundamental human needs. Our welfare provision has eradicated absolute poverty in Britain, and has been an essential lifeline for many citizens, in times of their need of support. Until now. Benefit rates were set at the amount “the law says you need to live on”. If people cannot meet their basic living requirements, they struggle, suffer and die. It’s a fact. Furthermore, Maslow tells us that if we are struggling to survive, we cannot possibly fulfil other human needs and motivations.

I know I am not alone in having grave concerns about the fact that the Government have recently introduced harsh sanctions of up to three years without benefits for all benefit claimants, the only ones being exempt from sanctions currently are those placed in the ESA Support Group. This is only a proportionally small number of claimants that will remain unaffected. The Conservatives claim that the sanctions will “help people into work” and are to be applied to those who “fail” to meet certain “conditions” to look for work. We know, however, that sanctions are applied often without any justifiable reasons because the DWP  deliberately set people up to fail, and we also know that the Government sets sanction targets for the DWP.  There cannot be any justification for depriving people of lifeline benefits.

Firstly, only a very cruel and injudicious Government would punish people for being out of work during an economic depression in this way. Secondly, removing people’s means of meeting fundamental survival needs by sanctioning them is most certainly not going to motivate them and “help them into work” as the Government are claiming. Those people will be so entirely pre-occupied with fighting for survival that they won’t be capable of looking for imaginary jobs. The same “jobs” that the Government conjure from the aether and transform into dishonest statistics.

“Evidence also suggests that work can have a positive impact on the long term health of people with disabilities and health conditions,” according to the Government, but we have yet to see convincing evidence of this. Those in the ESA Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) are expected, from December 3rd 2012, to undertake unlimited periods of mandatory workfare in order to meet conditions for continued eligibility.

This means that sick and disabled people are at an increased risk of being sanctioned, because the condition of qualifying for this benefit in the first place is that a doctor has provided a statement to say that the person claiming is unfit for work. That would be unfit for ANY work, including unpaid and grossly exploitative workfare programs. There clearly is a monumental problem regarding Government expectations of those in this group. Once again, the sanctions raise some serious concerns regarding the Government’s casual transgression of human rights.

The Minister for Employment at the time that this Government decided to apply sanctions to sick and disabled people, as well to job seekers, for up to three years, was the Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP. He made the following official statement regarding the new sanctions regime and Human Rights:

“In my view the provisions of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Amendment Regulations 2012  are compatible with the Convention rights.”

Phew! For a moment, we thought that denying people the basic requirements needed for life for up to 3 years, and as a punishment, was a gross breach of Articles 2, 5, 9 and 14 at the VERY least, Glad you cleared that up Mr Grayling… However, someone really ought to send Chris Grayling, Mark Hoban, Lord Freud and Iain Duncan Smith and the rest of the Tories a copy of Maslow’s Hierarchy. But the chances are that the Tories would simply dismiss it as “anecdotal“.

Not that I believe for one moment that this Government don’t know about Maslow’s Hierarchy, or that they don’t possess the common sense understanding that if you remove the means that people have of fulfilling their basic physical needs, they will die.

Iain Duncan Smith refused to undertake a cumulative impact assessment of the Welfare Reforms. I am certain that is because he KNEW in advance what the impact and consequences of stripping the most basic income from the most vulnerable members of society would be. And after being confronted with evidence of the terrible consequences of the reforms, Duncan Smith has denied there is a “causal link” between the deaths and Tory policies.

A Department for Work and Pensions FOI reveals that people having their claim for Employment Support Allowance stopped, between October 2010 and November 2011, with a recorded date of death within six weeks of that claim ceasing, who were until recently claiming Incapacity Benefit, totaled 310. Between January and November 2011, those having their ESA claim ended, with a recorded date of death within six weeks of that claim ending totaled 10,600. Bearing in mind that those who were successfully migrated to ESA from IB were assessed and deemed unfit for work, (under a different assessment process, originally) one would expect that the death rates would be similar to those who have only ever claimed ESA. This is very clearly not the case.

Furthermore, there are NO alarming increases in death rates amongst those who are still in receipt of Incapacity Benefit – there were approximately a million and a half claimants, compared to less than a million ESA claimants for this period. Many of those migrated so far have not yet had a Work Capability Assessment, as the Government decided to re-assess those people when their review from the Incapacity Benefit  Personal Capability Assessment is due, for practical reasons. The migration process won’t be completed, it is anticipated, until 2014.

David Green from the DWP has urged that “care should therefore be taken when interpreting these figures”. Well I HAVE taken care interpreting this data, Mr Green. My careful interpretation is that the Government have are directly responsible for the deaths of a significant proportion of those 10,600 people claiming ESA via its “Reforms”. Incapacity Benefit was fair, and reflected genuine welfare provision. The Reforms, including the new Tory-shaped ESA benefit, by stark contrast, are all about taking support and provision away from the vulnerable.

Indeed, the Tories have been very keen to articulate the welfare “savings” that they anticipated with regard to the disability benefits, including PIP, which is replacing DLA. But of course, these anticipated “savings” reflect a dark truth: the Government are setting targets to remove benefits from people, regardless of the impact of that imposed deprivation (and frank State theft of our tax funded welfare) on their well being, health and safety.

Those on Incapacity Benefit were not required to have continuous assessments, whereas those on ESA are constantly required to have the Work Capability Assessment. Many claimants have described a “revolving door” process of endless assessment, ceased ESA claim, (based on an outcome of almost invariably being wrongly “assessed” as fit for work), appeal, successful appeal outcome, benefit reinstated, only to find just 3 months later another assessment is required. The uncertainty, and loss of even a basic material security that this process creates, leading to a constant fear and anxiety, is having a negative impact on the health and well-being of so many.

A significant proportion of those required to have endless assessments have very obviously serious illnesses such as cancer, kidney failure, lung disease, heart disease, severe and life threatening chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, myalgic encephalomyelitis, rheumatoid arthritis, brain tumours, severe heart conditions, and severe mental health illness, for example. To qualify for ESA , the claimant must provide a note from a doctor stating that the person is unfit for work. There can be no justification for subjecting people who are so ill to further endless assessments, and for treating us as if we have done something wrong.

Negative labelling, marginalising and stigmatising the vulnerable via propaganda in the media, using despiteful and malicious terms such as “workshy” and “feckless” is a major part of the Government’s malevolent “justification” to the public for removing the lifeline of support from the sick and disabled. We are climbing Allport’s Ladder. That gives us a clear view of the Nazi ideological realm. I have often suspected that Iain Duncan Smith is channeling the spirit of Goebbels.

In addition to justified anxieties regarding the marked increase in disability hate crime that the Tory-led propaganda campaign has resulted in, many sick and disabled people have also stated that they feel harassed and bullied by the Department of Work and Pensions and Atos. Many talk of the dread they feel when they see the brown Atos envelope containing the ESA50 form arrive through the letter box.

The strain of constantly fighting for ESA entitlement and perpetually having to prove that we are a “deserving” and “genuine” sick and disabled person is clearly taking a toll on so many people’s health and well being. Many families of those who have died have said that the constant strain, anxiety and stress of this revolving door process has contributed significantly to their loved ones’ decline in health and subsequent death. The figures from the DWP, and the marked contrast between the ESA and IB death statistics certainly substantiate these claims.

The unbearably horrific, unforgivable and massive increase in deaths over this period coincides with the Government’s totalitarian styled rapid- fire legislation of the Reforms, in the face of protest, horror, disbelief, fear and mass opposition. The Tories cited “financial privilege” to trample over opposition, and drown out the voices of protest. Those protesting and challenging this Bill notably included many from the House of Lords.

David Cameron made a Freudian-style slip when he announced to Ed Miliband recently, during Parliamentary debate, that “We are raising more money for the rich“. Not that we didn’t already know this was so. Many of us – around 73 sick and disabled people every week –  are paying for that wealth increase for the already wealthy with our very lives.

Where is the public outcry?

There are many who have so tragically lost their lives because of this malicious Government’s brutal, evil and grossly unjust ideological war on the vulnerable, because of the Tory-led economic ransacking and plundering of our welfare provision, public services and support programs. We have pointed out to the Government that people are dying as a consequence of their “reforms”. The Government have not investigated these deaths and they have persistently refused to acknowledge them. We must therefore assume that they have no intention of changing their policies that are increasingly explicitly informed by a Social Darwinist doctrine.

We must never forget this Government’s culpability. We must fight and  we must succeed in ending this systematic abuse of our human rights, and we must also ensure that this evil and abhorrent affront to decent and civilised human beings   never happens again. People are dying because of government policies. I never thought that this could happen here. But it has. We must face it, and we must fight it together. That is what a civilised society  must do.

We must not forget the loss of each of these equally precious lives.

We will remember:

Paul Reekie, 48, left no suicide note but a letter informing him that his welfare benefits were to be stopped were found next to his body.

Richard Sanderson, 44, drew up meticulous suicide plans after learning he could no longer afford the flat he shared with his wife and nine-year-old son after being told their housing benefit would be cut by £30 a month. Richard stabbed himself twice through the heart.

Paul Willcoxson, 33, had mental health problems and was found hanging in Pignals Enclosure, near Hollands Wood campsite. A suicide letter and next of kin note were found in which he expressed concerns about the cuts to his benefits.

Leanne Chambers, 30, her body was found in the river Weir five months after she walked out of her home, she had battled depression for a number of years and had taken a turn for the worse after receiving a letter telling her she had to be assessed by a doctor she did not know, to see if she was fit to return to work.

Christelle Pardo, 32 and Kayjah Pardo 6 months, After having all her income cut off and her housing benefit withdrawn, and with a baby to care for, she had been left destitute. When she begged for help the only response from the DWP was that she didn’t qualify under the rules, so she killed herself and her young child. She jumped from a high rise flat balcony with her baby in her arms.

Elaine Christian, 57, was found in a drain after walking out of her home. A post mortem revealed she had died from drowning, despite having more than ten self-inflicted cuts on her wrists. The inquest in Hull was told Mrs Christian had been deeply worried about a meeting she was due to have to discuss her entitlement to disability benefits.

David Groves, 56, died of a massive heart ­attack the night before his medical assessment, as he sat at his computer and scoured the Internet for ways to raise cash in case he lost his entitlement.

Mark and Helen Mullins were found lying side by side in their home after committing suicide together. They had been left destitute after Helen had her claim for benefit turned down, they had no food, no heating and no electric.

Linda Knott, 46, had worked as a supervisor at the Brierley Community Centre in Little Hulton for 16 years before it fell victim to spending cuts. The news tipped her into depression and she had already taken an overdose of pills eight days before she was found hanging at her home in Walkden.

Jack Shemtob, 53 jumped to his death from his office building after human resources told him he was losing his job as part of the governments cost cutting programme.

Stephen Hill, 53, died of a heart attack a month after having his benefits were stopped, after being told his heart problem were not serious enough to stop him working.

Craig Monk, 43, was found hanging in his home, he had a a partial amputation of his leg and was described by his family as “vulnerable” he became depressed that his benefits had been cut.

Martin Rust, 36, a schizophrenic had his benefits cut and was ordered back to work. He left a note saying: “To those I love, I’m sorry. Goodbye.” Coroner William Armstrong said the DWP’s decision “caused distress and may well have had an adverse effect”, recording that Mr Rust had committed suicide while suffering from a treatment-resistant mental illness.

Paul Turner, 52 died from ischaemic heart disease, which was caused, his family claim, by the stress of losing his benefits. He was told his heart problems were not serious enough for him not to work, he died 4 weeks later.

Mark Scott, 46, who suffered from anxiety, epilepsy was left penniless when he was declared fit for work and his benefits were stopped. He died six weeks later in the Southport flat where he lived alone.

Karen Sherlock  08.06.2012, died after a long and difficult fight, losing her benefits after being told she was fit for work, and after finally winning her appeal. Karen had diabetes with kidney complications. http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/voices/2012/06/disability-karen-sherlock-sue-marsh

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180899/Flawed-disability-tests-send-genuinely-sick-unable-work.html

Stephen Hill was sent to his first Work Capability Assessment in 2010 when he gave up his job as a sandwich delivery man after being referred for tests on his heart. His wife Denise, who was with him at the assessment, said: “She checked him out. She did his blood pressure and his heart and said to see a doctor as soon as possible.” Despite the assessor telling Mr Hill to seek urgent medical advice, he was still found fit for work.

In the meantime doctors had diagnosed him with heart failure. He won his appeal but he was ordered to attend another assessment. “He got a letter for another medical and I couldn’t believe it,” said Mrs Hill. “He’d got to go for a medical when he was waiting for a heart operation.” But he was again declared fit for work, with the assessor declaring: “Significant disability due to cardiovascular problems seems unlikely.” Mr Hill died of a heart attack five weeks later.

Cecilia Burns 31. 8. 2012,  A cancer sufferer, who had her benefits cut by government officials who said she was fit to work, has died. Cecilia was 51, from Strabane, County Tyrone, had started a campaign in February to have the decision overturned. Ms Burns had her benefits cut after she was assessed by government contractor Atos Healthcare. She had her benefits reinstated just a few weeks ago but died on Monday.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-19433535

Colin Traynor, 29, was passed as being able to work as part of the government’s overhaul of the welfare system. He appealed against the decision but died before finding out the result, which was ultimately successful. His family learned the appeal verdict five weeks after his death in April. Mr Traynor’s father Ray said: “I firmly believe – 100% believe – that the system this government introduced has killed my son.” http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/26/atos-disability-benefits-colin-traynor-epilepsy-_n_1917042.html

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4199739

Brian McArdle . A three year old’s father collapses & dies the day after his benefits were stopped having been ‘declared fit for work.’

“My father was claiming ESA for his chest pain (which was on the forms as indigestion/acid reflux, but I am sure he was on tablets for Angina) his difficulty walking and his poor eyesight. 4 weeks after he was called by ESA to tell him that he was fit for work (and a couple of days before his rent was due, which because of ESA stopping his benefit, he was short for) he suffered a huge heart attack, and died a few days later in hospital. A week and a half or so ago, I received a letter from ESA telling me that my father was going through the appeal process and asking if I wanted the process to continue.I wrote back to the explaining what was wrong with him, and telling them how ridiculous that it was that he was declared fit for work, as there is no way on Gods earth that he was. I asked for the appeal process to continue. This morning, I got a letter through from ESA stating that they are standing by the original decision, even after taking the ‘points I raised’, and his paperwork has now been sent off to an independent tribunal who will look at the decision again. I really feel that ESA have failed my father. (I do believe that they are partly responsible for his death with the stress they caused him) I don’t know who I am supposed to complain to, to make my voice heard. I need to do something to make my complaint heard. To try and get this system changed to help others. Watching Channel 4 news, there is a family who have just gone through the exact same thing and it needs to stop.”  http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/11/01/atos-benefits-bullies-killed-my-sick-dad-says-devastated-kieran-mcardle-13/ and the reply to his letter from Ian Duncan Smith 24 11 2012 http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/tory-hatchet-man-iain-duncan-1453863 13 13 2012*

Chris Cann  22.10.12, A triple amputee who was wrongly declared fit for work died after being deemed ‘fit for work’ despite being Amputee. http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Shelton-benefits-blunder-victim-Chris-Cann-dies/story-17574922-detail/story.html

George Scollen – died 31.1. 2013.  On the final day for the Remploy workers one of them, Mr George Scollen, who’d worked there for 40 years, since he was 18, couldn’t face going in and tragically took his own life. http://indygalonindependence.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/mr-george-scollen-rip.html

How many more disabled people will die frightened that their benefits will be taken away?

Iain Duncan Smiths’ deplorable bully’s response to Owen Jones raising concerns regarding the Work Capability Assessment related deaths on  Question Time.

Further reading:

Who is accountable and legally liable for the well-being of those deemed “fit for work”?

Sign the WOW petition - a call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of all cuts and changes affecting sick & disabled people, their families and carers, and a free vote on repeal of the Welfare Reform Act.

It’s a call for an  immediate end to the Work Capability Assessment, as voted for by the British Medical Association.

Consultation between the Departments of Health & Education to improve support into work for sick & disabled people, and an end to forced work under threat of sanctions for people on disability benefits.

An Independent, Committee-Based Inquiry into Welfare Reform, covering but not limited to: (1) Care home admission rises, daycare centres, access to education for people with learning difficulties, universal mental health treatments, Remploy closures; (2) DWP media links, the ATOS contract, IT implementation of Universal Credit; (3) Human rights abuses against disabled people, excess claimant deaths & the disregard of medical evidence in decision making by ATOS, DWP & the Tribunal Service.
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We must never forget this has happened, is happening in a once civilised first world democracy. We must ensure that it ends, and that it never happens again.

In fact bb why don't you just spit on the people listed at the top of the thread?

Dear god. How old are you? You sound like the younger more histrionic sister of Rik from The Young Ones.

aka..what a mug post..benefit cheats or big business..who are the
biggest drain on the system?..never had you down as a Daily Mail reader.
how UK tax does Starbucks pay or Google or.......

In fact bb why don't you just spit on the people listed at the top of the thread?

it's no good just cut and pasting your stuff on here go and do something about it

aka..what a mug post..benefit cheats or big business..who are the
biggest drain on the system?..never had you down as a Daily Mail reader.
how UK tax does Starbucks pay or Google or.......

How is that a mug post? We are talking about peep suffering at the hands of the latest government clampdown.
Why is there a clampdown in the first place? To weed out the cheats. But unfortunately they have included lots of innocents in their quest.
Benefit cheats share the blame for these deaths.
My other point is that most of these people will have family who have turned their backs on them and, again, they share the blame.
Yes lets attack the government for their over zealous approach but don't forget the cheats and the families.

yes ive obviously signed it..as for u E O, im prob older than you, I may sound like poor rik from the young ones, possibly because you thick, uncaring barstards come on spouting shyte when its fecking obvious to an increasing number of the british people that the government is totally unfit to govern them.

let us know how you get on with it

but, in truth, you don't annoy me in the least

Lol.

For those who feel that we need to cut down on paying people benefits must remember, there is more money not claimed that people would qualify for than is being claimed.

Nobody who votes tory wants to know that.

well 'some names!

dr crippen you, as if we didnt already know, have no idea what you are talking about. Since when was mental agility impaired by depression? I have lots of experience in this field, and many of the cleverest people throughout history have suffered from severe depressive illness without turning into some unintelligible, jibbering jelly.

I have lots of experience in this field, and many of the cleverest people throughout history have suffered from severe depressive illness without turning into some unintelligible, jibbering jelly.

You have dismissed your argument with your own words.

more blood on I D S 's hands....dont bother replying doc crip and eeternal your opinion doesnt count because youre inhuman....

A grandad who had just found out his benefits were being stopped shot himself dead – after telling friends he was “unable to cope”.

Shaun Pilkington, 58, was sent a letter saying he was to lose his ­Employment and Support ­Allowance, which he got after a long-term illness.

He was told he would have to be reassessed and needed to prove he was eligible. But as the hearing approached, friends said Shaun, a licensed gamekeeper, became discouraged.

Days later he called police and said he was about to kill himself. They found him dead at his flat.

A neighbour said: “There were armed police everywhere. Sadly he’d gone through with his threat.

“It is a tragedy. He was upset because he got a letter saying his ESA was being stopped.

“He was pretty down about it and said he was finding it hard to cope with the decision. He was a lovely man. It is not fair what the Government is doing.”

Well-wishers left floral tributes and cans of Stella outside Shaun’s home in Beighton, Sheffield.

The neighbour added: “It all got on top of him – having no money for Christmas and being warned he’d lose his benefits.

“It’s wrong what they’re doing, targeting people on benefits. We haven’t got a lot of money but the Government seems intent on cutting it.”

Registered gun-keeper Shaun was divorced and had two grown-up children and a two-month-old grandson.

Another neighbour, Shani Hird, said yesterday: “We have lost a dear neighbour who shot himself due to his money being stopped. His appeal was due next week but he felt he could not carry on.

“This is so sad. This isn’t the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. I think it is terrible the Government’s benefit cuts are causing vulnerable people so much pain and misery.”

Police yesterday confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.

Shaun’s estranged family was too upset to talk. He joins a growing list of people who have taken their lives since the Tory-led Coalition employed private firm Atos to reassess thousands of people on long-term benefits.

Blind Tim Salter, 53, of Kinver, Staffordshire, died after being deemed fit to work. A coroner ruled the move to axe his benefit had contributed to his suicide.

Edward Jacques, 47, of Sneinton, Nottingham, took a fatal overdose after his benefit payments were stopped.

Jobless Richard ­Sanderson, 44, of ­Southfields, south-west London, stabbed himself in the heart. Unemployed electrician Lee Robinson, 39, of Crawley, Sussex, also took his own life.

Why couldn't he face explaining what was wrong with him?
He'd still get unemployment benefit and housing benefit.

Tony thinks we should simply take people's word for it that they are too ill to work.
There's been too much of that going on.
If their case isn't genuine now they lose their benefits - it's a s simple as that.

I find it astonishing that someone would take their own life rather than face the prospect of reassessment for their benefit claim.
That's what idleness breeds, it makes some people too idle to even attend to their personal cleanliness. Or in the case of others too idle to even chase up their claim for benefits.

Every effort should be made to prevent people from slipping into the this state of indolence, that living on benefits cultivates.

Social Darwinism innit.

any Asians on the list

they get it free at the Salvation Army hostel