A little rant about JSA

In regards to benefits I have mostly written about Employment & Support Allowance (ESA), possibly a little on Disability Living Allowance (DLA), and of course the frustrations of our government and ignorant journalists. As yet, I have not had reason to touch upon Job Seekers Allowance (JSA). It is because I reported, on Facebook, a letter for my doctor regarding ESA, that JSA came to my attention. A friend of mine voiced her frustrations over her experience of the system. Her first reaction made me think that she had fallen for all the media hype, that sick and disabled people do not deserve the benefits they struggle to receive. I was wrong. This is her story:

So, I'll take you back to September 2010. I had just finished my PhD (the end of 7 years at university) and had been looking for jobs all through the summer as the end of my funding approached. I was still with my ex at that point. I had set money aside in the event that I had difficulty finding work, and made these saving stretch far further than I had anticipated. In the September of 2012, I found a part time job in a lab and took it. This ran up until Christmas of that year when my temp contract wasn't renewed due to funding. While I was working in the lab, I took on a second part time Christmas temp shop job to top up my income, and to take me beyond the end of the lab job. When my lab job finished, I rang up the Job Centre to begin claiming Job Seekers allowance as my shop job was under 16 hours a week at that point. I gave details of all my outgoings, including my mortgage etc and I was told that as I hadn't worked continuously for the set amount of time (2 years I think it was at the time), I hadn't made enough NI contributions and so would have to apply for income based job seekers allowance.

In the November of 2012, my ex and I separated but continued to live in the same property until we sorted out where we were each going to live.When my lab job finished (mid December), I rang up the Job Centre to begin claiming Job Seekers allowance as my shop job was under 16 hours a week at that point. The following week I got 17 hours work, and was told by the Job Centre at my assessment that because I had gone over by 1 hour, my claim would have to be terminated, and I would have to reapply again when the time was appropriate and when my hours fell again.

This didn't happen until January when my temp shop contract was also terminated. At this point I rang the Job Center back up again, and had to start my application again from scratch. I had to explain that I was still living with my ex, but that we were financially independent of each other. They held back my benefit until they had sent a representative out to check our living arrangement. This was awful, and made me feel like I was cheating the system in some way when I knew I wasn't. We "passed" this assessment and I was awarded my Income Based Job Seekers Allowance at a mere 8 pounds a week due to the income from my shop job (which was low as it was). I also received council tax benefit (for my half of the council tax, not my ex's half) which was a massive relief and did take a small amount of financial pressure off my shoulders.

At my first visit to the Job Centre to sit down with someone and discuss what jobs I could apply for, I sat down at the desk and showed the man my CV and my qualifications. He looked at my CV and said he had never had to deal with anyone with a PhD before and didn't know how to help me. I had to tell HIM where scientists applied for jobs. He then MADE me apply for a job in Bridgenorth (a long way from Solihull) before my next signing on, the pay from this job was low to say the least, and would have cost me a fortune in fuel, and commuting time too. I simply would have not have been able to live off the wage after paying for fuel. But I put in my application, with the same amount of effort as any other job, and waited. I heard nothing from the company I had applied to.

I got my final pay slip from the shop job at the end of January which I had to take and show to the Job Centre. When they saw this, my massive 8 pounds a week was reduced to zero. The day I received the letter stating this, I was thankfully offered a full time job for 14 months, and had pleasure in telling the Job Centre this, and that the job was not obtained through any help from them.

Now something that I was often asked was why couldn't I claim the full amount of Job Seekers Allowance when a lot of other university leavers could? Simple: many university leavers return to live at home with their parents, or live in rented accommodation where they have no other income, and their housemates do not provide for them financially.

The difference for me? I had a mortgage and I feel I was being penalised for getting my foot on the property ladder and working hard at university to get myself somewhere.

And as for the experience of the Job Center itself? Demoralising. As I sat waiting to be seen, I overheard young mothers boasting of their life on benefits, and how they deliberately put in bad job applications where they bothered to put them in at all, so that they didn't get offered interviews and could continue to claim benefits while they "applied" for jobs. Where they openly admitted to the staff that they didn't bother applying for posts, they were simply told "oh right".

My experience with the Job Centre and the benefits system made me fear for the future. What if this happens again through no fault of my own? Will I get support again? Hopefully now that I have NI contributions, yes I "should" get help short term.

Not so different from some of the problems people on sickness benefits have, is it!?! I had a similar experience myself, in 2001. I finished university in August 2000. I went straight into a job where I was severely bullied by someone who thought she was my boss, but was not. It was a complicated situation; she was sleeping with the MD, so my actual boss could not do anything about how she behaved to me ... or all the other staff before me that she had scared away. I eventually gave up the job after nine months (there had been a book on how long I would last under he apparently - I outlasted all the bets). I tried to claim JSA, but was told that because I had a history of quitting jobs I could not claim. There was no work around at all, so I temped for a few weeks. I handed my CV out to everyone I could think of; went around the shopping centre giving it to all the stores. I eventually got a job in a computers games store. I have never loved work as much as I did there. However, my health was deteriorating with the onset of M.E.. My boss basically told me I'd be better off leaving, so I did. At the time I had never heard of sickness benefits. I went to the Job Centre. I had taken out a £4000 loan a few months previously with the aim of starting up a small business. The Job Centre told me that I had to live on this loan until it ran out, and then I could apply for benefits, BUT that I would not be entitled to JSA if I was ill. The person I spoke to didn't tell me that I'd be entitled to sickness benefits, or that they even existed. So I went straight to my letting agent; paid off the remainder of my rent for the year, all of it. I did my best with the little money I had left after that, but my house-mates ended up supporting me most of the time. Something they should never have had to do.

The system disgusts me. It does not support the people who genuinely try to get ahead in life. Those who try to build a future for themselves, like my friend above. It doesn't support people like her or myself who are simply trying to fill in gaps between jobs. No one explains to us about National Insurance Credits until after it's too late. No one tells you that you can only claim Job Seekers Allowance if you have been sacked; if you quit a job of your own volition you aren't entitled to anything.

My friend is right. There are too many people who think that it is their right to live as they please, with no responsibility to the country or society. They think that they should be entitled to have money, just for being alive. Why should they do anything to actually earn it? I am well aware that this is the view that many people hold of people on sickness and disability benefits, thanks to the media, but people with half a brain should be able to realise that people on sickness benefits are thus because they CANNOT work. The people my friend describes CAN. They choose not to.

This country is a seesaw. On one end you have the tax payers. On the other end you have people on benefits. We are very genuinely at risk of the benefits end hitting the ground. That is what those who choose to not work fail to understand.

Some benefits articles

I am totally exhausted. I've had a number of tabs open on my browser for days, possibly weeks, intending to write about them here. I give up. I'm just gonna give you a few snippets and point you in the right direction. Sorry. This blogger needs some rest!

"The poorest 20% of the 2.7 million households receiving disability benefits will lose 16% of their cash income plus benefits-in-kind, four times as much as the richest 20% of households, according to a report published by the Norfolk Coalition of Disabled People."

Disabled people are ‘collateral damage’ in government’s austerity war new report reveals

Peter was advised to top the amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance up with Income Support. Being ill myself I was unable to advise Peter and to my horror realised that he had a payment of £55 pounds per week for both of us to live on and pay our bills with in our rental property.

Dying man 'has only 12p a day to eat'

Ministers are also examining the idea of ending the annual inflation-linked rise in benefits, though this would require legislation and is a longer-term prospect.

Benefits could be frozen as Osborne tries to save £10bn from the welfare budget

The Department for Work and Pensions, who hired the French IT firm to help them slash the benefits bill, have admitted finding out in a survey that 55 per cent of people who lost benefits in the crackdown had failed to find work.

Benefits bosses admit over half of people ruled fit to work ended up destitute

The benefits system is blameless ...

Another of the large popular newspapers is becoming aware of the problems with the benefits system and the changes therein. This is an item on their website, a video, so presumably not an article that was published in the newspaper. It's very powerful.

Julie, suffering from Fibromyalgia and three herniated disks, has also developed a sleep disorder and depression due to the pain. She won her tribunal on the 27th of February, then received a letter on March 20th informing her that she would lose her benefit on April 30th due to the changes; she is living with a partner who is earning £800 a month, so they lose £400 a month because she's been claiming for a year already. They put her through the tribunal for nothing, wasting her time, causing her a great deal of stress, and wasting tax payers money. She took an overdose at New Year because of the stress. She states that it's humiliating going through the motions.

"This is just .. the red tape, knowing I've got to go to court again. The lack of help and understanding I've had from certain areas of Job Centre Plus, especially the appeals section. Given duff information, being spoken down to, just not knowing if I'm ever going to get money again. If that happens, what do I do then? I'm struggling really hard to go on, and fighting all the time, but that's all you can do really."

Richard is a carer for his wife, who suffers from asthma and arthritis. She has been found fit for work despite being unable to use her hands. As such they have been placed on joint Job Seekers Allowance, presumably replacing sickness benefits and carers allowance. Despite raising their grandchild they receive only £105 a week on which to live. They were docked a months pay when Richard missed two appointments with the Job Centre due to medical emergencies with his wife. In the clip he shows that his electricity metre has only £3.99 left on it, which he says will last until Saturday. He won't be paid for another week and a half. Opening a cupboard he shows that he has a few tins of beans, explaining that it has to feed three people until they're paid, but states that they're lucky as some people don't even have that.

"It's a fine art to survive on the bare minimum. Once these sanctions come into place and they take that away from you, you've got no chance. I'm at boiling point. I'm at going postal point, you know. Honestly, it's up to that point now, where I want to scream and shout at the top of my voice and nobody's listening. I'm a positive person. I always try to look on the bright side. I've always made the best of what I've got, you know, and to be in the situation where I'm losing control of my marbles, so to speak, is not something I'm used to, and it's not something I enjoy doing."

David Cameron stated "If you're vulnerable and in need we will look after you. If you hit hard times we'll give you unprecedented support."

He lied.

"A DWP customer recently attempted suicide. This was said to be the result of receiving a letter telling him his Employment and Support Allowance was going to stop."

"A DWP spokes person said "It remains rare to find incidents of self harm where the benefits system is said to be a factor, but we are not complacent when it comes to ensuring that our staff can provide the right support and help to those affected. We ensure our staff are highly trained and ready to help people, however vulnerable they may be and whatever pressures they face. We have worked hard and continue to do so, to improve the way the Work Capability Assessment works for those with mental health issues." "

I disagree. It is not hard to find incidents of self harm where the benefits system is a factor. It is simply a fact that the Department for Work and Pensions is not aware of it. My doctor was very aware of the stress this system was causing me last year. He saw the self harm injuries inflicted upon myself as a result of panic attacks I suffered when trying to complete forms for Employment and Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance. I personally know dozens of people under going this stressful process. I know that many of them simply cannot cope with it. I am certain that many of them, too, have self harmed. Self harm is not something that is easy to discuss with ones friends, or personal professionals, let alone disjointed professionals such as our MPs or an Atos assessor. When being assessed for ESA or DLA, why would we think to mention that we wish to commit suicide because of the process we are undergoing at that very moment?

It aggravates me that the DWP representative states that they "have worked hard and continue to do so, to improve the way the Work Capability Assessment works for those with mental health issues." They completely fail to appreciate that it is their Work Capability Assessment that is causing many people mental health issues. I had no problem with depression at the time I started to apply for Employment and Support Allowance. I have been struggling with it ever since.

And I know I am not alone.

I think it is time that we told them. I think the government is delusional. They have their heads in the sand. I am well aware that they suffer from a bad case of 'only hearing what they want to', but if we do not all speak up, then they simply cannot hear us. We cannot complain about their ignorance if we do not fight it. So let us all be brave. If you have self harmed, or you have considered or attempted suicide as a result of the stress caused by the Work Capability Assessment process, or anything related, please please write to your MP and tell them.

GPs to no longer sign people off sick

This is a long article (click title to view), and I have a lot to say about it, so I'll just give you a few snippets below. I like my snippets recently don't I!

People should be signed off for long-term sickness by an independent assessment service and not GPs, a government-backed review says.

The review also calls for a new government backed job-brokering service, to find work for people cannot stay in their current job because of their condition.

If the recommendations are accepted people who are signed off sick would also be put on to Job Seekers' Allowance, instead of Employment Support Allowance, for a period of three months.

"What the GPs say is they don't have time to do an in-depth functional assessment and nor have they had any training in occupational health so we think it's providing a new unique service that both employers and GPs need."

And welfare reform minister Lord Freud said: "We just don't get adequate help for people early enough when they need it and what we are creating in there is an incubator for lifelong idleness for far too many people."

He (Dr Richard Vautrey) said: "If what is being described is a proper health, occupational health assessment at an earlier stage in the patient's illness then that would be helpful.

"But if it turns out to be a punitive process just to try and save money without the best interests of the patient at the heart of the process then it will fail."

So, just to summarise for you, in case it is not clear from the above; the latest government proposal is to stop peoples personal doctors being able to sign them off long term sick from work, and to put the responsibility on a new body, which as yet does not exist. This body would consist of occupational therapists, who no doubt will give you a twenty minute assessment which does not give them any true insight into your condition at all, just like the Atos assessments. It would not in fact surprise me if they employed Atos to do it.

Why on earth are they making a fuss about 300,000 people being off work sick? That's a drop in the ocean compared to the unemployment figures. Perhaps if they focused on creating jobs, bringing markets back to this country, and preventing JSA fraud the country would be in a lot less dire straits; and they could stop picking on the sick and disabled!!

Seriously, the population of the United Kingdom is approximately 60 million. 300,000 being ill long term is less than 0.5%. I would say that was almost a miracle in itself.

Where do they think all of these jobs for the sick and disabled are going to come from? If they cannot employ the nearly 1.5 million who are claiming JSA, how do they think they will find jobs for people whose health is unreliable.

I may have been ill for ten years, but I've seen how all of this works; if you're ill at work, you get penalised. You lose out on bonus's and those with poor sickness records are the first to be made redundant. Why would employers take on someone who is uncertain when they'll be in work, or how much they can do, someone completely unpredictable, when there is a healthy person equally qualified that they can employ?

The most ridiculous thing about this is that our GPs know us the best. It did not say as such in this article, but the news item on the television last night apparently said that many GPs feel pressured to sign patients off long term sick when they should not. This, I can understand to a certain extent, as when you are familiar with someone it is human nature to not wish to do them any harm. There in lies the error though; if your GP cares about you they would not sign you off as long term sick, taking you out of the work place, and earning better money, if it were not necessary.

I know for a fact that my own GP feels a lot more pressure from the government to have me returned to work, than he does from myself to sign me off sick.

Well, as one of my friends says, this may simply be an exercise in keeping the public happy again. Show the public that the government is doing what they want, then actually do nothing about it. I hope he is right, as these measures would lead to even further suicides.

Mortified :(

I'm so ashamed. I thought I was over anxiety attacks, but I nearly had a really really bad one this evening. I never know quite what is happening when having an attack. I don't actually lose consciousness, but do kind of lose awareness. I 'came to', wracked with sobs, teeth chattering, on my knees on the living room floor. My left arm has massive scratches down on it, and when I regained awareness I was just starting on my right. I can see massive scratch marks on the carpet from here .. and my right hand is hurting, so I think I must have hit something. I can't believe I've let this happen. I'm so so disappointed with myself :(

So why am I all worked up?

This morning I received the decision about my DLA application. They turned me down. I didn't really expect to get anything. I have never got anywhere with DLA applications. It's the fact that they used my ESA assessment as 'evidence' to turn me down that got to me.

I received the assessors notes on Friday. I have spent today going through them. It's taken me absolutely hours. I have cried my eyes out over it all day. I just cannot believe how these things work. The nurse that did my assessment should be sacked. She's lied. She's twisted things I've said. She's ignored things I've said. She's made assumptions, and contradicted herself in the report. I just don't know what to do. There is no way I'm ever going to win.

I've been wondering if it might be worth claiming JSA instead. Basically I'd be relying on getting a JSA advisor who could see I was ill and refer me back to ESA. Knowing my luck I'd just get thrown off JSA as well.

At the end of the day I'm aching so badly all over. Sure .. assessor woman, I don't have anxiety issues, and CFS doesn't affect me at all.

*sigh*