ESA death statistics to be cynically released over August bank holiday – Benefits and Work

Last Updated: August 20, 2015By

Obviously, part of this piece is simply catching up with Vox Political, which publicised the intended publication date in a previous article – but the point about the timing being cynical is well worth noting:

The DWP have cynically arranged for the long-awaited employment and support allowance (ESA) death statistics to be released immediately before a bank holiday in the middle of the parliamentary summer recess, Benefits and Work can reveal. This is a traditional method of burying bad news in the hope it gets the minimum possible publicity.

The ESA death statistics will be released on Thursday 27 August, immediately before the bank holiday in England and Wales on Monday 31 August.

So, not only will the news receive much less attention because it is in the immediate run up to the holiday, but parliament is in recess, so ministers cannot be challenged on the statistics.

Given the enormous delay in publishing these figures, it is very clear that the timing was absolutely designed to ensure the figures receive a s little attention as possible.

Source: ESA death statistics to be cynically released over August bank holiday

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18 Comments

  1. john ingamells (@geovanni218) August 20, 2015 at 8:45 pm - Reply

    This is so typical and predictable from these vermin. i do not expect whatever figures to truly reflect reality although am keen to see their release.

    • Mike Sivier August 20, 2015 at 9:05 pm - Reply

      I reckon a lot of very dedicated people will go into these figures in a big way, the moment they are released. The Bank Holiday weekend should not make any difference to the amount of noise we make.

      • Tony Dean August 20, 2015 at 10:28 pm - Reply

        Unfortunately, I am away for that weekend from the Thursday morning away from internet communications and I have my suspicions the DWP and the government knew that.

  2. mohandeer August 20, 2015 at 10:03 pm - Reply

    I’ sure that you can make a big dent in their attempts to bury the statistics – after all the bank holiday will come to an end and then we can storm F/B with blogs such as yours embarrassing the government and it’s underhand tactics. where there’s a will there’s a way.

  3. gusman August 20, 2015 at 10:16 pm - Reply

    Yes to quote Nye Bevan yes vermin,

  4. Mr.Angry August 21, 2015 at 3:33 am - Reply

    Corruption at it’s peak, “the most transparent government ” outright liars. The word democracy shortly to be removed from the oxford dictionary.

  5. David Bacon August 21, 2015 at 6:41 am - Reply

    Iain Duncan Smith – again. Doncha love him? I agree wth gusman’s quote from the sainted Nye Bevan, but I think Nye actually said the tories were ‘worse than vermin’ since he was a very fair-minded man.

    • Mike Sivier August 21, 2015 at 11:51 am - Reply

      “Lower than vermin.”

  6. quinnybuzz August 21, 2015 at 7:04 am - Reply

    The noose is getting tighter around George Smiths neck

  7. Jeffery Davies August 21, 2015 at 7:15 am - Reply

    Cooking the books jeff3

  8. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) August 21, 2015 at 8:01 am - Reply

    This shows yet again just how much respect this government has NOT got for its electorate (one of which I am NOT) and also shows how thick it is to imagine for one moment that the report will not be thoroughly investigated by those with a genuine public interest.

  9. tommaz jay August 21, 2015 at 8:57 am - Reply

    Mike
    I know that the statistics are fudged to
    Make them more palatable to the Torry coven but as they will be compiled from a mathematical formula could it not be reversed and the true death rate extrapolated to show the true figures.

    • Mike Sivier August 21, 2015 at 11:55 am - Reply

      It would only give an approximation. ESA claimant numbers have varied quite widely over the last few years (within a 2m-2.5m bracket), so the number of deaths-per-thousand (or whatever) could translate into quite a wide variety of actual numbers, depending on how and when the DWP has chosen to work out its own numbers.

  10. Dez Chandler August 21, 2015 at 10:09 am - Reply

    Nothing new in this low life tactic of a broken government and civil service. The results do not bode well if bad news has to have a soft landing however opinions seem to suggest the data will be fudged which I thought was a thing of the past when the public cry for honest and transparent government data was supposed to have been actioned going forward. Just seems we still cannot trust government outputs as they still regard their customers and politicians and civil servants rather than the population that pays their overpaid salaries and pensions……bless them all.

  11. Tony Dean August 21, 2015 at 12:19 pm - Reply

    It appears that the government has chosen August the 27th to release a lot of datasets that will be an embarrassment to them.
    I suggest that people take a close look here on August 27th and leave looking until the late afternoon:-

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications

    and here:-

    http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/release-calendar/index.html

  12. Tony Fourinone August 22, 2015 at 9:11 am - Reply

    My bet is that the figures will not only be released on 27th August, but also at approximately 16:50 or later. I cannot however, see the fuss about the release date, surely any MP worth their mandate will have time to formulate a rebuttal ready for the first PMQs of the next session of Parliament.

    • Mike Sivier August 22, 2015 at 11:16 am - Reply

      Trouble is, by then another issue will have been pushed to the forefront of the public consciousness and people won’t care about this.
      That seems to be the plan, anyway.

  13. mrmarcpc August 24, 2015 at 3:50 pm - Reply

    Why doesn’t this not surprise me, what do you expect from devious, lying, callous minded, pompous, privileged, lazy, bone idle, inbred scum, doing this to deflect any deserved stick they will get because of what they’ve done to the British people, we should make them realise the figures AFTER the bank holiday, not during, after and publish them properly, not some small column in the papers and online, should start a petition to make sure they don’t release the figures over the holidays, let’s make them release them properly and make them face the music, which is long overdue!

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