Tag Archives: payment

The news in tweets: Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Falling energy prices are not being passed on to customers and the government is doing nothing. Why?

Tory energy security minister Grant Shapps was grilled over the government’s failure to support cash-strapped households, by Martin Lewis on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. His answers were revealing:

So: we will receive no more money to help with energy bills, even though the energy companies are charging us far more than the cost of the energy itself. The government is supporting these firms as they rip us off.

Shapps’s comments about standing charges are also useful. He said these charges are for “all of the network costs, the maintenance costs and the things which happen before you get the live supply of energy to the household”. He said these costs were “not for nothing”.

This Writer certainly hopes that is true.

But let’s have a look at another privatised utility that forces you to pay standing charges: water. If standing charges on water are said to be for the same purpose as for energy – network costs, maintenance etc – then the water companies are guilty of fraud because we have learned that none of our money is being spent on infrastructure (maintenance). The pipe system still dates back to the Victorian era and some of it is made of lead, which is poison.

The water firms also borrow heavily to cover day-to-day costs. That leaves me asking what the standing charge supports. Is it just feeding into the profits of shareholders? If so, then these firms are lying to us about its purpose and should be prosecuted, forced to return that money to us and the charge abolished.

In fairness, I have read that the charge is for the cost of reading meters and sending out bills – but with smart meters installed that tell firms what you’ve used without anyone having to come to your home, and with the facility for people to receive bills by a new-fangled device called email, those costs now must be very low compared with times in even the recent past. Why are the standing charges not being reduced, then?

Taking the subject back to energy, if standing charges on water are a rip-off, how do we know that the energy firms aren’t also charging us far more than is reasonable?

Answer: we don’t.

One rule for them: MPs get up to £16,305 per year for up to three children, but restrict your child benefit to two kids and £2,080

Yes indeed.

Current salary for a backbench MP is around £84-5,000. They get expenses to pay for food, rent and bills (on the second homes they need in London, if I recall correctly), and they also receive £5,435 per year to pay bills related to their children, for a maximum of three children. That’s around £104.23 per week, per child, up to £312.69 – let’s round it up to £312.70.

If you have three children, you won’t receive any child benefit for one of them. You then get £24 per week for the eldest and £15.90 for the second child: £39.90 per week or around £2,080 per year.

Your MP thinks this is fair – even those in the Labour Party who should be demanding equality for everybody (possibly with a few exceptions).

This is why we need to think very carefully about who we allow into Parliament and what they should be elected to do.

Meanwhile, Substitute Tory (formerly Labour) Rachel Reeves can’t see how a UK government can fund free school meals for children who need them, so members of the public have been offering helpful suggestions:

Howard Beckett pointed out: “In Norway the sovereign fund stands at over $1.3trillion. Norway tax[es] fossil fuel Corporate giants at 78 per cent.”

She could also reverse some of the massive tax cuts that the Tories have handed to the richest members of UK society since 2010. There are plenty of ways to fund a better future.

One can only conclude that Pamela Fitzpatrick is right: “Reeves really cannot see where the moneys going to come from because she simply does not have the skills, talent or vision for the role she is in.”

There is a lighter side to this – if you have a certain sense of humour:

Keir Starmer was ‘consciously dishonest’ when he campaigned for the Labour leadership. Shouldn’t he be given the boot?

We may conclude from the information available to us that when Keir Starmer was telling Labour Party members that he would respect and continue the policies of his immediate forerunner Jeremy Corbyn, he was actually planning to throw away all the popular policies that Mr Corbyn had formed, as soon as possible.

He lied in order to be elected.

That is not acceptable.

He should be removed.

He won’t be – because Labour disciplinary procedures are a bad joke at the expense of rank-and-file party members. But voters should – and will – remember his betrayal, and the cynical, calculated way in which he planned it.

Defence spending rises by nearly one-third of what it was in 2019 – while all other spending falls. Why?

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has announced that the UK government will spend £50 billion on “defence”, for the first time in its history – more than £12 billion more than in 2019.

Jeremy Corbyn asked him about his priorities:

In response, Wallace said: “I am not out looking for war. We are all out here trying to defend our nation by avoiding war, but we do not avoid war by not investing in deterrence. Sometimes we have to invest in hard power, to complement soft power. We do not want to use it and we do not go looking for it. I know the right hon. Gentleman mixes with some people who always think this is about warmongering; it is not. But if countries are not taken seriously by their adversaries, that is one of the quickest ways to provoke a war.”

So he wants to avoid wars by rattling the sabre. This Writer isn’t sure that works – and I am encouraged to doubt him by his own prediction that the UK will be at war within seven years.

Mr Corbyn’s question was an opportunity for him to explain how his spending plan would prevent the UK from being at war within seven years. He did not answer that question.

What are these Tories planning to drag the rest of us into?

£500 million public money bribe to get Jaguar Land Rover owner to build electric car battery factory in Somerset

The Tory government is paying £500 million towards the creation of a £4 billion factory by Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata, building batteries for electric cars.

Is it really great news?

As migrant-housing barge arrives in Portland: how was the contract awarded and was it carried out corruptly?

Two tweets on this:

Is the illegal Tory “VIP lane” still operating, then?

Why is the government repeating consultation on wet wipe ban? Is it looking for a different response?


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This MP wanted special treatment on private health donations map – but won’t get it

Stella Creasy in Parliament: if she’s working for a private health insurance firm outside its walls, what is she saying within them?

Campaigning group Every Doctor has rejected a demand by Labour’s Stella Creasy to remove her from an interactive map listing every MP who has received a donation from companies involved in the private takeover of the UK’s National Health Service.

Creasy thought that she should not be included because she donated a payment from insurance firm Aviva to charity.

But after consulting its lawyer, Every Doctor pointed out that the concern is not where the money goes, but how it was obtained.

Here’s the full explanation:

Indeed.

We (the public) didn’t know from the Register of Members’ Interests which charity benefited, and we don’t know what Creasy said during the panel appearance for which Aviva paid her; we must presume she was putting forward a view held by that firm, otherwise it would not have employed her.

The inclusion of Aviva on the map has been questioned because it insures other things besides health – but Every Doctor has answered that concern:

(This should worry anybody who supports the NHS because it indicates that the Tory policy of turning people away from the NHS to seek private healthcare – supported by insurance – is working.)

Critics have also claimed that receiving payment from a health (among other things) insurance firm is okay because it was donated to a charity shelter for homeless people – that Aviva already supports.

From This Writer’s point of view, it is unacceptable that Creasy provided a service for Aviva and took money for it, no matter where it went.

By handing the cash to a homeless shelter, she get kudos for being a humanitarian. But the shelter is funded by the company that paid her in any event, so it seems possible that she was advised (directed?) to send it there – and that would be a questionable act.

But the fundamental issue is that she provided work for a private healthcare firm when her only concern should be working in the interests of the people of the UK.

We don’t know what she said on this panel for which she was hired by Aviva. We may assume that, as Aviva paid her, she was there to represent that company’s interests – but because she is an MP, attendees may have been misled into thinking she was putting forward Labour Party policy.

And we don’t know how working for Aviva will affect the way she’ll vote on health issues in Parliament. Did the payment depend on her support for private health involvement in the NHS in the future? We don’t know.

I think it would be advisable to watch her future behaviour in Parliamentary votes very carefully – and for that to happen, we need to know why it is important to do so.

Therefore I support Every Doctor’s decision. Creasy should remain on the map and the fact that she received this money in this way should be visible to everybody.


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Ofgem’s new rules could harm the people they’re supposed to help

Is this an example of a well-intentioned scheme backfiring, or of an ill-intentioned plan doing exactly what it’s supposed to?

In response to a backlash after it was discovered that employees of some energy suppliers, including British Gas, had been breaking into the homes of people who had been defaulting on their bill payments to forcibly install pre-payment meters, the regulator Ofgem has imposed new rules.

Energy firms have agreed to the voluntary code. It includes a ban on forcibly installing prepayment meters in the homes of people over the age of 85.

Companies will only be able to force the change if they stick to a set of voluntary restrictions and must make at least 10 attempts to contact a customer.

They must also carry out a site welfare visit before a such a meter can be installed and will need to avoid forced installations where a “continuous supply” of energy is needed for health reasons, such as for the terminally ill.

Energy firms will also be required to make representatives fitting meters wear body cameras or audio equipment.

But some have warned that the new rules aren’t good enough:

It seems Ofgem has not taken account of the fact that 29 per cent of households are now in debt to their energy supplier.

Critics say the regulator had an opportunity to introduce targeted debt relief for those who are most in need of it – but didn’t.

Nor has Ofgem considered the energy needs of people with disabilities or health conditions in its definition of the kind of vulnerability that would make a bill-payer exempt from having a pre-payment meter in any circumstances, it seems.

There is also the question of how people will prove their medical conditions without being humiliated by an energy firm health inspection.

Ofgem has said it will consult on whether the new code of practice can be made legally binding before the winter.

Labour seems to be in two minds about the situation. According to the Morning Star article mentioned above, Ed Miliband said Ofgem’s scheme was “not good enough”.

But Jonathan Ashworth seemed to have a different opinion:

Worse than that, the changes may mean energy bills increase – to cover their own cost:

How can that be, in any way, fair?


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People over State Pension age with eyesight issues could be due up to £407 each month | Daily Record

Public service announcement:

Across Great Britain, there are around two million people living with a sight loss condition or degenerative eye conditions. Some 57,180 working age adults under 65 are receiving extra financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Adult Disability Payment (ADP) while 44,614 people over State Pension age are getting weekly help through Attendance Allowance.

If you, or someone you know, under State Pension age has a sight condition, you should consider making a new claim for PIP or ADP – find out more here.

If you, or someone you know, is over State Pension age and living with a sight condition, even really high myopia, you should consider making a claim for Attendance Allowance.

New claimants of Attendance Allowance could also qualify for the £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment due to be made this summer by the UK Government to help households with the increased cost of living. No qualifying period has been announced yet, so the sooner a new claim is submitted the greater the likelihood that it will meet the eligibility requirements.

Source: People over State Pension age with eyesight issues could be due up to £407 each month – Daily Record


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Ongoing award for people on PIP with ‘light touch’ review after 10 years – but is it true?

(This could be a record for the speed at which fears voiced in a Vox Political article have been confirmed. Around an hour after I published what follows, I received the comment that now appears at the end of this article.

(Read the piece – and then check out what a disabled person told me about it.)

If you don’t know what Personal Independence Payment is, then you haven’t read this Site for very long. Or properly. Have a quick search; you’ll probably have to try Disability Living Allowance for the early years.

Done? Well, I’ll carry on anyway.

DWP minister Tom Pursglove (who?) has been telling other MPs that there are guidelines about the assessments carried out on people claiming PIP.

He said they’re intended to determine the “needs arising from a health condition or disability” – not the condition itself.

He said regular reviews are a “key feature of PIP”, in place to ensure “payments accurately match the current needs of claimants”.

(In reality, this often means that payments are withdrawn because claimants are determined to have magically got better. Alternatively, claimants are put through continuous reviews to find out if, say, the limbs they lost have grown back.)

So when Mr Pursglove said, “Claimants with very high levels of functional impairment who are on the highest PIP awards, and whose needs are only likely to increase, should receive an ongoing award of PIP, with a light touch review at the 10-year point,” I had a doubt.

If you actually searched back through This Site’s DLA and PIP articles, you’ll know my reasons.

Did you spot the cop-out words “should receive”?

He didn’t say people with degenerative conditions will receive an ongoing award, and he didn’t say they will get a light-touch review.

All we need is one claimant to come forward, say they have a degenerative condition and have not received this treatment, and the whole Tory/DWP house of falsehoods will fall down. Again.

ADDITIONAL: It took around one hour for that one claimant to come forward. In a comment on the Vox Political Facebook page, that person stated the following:

“Ha ha, is it bollox true. Just had my PIP review on a degenerative condition and they CUT my award. Took them three years from review letter to review interview. The system is designed not to work for the claimant. Have you ever tried ringing the PIP line? What a dysfunctional joke that is.”

So there you are: Pursglove debunked.

Source: People on PIP most-likely to receive an ongoing award with a ‘light touch’ review after 10 years – Daily Record


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Now Labour is falsely claiming benefit claimants are stopping others from getting help

Jonathan Ashworth: his claim that a crackdown on benefit fraud could have funded an extra cost-of-living payment is false.

Cast your disgusted eyes over this:

Dr Ryan continues:

It’s true that benefit fraud and error accounted for four per cent of DWP payments during 2021-22 – around £8.6 billion.

But this may be explained by the fact that the Covid-19 crisis was ongoing during much of that time; fraudsters took advantage of the opportunities to claim Universal Credit that the government provided.

For comparison: in the last year before the Covid crisis, 2019-20, the Mirror article states that benefit fraud and error cost £4.4 billion (about 2.4 per cent), so we can see how much it rocketed during the pandemic years.

The Mirror article discusses a Parliamentary report last year (2022) stating that levels of fraud and error in the benefits system were “unacceptably high” and that it “is yet to show any sign of falling back to pre-pandemic levels”.

But that can hardly be surprising, considering the fact that the last Covid-19-related restrictions were not lifted until February that year.

Figures for 2022-23 are not yet available – which is unsurprising as it is less than a week since that financial year ended. It will be interesting to see the estimated level of benefit fraud for that period, compared with the previous year.

It should not be forgotten that the DWP is proactive in claiming back money that has been lost to benefit fraud, and reported savings of £2 billion over the last year due to correcting and preventing fraud and error.

Finally, it should be remembered that the DWP is notorious for underpaying people who are in genuine need. These underpayments amounted to £2.1 billion in 2021-22.

What may we conclude from the facts?

Try this:

The benefit system is almost entirely free of fraud and error, with only around two per cent recorded normally.

Overpayments to fraudsters who entered the system during the Covid-19 crisis are being recovered, with half the amount overpaid in 2021-22 already regained.

Many benefit overpayments are due to errors on the part of claimants whose health conditions make it hard for them to understand the complexities of the system. Those overpayments are caught and claimed back – causing “severe hardship” to the claimants.

The DWP also makes errors that affect payments.

Underpayments to people who deserve more meant £2.1 billion that should have been handed out in 2021-22 was not.

Therefore:

Ashworth’s sums are probably wrong.

But there is another aspect of this that everybody seems to be ignoring:

It doesn’t matter that his sums are wrong because the amount of fraud and error in the benefit system has nothing at all to do with cost-of-living hardship payments.

If the Conservative government wanted to give out an extra £300 payment to those of us who need it, that is what would happen.

It would simply tell the Bank of England to create the money (yes, out of thin air) and that cash would then be spent into our bank accounts at the appropriate time.

Any concerns about inflationary pressures could be eased by taxing a similar amount out of the system. The easiest way would be a wealth tax on the super-rich or corporations, but the way those people are racking up profits at the moment, it probably wouldn’t even be necessary to impose that; an equivalent amount may come back to the Treasury via current tax levels.

So Ashworth’s entire argument is nonsense. He – and the right-wing Labour leadership he represents – should be ashamed of even mentioning it.


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My fellow carers: check now to find out if you could qualify for the cost-of-living payment

This doesn’t affect me, despite being a carer, because I don’t qualify for other benefits and live in a household with someone who’ll get the cost-of-living payment anyway.

But if you are a carer and are not currently thought to be eligible for the payment, the advice is: use an online calculator to see if you qualify for a means-tested benefit, because then you might get the cost-of-living payment too.

Here’s the important stuff:

In May last year there were 936,766 people receiving weekly payments of £69.70 for Carer’s Allowance.

Carer’s Allowance will rise in line with inflation next month and increase from £69.70 per week to £76.75, however, claimants will not be eligible for the new £900 cost of living payment unless they are also in receipt of a qualifying, means-tested benefit. The £900 payment will be delivered in three lump sums of £301, £300 and £299, with the first payment due between April 25 and May 17, 2023.

Statistically… 60 per cent of unpaid carers are living in a household where someone is in receipt of a qualifying means-tested benefit.

DWP Minister Tom Pursglove, urged unpaid carers to check their eligibility for means-tested benefits to make sure they are not missing out on additional support – which could then make them eligible for the £900 cost of living payment.

“Depending on personal circumstances, carers may be eligible for means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit and Pension Credit. Means-tested benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the Carer Element in Universal Credit and the additional amounts for carers in other benefits respectively.

“We would encourage anyone who is providing unpaid care, and who is not already in receipt of a means-tested benefit, to check on GOV.UK to confirm whether there are other benefits they may be entitled to.”

So, carers: what are you waiting for?

Source: People claiming Carer’s Allowance might not qualify directly for new £301 cost of living payment due in April – Daily Record


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Now we know when the DWP’s £301 cost of living payment will arrive

The Department for Work and Pensions has (at last!) announced when it will pay the first instalment of its £900 cost of living payment.

Here’s the Mirror with the juice:

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed £301 will be sent to eligible households between April 25 and May 17 .

This is the first of three DWP cost of living payments set to be issued to help with rising bills, totalling up to £900.

In order to receive the money next month, you must be claiming one of the following means-tested benefits during the qualifying period.

The benefits are:

  • Universal Credit

  • Income-based Jobseekers Allowance

  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

  • Income Support

  • Pension Credit

You need to have been entitled to a payment between January 26 and February 25 to receive the £301, or received a payment for an assessment period ending between these dates.

Low-income pensioners not already getting Pension Credit can still qualify for the £301 if they backdate a Pension Credit application by May 19.

Those who receive just Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit – so no DWP benefits – are also eligible for the £301.

However, HMRC will pay this first instalment at a later date, which has yet to be confirmed.

Dates for the second and third instalment of the £900 cost of living payments – set to be worth £300 and £299 – have also yet to be announced.

The second payment is due to be sent in summer 2023, while the third payment will be sent in spring 2024.

All the cost of living payments will be tax-free, will not count towards the benefit cap, and will not have any impact on existing benefit awards.

So now we know.

Source: DWP confirms exact date when £301 cost of living payment will start to hit bank accounts


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Tory benefit changes mean around 1m people may be forced into work they can’t do

[Image: Black Triangle Campaign].

The Tories are bringing this nightmare back again.

Jeremy Hunt’s Budget announcement that he is ending the Work Capability Assessment has turned out not to be the relief so many benefit claimants with long-term illnesses thought it would be.

He is ending the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity element of Universal Credit, meaning that people who received it may now have to seek work under the new Personal Independence Payment system.

They’ll need to claim the new UC health element, and to do that they must also be eligible for Personal Independence Payment – and under this system they may also be required to seek work or accept job offers.

Additionally, assessments will now be carried out by work coaches from the Department for Work and Pensions, rather than the (so-called) health professionals who currently carry out the much-maligned WCAs.

There are fears that these civil servants will not have the proper training to identify claimants’ conditions and needs, and may be set target numbers of people they have to try to force into work, which they will impose on disabled people.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies think tank has estimated that a million people could be forced into work and 600,000 could lose an estimated £350 per month in support as a result of the change.

Hunt has been up-front about the intention behind the change: it’s to push people into work who would not otherwise have sought it.

The problem is that it may push people into work who simply cannot do it.

Experience has shown us what happens when the government forces people with long-term illnesses and disabilities to seek work:

They are rejected by employers – or find that they simply cannot do the work. Unsuitable for employment, and unable to claim benefits, they either starve to death or die of their health conditions.

We have seen it before – many times, in the years since the Tories came back into office in 2010.

It is scandalous that Jeremy Hunt is talking up a change that may make unendurable the lives of people who are already among the UK’s most vulnerable.

Source: Disability benefit changes: ‘My disability means I cannot work but I worry I’ll be forced to by the new rules’


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Cost of living support schemes are to end soon. Will you lose out?

Rishi Sunak: cost-of-living support schemes will end with March.

This is another ‘public service announcement’ (as one reader described them) for those of you who need to know.

Some ‘cost of living’ support schemes announced by the Tory government last May are set to close at the end of March. They are:

The Warm Home Discount is a one-off discount of £150 off electricity bills. It was automatically awarded to people in England and Wales on a low income with high energy costs, or who received the Guarantee Credit element of pension credit. In Scotland, the payment was made to the same groups – but those on a low income had to meet their energy supplier’s criteria for the scheme. It began in October 2022 and the scheme ends at the end of March, 2023.

The Cold Weather Payment is essentially a £25 benefit. It’s made for every seven consecutive days when the average temperature in your area is recorded or forecast to be 0°C or below. It ends on March 31 – but is expected to return next winter.

The Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) gave around 29 million households £400 off their energy bills – that’s every home with a domestic electricity connection. From October 2022, a discount of £66 was applied to monthly energy bills, rising to £67 a month from December through to March 2023 – when the scheme ends.

The deadline to make a claim for this year’s (winter 2022-23) Winter Fuel Payment is March 31. It’s paid to people born before 26 September 1956, and the scheme will return in winter 2023. Most people on certain benefits (such as the state pension) will have already received the payment, which is up to £600.

If anyone eligible hasn’t received it, you can apply here before March 31.

Source: All DWP cost of living payments ending in March 2023 – including warm home discount


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