Seems the Conservatives want to reduce benefits by £25 a week to pressurise people back into work - seems to apply to those on sickness/disability benefit. Doesn't that sound wonderful?
They'll be making the sick sicker with stress, those who are doing ok sick, and sending some children deeper into poverty.
I feel sorry for the employers who will be expected to employ people who don't want to work. They'd be nightmare employees...
OMG. This country is totally going to pot. It is so frightening. Your poor friend Louise. It is absolutely disgraceful
On BBC this morning - sorry going off topic here - about obese pregnant women too.
I really do feel it's becoming a Big Brother state now, which does worry me.
Personally, I think attention needs to be given to those newly unemployed. So devastated by losing their jobs in this recesion. I agree with getting youngsters to either continue in education or get work - it must be easy to not be motivated when you've newly left school.
Louise, how awful for your friend, having to come to terms with something so devastating and then having all that to deal with too.
I feel their agenda's are based on what people - ok tax payers - want to hear, without thought for circumstances. Shame they made so many civil servants redundant, or they'd have enough personnel to possibly assess those they suspected of fraud.
As if life isn't challenging enough without it all!
Lots of people go about their day under the impression that there's someone in control, at the reigns, well there isn't it's a whole world of chaos just trundling along with a whole load of people trying to steer it in what they think is the right direction, lots of people all with different ideas pushing it in different ways and then someone else pushing it another way, it just goes forward and things change while some groups of people benefit and others suffer.
There is no happy equilibrium and there never will be.
There is no rational to government policy making just appeasement to the largest voting block, which unfortunately is the lowest common denominator brainwashed by a corporate controlled media with it's own agenda. Which is very basically exploiting one set of people to produce things as cheaply as possible to sell to another set. This needs wars to control natural resources and corrupt governments to control exploitable work forces.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those that falsely believe that they are free.. Johan Wolfgang von Goethe.
So long as peoples lives are filled with things to do and things to make them feel happy and go to work to make money to be able to go to work and buy the things that make them happy then they will keep going to work to make money to spend on the things that make them happy.
It makes sense if you keep reading it, honestly.
And now I'm going to bed as I've run out of wine and that's what makes me happy :)
P.S. The only important thing is compassion for other people, more of that please.
David Cameron is now proposing 10-year contract to council housing.
I think this is awful. I agree that incentives could be offered to 'persuade' people that down-sizing would be good (eg, carpeting, decorating and removal help and costs), and possibly more effective to mental well-being of those being targeted.
Having been homeless, the thought of having an end of lease to cope with would be very hard for me to deal with.
Whether your home is mortgaged or rented, that is what it is - your home.
David Cameron - leave those alone, and get your finger out and push through policies to BUILD more social housing. There are tens of thousands of people needing social housing...
Hello sparkling I haven't seen the news on this one, I will go and have a read. There is a massive need for social housing, especially in these times. I do sometimes wonder if there are some people who stay in it indefinitely when they could free it up for families that really need it so maybe that is one strand that is positive about leases? I know round here there was a scheme where they gave single people (mainly older) a financial incentive to move from houses to flats and thereby freed up the houses for families. They had actually provided an alternative....but there were only 10 flats so it did not make much dent in the waiting list.
The other point I would like to make is that some people assume that social housing is very low cost and it isn't. The monthly rent is pretty substantial in most cases and it isn't the passport to some sort of handout that certain sections of the media love to imply
Again, the media making things harder for those in poverty...
My rent here is £75 per week. It was £52 a week when I moved in here October 2005. I paid around £130 a week in private rented accommodation though - mind you, it easily had double the floor space, as this house is small.
I agree with incentives to persuade people to move, but really don't think that anyone should be made to leave, what after all is their home, with many having family regularly staying. My neighbours are both pensioners living alone. One has bought her house, the other a tenant. Both love their home equally. I'd hate to see the one who is a tenant being "made" to leave. He son and his family stay a few times a year.
Of course, in time, it would apply to me too.
I have just read the Independent article on this and luckily for you sparklinglime it says this would only come into force for New tenancies.
At the moment we don't know if Cameron going to implement this or whether it is a suggestion though. 
Yes and the other thing that has struck me is that you may be seemingly single but have your children at weekends, like sadsy. Everyone should surely be "allowed" to have one spare bedroom for visitors. The scheme I was talking about locally was asking single pensioners to move from four-bedroomed properties. Some Councils have sensible swap schemes. The bottom line is that there just isn't enough social housing full stop. The selling-off of Council property in the 80s had a lot going for it, people able to get on the property "ladder" that otherwise would not have been able to......but it did deplete the stock of affordable housing for those on lower incomes.
I also wonder if this new initiative might be a back-door way of getting rid of anti social tenants without going through eviction procedures?
Could well be.
I just feel financial incentives would make it a tenants decision without that pressure of "you will move be moving next week". The terror for many...
Just my view point though. I know my friend - who's moved away - would comment about people being selfish and not moving. This was when we were homeless, and even after we moved in here as it is so small. I could not have coped with knowing that someone had been kicked out for me.
I don't think people would be selfish if they did not want to move. After all, it is their home and probably holds many memories. Choice sounds the best option, with the financial incentives mentioned. This would cost the authorities much less than building new houses!
Thanks for posting the comment about the level of your rent, sparkling lime, it is certainly not a "cheap" option!
I have complained to the housing association about the percentage rise in the rent, and it was agreed that over 8% one year was really bad. All rent increases now go before a panel to be agreed. Whether that will help, I don't know - but it has only gone up £1 odd a week this time.
I agree sparklinglime, my rent went up a ridiculous amount last time, £10 a week 
shocking.
I wrote an appeal letter, but I got a phone call to say the decision had already been made by the time my letter had arrived?????
Very soon we will be asking you to put forward your views about the proposals that are contained in the Welfare for the 21st Century Consultation, then our Parliamentary Officer will address these ideas and views with policy makers.
That sounds exciting
Can I apologise if I do "go on" so much about social housing. I was raised in a council house, and my Dad (and Mum) did buy their council house. My Dad would never have bought it if he didn't believe when told that the money they paid would be used to build new council houses... He was quite a socialist. I know he would have been devastated too seeing us going through homelessness before being housed.
You don't "go on" at all, sparkling lime. A dear friend of mine bought his Council house too and for him, it was a chance that he never would have had, to own a house. I know that shared ownership is becoming more prevalent,but there also seems to be a great deal of "buy to let" these days with landlords making lots of money from private rents.
I'd like to see laws introduced to stop landlords selling houses too. I was verbally (no proof, of course) that I would be able to stay in the private let for 12 years. Landlord sold the property for huge profit (who can blame him? To be fair...) and the house is now a holiday home...
So wrong. I just think when you rent to a local family that there should be some protection. You cannot make a home with the fact that you could well be moving hovering about.
If I'd hated the house, I'd have been thrilled However, I'd move back tomorrow...
Awww you don't go on sparklinglime, we want to hear your views, they are really important to us 
Government Policies or someone's take on them anyway.
Now why does that not surprise me!
There was a double page spread in the Sun yesterday about people on benefits. They deliberately chose the least popular figures one could imagine, like Shannon Matthews' mother and that woman who took all her kids to Raoul Moat's funeral. Then they had an article about the "vast" amount of money received by one very pleasant young couple with two small children. The paper said that between them they received Job Seekers' Allowance of over £8000. As the weekly figure for Income-related JSA is £102.75 for couples, that would come to a maximum of £5343 for them both for the year. Yes they received other help, such as Housing Benefit, but the fact remains that the figure quoted was wrong. Older claims do include money for children (before Child Tax Credit was treated separately) but the article also listed CTC so there was definitely something awry.However, the innocent reader would take it as gospel.
I have been in touch with this newspaper a few times in the past when they have printed inaccurate things about benefits. Recently, they quoted someone as receiving a certain amount of "Family Allowance" How long is it since THAT was abolished? Anyway I offered to be thje paper's freelance benefits consultant and said that if they paid me they could ask me about these stories and I would make sure I got it right I got an acknowledgement but, strange to say, I did not get taken up on my offer.
I tried to submit a reply, but it just seemed to disappear!
One thing that does bother me is how these things are being put out to agencies, when Civil Servants should be doing this - with the role covered in their job descriptions. Sickens me to think that these rich businesses (sorry, I never used to be so left-wing, my Dad would be proud), when savings made by Civil Servants (who are poorly paid anyway) would go direct to the government rather than making the rich richer...
I used to be a Civil Servant with the old DHSS, where the fraud officers worked hard, had some compassion and achieved a lot.
Sometimes the old ways weren't always the worse.
very pretty chart
There has to be a way around this. There has to be!
It's just persecuting the vulnerable. Blackmail and threats - surely these are offences.
They don't seem to be aware that there are lone parents who's children have to come first. There are people who are too ill to work. My Dad had epilepsy, and his fits, small and the bigger ones, were incredibly unpredictable. He was safer at home, and accompanied shopping.
There are malingerers (in their tracksuits). There are in every walk in life - my son is coming across this in his place of work, where he's mopping floors and washing pans that others should also be doing, but don't as they don't have the work ethic my son has. Yet, they still get paid...
I would love to somehow be able to come up with a plan to counteract all of this.
Blooming trainers and management companies making money out of the unemployed is a disgrace.
There have been several TV programmes about these private companies being paid to get people into work. I did like the the "Fairy Jobmother" programme, although I think she would scare anyone into a desperate work-search.
The article Bubblegum has posted talks about middle-aged people unable to get work and indeed Age Uk (formerly Age Concern) which represents the over 50s has pointed out this week there is a vast rise in long term unemployment in this group, no viable schemes to help and very few employers willing to take them on.
It feels to me as if selected groups are targeted: young people, lone parents and those with chronic health problems and there has been a lot of unfair finger-pointing. Yes, I am sure we all know people who are "malingerers" but they are few and far between, and many people with a health problem would love to work if only they could find a job to do from home or on an ad hoc basis when they were relatively well. And if the powers that be are so keen on lone parents with younger children working, why are there not more employer schemes with tandem jobs ie done by parents in term time and students in the holidays?
Malingerer here : )
When I was first on my own we had Working Links in Llangefni who I was sent to by my Single Parent Advisor. I just went in for my interviews and signed to say I had been there. My 'advisor' knew perfectly well that I didn't want to work, we talked about it. She explained to me that they just got paid for each person on their books and that single parents were good because their were no repercussions for them not making the required effort to find work.
I did get two free trips to Chester Zoo and two Working Links bags and towels though, and and coffee and biscuits and pens for my kids every time we went there :)
Think of all the people this is targeting. Such a loud voice if they all spoke together.
Just start up your own 'advisory' employment agency and train people to do a CV and how to behave in interviews, fill out forms, use a computer and all those other necessary skills for getting jobs in supermarkets and factories and such.
Do you know, I just might!
Could do a partnership and work from home!!
I wonder where all the jobs are that they think people are going to get? There are hardly any jobs around, especially when you have been out of the jobs market for some time!
It is true that there will always be some who do "play" the system, but I dread to think of the fear that will enter the hearts of those I know with genuine disabilities, who need that extra money to survive. I have a friend who is paralysed from the chest downwards. He is not allowed Incapacity Benefit because he can do some freelance work on a computer, sitting up in bed. However he is not allowed JSA because he is "not available for work" due to being on permanent bed rest after major spinal surgery. Right........