We’re looking for a new editor to help run Help Me Investigate Welfare, following the departure of Chie Elliott, who now has a job in publishing.
Help Me Investigate will provide the network of support and contacts to help.
If you’re interested, email me on paul@helpmeinvestigate.com.
These are the welfare-related links we’ve been looking at between September 6th and October 27th: Continue reading Welfare-related links for September 6th through October 27th
These are the welfare-related links we’ve been looking at between June 20th and August 20th: Continue reading Welfare-related links for June 20th through August 20th
An annotation on an FOI request relating to the work programme is worth repeating in full – and quoting – for anyone else considering requesting information:
The DWP Head of Work Programmes Division[1] wrote a memo to Minister for Employment on 24 April 2012 which stated:
There are no “cost limits”[2] for Freedom of Information Act (FOI) requests as all of the DWP’s Work Programme’s Providers (employment related support services) have contractual obligations to provide information they hold on behalf of the DWP.
Memo extract:
http://www.consent.me.uk/docs/foicosts.pngFull memo:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/11…All DWP Employment service contractors have to hold a “framework contract”:
Q40
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa…Freedom of Information Act obligations in this area are outlined on pages 36 and 37 of the DWP Framework Agreement for the provision of employment related support services.
Framework Agreement Extracts:
pages 36 and 37
http://www.consent.me.uk/officialComplete Framework Agreement:
http://dwp.gov.uk/docs/framework-draft-t…[1] Work Programmes include:
Mandatory Work Activity
The Work Programme
Community Action Programme[2] Cost limits
An authority can refuse a request if it estimates that it will cost them in excess of the appropriate cost limit to fulfil your request. The limit is £600 for central government
http://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/faqs/freedo…
Here’s a good example of following the money to see exactly where the priorities lie on two kinds of ‘benefit fraud’: fraud by benefit claimants, and fraud by the companies who get the contracts to run welfare services.
Rajeev Syal reports that the government has cut those people responsible for investigating fraud by private contractors from 69 to 49 in two years: a drop of 29%. Continue reading Fewer people investigating private contractors fraud, while benefit investigators increase
Following the previous post on one A4e experience, Chris White points to a number of links on how complaints should be handled by various ‘workfare’ contractors. These are good starting points if you’re looking at what contractors actually do.
And here’s his advice: Continue reading Jobseekers’ complaints – how they should be handled by A4e, G4S and Ingeus {UPDATED}
Online Protest Against Workfare have posted the experiences of one job hunter who has experienced A4e on 3 occasions. It includes descriptions of bullying, more than one work experience that happened to be with the company itself. Continue reading An A4e experience: ‘bullying, changing staff, out of date resources’ [Link]
FullFact checks out some of the claims made in relation to proposed changes to Working Tax Credits and gathers some useful data to keep to one side and return to once any changes have taken effect. Continue reading Link: child poverty and welfare stats
Thanks to L S McKnight in the comments for pointing us to this report from Third Force News on the Scottish disability charities who boycotted a meeting with disability minister Maria Miller after she falsely claimed to have previously met them. Continue reading Testing the claims of politicians: the disability groups that Maria Miller ‘never met’
The Sun’s announcement that it is targeting benefit cheats has led to at least one very nasty experience for a 68-year-old former dustman.
Elaine Milton writes movingly about her father’s injury, countless operations, and recent discovery of bowls, “with the support of his doctor”. Then:
“You can imagine how I felt when I heard that a Sun journalist and photographer had been knocking on his door, taking his picture, telling him that they were doing a story on benefit cheats. Continue reading The real life impact of being targeted by a Sun journalist as a ‘benefit cheat’
