Tag: cuts

Barnsley says no to Cameron’s cuts

BarnsleyProtes_Lo_02

David Cameron graced Barnsley with his presence on Saturday. OK, it wasn’t the real David Cameron, who probably wouldn’t be seen within miles of a town like Barnsley. However, the boos that just a protester in a mask attracted gave a clue to the kind of reception that the real Cameron would attract, if he ever dared to set foot in the town that his beloved predecessor Margaret Thatcher tore the heart from.

It is fair to say that Barnsley has suffered disproportionately from Tory cuts over the last thirty years. Pit closures hang like a pall over the town and now that Barnsley’s current biggest employer, the public services sector is facing further cuts, the future doesn’t look like it is going to get brighter any time soon.

The protest, organised by TUSC, drew together people from a range of groups. The South Yorkshire Freedom Riders (a group formed to campaign for the reinstatement of free public transport for pensioners) were there, as were the Barnsley Green Party, campaigners to save their local Sure Start – Worsbrough Common Rising Stars (sign the petition here), the Socialist Workers Party, NHS employees and a range of trade unions.

Although Saturday’s protest was modest in numbers, it points to the way ahead. We need solidarity across a range of groups if we are to resist cuts to our vital services and build more cohesive, compassionate communities. Movements grow from the ground up. We can’t rely on Westminster to make the changes that we want to see for us.

Disabled people vow to continue the fight to save independent living

DPAC press Release

This morning after weeks of anxious waiting, disabled people and our supporters learned that the high court has found against the latest legal challenge against the government’s decision to close the Independent Living Fund (1). Disabled campaigners vow to continue the fight in every way that we can.

The campaign to save the Independent Living Fund has been one of the most high profile among the many battles disabled people are currently fighting against current government policy that is detrimentally impacting on disabled people, with disabled activists occupying Westminster Abbey gardens over the summer (2).

In November last year the Court of Appeal quashed the government’s decision to close the ILF with the Court of Appeal judges unanimous in their view that the closure of the fund would have an ‘inevitable and considerable adverse effect which the closure of the fund will have, particularly on those who will as a consequence lose the ability to live independently” (3).

On 6th March this year the then Minister for Disabled People Mike Penning retook the decision and announced a new date of June 2015 for permanent closure of the Fund that provides essential support enabling disabled people with the highest support needs to live in the community when the alternative would be residential care (4).

In October a second legal challenge was heard in the high court brought by disabled claimants claiming that the Minister had not considered any new information to properly assess the practical effect of closure on the particular needs of ILF users (5). The Department for Work and Pensions mounted a defence based on their assertion that the Minister had adequate information to realise that the independent living of the majority of ILF users will be significantly impacted by the closure of the fund.

Tracey Lazard, CEO of Inclusion London said: “The closure of the ILF effectively signals the end of the right to independent living for disabled people in the UK. Whilst never perfect the ILF represents a model of support that has enabled thousands of disabled people to enjoy meaningfully lives and to contribute to society as equal citizens. Since the closure of the Fund to new applicants in December 2010 we have seen disabled people left with their most basic needs unmet and unable to seek employment, to volunteer or go into education or simply even to leave the house.”

Linda Burnip, co-founder of the campaign Disabled people Against Cuts, said: “Regardless of this ruling, disabled people will not be pushed back into the margins of society, we will not go back into the institutions, our place is in the community alongside our family and friends and neighbours and we are fighting to stay”.

For more information or to speak to disabled people directly affected by the Independent Living Fund please contact Ellen on 07505144371 or email mail@dpac.uk.net.

1)      For full judgement and press release from solicitors working on the case see: http://www.deightonpierceglynn.co.uk/http://www.scomo.com/terity

2)      http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/28/occupy-westminster-disabled-people-against-cuts

3)      http://dpac.uk.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/522372-ILF-Briefing-Note-06-11-2013.pdf?bb10e9

4)      https://www.gov.uk/government/news/future-of-the-independent-living-fund

5)      http://dpac.uk.net/2014/06/breaking-news-2nd-court-case-to-challenge-ilf-closure-launched/

Save Red Ladder Theatre

SRL_Unite_full

Well, Terry Jones does. And we do too.

That’s why we’ve set up a campaign to help save Red Ladder Theatre Company. Red Ladder is one of the last truly radical theatre companies in existence in the UK and has been going for 46 years telling the stories and struggles of everyday people and bringing it to the communities who need it most.

Most recently they toured a play about women during the Miners’ Strike to mining communities and pit villages such as Washington, Hexham and Hemsworth.

Yet on 1 July this year it was announced that it would have 100% of its funding cut from the Arts Council whilst other art forms such as the opera and ballet received a boost.

We don’t think this is right.

At a time when inequality is growing, when austerity is hitting hard working people the hardest and when cuts are destroying the fabric of communities we think it is imperative that these people are given a voice.

If you agree and want these stories to continue to be told and want to support a company that helps galvanise communities to stand together against austerity then please donate and keep Red Ladder alive.

Just £3 from all of Unite’s members will allow Red Ladder to continue to do what it does for the foreseeable future. You simply need to text “REDL46” followed by the amount you wish to 70070. For example:

“REDL46 £3”
(Donations possible: £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10. To donate other amounts visit saveredladder.co.uk)
Thank you,
Save Red Ladder

NCIA Inquiry into the Future of Voluntary Services

Rosie Walker and Frances Sullivan look at public sector outsourcing, cuts to spending, the impact on voluntary sector workplace conditions, and the role of Trades Unions.

This paper has been produced as part of the NCIA Inquiry into the Future of Voluntary Services. The Inquiry is specifically concerned with those voluntary organisations that deliver services in local communities, especially those that accept state money for these activities. These are the groups that have been particularly affected by successive New Labour and Coalition Government policies regarding the relationship between the voluntary and statutory sectors, and attitudes and intentions towards the future of public services. In this and other papers we refer to these as Voluntary Services Groups or VSGs.

It has long been NCIA’s contention that the co-optive nature of these relationships has been damaging to the principles and practise of independent voluntary action. The nature and scale of the Coalition Government’s political project – ideologically driven – to degrade rights, entitlements and social protections, and to privatise public services that cannot be abolished is now laid bare. This has created new imperatives for VSGs to remind themselves of their commitment to social justice and to position themselves so that they can once again be seen as champions of positive social, economic and environmental development.Our Inquiry is a wide ranging attempt to document the failure of VSGs, and the so-called ‘leadership’ organisations that purport to represent them, to resist these shackles on their freedom of thought and action. But it is also an attempt to seek out the green shoots of a renaissance that will allow voluntary agencies to assert their independence and reconnect with the struggle for equality, social justice, enfranchisement and sustainability.

This paper is one of a number that has been produced through the Inquiry and looks at the impact of these changes in terms of those who work in VSGs, and the particular role and position of Trades Unions in defending workplace rights and the terms and conditions of work. This paper has been prepared for NCIA by Rosie Walker and Frances Sullivan to whom we offer grateful thanks.

For more information on the NCIA Inquiry please visit our website – www.independentaction.net

Read the full report here: Workplace-issues-final

Grandad shoots himself after finding out his benefits were being stopped

Shaun Pilkington, 58, was sent a letter saying he was to lose his ­Employment and Support ­Allowance, which he got after a long-term illness

Tributes: Flowers at Shaun's home
Tributes: Flowers at Shaun’s home

A grandad who had just found out his benefits were being stopped shot himself dead – after telling friends he was “unable to cope”.

Shaun Pilkington, 58, was sent a letter saying he was to lose his ­Employment and Support ­Allowance, which he got after a long-term illness.

He was told he would have to be reassessed and needed to prove he was eligible. But as the hearing approached, friends said Shaun, a licensed gamekeeper, became discouraged.

Days later he called police and said he was about to kill himself. They found him dead at his flat.

A neighbour said: “There were armed police everywhere. Sadly he’d gone through with his threat.

“It is a tragedy. He was upset because he got a letter saying his ESA was being stopped.

“He was pretty down about it and said he was finding it hard to cope with the decision. He was a lovely man. It is not fair what the Government is doing.”

Well-wishers left floral tributes and cans of Stella outside Shaun’s home in Beighton, Sheffield.

The neighbour added: “It all got on top of him – having no money for Christmas and being warned he’d lose his benefits.

“It’s wrong what they’re doing, targeting people on benefits. We haven’t got a lot of money but the Government seems intent on cutting it.”

Registered gun-keeper Shaun was divorced and had two grown-up children and a two-month-old grandson.

Another neighbour, Shani Hird, said yesterday: “We have lost a dear neighbour who shot himself due to his money being stopped. His appeal was due next week but he felt he could not carry on.

“This is so sad. This isn’t the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. I think it is terrible the Government’s benefit cuts are causing vulnerable people so much pain and misery.”

Police yesterday confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.

Shaun’s estranged family was too upset to talk. He joins a growing list of people who have taken their lives since the Tory-led Coalition employed private firm Atos to reassess thousands of people on long-term benefits.

Blind Tim Salter, 53, of Kinver, Staffordshire, died after being deemed fit to work. A coroner ruled the move to axe his benefit had contributed to his suicide.

Edward Jacques, 47, of Sneinton, Nottingham, took a fatal overdose after his benefit payments were stopped.

Jobless Richard ­Sanderson, 44, of ­Southfields, south-west London, stabbed himself in the heart. Unemployed electrician Lee Robinson, 39, of Crawley, Sussex, also took his own life.

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details.

Originally published in The Mirror or 5 Jan 2014- Link