http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/23/iain-duncan-smith-wrag-benefit-cuts?guni=Keyword:news-grid%20main-1%20Main%20trailblock:Editable%20trailblock%20-%20news:Position4:anchor%20image 550,000 people currently considered too sick to work face losing financial support Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith Iain Duncan-Smith crawls out from the woodwork with yet another pernicious proposal designed to inflict financial hardship on those least able to resist and to punish people for being sick. This is not in itself, unusual in this ConDem coalition country, where the demonisation and marginalisation of those sections of society, the sick, the disabled, the unemployed and any other benefit claimants are considered to be prime targets for cuts to the welfare system in the name of austerity and "saving money". In the case of Duncan-Smith, he alone stands out as the undisputed leader of the drive for harsher and harsher measures and takes the...
Posts
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/07/universal-credit-waste-mps Universal credit scheme will waste at least £140m, say MPs, while some experts put the figure at nearer £300m. Iain Duncan-Smith And Iain Duncan-Smith will still not listen. A recalcitrant individual responsible for the continuing waste of tax payers money, but moreover the architect of a scheme inflicting pain and hardship upon hundreds of thousand of people in this country. His initials are synonymous with policies which have brought misery to millions and retrospective changes to law which have sought to perpetuate injustice and exploitation in the workplace. Changes introduced to cap benefits, re assessment of incapacity benefits, State Pension age changes, Workfare, ATOS assessment instructions, IDS is responsible for the conception and implementation of the most obnoxious legislation that this ConDem coalition or any other government since the 19th Century has introduced. Many...
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/05/david-cameron-24bn-universal-credit-problems David Cameron's £2.4bn universal credit project riddled with problems A poorly implemented scheme, born out of spite and malice and introduced by a government determined to demonise claimants of any benefits and divide society one against another. There is little if any likelihood of this ConDem coalition abandoning this odious policy, no matter what cost financial or social may be incurred. It is equally unlikely that a change of government in 2015 would be prepared to repeal this loathsome piece of legislation. It seems that when social division is the objective then the cost is one the government is prepared to accept.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/29/universal-credit_iain-duncan-smith-jobcentre-_n_3176401.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Universal Credit, will be introduced in four local jobcentres in selected areas of Ashton-under-Lyme, Oldham, Warrington and Wigan. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith There is a fundamental flaw in the economic logic that argues by essentially, cutting benefit payments it will somehow, automatically "force" people back to work. Wrong. The way to achieve the objective of getting people off benefits (and thereby cutting the amount of benefit payments), is to generate the conditions and the environment where work is available. Given that the majority of claimants would rather be gainfully employed, it seems reasonable to assume that people would take up work, were the opportunities there to do so. Clearly, the private sector has had only a marginal effect in the creation of real job opportunities. It therefore follows t...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-so-universal-credit-government-puts-the-brakes-on-trials-of-its-controversial-new-benefits-programme-8554053.html Ministers have significantly scaled back plans to begin piloting their controversial universal credit programme next month. Iain Duncan Smith: Secretary of State for Work and pensions Another Iain Duncan Smith failure.This man is an embarrassment to all and sundry. Everything Midas touched turned to gold, but in the case of IDS, everything he touches turns to rat droppings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/30/welfare-benefits Universal credit will hit low-income families, charity warns Universal credit – free school meals could be under threat as families' earnings rise under the system, says the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation adds its weight to the argument that Universal credit will hit low-income families. Charities, pressure groups, low income support groups, trade unions, economic experts and numerous other bodies have all come to the same view. However, it seems that Ian Duncan Smith and other government dimwits are blessed with a monopoly of knowledge and wisdom on this issue, and will press on with this "welfare policy" regardless of all evidence and advice counseling against it. Dogma prevails over common sense.