Starting over September 2011

phew! Memory working well enough to recall the names and passwords that access this site. Filezilla still the best tool out there for multi-platform website maintenance. One particularly agreeable feature is an “are you sure” process with date and time to obviate publicly embarrassing version cock-ups.

I hope to find something less bloated than LibreOffice for text input... [disappears for sometime in search of something lite and simple] Plenty of editors out there but I really can’t be bothered with the arcane arts of HTML editing when all I want to do is write. WordPress and Blogger are OK but both cumbersome to use, consuming an unnecessary amount of limited confuser resource. [nostalgic pine for the simplicity of msdos Word: there is a truism to the effect of work expanding to exceed available capacity, certainly applies to home computing...]

Impact of Fit for Work assessments

much helpful information can be found at

http://abcofesa.co.uk/

http://5quidforlife.org.uk/

If you can’t sleep (or if you're a litigation hungry lawyer) the niceties of the agreement between ATOS and the DWP at http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatoscontract.html will provide hours of bemusement

A hasty collation of the real impact of benefit change, fitness for work rules: if a an individual's story makes the mainstream news media just think how many more thousands are suffering in silence: I am sure this list will continue growing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-12206652

http://www.essexcountystandard.co.uk/news/ecsnews/8797111.Disabled_dad_Robert_Oxley____gutted____after_handing_over_his_car/

http://fightingmonsters.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/cuts-a-personal-tale/

Housing Benefit Changes April 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/20/housing-benefit-economic-growth-oecd?INTCMP=SRCH

sources of information found so far but this will be a moving target for a while not least as every local authority opines on its take on the (proposed) reforms. When I first (Thursday 21^st October 2010) started looking for reactions and authoritative analyses, there was not very much at all, less than a week later everyone seems to be taking a stand. Much of what is posted refers only to England as Scotland and Wales have their own systems of governance which might or not produce a different implementation of the changes.

The BBC tends to be reliable if not always the quickest publisher but always worth searching – the Coalition spokespeople seem to be altering the policy on the fly – see, for example, student fees. Also it is worth looking closely at the source of the information because each organisation publishing almost always publishes to its own agenda which may or not be the dissemination of fact rather than fanciful speculation.

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/spend_index.htm see in particular http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sr2010_completereport.pdf to find out what it's all about

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Default.aspx

http://www.housing.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=212&mid=828&ctl=details&articleid=3113

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=665:dwp-proposes-housing-benefit-cap-following-luxury-rental-claims&catid=52:adult-social-services-articles&q=&Itemid=8

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/adviceandbenefits.aspx

http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/housing/housingoptions/hphoptions/housing-benefit-changes-april-2011/#feedback

http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/core.nsf/a/wr_bench2010

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/inquiries/impact-of-the-changes-to-housing-benefit-announced-in-the-june-2010-budget/

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/housing-benefit/claims-processing/local-housing-allowance/impact-of-changes.shtml

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/f44.htm

http://rd.kpmg.co.uk/Topics/23803.htm

http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2010/06/the-incidence-of-housing-benefit.html

http://england.shelter.org.uk/

Here are some opinion pieces which I have found ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2010/jun/29/housing-benefit-cuts-poor-inner-london - this one I found an interesting "global/ class" take on it (trust the Guardian to automatically assume that anyone on benefits is “working class” and only toffs live in W1, W2 etc)

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/844918-housing-benefit-changes-could-force-200-000-people-out-of-london - here is a more right wing approach, but with the rider that of course it will stop people living in multi-million pound properties when they are not working/ contributing which I think is probably fair. Not that I know any personally but the Daily Mail does :-)

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/budget/article7074953.ece - another with a similar view although it makes the point that housing benefit will be capped at £1,100 a week, which seems to me to be more than fair. I live in London and £1,100 would pay for the mortgage, insurance and most of my other household (not not moggy related) bills if of course they did this, which they don't ... sigh. It would also more than adequately cover rental and bills on most houses I know in the capital.

Here's some govt double-speak which actually doesn't say anything much ... usual story http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018926

Here's another from Family Action ... who I have never heard of I have to admit … http://www.family-action.org.uk/section.aspx?id=11215

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/15/housing-benefit-cuts-local-analysis - includes a link to a table showing actual figures which is useful

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/7847390/Budget-2010-health-checks-on-disability-claimants-and-changes-to-housing-benefit.html - this one includes an unreferenced quote about a DWP report which came out last month suggesting that 9/10 people are either ready to return to work or are on their way to being so - sounds a bit concerning considering they have not implemented the new health checks yet and also, what the heck do they do about people in my situation who are able and willing to work but there is none to be found? And why are 9/10 of people ready to go back to work but still on benefits? What have they done to sort this out? I think this has a ring of bulldoody about it!

http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/economy/housing-benefit-changes-will-boost-flat-sharing/1020729.article - financial piece on flat sharing increasing as a result (don't see why this would happen, provided they capped it as aforementioned and didn't go after people who are at the lower end of the scale)

http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/housing/briefings/landlordsurvey.htm - this one is interesting as it suggests that landlords will opt out of providing social housing if they are forced to reduce their rents ... hadn't thought of this impact, although once again, it depends how this is implemented - if it is implemented across the board (which would be daft but this is the govt we are talking about) then yes, this would apply. But surely, there are not that many families claiming over £4,400 in housing benefit a month???!!!

Ah this one goes into a bit more explanation ... http://www.themovechannel.com/news/84a85782-85f8/ Once again though, these caps seem quite high ... and I quote "£250 per week for a one-bedroom property, and the highest level of £400 per week for a four-bedroom property". One bedroom properties in South London are £700 - £900 per month so well covered; four bedroom properties rent out at between £1,100 - £1,500 so this might be an issue ... but once again, two adults and three kids and no-one working????!! Perhaps they deserve not to be in a nice four bedroom house!