Flexible New Deal Scandal:
Flexible New Deal

Have you ever wondered about the people who run our country? They cost taxpayers’ £93 million a year View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

It is official: jobseekers have no rights.  Jobcentre Plus doesn’t follow the law. There is no punishment against the Department for Work and Pensions for breaking the law or for human rights violations. Claiming benefits has become more difficult with many Benefit Delivery Centres using lie detectors which work by picking up anxiety etc. in the voice, the norm once been on hold for 20+ minutes, resulting in some people being unable to claim… and to top it off now New Deal Scandal has received numerous reports of jobseekers being removed from the Jobcentre without any legal justification and incriminated. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

We recently reported about Jobcentre Plus suppression regarding the misuse of security officers and police time in ejecting jobseekers from the Jobcentre Plus offices for false incriminating reasons to prevent them getting their legal entitlement.

This misconduct was only the start: a blog reader added more worrying concerns who states that the Hackney Jobcentre Plus prevents Jobseekers using the Jobpoints also requesting police to remove the unemployed from the building. The misuse of public services which could be better used for fighting crime seems to be an growing common trait at the Jobcentre Plus offices around the country.

The Jobcentre now stops the unemployed jobseekers from accessing jobs: a requirement for receiving Jobseekers Allowance; an welfare benefit for those without employment to survive on.

This article focuses on more issues regarding the services provided by the largest UK Government department including making false allegations towards people, a claim I can also personally defend from my own circumstances and various sources all over the country too and also in the case we reported in the above article.  View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

You may have heard about assaults on Jobcentre Plus staff in the news, however, these figures are largely distorted. They refer to Incident Cases and not solely due to physical assault – which we will explain later.

Six months ago Jobcentre Plus boasted over 1,600 security guards costing the taxpayer over £40 million a year.  I am sure this amount will be on the increase as new claimants are increasing.

This article will focus on: a) are all these security guards necessary?  and  b) how many actual assaults were there?

View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

What is with the unemployment system?

“Assaults” on staff are to be dealt with by benefit sanctions and not by police.

Awkward customers are to be removed from the Jobcentre Plus office by police after being held by security.

Assaults are crimes, it is a police matter.  Exceeding your time slot or talking back to staff isn’t!

View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Jobseekers Allowance: the Scandal (A MUST READ FOR ALL JOBSEEKERS)

How many scandals can there possibly be?!  Its becoming crazy now…

View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

205 laptops lost or stolen full of confidential information.

Apparently the figures are as follows

2004 – 75 Laptops
2005 – 46 Laptops
2006 – 28 Laptops
2007 – 15 Laptops
2008 – 41 Laptops

£266,000 spent on entertainment.

2003-04 £79,000 (this particular figure is apparently just a estimate)
2004-05 £28,000
2005-06 £43,000
2006-07 £106,000
2007-08 £10,000

Maybe its all the christmas parties, who knows…

Thanks to the volunteers at the United Kingdom Benefits Information eXchange forums (UKBIX). A very recommended source by New Deal Scandal.

It has been a rumour been going around for several months now, it deserves a post!

A4e founder Emma Harrison is said to have an ambition to start a bank!

That’s right, she wants to start a bank aimed at poor and disadvantaged communities (or Jobseekers)! View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

If you are seeking work and claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) you would have heard about the Jobseekers Act 1995 however you are probably more familiar with it being written and acknowledged as the Jobseekers Act 1995 (as amended).

What does this mean? Read on for a brief explanation on the law that applies to you. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has been asked by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to consider proposals for the above named regulations.
Currently, if the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate is higher than their contractual rent, customers are able to keep the excess benefit up to a maximum of £15 per week. The main change that these proposals would introduce is to limit the amount of Housing Benefit a person can be entitled to, to the level of their rent liability.

These changes would mean that:

• all those claiming housing benefit in the deregulated private sector on or after 5 April 2010 would not be entitled to any excess benefit over their contractual rent; and
• existing claimants who are currently entitled to an excess payment of up to £15, would see a reduction in their benefit when their claims are reviewed, usually on the anniversary date of their claim,

Before the Committee considers and reports on these proposals, it would like to hear from organisations and individuals who have views, in particular on the following aspects of the proposed changes:

• The potential impact of a reduction in income on the customers who will lose out;
• The potential effects of the amendments on child poverty;
• Equality issues, including the potential effect of the proposed changes on minority groups;
• The results of removing such an incentive for the customer to take more responsibility for their housing costs
• The possible unforseen repercussions, such as the behavioural responses of landlords and tenants.

The Committee would also like to hear from welfare rights advisers, landlords and others who may be able to supply information about the customer groups affected by the proposed change.

Those wishing to make representations to the Committee may obtain a copy of the Department’s explanatory memorandum and a copy of the draft regulations from the Secretary to the Committee, Gill Saunders (0207 412 1506) or from the SSAC website: www.ssac.org.uk.

Representations should be sent to the Committee at New Court, 48 Carey Street, London, WC2A 2LS, or by email to ssac@dwp.gsi.gov.uk, or via the consultation response facility on the website, to arrive no later than 03/08/2009

Comments welcome. From DWP News.

New Deal wasn’t designed for those with higher skills: why not? View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

People are increasingly loosing jobs, forced to sign on to receive Jobseekers Allowance to scrape by, hundreds of people are now applying for the same jobs and if that wasn’t bad enough, in a bid to save £234 million a year, the Government has decided to pull the £15 per week excess from Local Housing Allowance which is to affect over 300,000 claimants including families.

New Deal Scandal believes that with the surge in new claims, that £234 million a year figure could rise to £250 million within a few months after coming in to effect next year.

At this time of widespread need, the public should be able to rely on the Government giving them extra support – after all collectively we have been paying taxes and their wages for the last few decades. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

This has nothing to do with DWP, Jobcentre Plus or New Deal. I have been constantly thinking whether to post this or not, and I have decided to post it.

Icelandic Bank Scandal

View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

As a Jobseekers Allowance claimant myself (when my claim hasn’t been stopped or suspended for trivial reasons such as not attending an interview they never told me about) I am not surprised that the National Audit Office (NAO) has reported a £1.2 billion under spend last year.

To stick this figure into prospective (remember it is the DWP as a whole not just JSA) if the figure comprised totally of Jobseekers Allowance at the higher rate of £60 per week, it makes 10 million payments of 20 million benefit weeks not being paid out, or 384,615 claimants a year receiving no Jobseekers Allowance at all even though entitled to do so by law.

In fact this raises a huge question about DWP, Jobcentre Plus; and their repeatedly unlawful tactics and techniques to take ones legal entitlement away, which I will explain later in to the article. As the Jobseekers Act 1995 (as amended) makes it your legal entitlement and the Jobcentre is doing the best to avoid paying that money out to you this comes under fraud in my definition and as such this £1.2 billion under spend will be categorised as a £1.2 billion fraud.

This is on top of the £750 million under spending on the Tax Credits system – resulting in 1.2 million claims not being made. We recently reported about the Jobseekers Allowance Scandal and the quarter of a billion pounds a year Housing Allowance cut. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Just a brief overall of recent content on ”New Deal Scandal & Welfare Reform” and “Ipswich Unemployed Action” blogs.  This might be easier to some then using Wordpress pages as some sticky posts make normal ones difficult to see sometimes.  View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

If the answer is yes, then you should think again!

Details published from DWP themselves from the DWP Survey 2009 – a survey of 73,006 people (71%) – a response of under 3 in 4 members of staff, show some worrying statistics. Is your data safe? View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

The latest statistics show that 67% of DWP employees would like to still work at DWP in 12 months time – 33% said they didn’t wish to. 48,914 would still like to work for the Department for Work and Pensions in a years time while 24,092 stated that they would not like to. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

The DWP Survey 2009, states that 26% of employees taking the survey (71% of the total workforce) answered “not sure” to the following question: “Do you possess a Level 2 qualification (NVQ, BTEC, 5 GCSEs Grade A-C, or equivalent) or above?“. That is 18,982 employees not sure about their own qualifications. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

This is criticism against A4e and how they manage their business. This is relevant because they are the largest New Deal provider receiving money from, (guess who?) you, the taxpayer!

I couldn’t resist but to disclose how strange A4e operates being such a large company and all. I don’t know of anything like it. Please feel to continue reading (no its got nothing to do with the fraud investigation) View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Call it another scandal if you wish, it seems that New Deal providers are exempt from planning legislation.

Banbury based YMCA Training, who have recently viewed this site today (leave a comment and say hello)  manages to deliver New Deal training courses without first acquiring the required D1 planning consent.

• YMCA Training     Ipswich      Wolsey House
• YMCA Training     Ipswich      517 London Road
• YMCA Training     Ipswich      Dencora House
• YMCA Training     Southend   Baryta House
• YMCA Training     Romford    Lambourne House

If you know of any others let me know.

Update: Added “Lambourne House” – Havering has responded to me stating they don’t have D1 consent and they should apply for retrospective planning permission costing around £335 for an application if they still use the building.

Please see the exact 288b form used to terminate the directorship below. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Just a brief overall of recent content on ”New Deal Scandal & Welfare Reform” blog. This might be easier to some then using WordPress pages as some sticky posts make normal ones difficult to see sometimes. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Unfair charges

We have all heard about the Jobseekers Allowance Scandal, how LHA rates in most areas have fell dramatically while the rent prices have not decreased by so much and now today, we at New Deal Scandal expose the unfair charges that estate agents such as JSM Property (who were lucky to be featured, a nice link back above) imposed on people trying to get a roof over their heads. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

New Deal Scandal can reveal that the new Jobcentre Plus CEO, Darra Singh OBE, was one of the masterminds behind a new National Service system where in particular young unemployed people are to be forced to “volunteer” or lose their benefits. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

After some extensive research into UK Unemployment Benefit (Jobseekers Allowance) and New Deal related legislation, New Deal Scandal can inform you, confirmed by DWP, that the £4 weekly travel deductions are unlawful.  This means New Deal participants past and present are entitled to be reimbursed. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

New Deal Scandal can reveal that as of the end of July 2009 there are 4 ongoing fraud investigations regarding New Deal and 1 regarding Pathways to Work. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

New Deal Scandal can reveal that the Department for Work and Pensions has no intention for making any prosecutions for prime contractors deliberately defrauding the system. The Department for Work and Pensions currently has no plans of stopping Flexible New Deal contracts being awarded to prime contractors who have previously defrauded the system on numerous occassions for the New Deal contracts. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Articles and Discussion on A4e/Studio Lambert Benefit Busters Series 1: Episodes 1 & 2. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

An Article posted by a blog visitor on our wordpress website.

NEW DEAL OR BUM DEAL? By Alfred Doolittle.

This report is reprinted, by kind permission of the editor, from issue no. 10 of Northern Voices, c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire, BB10 4AH, E-mail : northernvoices@hotmail.com

I’VE just finished a 10-month sentence. Although I wasn’t an inmate in a prison or a mental institution, at times it certainly felt like it. I am one of the many thousands of undeserving poor who each year are coerced into attending one of New Labour’s spurious training schemes aimed at motivating the so-called work-shy.As a middle-aged unemployed man living in Greater Manchester, I was put on the government’s New Deal scheme at the beginning of 2008.

Having a university degree, I initially saw it as an opportunity to take up the government’s offer of training and retraining to improve my job prospects. But any ideas that I may have had about training were soon dispelled after my first meeting with my New Deal advisor.  View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Ipswich Unemployed Action and New Deal Scandal has confirmed that Ipswich Borough Council has granted YMCA Training full planning consent for Dencora House.

Dencora House is a detention centre located on Whitehouse Industrial Estate – isolating New Deal participants from society. Even in an industrial estate, the property has a perimeter fence, the entrance is a vast distance from the main road and towards the opposite side the place is shielded from an even busier road by trees – it is good to see trees but I can’t help thinking that this place was chosen to keep the unemployed away from the town centre where most of the towns jobs actually are: funny that …and also where all the recruitment agencies are and the Jobcentre. They think the unemployed goes around creating crime such as stealing so sticking a large group of them in an industrial estate seems a way of solving that problem.

View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Because the Department for Work and Pensions intentionally uses abbreviations for almost everything (you will see later) it confuses claimants as well as their own staff. You have to personally contact DWP to request a copy of such. Not no more, New Deal Scandal has published just for you a list of the abbreviations they use from A-Z.

In this post we will focus on A-C. The rest of the letters can be found on this site too in the same category. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Because the Department for Work and Pensions intentionally uses abbreviations for almost everything (you will see later) it confuses claimants as well as their own staff. You have to personally contact DWP to request a copy of such. Not no more, New Deal Scandal has published just for you a list of the abbreviations they use from A-Z. This is the second posting.

In this post we will focus on D-F. The rest of the letters can be found on this site too in the same category. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Because the Department for Work and Pensions intentionally uses abbreviations for almost everything (you will see later) it confuses claimants as well as their own staff. You have to personally contact DWP to request a copy of such. Not no more, New Deal Scandal has published just for you a list of the abbreviations they use from A-Z. This is the third posting. In this post we will focus on G-M. The rest of the letters can be found on this site too in the same category. We hope you find these useful. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Because the Department for Work and Pensions intentionally uses abbreviations for almost everything (you will see later) it confuses claimants as well as their own staff. You have to personally contact DWP to request a copy of such. Not no more, New Deal Scandal has published just for you a list of the abbreviations they use from A-Z. This is the forth posting. In this post we will focus on N-Q. The rest of the letters can be found on this site too in the same category. We hope you find these useful. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Because the Department for Work and Pensions intentionally uses abbreviations for almost everything (you will see later) it confuses claimants as well as their own staff. You have to personally contact DWP to request a copy of such. Not no more, New Deal Scandal has published just for you a list of the abbreviations they use from A-Z. This is the fifth posting. In this post we will focus on R-T. The rest of the letters can be found on this site too in the same category. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Because the Department for Work and Pensions intentionally uses abbreviations for almost everything (you will see later) it confuses claimants as well as their own staff. You have to personally contact DWP to request a copy of such. Not no more, New Deal Scandal has published just for you a list of the abbreviations they use from A-Z. This is the sixth and final posting. In this post we will focus on U-Z. The rest of the letters can be found on this site too in the same category. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Today I have received an email from a New Deal Scandal blog reader and ex-New Deal participant who is upset at his mistreatment of this New Deal farce:

I know its a diabolical situation & I am so glad I found your website because I was beginning to think it was just me who thought the New Deal Programme was such a farce & I was being forced to sign off just to get the unemployment figures down.

Here is a copy of the still yet unanswered letter that has been sent to the manager of the Jobcentre Plus office in Lewisham, all the major tabloids, Yvette Cooper (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Work & Prisons W*nkers and Pillocks), Darra Singh CEO of Jobcentre Plus and Gordon Brown! (Read on) View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

SAVE DLA AND ALL DISABILITY BENEFITS
Tony Greenstein

Having already abolished Incapacity Benefit, New Labour has now made it clear that it wants to scrap ALL disability benefits. On July 14th New Labour published a Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Care. Reading through the spin, the message is clear. Disability Living Allowance is ‘inefficient’ ‘poorly targeted’ [because it’s not means tested!] and therefore has to go towards paying for a new national care service.

Disability Living Allowance is the best benefit there is. If your needs are great enough, if you cannot care and need help with bodily functions for part or all of the day (and night) you are eligible for Disability Living Allowance. There are 3 bands – lower, middle and higher. Receipt of Disability Living Allowance does not overlap with other benefits and is not counted as taxable income.

The result is that people who are the most vulnerable and sick in this society see a small increase in their standard of living. This is what New Labour hate most of all. The proposal is to use the money for ‘individual budgets’ run by private companies, whereby the disabled, in agreement with the local authority, can spend the money on care. Of course they’ll never actually see the money!!

The whole system will be discretionary and, of course, liable to cuts. Anyone with any experience of the existing system of individual budgets knows what a nightmare the whole system is.

The Green Paper talks about abolishing Attendance Allowance which is paid to those 65 and over (Attendance Allowance is the equivalent of the care component of Disability Living Allowance). Instead they intend to force the elderly to pay £20,000 to insure themselves!! The Green Paper talks about replacing not just Attendance Allowance but ‘disability benefits’ – a clear sign that it is not just Attendance Allowance which is in their sights. And the Green Paper dresses up its purpose with the usual New Labour waffle such as proclaiming that “our aspiration (is) to build a stronger, fairer Britain.”

The Attlee Government of 1945-51, which was a right-wing cold war Labour government, introduced the building blocs of the welfare state which New Labour is intent on dismantling. They introduced the 1948 National Assistance Act intended to act as a safety net for those who fell below a certain level of income. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Flexible New Deal Open to Abuse

Whereas there were initial concerns about the financial profits of providers with the New New Deal (called Flexible New Deal) due to a greater emphasis on pay for results – that is paid for actual job outcomes (both short and sustained). This is largely conditional on the economy and job market which is likely to improve.

Previously New Deal providers had only a chance of claiming Job Outcome bonuses for the 13 week course plus up to 3 months (started off at 6 weeks) afterwards; this has all changed under Flexible New Deal.

New Deal providers also committed a New Deal Fraud technique of leeching – that is entering the New Deal participant into an agreement that gives permission for them to contact any future employer (subject to timescales) to claim a Job Outcome Bonus although the provider hasn’t got the participant the job, even months after the course ended, also tying in the responsibility for the New Deal participant to contact their old provider to make them aware of the job although they shouldn’t be holding their details anymore.

View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

A4e, Avanta (TNG) and Jobcentre Plus all amongst New Years Honours List