On the 6th of June along with many others I sent an email asking my MP to not support the welfare reform bill. This is the email I sent
Dear Mr Williams MP
I write to ask that you OPPOSE the Welfare Reform Bill on this months vote.
The Bill is an attempt to scapegoat those on welfare, part of the coalition’s plans to slash £18 billion from welfare payments. The plans will also further privatise welfare delivery and result in a less generous and more punitive welfare system at a time when people need it more than ever.There is true need within this country. Please note the FIGURE of £18 Billion is a "We will reduce regardless" figure that ignores the True and Actual Needs within this society.
I therefore on vote request that you oppose this Bill.
I myself am both sick and disabled and I will suffer greatly under the proposed changes should this bill go through. I will be forced into a job that I am unable to do and will make my health considerably worse. Fearing that the bill will be passed people have already committed suicide in this country, how many people will die should it be passed? I myself confess to feeling suicidal at the thought of being forced into work which will hospitalise me or forced into destitution. I beg of you to take a stand against this bill. Your voting record in parliament is poor, you either vote for or abstain. Please make this something that you take a stand on and say no to with a definitive voice! Abstaining from voting on this issue is not a choice as it risks so many people’s lives! I have lost my faith in the political party which you stand under, please don't make me lose my faith in you as my local representative.
S Ross
I received this reply today from Mark Williams MP
Dear S,
Many thanks for this email, apologies for the delay in my response.
I appreciate your concerns and worries, however I am afraid I do not agree that this is the Government is making a scapegoat the poor. It is simply doing what is necessary considering the size of the deficit and the unsustainable size of the benefits system.
The Government is seeking to update the benefit system, but will still certainly protect those who need support. The whole benefit system was outdated and not fit for purpose, and any Government that was in control after the last election would have been irresponsible not to address that.
It is therefore with a heavy heart that I support reforming of the current welfare system. The Lib Dems are making very difficult decisions in Government, but we are doing good work. Indeed due to the Lib Dems influence in Government, around 900,000 people have been taken out of the income tax payment bracket.
I can assure you that I, as you do, care about the old, the sick, the disabled, the vulnerable and the needy, and will work hard to protect the people of Ceredigion as I have done as the MP for the past 6 years.
You say my voting record is poor, however there have been a number of issues I have rebelled against the Government on which I feel would go against the issues I have stood on since I became an MP.
I am willing to meet with you to discuss this matter further if you wish. If so please do get in touch.
Best wishes, Mark Williams
I have no replied to him. It is clear to me that he has done very little research on the matter and so therefore I have pointed out several pieces of research to him.
Mr Williams I have to disagree with you most vehemently that this bill does indeed scapegoat the poor. One of the predominant reasons stated for the reforms to welfare in this country is that there is a huge amount of benefit fraud but I would like to draw your attention to two graphs
This first graph shows how money lost due to benefit fraud is tiny compared to other amounts lost. The government would do better to spend its time raising money from consolidating debts owed to it rather than making expensive changes (the implement costs far out weigh the money saved in the welfare reform bill).
This second graph shows that a large amount of money each year is lost due to clerical error or mistakes, not due to fraud. I kept records, as have many other disabled activists, of the mentions of the word 'scrounger' in reference to the disabled and sick and I have to say I am completely disgusted. You say we are not being scapegoated but the disabled and sick are being scapegoated, made to feel as though we are all liars and that the entire burden of the countries debt is on our shoulders.
There is also the matter of whether welfare reform would be suitable at this time for our country. Many international advisory bodies have warned the current government that cuts to welfare and health services could and will irrevocably damage this country. The government has also been warned that the current rate of cuts is in fact harming our economy greatly and will push back growth by several years. Economists put this down to one factor, that the government today is trying to make cuts similar to those Canada made to its welfare and health service in 1990s but Canada made these changes while their countries economy was stable and it does not work as a model of reform to use this approach now when our country is on its knees.
More than 700,000 people with cancer will be affected by time limiting ESA, as will people with variable conditions and those with degenerative disorders like myself. This along with the recent suggestion that those who are sick and disabled should work for less than minimum wage because they are 'less able and less capable of the same level of work' means that people who are already struggling to survive will be pushed into work that not only damages their health and well being but also into jobs which cannot ever cover the cost of living let alone living with a disability. In and of itself the statement that the disabled are capable of less is insulting to many disabled people as although our bodies may be broken a vast majority of us are intelligent and forthright people, many of us have higher level honours degrees and the only thing wrong with us is we have the misfortune of ill health or a condition which limits our capabilities physically, this does not make us worth less nor does it make us stupid. We are devalued at every turn and attitudes such as this make it harder for those of us who wish to gain employment to do so as employers also have this very same attitude that disabled people are worth less than someone who is able bodied and this attitude pervades the entirety of society. Evidence of this is the massive increase in disability hate crime, spurred on by the devaluing of the disabled and sick and given force by the scapegoating of them with phrases such as 'scrounger'.
A better and more major way for the government to save money on benefits would be to scrap ATOS. ATOS have been found incompetent at every turn but instead of being dropped they are being given a further contract and more power and control. If you care to just browse some sites online such as Broken of Britain then you will see how many people have had bad experiences with ATOS, people have in fact died as a result of ATOS's bad system and bad judgements and others have committed suicide due to the pressure they felt going to a tribunal. More than 50% of ATOS decisions are overthrown which is an alarming rate, why would the government continue to employ a contractor with such a poor record of success? They do not weed out those who are fraudulent but upset and distress those who are genuinely ill and genuinely disabled. Their WCA is intrusive, embarrassing and inaccurate. It expects those with illnesses and disabilities to fall neatly into boxes but the very nature of being human means that everything affects people differently. The welfare reform bill gives more power to ATOS and with every disability, mental health and health charity in the country asking the government to get rid of them how can you agree to give them more power by supporting the welfare reform bill?
The current system is indeed inadequate but there are better ways to change the system than the welfare reform bill suggests. People who are disabled and sick are often living below the poverty line. I myself received food parcel this week because I could not afford to purchase any food and yet I am still better off than many people who are sick and disabled. There has been little or no consultation with those who this bill will most affect and any consultation has largely been ignored, various advisory bodies have also been ignored in the process of formulating this bill. Again I ask you, how can you support a bill that is so poorly researched, poorly thought out and poorly structured. The far reaching consequences of the bill have not been considered or if they have then I can only assume that there is a fundamental lack of understanding in the current government of what it is to live in the real world and live on the poverty line and what a change could do to those who do live this way. There are better ways to reform benefits, a peoples consultation has taken place which has many better and more well thought out and researched ideas than the current welfare reform bill, please read it http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2011/05/welfare-for-people-by-people.html
The predominant problem with the bill is its lack of consideration for the changes it will affect to those who are sick and disabled in regard to their health and well being. Health and well-being are fundamental human rights. I would also like to point our several other human rights which this bill will affect:1. The right to participate in society - Loss of benefits will lead to many disabled and sick people becoming house bound, unable to leave or do anything other than sit at home. If you have never spent weeks on end at home staring at the same four walls I suggest you don't try it, it is like torture, but many will be expected to live this way.2. The right to access employment - Rather than making employment easier to access for those who are sick and disabled the welfare reform bill will make it vastly more difficult because of the culture of malcontent surrounding its implementation and also because they will find it increasingly difficult to access assistance to work due to those services being cut (assistance once offered at Job Centres for finding work, keeping in work, flexible working advice and setting up a home business is now being cut or has already been cut)3.The right ti live without discrimination - The welfare reform bill as it has made its way through parliament has increased hate crime against the sick and disabled, the government itself has used phrases which are discriminatory and has allowed newspapers to use defamatory language about sick and disabled people completely unchecked!
This welfare reform bill is more than just a vehicle to push more vulnerable sick and disabled people into poverty it is a vehicle for human rights violations on a major scale. Particularly when we considder the changes to ESA (time limiting and the poor research that has been released - a first year law student could have produced better) or the change from DLA (a system that predominantly works well) to PIP - an ill conceived and ill thought out system. I have more information on human rights violations here http://thebrokenophelia.blogspot.com/2011/06/human-rights-eu-and-un-and-violations.html
I am sorry that you are still supporting the welfare reform bill but I hope that you can see my points and arguments as to why it will be detrimental.
S Ross
We will see what kind of response I get this time.
Anyone else write to their MP asking them to oppose the welfare reform bill? If so, have you had any response from them? I would be interested to know if anyone has had positive feedback too, are we making dents yet?
I have the dubious pleasure of having Maria Miller, Minister for the Disabled, as my constituency MP. You can read my correspondence with her so far on this subject here: http://t.co/nfBDiIB
ReplyDeleteI had written seperately to this blog, also to Mark Williams, in reference to the limiting factors and future planned reform of the UK welfare system. I received a reply which makes it quite clear that he intends to go ahead and vote in favour of the reforms in general and PIP in particular - more to the point, he argues that the checkbox system and various ATOS monstrousities will be removed by his doing so. I would like to ask: how this is attainable when according to yourself ATOS' contract is in process of renewal?
ReplyDeleteIn fact I have his reply, but cannot seem to post it in the comments (letter limit)?
ReplyDeleteHere's his letter -
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for this email, apologies for the delay in my response.
The Government is seeking to update the benefit system, but will still certainly protect those who need support. The whole benefit system was outdated and not fit for purpose, and any Government that was in control after the last election would have been irresponsible not to address that. It is therefore with a heavy heart that I support the reform of the current welfare system.
With regard to DLA there are some concerns I have had which I have lobbied the Minister on, such as the removal of the mobility component for those in care homes, which I am pleased has now been changed.
It is important that the assessment process is fair to people with complex or fluctuating conditions. It should not be a ‘tick box’ exercise and it is important that officials conducting the assessments are properly trained and capable of making a fair assessment. Lib Dems have also called for people undergoing a face to face assessment should be allowed to take an advocate with them. The Government agrees with this and will seek to actively encourage people to have an advocate with them during their assessment.
(cont.)
ReplyDeleteIt is also important that people with long term unchanging conditions are not made to constantly attend reassessments. The Government has agreed with this and is looking at what categories of people might be required to only fill in a paper reassessment or, potentially, have no reassessment at all after they are first found to qualify for Personal Independence Payments.
The Lib Dems are making very difficult decisions in Government, but we are doing good work. Indeed due to the Lib Dems influence in Government, around 900,000 people have been taken out of the income tax payment bracket.
I can assure you that I, as you do, care about the old, the sick, the disabled, the vulnerable and the needy, and will work hard to protect the people of Ceredigion as I have done as the MP for the past 6 years.
Gist of my response -
ReplyDeleteYou state that the reforms currently planned are necessary to give more support to those with fluctuating conditions and the long-term disabled, to remove the 'tick box' system and to prevent long-term sick people from having to undergo constant reassessment.
I have heard that ATOS are being granted a renewal of their current contract, and indeed that the new reforms and PIP in particular grant them as the consultancy company more power over individual decisions relating to benefit claims. ATOS are in the eyes of many sick and disabled people the largest and most troubling problem with the current welfare system. They are, in fact, the purveyors of the 'tick box' system. They have also seen more than 50% of their decisions overturned, one assumes at appeal or tribunal. This would seem to suggest that they are doing a rather poor job as a consultancy and, moreover, are the greatest cause of loss due to 'fraud and error' within the welfare system (as handling error is the largest segment of all lost capital due to error and fraud combined); and therefore would be the most responsible party for the current welfare system's apparent unsustainability.
Please could you clarify for me how the planned reforms, with ATOS and their contract renewal remaining at the helm of the decisions and appeals process, in any way fulfills those elements which you state as the most important aspects of welfare reform - care for those with complex and fluctuating conditions and those not covered by 'tick box' assessment?
I also find it a little odd that the two elements of reform that you state PIP will bring into existence - permanent eligibity with potentially no future assessment for the permanently disabled, and a larger, more onerous burden of capital loss to ATOS error - are in fact those elements that most official lines state are intended to be cut or removed entirely by this same reform. Please would you explain this?
He's openly admitted that the purpose of the reforms is to "reduce the deficit" rather than deal with any perceived flaws with the existing system. The problem here isn't that the system is broken, it's that the dominance of the right wing press has presented ideologues with an opportunity to do something they've wanted to do for decades - namely, change the social contract.
ReplyDeleteThe changes to the benefit system have one purpose and one alone - to kick people off benefits. This is the intention. By allowing yourself to be drawn into a discussion on the details of the reforms, you have allowed yourself to be drawn away from Mark Williams' admission that this is about spending less money on sick people. That is what we should be shouting about.
Indeed we should be shouting about it Will. I have said to Debbie and I will say to you that I am contacting Mark Williams about arraging a meeting and I will invite you and Cerys to attend also so maybe we can address all the issues with him and present a united front to show him that the people of Ceredigion don't feel protected and are greatly disappointed.
ReplyDelete@vivizara how do you cope with Maria Miller as your MP!?! I think by herself she is a massive threat to the sick and disabled as she simply does not care about their problems and issues nor does she care about standing up for their human rights nor protecting them. I will read your correspondence with interest.