Saturday 28 June 2014

120 Reasons for the #NoMoreAusterity March


On Saturday 21st June the No More Austerity demonstration marched and rallied through London. It was organised by the People's Assembly. The links are to inactualfact.org.uk, click on 'source' for more information.

Here is a glossary of abbreviations in case the reader is unfamiliar with any of them.

ConDems is an ironic abbreviation (punning on 'condemn') for the Conservative (senior partner) and Liberal Democrat (junior partner) UK co-alition government.

Daily Heil refers to the UK newspaper Daily Mail, which in the 1930's supported fascism.

DLA stands for Disability Living Allowance, a social security payment made to seriously disabled &/or chronically sick folk. It is paid whether or not one is in employment. It is supposed to recompense for the extra costs disabled/sick people incur in daily living.

DWP is the standard abbreviation for Department of Work & Pensions, the agency charged with administering social security (welfare) payments.



ESA stands for Employment & Support Allowance, the replacement for Incapacity Benefit.

HMRC is the UK's tax authority, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs.


IB = Incapacity Benefit

IDS = Ian Duncan Smith, widely reported as a serial teller of untruths/misstatements.

JRF is the acronym for the respected think-tank Joseph Rowntree Foundation.


JSA is Jobseekers Allowance, the name for the UK's unemployment benefit.

PIP, Personal Independence Payment, is the new benefit meant to replace DLA; but it has encountered numerous problems and is seriously behind schedule.

VAT is a European-wide sales tax, Value Added Tax.


WCA stands for the Work Capability Assessment, a notorious check developed by DWP in conjunction with the US insurance company UNUM. It has an exceptionally high failure rate.


W Mids = West Midlands



 · Jun 21
claims re benefits “cross line between legitimate ‘spin’ & outright inaccuracy”


 · Jun 21

Daily Heil claims 75% people "faking". says fraud 0.3%, 0.5%


 · Jun 21

Press claim widespread benefit fraud. : 0.7%. : tax avoidance 33Xs more

 · Jun 21
Govt "intergenerational workless culture". "no 3-gen family that has never worked"

 · Jun 21
Of the 2.5 million workless adults, 1 million do not receive benefits

 · Jun 21
60% believe benefits so generous they discourage job-seeking, yet JSA equals 1997 rates

 · Jun 21
Daily Heil use of "cheats" connected to benefits up 5-fold in 5 years

 · Jun 21
"benefits spending caused recession"; yet benefits spend stable for 20 years

 · Jun 21
cutting 30% benefits budget; yet 30% not cured/discrimination-free

 · Jun 21
doubled since 2008 financial crisis. Linked to media distortion.

 · Jun 21
"disability benefit costs out of control" DLA&ESA only 15.5% of benefits spend

 · Jun 21
Current system for assessing welfare benefit claimants is killing people

 · Jun 21
assmnt: ignores discrimination, support, job availability, impact on employability

 · Jun 21
ESA assmnt fails to detect complex/hidden/fluctuating impairment. Claimants unsupported

 · Jun 21
84% public say assmnt should be tougher; 87% welfare advisors say damages health.

 · Jun 21
90% of welfare advisors say too many left with too little welfare support.

 · Jun 21
Public say is major benefits cost, yet under 4% of claimants suffer same.

 · Jun 21
Medically ass'd, tough eligibility DLA helps with costs of impairment/long-term malady.

 · Jun 21
unrelated to being in/out of work. Often vital for extra access costs of working.

 · Jun 21
don’t give cars. Disabled pay with hard-to-claim / .

 · Jun 21
> : to cut 20% claimants. 500K folk’s independence on line.

 · Jun 21
Public believes 41% of benefits spend goes on unemployment; but says only 3%.

 · Jun 21
Relative to average consumption, worth only 50% what it was 30 years ago.

 · Jun 21
: unemployed "languishing" yet 4 in 5 people on come off within 6 months.

 · Jun 21
Only 1 in 8 claimants is unemployed. Most work but are poorly paid.

 · Jun 21
lies - fewer than 5 claimants in whole UK receive of £100K/year

 · Jun 21
creates financial need to move, but no properties available: !

 · Jun 21
72% of households include someone with impairment or major health concern.

 · Jun 21
20% of welfare goes to low-paid workers. Employers paying staff too little to live on!

 · Jun 21
64% of families & half country receive some state benefits. Claimants are not "other".

 · Jun 21
' benefit changes pushing 200,000 MORE children into .

 · Jun 21
Public think benefits increasing yet inflation means 1% "uprating" cap equals real cut.

 · Jun 21
Almost 25% of the nation's benefits budget goes unclaimed.

 · Jun 21
We ALL pay tax. “Poorest often pay most. As incomes change, so do kinds of taxes paid”

 · Jun 21
Immigrants to EU less likely to live on benefits than native population.

 · Jun 21
says UK Tax Avoidance £30bn+/year. Equates to a third of spend.

 · Jun 21
IMF: "Britain is 6th wealthiest nation" yet homelessness & foodbanks doubled in 12mths

 · Jun 21
£350m cut causing 'advice deserts', ending representation for poorest.

 · Jun 21
Cuts cumulative: benefits, , , , libraries, council budgets...

 · Jun 21
Nordic countries prove economic dynamism & substantial can coexist well.

 · Jun 21
Folk don't "languish" on but move on & off, most claiming only for short periods.

 · Jun 21
Public believe 27% of benefits fraudulently claimed. says 0.7%.

 · Jun 21
29% think more spent on than pensions, yet pensions spend is 15 times that of JSA.

 · Jun 21
Wales GPs told stop writing ATOS appeal letters for patients as an "Abuse of resources"

 · Jun 21
Over 10K suicides & million extra cases of worldwide since austerity began.

 · Jun 21
Investing in back-to-work schemes & welfare best manages recession & protects wellbeing

 · Jun 21
UK falling before recession; now rising with unemployment & austerity

 · Jun 21
"Languishing?" figures show more people flowed off / than on over 2008-13.

 · Jun 21
Cumulative cost of benefit appeals reached £500,000,000 in May 2013!

 · Jun 21
EU immigrants less likely to claim benefits and pay more taxes than services received.

 · Jun 21
IDS: 2.6m claimants “parked on sick” for decade. Not static: DWP shows 6.5m flowed off.

 · Jun 21
: essential goods & services often cost more for people with low incomes

 · Jun 21
do not supply all-comers; recognised agency must refer for just 3 days' food

 · Jun 21
500,000 in Britain resorted to in 2013 3X more than previous 12 months!

 · Jun 21
Benefit levels halved since 1980 compared with incomes; now 1/10th average earnings.

 · Jun 21
Greater risk of for women minority ethnic groups specific UK regions & nations

 · Jun 21
2012: average earnings shrank 4.4%; incomes of FTSE100 directors rose 49%.

 · Jun 21
Food prices up by 30.5% in 5yrs; National Minimum Wage up just 12.1% in same period.

 · Jun 21
hit strongly by cuts: service-users, public employees, plugging care gaps, …

 · Jun 21
Benefits fall far short of public-defined Minimum Income Standard Lone parents just 57%

 · Jun 21
6,100,000 in poverty in working households. In-work poverty outstrips workless poverty.

 · Jun 21
50%+ poor children & work-age adults in working households. Steady rise for decade.

 · Jun 21
78% rise in enquiries to Citizens Advice in first half 2013 142% rise W Mids

 · Jun 21
Low incomes cut thro income & housing benefit changes, with disabled people hit hardest

 · Jun 21
6,400,000 UNDERemployed, highest in 20 years 1,400,000 part-timers want full-time work

 · Jun 21
Cuts to UK public services estimated to hit poorest tenth 13X harder than richest tenth

 · Jun 21
Regressive taxation means poorest 10% spend twice the income in VAT as richest 10%.

 · Jun 21
40% of appeals confirm claimant too ill to work. Rises to 70% with expert help.

 · Jun 21
1000s face up to 6 different benefit cuts, losing up to £23K each over 5 yrs.

 · Jun 21
: needing room for equipment/unable to share room not exempt.

 · Jun 21
Landlords reject claimants so move not an option: !

 · Jun 21
45% of folk using due to: benefit delays/reduction/withdrawal - 's fault

 · Jun 21
In half of 's areas, more chance of employment if not taking part

 · Jun 21
Of claimants on ' for 12+ months 90% yet to find work. fail

 · Jun 21
Female healthy-life expectancy: 20.1-year disparity according to advantage/deprivation.

 · Jun 21
staff pressured to falsely classify claimants fit for work: abuse!

 · Jun 21
Incapacity benefit to ESA switch doesn't boost employment prospects but causes distress

 · Jun 21
cut / claimants by 20%. 90K accessible vehicles may be repossessed.

 · Jun 21
Life expectancy of males in most deprived areas 9.2 years less than least deprived.

 · Jun 21
& did £2bn UK public sector work in 2012 but paid ZERO UK corporation tax

 · Jun 21
Royal Courts Justice: assmt discriminates against those with issues.

 · Jun 21
Over half UK’s 13m in poverty live in working family, most of rest are pensioners.

 · Jun 21
Under govts. average incomes have fallen by 8% since 2008 peak.

 · Jun 21
Number in low-paid jobs has risen; around 5,000,000 paid below .

 · Jun 21
among working-age adults with children is 23%.

 · Jun 21
54% of all benefits spend is pensions. UK's ageing population leads to rising spend.

 · Jun 21
26% care cut for old/ folk “without precedent in history of adult "

 · Jun 21
Immigrants "least deserving" of welfare? They pay more tax than benefits received.

 · Jun 21
299 claimants reassessed for every fraud case. So: severe distress & wasted taxes.

 · Jun 21
32 people die each week, despite via having declared them fit to work.

 · Jun 21
Statutory risen substantially; 22% thro' loss of private tenancies.

 · Jun 21
Financial industry represents just 3.6% of all jobs, yet 36% of UK bonuses

 · Jun 21
Some resorting to suicide due to punishing assmnts & constant reassmnts.

 · Jun 21
Youth unemployment rose continuously from 2004 to 2013: up 21%.

 · Jun 21
Cuts greater in more deprived local authorities, by about £100/head

 · Jun 21
Local gov spending (excl police, schools, housing benefit) to fall nearly 30% 2008-2015

 · Jun 21
15% of people’s health affected “a lot” or “quite a lot” by lack of money.

 · Jun 21
Overcrowding due to back to 1983 levels. Rising more with .

 · Jun 21
By end of 2014, 60% of ' planned spending cuts still to come.

 · Jun 21
National debt won’t return to pre-crisis levels until mid-2030s.

 · Jun 21
Low-income households hit harder by food and energy price inflation (as % of income).

 · Jun 21
Public concern about and in Britain rising steadily.

 · Jun 21
abolished, yet 650,000 people a year relied on legal aid advice.

 · Jun 21
abolished, removing benefit, debt, tax, employment & much housing advice.

 · Jun 21
17% of Brits - about 11,000,000 - live in damp housing & can’t afford adequate heating.

 · Jun 21
Estimated people with zero-hour contracts increased 75% since 2008 - 250,000 by 2012.

 · Jun 21
Around 5,000,000 working people, over 21% of all employees, are paid below

 · Jun 21
Two thirds of children in live in working households.

 · Jun 21
Record low of children in jobless homes, 14%, yet child poverty up thro in-work poverty




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1 comment:

  1. Criquaer28 June 2014 at 17:03

    Sorry about text-sizing: despite multiple attempts and several hours, I could not get blogger to homogenise! %S

    ReplyDelete

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