Got to like this.
Benefits and Work community October 2nd news letter
2 October Newsletter |
| Benefits May Stop For Claimants Who Appeal Plus New 3 Year Sanctions
In this edition we have confirmation that the DWP is actively considering axeing employment and support allowance (ESA) payments for claimants who challenge a decision that they are fit for work. Instead, claimants will have to try to sign on for jobseeker’s allowance, where they will face a harsh new regime which, from later this month, will include potential benefit sanctions of up to three years. Plus, we learn how many ESA claimants who get found fit for work are left with no income at all and discover the outrage amongst disability charities at a secret deal done between Disabilty Rights UK and the DWP. We also have leaked confirmation that Atos will be paid millions in bonuses for getting disability living allowance (DLA) to personal independence payment (PIP) transfer medicals done in a tearing hurry rather than getting them right – and how this may also affect not just DLA but also ESA claimants. And finally, as well as the money off offer below we also have a free screensaver of stunning images from A Way of Seeing to say thank you for over 5,000 Facebook likes of our Benefits and Work page. 20547 to get an annual subscription for 15.95, down from 19.45. ESA MAY BE STOPPED FOR CLAIMANTS WHO TRY TO APPEAL This is particularly important for ESA claimants who are found fit for work, as they are legally prevented from continuing to receive the assessment rate of ESA until they have lodged an appeal. After months of refusing to answer the question, the DWP have now revealed in their response document that they are still undecided as to whether claimants will be allowed to continue to receive ESA during the reconsideration phase. Worryingly the document does state that “other benefits may be available to claimants where ESA has been disallowed”. Benefits and Work members can read more and comment here. You can download the response document from the DWP website EXTRAORDINARILY HARSH JSA SANCTIONS leaving a job voluntarily; If you can show you had good cause for your actions, then there will, be no sanction. But with legal aid ending for welfare benefits next year, help to show good cause will be harder to come by. Claimants may lose out on JSA where decision makers refuse to accept that the they are too ill to undertake mandatory work, for example. Or if an unscrupulous employer unlawfully sacks them because they are disabled, but alleges that dismissal was for misconduct, then they may also face sanctions. Again, with the ending of legal aid for employment law and the introduction of hefty fees for taking a case to tribunal, it will be much harder for claimants to show they were not at fault. The three year sanction will apply for a third offence within 52 weeks. The current maximum sanction is 26 weeks. Claimants may be eligible for hardship payments during the sanction period. Further details of the new sanctions regime can be found on the DWP website. ESA LOSERS LEFT WITHOUT INCOME The Daily Record reports that, according to a DWP survey carried out in 2009 but only recently uncovered by a Freedom of Information request, 55% of claimants found fit for work were left unemployed and without any income. A further 30% were in receipt of benefits and only 15% had found employment. Given the current economic climate, today’s figures may be even more dismal. You can read the Daily record article here and Benefits and Work members can comment here. ANGER OVER SECRET DWP CHARITY DEAL News came out only after the deal was done and some angry charities are now trying to get questions asked in the House of Commons about what went on behind closed doors. The new organisation is supposed to help ensure that government policy gets the best possible outcome for disabled people. But the Alliance is made up of private companies, who may be more concerned about making profits than supporting disabled people, public sector organisations, who may be more concerned about saving money, and by charities like DRUK which are heavily and increasingly dependent on government cash to stay afloat. There is particular disquiet from disability charities such as RNIB and the UK Disabled People’s Council that DRUK was chosen to lead the new body without any consultation or appointment process that would have allowed others to take part. The appointment includes a fee for DRUK, whose head Liz Sayce wrote a report recommending the closure of Remploy factories which the government is now putting into action. Benefits and Work members can read more and comment here and also here There is no evidence of a penalty for getting it wrong in tens of thousands of cases as they currently do with ESA, however. It is clear that at the moment there is a wide margin of uncertainty about how many current DLA claimants will take part in the PIP transfer and that the DWP and Atos have worked out what the cost and profitability of the contract is likely to be depending on the final number of people assessed. What this may mean is that, for Atos, there will be a real financial incentive to rush through medicals as quickly as possible without worrying whether they are collecting detailed and accurate evidence. The profits will be for volume not for accuracy. This could have a knock on effect for ESA claimants too. It is likely that some of the same staff and same centres that are used for ESA examination will also be used for PIP. The faster the current incapacity benefit to ESA transfer can be completed, the sooner staff can be freed up to work on the PIP contract. Yet more incentive to get things done fast rather than well. Details of the contract, which the DWP had meant to keep secret, were accidentally disclosed in a Freedom of Information response. More details from the Daily Record. FREE SCREENSAVER SLIDESHOW To say thank you for your support , A way of Seeing – who do graphic work for us as well as running our Facebook page – are giving away a free screensaver slideshow of stunning images from their “On The Water Front” collection. Not only do A Way of Seeing do a fantastic job on our Facebook page, they also run free photography workshops in schools as well. They are great supporters and friends of the Benefits and Work community, so please support their work in turn by visiting the A Way of Seeing Facebook page, and clicking on ‘Like’ before downloading the screensaver. MORE NEWS GOOD NEWS FROM THE FORUM – OPEN ACCESS LINKS ESA decision reconsidered, placed in Support Group until 2015 High rate mobility and high rate care DLA awarded indefinitely after third attempt ESA decision reconsidered after lodging appeal, moved from WRAG to Support Group Decision revised and placed in ESA Support Group after being migrated from IB to ESA WRAG Successful ESA appeal, moved from WRAG to Support Group Placed in ESA Support Group without medical Transferred from IB to ESA Support Group for 3 years without having medical assessment Placed in ESA Support Group Placed in ESA Support Group without medical assessment Placed in ESA Support Group after request for review of initial decision to award 0 points Join the Benefits and Work community now and discover what a difference we can make. You are welcome to reproduce this newsletter on your blog, website, forum or newsletter provided it is properly attributed to www.benefitsandwork.co.uk You can also read this newsletter online (open access). Good luck, Steve Donnison Benefits and Work Publishing Ltd |
No fanfares or plagues of frogs so far, which is a good thing.
No fanfares or plagues of frogs so far, which is a good thing.
A couple of minor niggles with odd behavior from someone I have been doing a bit of work for though, which put me in a bad mood.
I built and maintained a website for a music magazine and was on a retainer to keep it up to date and support it. I was recently told that this arrangement would have to stop due to financial difficulty’s.
OK says I but pointed out that they could keep the website but would need to move it to new hosting as it does 15GB of traffic per month and I cant give that away for free. So far so good.
I then discover that without telling me they have engaged some one else to do a third rebuild of the site (I had done two redesigns, the site is fully content managed and we had got the traffic up to about 1 million page views a year). It seems to me that its perfectly OK to dispense with my services, but why the bullshit about not being able to afford it? Unless the new person is doing it for free?
This has left me a bit pissed off for two reasons, one sudden lost of income which I could have been told about in advance and secondly that they had not informed me that they were working with someone else. I contacted the web developer and asked them how the new design was going, very well they said.
I then told them that the first I had heard about any of this was a phone call on Friday night. I have heard nothing since.
I don’t think its reasonable when you are working for someone for two years for them to not bother to inform you you about whats going on as they must have started the work about a month ago.
Presumably they might have thought that I would pull the plug or something, which to be frank I am quite tempted to do now if I don’t get a reasonable explanation as why I was not informed.
Nerd days and September Stuff
Another weekend and a couple of fairly well received gigs, both in Reading by coincidence.
On Friday we were at the Global Cafe and on Sunday we were the closing act at a mini Blues festival held at the Ukrainian club. The festival was organized by the couple that run one of our favorite pubs in Reading The Retreat, They are going to be moving out in January next year, no doubt so that it can be turned into another gastro pub or something similar. Its a real shame as it has lots of live music, world to jazz to folk and almost every bear you can imagine, and has a fantastic atmosphere, but being in a side street and not exactly huge, it will not make any new tenants a fortune.
So a pleasant enough weekend on the whole. Also an opportunity to do some networking as well.
I am making an effort to try and stay engaged with stuff as to a point the more I do the better I feel. Last night I slept slightly better than I have for a while, without waking up in the middle of the night or vivid dreams that have made me feel tired on waking. The air has a distinct whiff of Autumn in it now, though its still mostly pleasant and sunny down in the deep south at the time of typing. Still doing the stretching which is helping a lot with the back related problems. I am not looking forward to winter though, so I shall have to make sure I have plenty going on by then.
Music wise we may be adding a traditional Hungarian tune to the act and possibly a tango or two, which will make it fairly eclectic but still no Oasis covers.
Its really quiet here again, and you can almost hear a pin drop though I have been breaking the silence with sporadic outbursts of piano playing during the day. Lately I seem to be meeting some every interesting people and perhaps some of those connections will be useful in time.
We are starting to get a few dates in the book for 2013 now, which is quite reassuring. We are still a bit of a novelty in some places of course, but that keeps us in work I suppose.
I should have been out in the wilds today enjoying a bit of country air, but I was too knackered to go. I did a few useful things to fill up the time though.
Last night before was another trip to the Vortex to listen to Nigerian vocalist Ayinke Martins and British pianist Sara McGuinness (who I am sure I have seen somewhere before) playing Latin and African stuff with a brilliant band of musicians around the world. Loads of folks up and dancing by the end of the gig too. Very enjoyable indeed and the 3rd week running that I have been to the Vortex.
I feel at present I am living in my head a lot, perhaps rather more than is usual even for me. I have had fair amount of low level anxiety but its manageable at present. The aches and pains grind on in the background which is tiring, so the trick is enough exercise but not too much. The vivid dreaming is still a problem as it feels like I have been awake half the night.
Typing is a bit a bit painful too even one fingered. I can go pretty fast with one digit now though 
I have a song lyric that I am trying to set to music, but it keeps eluding me as every time I get around to trying to sort it out I end up writing something else. I have done a couple of slightly impressionistic jazzy Piano pieces, but just can’t crack a suitable setting for those words at the moment.It maybe the way to go is to try writing on guitar instead to find something that fits.
We have a fair number of gigs coming up until Christmas and we are hopefully going to relaunch the slightly re-branded Elephant Shelf in the New Year, we have a few band gigs, but most of the gigs are Delta Ladies gigs so a lot of duo stuff but also the odd extended line up one mixed in among them.
I am investing in a slightly better Electric Violin as at present I have a very nice but very old Acoustic Violin that sounds great but is difficult to amplify in some situations and can make playing some gigs a bit too much of a workout. Its also rather delicate so it gives me a few nervous moments in the rather unsophisticated environs I often frequent. My other Electric has served me well but is rather crude tonally and I have out grown it in some respects.
I wish I could get all angst ridden about gender issues but I far too neurotic to worry about that sort of stuff. 
The rain is still coming down after what seems like about 24 hours worth almost under a fairly uniform gray sky in Battersea right now. There’s a bit of a wind moaning through the air vents and making slightly spooky muttering noises (I will be fine as long as I don’t start talking back to it) but the sky is just beginning to lighten a little now. Last night was a better nights sleep but the rather vivid dreams are still continuing and have been so the last week or so, and they mean I don’t awake refreshed. Often in my dreams I pursued or trying to escape some captor, I am sure this is deeply significant on some level, but paradoxically I do have a fair amount of freedom and don’t feel that I am either oppressed, repressed or subjugated but I don’t think there is too much point in dwelling on that. I am still having some significantly painful days but getting more exercise has helped a lot, though it seems paradoxical to be stretching and stuff when your in pain. I think that the sleep disturbances are related though.
This morning I have been murdering some Cole Porter on the piano, and feel the sudden need for a decent cup of tea. Funny how Cole Porter can do that for you? I still have those song lyrics that I can’t find a home for as well.
I have had a fairly decent weekend with two good Delta Ladies gigs. The Friday night one at the Hare in Linslade near Leighton Buzzard was particularly enthusiastically received which is always a boost to the spirits. On Saturday we were down in Wandsworth at the Armoury which was also a fairly good vibe. Two Classic quotes this week as well, the first being “Next time I hope to see you in a dress” from one enthusiastic punter at The Hare and on Saturday night in Wandsworth “My mate told I me I must come and see you and to be honest I though it was going to be crap, but its brilliant”. Better than the other way round I suppose! On Sunday we had a rehearsal with Jessie Pie as we will be resurrecting the “Cleavage of Death” for some special gigs in the future. It will be fun though perhaps not terribly subtle! One of the tunes we did was “On a clear day” which we all fairly pleased with. Having not played with Jess for about 4 years or so it all came together rather well. We have decided to keep Elephant Shelf going as our new drummer Lee seems to have helped us turn a corner. It will be a slightly different sound.
We do seem to have a capacity to entertain that makes it a fairly warm experience at many of the gigs we do. We take our music fairly seriously but not ourselves as being 2 transfolk out in a world where “You see that kind of thing on the box” but not in your local. Vicky also has a running gag which goes “For those of you that watch the X factor this is a Violin” and the opening to a gig is sometimes ”We are the people your mother told you about” or “We are Delta Ladies, if you don’t like it we are going home at 11pm”. There is a whiff of unconscious vaudeville about it I guess and maybe a distant echo of Laurel and Hardy.
I had to do something vaguely practical today, replacing an internal lithium cell on an old work station keyboard (Korg W1fd) which has been in faithful use on various recordings I have made since 1998. It still sounds good today even though its mid 90’s tech, the sound samples are very good. Last week it started showing a low battery warning light so a quick Google told me it needed the equivalent of the cmos cell replaced. So I opened it up and got it sorted in just under an hour. There were about 30 screws to undo before getting the base plate off but it only needs doing about once every 10 years or so. Its very heavy to shift though.
I also put a new glass on my wing mirror that got busted a couple of weeks back.
Then I had a go at at learning a bit of Ruby (another coding language used quite a bit on the web). A bit of piano practice and a bit of violin scraping as well. Yesterday (Tuesday) was spent in part at a band rehearsal which was pretty useful and I also tried out my new Electric Violin which should see service on the gig this Saturday all being well. In the evening we went to the Lytton Arms for a meal and to sort out some gig dates. A pint and a half of real ale and a relatively early night for a change (in bed by 12:30) though I did watch the box a bit.
Watching clouds out of the window
I have a fairly uninterrupted view of the sky from my lounge window facing roughly ENE and on summer evenings its quite good fun to watch the clouds drift by and change with light. I have an interesting view as I can see the London Eye, the Telecom (Post Office )tower, Battersea Power station, the Shard and one or two other bits and bobs. If I ever do get around to moving I will miss that patch of open sky.
I used to be able to see Albert Bridge too, but various riverside developments have mostly hidden it from view.
From the kitchen of my stately hovel there is a vista that at the very furthest point shows the line of the north downs on a clear day. So if you are thinking of a surprise attack you will need to approach from WNW
Though I am in central London there is a lot of green in view being just above the tree line and also with Battersea Park close by.
Today I am in a very introspective mood and wondering just what the future will bring. I do seem to have noticeably lost drive in some respects, perhaps because in one sense I have managed to achieve quite a lot of the things on my wish list. I had not ever really had huge ambition in the way that some folks have and some of my little victory’s may seem very trivial and unimportant to some, but considering where I started from I haven’t done too shabbily.
I have started getting out a bit more apart from gigs & rehearsals last night I was at the Vortex watching a world music ensemble called Melange playing some rather good North African and Middle Eastern music. We also also met an old friend Laura there (she is a volunteer and works there) as she has recently moved around the corner from the venue in Dalston.
I even played there many moons ago with Elephant shelf on a somewhat disastrous gig about 7 years ago.
Luckily they didn’t remember me. Phew.
A blast from the past
In the year that I was born, transistor radios looked like this!
Whats wrong with this picture
OK kiddies, please watch this video and feel free to draw your own conclusions.
Clearly the system is broken, the point is who broke it?
If you find this video disturbing and I find this profoundly disturbing myself , then ask yourself the question how have we sunk so low.
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The turn of the season, but not the turning of the tideIts been a some what checkered couple of weeks, several gigs, being the usual mix of good bad and indifferent. A little manifestation of mental health problems has also shaken the tree a bit, but I am still rolling abet slightly unsteadily. I am still feeling very tired but getting a bit more physical exercise which is helping a little with the aches and pains. Stretching of various forms seems to really help, perhaps I should get a rack…Some people pay money for that sort of thing don’t they.I am currently much disturbed by the situation with regard to the disability benefits row (ATOS assessments and similar). I have no particular personal axe to grind, but having dug deeper in the news behind the news as it were, I do not see much in the way of good happening. I see a primarily ideologically driven scourge and the demoniseation of many of the weaker
in society with very little justification given.Frequently there is the case that those that are trying to help themselves get out of a hole are having the ladder kicked out from under them. We seem to have been seduced by the devil take the hindmost attitude…
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Response to Alleged Govt’ Plans to Sanction Disabled Benefit Claimants (final)
NEW ARTS & MUSIC CENTRE PROPOSED FOR NORTH LONDON
NEW ARTS & MUSIC CENTRE PROPOSED FOR NORTH LONDON
‘BRAND NEW START’
– a breath of fresh air for arts & music –
North London – that’s Crouch End, Haringey, Hornsey, Stroud Green and the surrounding area was once home to a thriving music & arts scene – famous names from the arts who lived and worked in the area abound – they include -The Kinks, Pete Brown of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ & Cream fame, Mick Kidd (Biff of the Guardian), Anthony Minghella, Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) Laurie Morgan (legendary Jazz drummer) , Tim Healy, Denise Welch, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth; Bob Dylan – yes he resided in Crouch End for a while. In recent years some of the area’s best loved venues, theatre, cinemas and arts centres have gone – recession, corporate Gastro Pubs and the like have taken over. A once thriving area feels like a cultural wasteland.
But not any more if entrepreneur Jonny Rogers has anything to do with it. Jonny’s vision of a community arts & music centre based in Stroud Green and serving North London’s creative community is gathering momentum – read on…
BRAND NEW START
A home for community arts and music in North London
With recession devastating the arts & music scene, a single individual has come up with an exciting plan to launch a creative complex within the community.
BRAND NEW START (BNS) envisages the realisation of an ongoing ‘creative village life’ in the heart of North London. BNS would enable a multifunction network channelling independent creative practice into the community and vice-versa. It would harness music, visual & performing arts, film-making, fashion, craft and other disciplines, with particular care taken to accommodate the disadvantaged. All this would be in the confines of a 10,000ft² live-work complex.
BNS seeks those with an interest in this project, investors or donors, who possess material assets that they are willing to contribute. Financial investments will go into a co-operative fund held in trust to facilitate the instigation and day to day running of the centre.
At a time when one of North London’s iconic buildings – Church Studios in Crouch End is in imminent danger of conversion to flats – BNS offers those with a vision a brand new oasis in the present cultural desert.
Initial enquiries to jonny-rogers@hotmail.co.uk
ABOUT JONNY ROGERS
Jonny is an established successful professional antique & furniture restorer who specialises in prestige period property renovations. He has wide experience and connections with the local creative and charitable community and previous experience of involvement with creative premises. Further information on application to jonny-rogers@hotmail.co.uk
ABOUT THE PROJECT
BNS envisages offering space, support services and facilities to those believing in developing local creativity. Its core principles would be justice, community, equal opportunity and creative expression, as well as creating a level playing-field for individuals coming from vulnerable or under-privileged circumstances and who are in a position to benefit dramatically from its services. With music as one of its core creative areas, BNS would provide stage, recording and rehearsal settings, as well as a touchstone for shared musical contact, dialogue and interaction.
BRAND NEW START will consist in self-sustaining and community-dependent artists, musicians, tradespersons and other people of relevant profession, who will occupy live-work space and help to run the continual flow of workshops and events that make up the BNS scheme.
THE SITE The project is presently is pitching for is a 10,000ft², A1-status premises in Stroud Green, N4. This would be occupied by project contributors and sub-let to other artists. Work has been done to secure a series of pre-let guarantees for the property.
August 22, 2012
A bit of peace and quiet?
Its a little like the calm before storm. Just one gig on Friday then nothing for a couple of weeks, though we will be doing some rehearsing. Friday was supposed to be a band gig but turned in to a duo at the last moment due to illness as Rosie is poorly at the moment and we are a bit worried. We got through the gig OK though. The place was fairly empty though I think due to the Olympics, but a few people came in and were enthusiastic enough to make it feel a bit better. I even got complimented on my performance.A friend who we hadn’t seen for a while also came along as it was one of her nights off, so that was also a bit of a lift. She enlightened us as to the why and wherefore of some recent events that were puzzling us too as we lost a gig at a venue where we had been pretty popular. Without revealing any secrets it was not anything we did, but rather circumstances that we had no idea about that sealed our fate. I was concerned that it might have been gender related, but it turned out to be something completely different! Just goes to show how wrong you can be, and how much we conflate ideas and make 2+2 make 101.I really do feel like I could do with a bit of a break as I am slightly off form. I am still continuing to clear out the crap but its a very labour intensive exercise. It also has also made my back flare up a bit again. Curiously enough the best analgesic seems to be a moderate amount of real ale. Well it works for me anyway. The current warm weather is a mixed blessing as when we had a rehearsal earlier in the week it knocked me senseless by the end as it was way too hot. Rehearsing is far more tiring than gigging but pretty important.
The biggest problem at the moment is that using the PC is very painful, so there is a lot of stuff that I cant get on with, as I am quite restricted in the amount of time I spend using it. It would seem that that the forces of nature are altering the course of my life somewhat. It would be very difficult to go back in and work in an office physically now as I just couldn’t sit and type for any length of time. Plus I have the attention span of a gnat these days in certain respects.
Is the damp affecting my brain? I think its getting rusty.
Its been a fairly busy week to lost of recording for two separate projects. 3 gigs and I open mike slot, which we don’t do too often, but it was on a Wednesday night when there wasn’t anything else going on and not too far away. It was mostly young folks enthusiastically doing there thing, and its seemed to go across fairly well. We were a bit surprised as we were told we were headlining it. We did the equivalent of a short first set and off we jolly well went.Thursday we were in the studio again and for once it didn’t rain until after midnight.
Friday nights gig was good, but I seem to have gone down with some sort of a bug as I felt very rough and as if I had a temperature, was nauseous and had no appetite. Got stuck in some traffic on the way back due to an accident too so I was not at my best by the end of the evening.
Saturday was OK as I felt a bit better, but again a very wet night so not the biggest audience, but the gig went well enough. I also managed to find something akin to a duck pond on the 3rd lane of the North Circular on the way home that made for an interesting couple of seconds.
Sunday was a strange day. We did a tea time gig in London that’s was a complete waste of time as the place was almost empty. That did not put me in the best frame of mind as it was a pay on the door gig and only covered the cost of a couple of drinks, and there is nothing worse than playing to an empty room particularly if the room is a largish one. We took off for one of a regular drinking haunts that also does live music on some Sundays (one we have played at recently). The London Irish Band (Back of Beyond) were playing and jolly good it was too. Made me feel much better. Bizarrely they had seen us a few years back (The electric band, not the Duo) and we had a brief chat in the break about music and stuff. We suggested a few venues that they might try and stuff.
At the start of the second half they invited us up to do a turn so we borrowed a couple of instruments and did our bit. I had a brief bout of fiddle envy as I borrowed a very nice modern 5 string fiddle, from the also very nice Antonia Pagulatos (made by Bridge)(first time I have played a 5 string, so of course it had to be in front of a fair size crowd ) but it went OK. I would love a violin like that but its not very lightly that circumstances will allow. It was also virtually effortless to play… So I need to get a lottery ticket for Wednesday 😉
I am slowly starting to work in more stretching and exercise now to help free up my back and I now have a lot more movement in my left shoulder, so the Violin playing is getting back to normal though its rather more tiring than it used to be physically and I often find I cannot get a comfortable shoulder position for too long though this is easing a bit now.
I am still searching for something and I haven’t found it yet, but it would help to know what it is…