Sick and disabled braced for enforced work-for-benefits programme

Welfare claimants could be forced to work without pay and be stripped of benefits under scheme starting on Monday

Wayne Blackburn was born unlucky – his mother's umbilical cord got wrapped around his neck, starving his brain of oxygen. Now his legs don't work.

"Imagine the worst cramp you've ever had," he says. "That's in both my legs 24/7 … I literally walk a few steps and I'm in agony."

Blackburn, 36 has degenerative spastic diplegia, a type of cerebral palsy. He knows he will have a good day when he gets four hours of sleep. On a bad night he screams in pain and between the tears he hardly sleeps at all.

He's no scrounger, he says. Until 2009, Blackburn, from Nelson, Lancashire, was in work. After marrying his girlfriend he wanted to provide for her so he took a job in retail that involved being on his feet.

"For a time I was quite successful at it," he says. "[But] it made me a lot worse. I did that for just under two years." Though he would like to return to a job, Blackburn says he is in the worst physical condition he has ever been and is permanently dosed on multiple painkillers.

Without any physical examination, Blackburn says, the Department for Work and Pensions put him on employment support allowance (ESA) and in the work-related activity group (WRAG), for those soon to be back in employment.

Like tens of thousands of others in the WRAG, Blackburn feels that the assessment process is desperately flawed and that he should not have been put into that group because there is no way he can take a job at this time.

Despite this, in just a few days, Blackburn may be forced to work without pay whether he likes it or not.

For the first time in ages I disagree with TATD....
At the end of that vid he says the people in power are a disease.. In my opinion he is wrong there. The people in power are doing exactly what we can expect them to do. This is after all a Fascist State.
The 'disease' is in the minds of those that vote within the system of demonocracy. Every 4 years they hand over all the decision making to Fascists, then they moan about the descisions made I say this to the electorate. If you vote then shut the fuck up. You did it to yourselves and everyone else too.
Stop handing over your personal and collective power to those who fully intend to abuse it. They don't hide their intent, the facts are open and on view for all to see. Every 4 years you are voting for the most attractive slave master

is this being blown out of proportion or not. tell it to me with serious face.

30 November 2012 – People on sickness benefits to be offered work experience to help them back into a job

People on sickness benefits who are expected to be able to get back to work at some point in the future will, from Monday, be able to take part in voluntary work experience to help them move towards a job.

People on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) who have been assessed as being able to go back to work at some point are placed in the Work-Related Activity Group for the benefit and are expected to take part in activity which helps them prepare for a return to employment. One of the options available to them will now include voluntary work experience.

Short periods of work experience at an appropriate employer will help people with limited employment history get a flavour of the workplace environment, gain new skills and boost their confidence for an eventual return to work.

Mark Hoban, Minister for Employment said:

"Some people on sickness benefits haven’t worked for a long time or may not have had many jobs, which will make it harder for them to find work in the future. Work experience is a very good way to increase someone’s confidence and get them ready for their move into a job when they are well enough."

As well as voluntary work experience, in some situations, having taken into account an individual's circumstances, a Jobcentre Plus adviser or Work Programme provider may feel that an appropriate mandatory work placement – which must be of benefit to the community - would be helpful. This includes circumstances where someone refuses to take reasonable steps to address a barrier which is stopping them working.

The work placement has to benefit the community and must be appropriate to claimant's health condition, including location, hours of attendance and placement content. Any work-related activity is discussed fully with the claimant and consideration is given to their health problems or disabilities to ensure that any activity is appropriate to their personal circumstances.

People who fail to carry out any agreed work-related activity without good reason may face having their benefits sanctioned. From Monday, penalties for those who don’t comply with the rules will be changed to be brought in line with Jobseekers Allowance.

The sanction will be made up of an open-ended period which is lifted when the claimant meets the requirements, followed by a short fixed period of 1, 2 or 4 weeks.

Mr Hoban added:

"People on sickness benefits who do all they can to improve their chances of moving back in to a job have nothing to worry about; they will get their benefits and we will do all we can to help. But in the small number of cases where people refuse to stick to their part of the bargain, it’s only right there are consequences."

People who are too sick or disabled to work are placed in the support group for ESA where they get unconditional help and are not expected to do any work-related activity.

The United Nations' (UN) International Day of Persons with Disabilities is annually observed on December 3 to re-affirm and draw attention to the rights of people who live with disabilities.

Fair point mart. The political 'class' certainly does seem to have a high percentage of psychopaths. They are perhaps akin to a disease. A disease that is completely curable by the electorate however. To me, the fact that the electorate enables this situation year in year out is......can't think of the word just now......appaling? Shocking? Laughable? Sickening? Summat like that.

It's why the MSM have been regularly focusing on portraying people on benefits as scroungers for the last few years, to be largely despised for living off the sweat of the public's brow. And so very many people have fallen for it that it's frightening.

I have a friend that lost his right leg (up to the hip), big chunks of his right arm and bits of his head in a motorcycle crash a few years back.
In the 8 years it took to get his insurance payout he was living on hefty benefits and having to dope himself with large amounts of morphine to ease the pain. He has a prosthetic leg contraption that he can wear for a very short while and has a kind of sling seat in his wheelchair to support him.
Every 6 months the social would visit to assess him and see if his condition had improved. Unsurprisngly a new leg failed to sprout and the constant pain hadn't lessened so he always 'passed' the interview.