Killed by benefits cuts! Jobcentre staff offered Easter egg prizes to sanction claimants.

We are printing below an article which appeared in the Daily Mirror.

David Cameron has been slammed for “brushing off” the death of a diabetic ex-soldier whose benefits had been stopped.
David Clapson, 59, was starving and skint when he was found dead by friends, as revealed in the Daily Mirror yesterday.
His grieving sister Gill Thompson has called for the Government to review the way that benefits are “sanctioned” in the wake of the tragedy.
But a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister has brushed off calls for change.
Asked if it was right that a diabetic man had had his benefits taken away she said: “Judgments that are made around benefits are based on individuals circumstances relevant to their looking to find work, their various conditions.
“Even when someone is sanctioned then they can still get financial support through the Hardship Fund.
“And before people have their benefit sanctioned there will be a series of efforts to contact people by letter and by phone if they fail to attend an appointment.”

Struggle: David died hungry and penniless with no way to pay his bills

Gill, 57, said that was just not good enough.
“They are just saying we are sorry for the death of your brother but tough, we followed the procedure,” she said.
“They should not just brush it off. Obviously for people to die something is wrong.
“You can’t say sorry we followed the procedures when someone is dead. It just does not make sense.”
The Mirror revealed how David, who served in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, died after having his benefits stopped for missing a meeting with an adviser last summer.
Three weeks later he was found dead.
His electricity had been cut off, he had just a can of soup and tin of sardines in his kitchen and just £3.44 to his name after his Jobseekers’ Allowance was “sanctioned”.
Gill said that he was not the only one to die after having their money stopped and said ministers must reform the system to prevent another tragedy instead of trying to ignore it.
“I don’t care even if they do not admit it as long as they look at it again in the background.”
She added: “If my brother had been a murderer he would have been fed and watered with a roof overt his head.
“People talk about human rights but where were my brother’s human rights and dignity?
“They took away his rights and dignity.”


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-cameron-slammed-brushing-off-3928427#ixzz38siiVtPN
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Councils reclassifying homes to avoid 'bedroom tax'!

When it introduced the 'bedroom tax', the government claimed that it would result in £490m savings for the taxpayer in 2013-14. Under the regulations that were brought in, tenants who were deemed to have one spare bedroom, lost 14% of their housing benefit while those deemed to have two or more spare rooms, had 25% deducted from their housing benefit.

As we reported recently, thousands of tenants across the country are facing eviction and legal action because they cannot afford to pay the bedroom tax. In Solihull, one person has already committed suicide claiming she could not afford to live.

But councils in Leeds, Nottingham, Knowsley and North Lanarkshire in Scotland, believe they have found a way of circumventing the law by reclassifying thousands of bedrooms as box rooms, studies or non-specific rooms, so that tenants can avoid the 'bedroom tax'.

Knowsley Housing Trust in Merseyside, has reclassified more than 500 bedrooms, while Edinburgh, Birmingham and York councils are looking into it. The city council in Leeds has reclassified 837 bedrooms which will now be exempt from the 'bedroom tax'. In the case of Leeds, "reclassification was based on specifc criteria: where bedrooms were used as box rooms, where they were entered through another room, or where they were on the ground floor and not near a bathroom." In Nottingham, the city council has reclassified 1,000 two-bedroom flats in high-rise tower blocks as one-bedroom, while bedrooms less than 50 square feet could be reassessed.

The deputy leader of Leeds City Council, Peter Gruen, told the 'Independent' newspaper that the reclassification had been 'prompted by welfare changes' and added, "This is a totally perverse tax. Fair-minded councils cannot simply stand by and see such havoc."

Jim McCabe, leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said authorities "have been left to pick up the pieces of this horrendous reform."

A government spokesman told the 'Independent' that £150m had been provided to councils for support for vunerable people struggling to pay the 'bedroom tax', and added: "Councils may choose to redefine some properties, but we don't expect this to become widespread."