What will you be doing?
On 17th May at 10:30 am, I will
be chaining myself to Chippenham Job Centre (indoors). I will refuse to leave
until at least half the due amount is paid in a form I can cash at a Post
Office, or possibly until someone cut's the chain.
Why are you doing this?
The DWP (Dept. for Work and Pensions)
currently owe me £2,500 in unpaid benefits. They kept saying the money is on
it's way, it's in the post/clearing, ask for more time, etc. THEN they indicated
they had no intention of paying the money in the first place.
If they had
said a few months ago that they had no intention of paying, I could have made
alternative arrangements. As it is, they have made me dependent on (most of)
this money.
Isn't this a little extreme? Haven't you tried legal
action?
Desperate measures call for desperate actions. Legal action is
ongoing, currently at the Tribunal stage, mediation and internal appeals having
both failed. However, there is no more time to play with, and I face the choice
of insolvency, homelessness and slow starvation, or a few hours hanging around a
Job Centre, and I do that most weeks anyway.
Why don't you sell something?
Unlike most people with their
disposable incomes and consumer lifestyles, I do not have much to sell. The only
liquid asset I had is a gallon of 23-year aged blended whisky, which it is
proving difficult to sell (very strange).
Why have you been on benefits so long?
I'm on benefits of zero.
That doesn't exactly speed my progress into work. In fact, it's an academic
point whether I am on benefits at all.
Why are you scrounging off the state?
This is not primarily about
claiming benefits, this primarily is about chasing a bad debtor. The money is
already mine; I'd just like to see some of it. The DWP's job is to save money by
helping people off benefits and into work. So far, they have forced me to resign
from my PT job, and left me with no choice but to claim benefits. They are
in fact costing more money than they save.
Why don't you get a job?
I was forced out of my job; I was obliged
to turn down a 45K job offer. I cannot take jobs I cannot get to, or that cost
more to be in than they pay.
Recently, I have had a 20K job offer, and they
have kindly offered me an advance if I am successful, although they shouldn't be
put in this position.
My CV: The benefit concerned is Job-Seeker's Allowance, despite the DWP's efforts to subvert it.
Why freedom.is/credit ?
Because I'm heavily in cred, as
opposed to heavily in debt. I owe £640, but I am owed £10,000. (£2,500 unpaid
benefits from the DWP, £6,500 unpaid compensation/theft by a local government agency, and
£1,000 unpaid wages from a double-glazing company). The amount I owe breaks down
as follows: £300 Commercial rent, £100 loan repayment from Landlord, £200 annual
utility bills, £20 residential rent, £5+£15 loans from friends.
So why not just ask for £640?
What I owe only covers outstanding
bills. There are also non-food supplies to buy (£30), ongoing rent (£50/month),
phone/fax/printing (variable), commuting to future work (generally £30/month),
and food, cleaning & consumables (£40/month). And it is, after all, my
money. It has been assigned to me as though it were paid, just not handed over,
because the DWP's system is broken. Badly broken.
What do you do with the rest?
Savings. Sometimes invested in
career-related equipment or services. That's assuming there's a surplus.
Do you give anything to charity?
I don't have money to give away! I
used to give food to nearby homeless people or small loans to needy friends, but
I can't even afford to do that these days.
Why no mention of motoring, mortgage, or pension expenses?
Those
luxuries are out of my price range.
Won't this inconvenience the Job centre?
Not any more than what
they should be spending their time doing, no.
This will not be in an
obstructive position. There's no point in that: the last time I had to do
something like this, in a hospital, there was no need for anything other than a
polite request. I was seriously injured then, mind.
Is it legal?
Our legal advisors... (advice ongoing) say there is a
common-law defence of the greater good. So, yes, just about. We'll only be
sitting down and having a quiet polite talk, for heaven's sakes.
Did you nick Mike Maddison's idea?
Not
inspired from. Only noticed on Monday 14th, while reading Reader's Digest
article (March 2007 edition, page 41) about public misspending in
broken IT projects. It does give a clue about what may have broken, though.
My protest is a synthesis of previously-rejected ideas:
The following are different:
Here are interesting similarities:
Reader's Digest cited it as a quick example of their point. The Times has a much more detailed article.
His case look's very interesting indeed, in fact. Why have lessons not been
learned!?
Here's how to stop anybody else doing anything else drastic: Pay
them! Just pay them the money you [the DWP] owe! Simple, really.
Is this the start of a campaign or forum?
No, that is not the
intention. This is to get a bad debtor to cough up, to highlight the issues of
delayed payment/debt and the behaviour of the DWP in particular, and to pay my
bills and make my creditors happy. I am not the sort of person who gets into
debt. Some forum may take it up, which is entirely their own business and/or
risk.
Robin also has a blog, which may help someone, and gives a little more background.
Back to the Summary of Events.