More attacks against the working-classes of Britain

Taken from http://www.stopcuts.net/news.31.htm


There will be widespread anguish as Tory/Lib Dem changes to Housing Benefit come into force tomorrow (Friday, April 1st 2011). Hundreds of thousands of families will find their future entitlement to help with housing costs in privately rented property sharply reduced.

These changes will apply straightaway to all new claims for Local Housing Allowance (LHA). But other existing tenants, if already receiving LHA, will be affected if their circumstances change. For example, if someone in the family leaves (meaning their claim would then be based on 'entitlement' to a smaller home), or if a family moves to a new property, they will suffer cuts in entitlement.

Existing tenants will see their claims reduce at some point up to 9 months after the anniversary of their claim date.

Some families who first made their claim before April 7th, 2008 and have not moved since then, or had any break in their claim, may be unaffected by the changes.


LHA was introduced by the Labour government in 2008 and only ever fully covered 5 out of 10 rented properties in any area. But from April 1st the Tory/Lib Dem government has decided that only 3 in 10 privately rented properties will be eligible for full LHA and be affordable. For those who live in the other 7 out of 10 properties, the Government intends they will either have to make up the difference or move to somewhere cheaper.

In Coventry the local council has written to approximately 10,000 tenants and 1,200 landlords, and in a press release estimates the changes will reduce entitlement to LHA for privately renting tenants by an average of £550 a year, or £11 per week. For larger families the reduction could be as much as £2750 a year, or £55 per week as the rate for new claims will be based on a maximum four bedroom, not a five bedroom, property.

The Government brought in these changes last summer, using examples of people allegedly living the high life in Mayfair. The new maximum weekly rates will certainly hit people in expensive areas like central London. But these cuts will also affect hundreds of thousands of tenants and their families around the rest of the country as well.


As unemployment rises, with job losses in the public and private sector, then more and more families are going to be pushed into poverty. And if landlords don't reduce their rents by the same amount as the cuts (not a very likely prospect) then evictions and homelessness will rise.


"This is just the start of cuts which will push people into overcrowded housing. In the case of people under 35 years old, shared housing will be the only option. With less and less jobs the days of rising homelessness will return thanks to the Tories and their Liberal Democrat rear gunners.

“Campaigning against these cuts needs to be a key part of fighting the cuts and clearly more affordable rented homes are no longer a wish but a much needed necessity. Councils should fight for resources for this as well as helping to prevent poverty and evictions."


These cuts are but one example of those being made to subsidise the lifestyle of millionaire bankers and their bonuses. We cannot afford to subsidise the Rich any longer. We need to step up the campaign to force the Tory/Lib Dem coalition to retreat.

I want Coventry Council to collate the responses to the letters they have sent to tenants and landlords and urgently prepare a strategy to pressurise the Government to reverse these vindictive changes.

Pressure needs bringing on councils around the country to link up in a campaign to force the government to retreat. We need candidates in the May elections who will argue against these cuts and instead for a mass programme of building affordable, decent housing, and a benefits system that fully protects people when they needed. Candidates from the electoral coalition TUSC will certainly be doing that.

So then 5 in 10 are being reduced to 3 in 10 as far as 'rental housing' goes. Okay, but what percentage of housing in the UK is 'rental housing'? And of these what percentage are White? No offense as I do not know and asking is the fastest means to understanding after all.

At any rate I notice that the military in the UK is still funded plenty enough to play imperial favorite as it were, eh? Odd that the MIC and the rich NEVER seem to take the hits with the rest of the team, huh? I mean heaven forbid that the banker man should have to own ONE home and not twelve and that the industrialist might have to pay some taxes like a good lad.

TUC warns over employment plans

1 hour 37 mins ago
ITN

The employment rights of millions of workers will be hit under Government plans to extend the qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal, the TUC has warned.

The union organisation said extending the time from one to two years will restrict access to justice and price low-paid workers out of the system.

The TUC said it also opposed plans to introduce fees for workers taking a claim to a tribunal, arguing it would have a disproportionate effect on low-paid employees.

Young people, ethnic minorities and part-time women workers would be most affected by the plans to remove unfair dismissal rights from staff with less than two years' service, according to the TUC.

In its submission to the Government, the TUC said cases could be speeded up by giving more resources to the tribunal system, improving the enforcement of multiple pay claims and extending a pre-claim conciliation service offered by Acas.

I don't know how true this is but I was speaking to a friend that is unemployed and he said that the job centre had told him that from next year the government will be cutting job seekers allowance too. For the first year they'll get the full amount (£130 a fortnight?), then it'll be reduced by 10% every 6 months until they scrap it completely (after 3 years he said) and force you to work for your benefits.

If true then it looks like they've finally succeeded in bringing back the workhouses.

Meanwhile the mps can carry on claiming ridiculous expenses, immigrants can come here and get everything handed to them on a plate because they don't speak the language (most get income instead of job seekers allowance), the rich get more and more tax cuts and the bankers get to carry on as usual.

I'll try and find some links to clarify it but I believe it's still in the planning stages atm.