A few things...

[ephemerol9]

To All of You,

Please accept apologies if I have contacted you before or if you've got prior copies of any of this. This is a group e-mail which I am sending because I don't get a lot of time with help on the computer and type very slowly. Would be interested to hear anyone's responses /views on the following:-

Please can you tell me if you know of anyone freelance or self-employed individual people who can provide independent/freelance legal advocacy (or citizens advocacy) e.g. for autistic / mental health problems and aged 50 in the Norfolk / East Anglia area (UK) and if not please advise who can. Could these people have checkable references from an actual person who has used their services please? By advocacy, a person who has more power than a private citizen i.e. their requests and actions won't simply be ignored and fobbed off. Are there any kinds of advocates who have the power to be heard and to have their requests for information to be read properly and actually dealt with inside a time limit without actually having to get the law involved? If so, are there any law firms / solicitors who will represent a 50 plus Asperger?Please do not tell me about any organisations for the disabled, local or national, whether funded or voluntary

The Care Quality Commission has told carehome.co.uk it is to consult on introducing CCTV into care homes.
(CQC to consult on covert surveillance cameras in care homes)

Case Studies Please! Is the Work Programme working for you?:
Please write to me at [email protected] Or of course, leave comments below
For example you could think about:
Has it helped you identify and move towards a form of work that you could manage within your health/impairment limitations?
Do you feel your support needs are being addressed? Is the programme of activities accessible to you?
Have you been able to meet the conditions laid out by your adviser to avoid sanctions?
What has been the impact on your health and wellbeing of taking part in the Work Programme so far?
You don?t have to answer everything. I want to hear all stories, good and bad.

Thank you very much. I want the government to hear it from the ground. Our lives and our aspirations are too precious to allow a multi-million pound scheme like this to go wrong.

Catherine
[email protected]

Call for contributions on Thematic Report on the Human Rights Impact of Fiscal and Tax Policy - SR on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights - Deadline 2 December 2013

Civil Society Section
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Consultation
The human rights impact of fiscal and tax policy
Deadline - 2 December 2013

Dear all,

In preparation for a forthcoming thematic report to the 26th session of the Human Rights Council (June 2014), the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sep?lveda Carmona, invites civil society organizations to submit contributions on the human rights impact of fiscal and tax policy. Please refer to this questionnaire for more details.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H3uk028y4T09FC216u8s7hcOcujHIrSP27jGyiAKL0w/edit

The Special Rapporteur welcomes the submission of research studies or reports on this topic, particularly those examining how fiscal and tax policies impact the human rights of persons living in poverty. In particular, answers to the questions below are sought in order to collect views of civil society on policies and practices in various countries. Please note that it is not necessary to reply in full to all the questions; partial responses are also welcome.

Please send your contributions, in English, Spanish or French, in MS Word document, PDF or compatible format no later than 2 December 2013 to: [email protected]

Best regards,

Civil Society Section
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Tel. +41 (0) 22 - 917 - 9656
[email protected]

We call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform, and a New Deal for sick & disabled people based on their needs, abilities and ambitions

The petition can be signed here; We call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform, and a New Deal for sick & disabled people based on their needs, abilities and ambitions - e-petitions

Many Thanks Ephemerol9

 

[total-recoil]

O.K. I will contact you directly later on but, for now, an answer to your post. No, I don't myself have any legal status above private citizenship but will ask around for you.
Now, the question you raise after about the Work Program could trigger an entire essay on my part. Let me state in the strongest terms that, for some time now, I've been very concerned about this whole issue to the point I've been closely monitoring some high profile cases in the high court. Basically, what we are witnessing here is a mechanism that is creating the ideral conditions for abuse of power, bullying, injustice and (amazingly) a total disregard for the European Social Charter.
The idea behind welfare sanctions has been an ideology that deflects all responsibility for creating employment opportunities away from politicians and promoting the view that those who are unemployed are alone responsible for finding work and that, if they don't, they are not trying hard enough and should have unemployment payments stopped. This, of course, ignores various harsh economic realities. Most of us are aware there are way way more job applicants than there are jobs available and that anyone who happens to be long term unemployed is going to find it very hard to get back into employment due in part to social stigma.
O.K. I will concede if someone refuses to try and be responsible and seek work there are (albeit rarely) grounds for some kind of sanction. However, that should be only in clear cut cases after a fair, internal tribunal. Nevertheless, this is a far cry from what is actually taking place.
Maybe people are aware that literally thousands of people have had social security withdrawn. In one case, I know of a woman whose payments were sanctioned as she couldn't make a job centre appointment since she was in hospital for a scan (and had even phoned the job centre). It has also been reported (via whistleblowers) that job centre staff are under huge pressure to find any reason to sanction payments in order to compete against other job centres on a regional basis. As if the whole thing was free market competition.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/apr/01/jobcentres-tricking-people-benefit-sanctionsopened
Given the facts and I must say I've looked into all of this extensively, I am staggered the E.U. hasn't up an inquiry. I mean, everybody is entitled to assistance while seeking work and moreover the Social Charter is supposed to protect freedom of choice in career.
Some in the legal profession such as Public Interest lawyers have already launched legal challenges with some test cases but these cases drag on and on and you wonder how come the system is even functional if it's so slow.
Now, the next big item, of course, is workfare. Literally it means "forced labour" the term "fare" is probably a derivative of the latin "facio" "facere". So, literally "forced labour" and supposedly illegal in the E.U. constitution.
Why do I object? Surely if you receive money from the State you should put something back in? Well, yes, I agree if (and it's a big "if") the work is carried out under minimum wage legislation. Again, that is a far cry from reality. Workfare is a system that forced the jobless to work a 40 hour week at not much more than 1 Euro an hour, which makes a joke of the concept of minimum wage. In fact, I'm convinced the whole workfare set-up never was intended to help people find work but simply as a means to bypass the minimum wage and set up alternative cheap labour within society. Skeptical? Well, how come these workfare jobs are not skilled labour at all but usually involve stacking shelves in supermarkets and so on?
Also. I quote directly from the Social Charter which states:
"All workers have the right to a fair remuneration sufficient for a decent standard of living for themselves and their families."
So, in a word, you could say I really am surprised by how events have developed over the last 5 years. I do know that currently the E.U. is taking the U.K. to court over non payment of unemployment protection to European migrant workers and, yes, that the U.N. is launching an investigation into discrimination of the disabled.
However, I'd be interested if anyone can explain to me how we now have a kind of European Constitution that seems to exist only in word but seemingly ignored by the politicians who signed up to minimum, civilised values?
Sorry if this is a bit long winded.