To the Woman Behind Me in Line at the Grocery Store

First topic message reminder :

Dear woman behind me in line at the grocery store,
You don't know me. You have no clue what my life has been like since October 1, 2013. You have no clue that my family has gone through the wringer. You have no clue that we have faced unbelievable hardship. You have no clue we have been humiliated, humbled, destitute.
You have no clue I have cried more days than not; that I fight against bitterness taking control of my heart. You have no clue that my husband's pride was shattered. You have no clue my kids have had the worries of an adult on their shoulders. You have no clue their innocence was snatched from them for no good reason. You know none of this.
What you do know is I tried to buy my kids some food and that the EBT machine was down so I couldn't buy that food. I didn't have any cash or my debit card with me. I only had my SNAP card. All you heard was me saying "No, don't hold it for me. My kids are hungry now and I have no other way of paying for this." You didn't judge me. You didn't snarl "Maybe you should have less kids." You didn't say "Well, get a job and learn to support yourself." You didn't look away in embarrassment or shame for me. You didn't make any assumptions at all.
What you did was you paid that $17.38 grocery bill for us. You gave my kids bananas, yogurt, apple juice, cheese sticks, and a peach ice tea for me; a rare treat and splurge. You let me hug you and promise through my tears that I WILL pay this forward. I WILL pay someone's grocery bill for them. That $17.38 may not have been a lot for you, but it was priceless to us. In the car my kids couldn't stop gushing about you; our "angel in disguise." They prayed for you. They prayed you would be blessed. You restored some of our lost faith. One simple and small action changed our lives. You probably have forgotten about us by now, but we haven't forgotten about you. You will forever be a part of us even though we don't even know your name.
You have no clue how grateful and embarrassed I am that we pay for all our food with SNAP. We eat well thanks to the government. I love that. I love that the government makes sure my kids are cared for. It is one less worry for us. I also struggle with pride and embarrassment. I defiantly tell people we are on SNAP. Daring them to judge us.
Only those closest to us know why we are on SNAP. They know my husband is a hard worker who was laid off after 17 years in a management position with his former company. They know we were moved from our home to a new state only to be left homeless since the house we had came with the job he lost. Only those closest to us know my husband works part time while looking tirelessly for more; that he has submitted more applications than he has received interviews for. Too many jobs are only offering part time work anymore. It is not easy for a 40-something year old to find a job that will support his family of five kids.
You know none of this but you didn't let that stop you from being compassionate and generous to someone you have never met.
To the woman behind me at the grocery store, you have no idea how much we appreciate you. You have no idea the impact you had on my kids. You have no idea how incredibly thankful I am for you. Your action may have been small, but to us it was monumental. Thank you.
Thank you for not judging us. Thank you for giving my kids a snack when they were quite hungry. Thank you. Just thank you.
Forever,
Andrea, the woman in front of you at the grocery store with the cart full of kids who are no longer hungry
This post first appeared on Andrea's blog truestoriesofamidwestyankee.wordpress.com


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrea-gardner/to-the-woman-behind-me-in_b_5082769.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063




The more people in the world who are this kind, the better it will be.

Tommy not everything is black and white.
Jeez.

It is with the job centre... they follow the rules... the rules are clear!

So my daughter is a liar then, you piece of shit, i'v seen her bank statements, for months only child benefit paid in. Are you some kind of expert on this?
you seem to know more about it than the DWP.
Why don't you hire yourself out as an advisor?

I'm just telling you the rules nicko... hardship allowance is available to all on sanctions... and you only get maximum 3 months sanction for being late for an appointment. .. this is only after other sanctions have been imposed...


I told you, I have been on the dole many times and I know the system very well.


I wouldn't be a job centre advisor because they couldn't pay me enough!


My mate I mentioned earlier... he is always tapping his dad for a few quid... one of his best ones was asking for 20 quid a week for electricity for his key meter... although he had already had the meter rigged up for months with a bit of wire!!!

Your friend is obviously a scumbag.

How dare you suggest that Nicko's daughter is like that, especially as she is so open with him he has seen her bank statements.

I think a Job Centre Advisor would know a lot more than you.

As a jobcentre adviser, I got ‘brownie points’ for cruelty
Former jobcentre adviser Angela Neville has written a play to expose the harsh reality of the benefits sanctions regime

Angela Neville, 48, is describing events she witnessed as a special adviser in a jobcentre that prompted her to write a play about her experiences.
“We were given lists of customers to call immediately and get them on to the Work Programme,” she recalls. “I said, ‘I’m sorry this can’t happen, this man is in hospital.’ I was told [by my boss]: ‘No, you’ve got to phone him and you’ve got to put this to him and he may be sanctioned.’ I said I’m not doing it.”
Neville worked as an adviser in Braintree jobcentre, Essex, for four years and has written a play with two collaborators, her friends Angela Howard and Jackie Howard, both of whom have helped advocate for unemployed people who were threatened with benefit sanctions by jobcentre staff.
The title of the play, Can This be England? is an allusion to the disbelief that she and the others feel at how people on benefits are being treated, she says. And she unashamedly describes the play, in which she also acts, as a “dramatic consciousness-raising exercise”.
Can This be England? deals with the quagmire that awaits people caught in the welfare system. Scenes are set in jobcentres and in characters’ homes addressing some of what Neville calls the “everyday absurdity” of what occurs, such as when people with disabilities and fluctuating health conditions are wrongly declared “fit for work” inflicting additional suffering in the process. It also examines the dilemmas faced by staff in jobcentres, many of whom Neville believes feel stripped of any power to do good and are crumbling under the strain as managers enforce new rules.

“You’re not doing the job, you’re firefighting,” she says. “From my own experience, staff are subjected to constant and aggressive pressure to meet and exceed targets. Colleagues would leave team meetings crying. Things were changing all the time. The pressure was incredible. Advisers were actively encouraged to impose sanctions (along the lines of “sanction of the month”) to contribute to the points system that ranks jobcentre offices. It was often for stupid reasons,” she adds.
“And it was happening all the time. A customer maybe would be a little bit late or would phone in and the message wasn’t passed on. It was very distressing to have customers literally without food, without heat, without resources and these are unwell [and] disabled customers. If it hadn’t been for the fact that most of my colleagues were dedicated and compassionate people I wouldn’t have lasted more than a few months.”
A demonstrable shift took place once the coalition settled in, says Neville. Along with “relentless” targets, huge caseloads, and less time to spend with individual claimants, she lists the increasing complexity of the system including the many and very complicated forms that needed to be filled in and problems with the fitness to work test administered by Atos. “It used to feel like we were doing something for clients, now it was [doing something] to them,” she says.
Things were made all the more difficult, she adds, when staff were given far fewer opportunities to assist claimants with things like accessing grants previously available for interview preparation, such as getting a haircut. “These small things can mean a lot. Over time, though, this fund was chipped away until requests were routinely turned down,” she says. “Initially I felt that I had the resources to genuinely support customers. Sadly, this changed once the coalition came in – to the extent that the work almost became the persecution of some of the most vulnerable people in society.”
A central motivation behind the play was how “morally compromising” the job had become, says Neville. In one scene an adviser tells her mum that it’s like “getting brownie points” for cruelty. When Neville herself became redundant in 2013, she was warned about being sanctioned for supposedly being five minutes late to a jobcentre interview.
There was also a strong feeling among the playwrights that the tendencies in wider society and the media to stigmatise and vilify benefits claimants needed to be refuted. The play opens with a scene where nosey neighbours spot someone on sickness benefit in the street and assume they must be skiving instead of working. “This play is about getting people to bloody think about stuff. Use their brains. Sometimes I think, crikey, we are turning into a really mean, spying on our neighbour, type of society,” says Neville.
She is one of many former jobcentre workers speaking out with revelations about a “culture” of targets and accelerating pressure on staff to shift people off benefits, (repeatedly denied by the Department for Work and Pensions) often by the overuse of arbitrary and harsh sanctions that mean people’s benefits can be stopped for weeks and sometimes months. Like others, Neville says the new regime rolled out by the government as part of its “back-to-work” drives and budget cuts has caused enormous stress for claimants but also for the staff expected to implement them. Some advisers’ stories have been officially documented, such as that of John Longden, a former jobcentre official who gave written evidence to the ongoing parliamentary committee investigation into sanctions of “hit squads” setting claimants up to fail. Today, work and pensions minister, Esther McVey, will be grilled by the committee on the increased use of benefit sanctions.
Neville acknowledges that she has worked in just one jobcentre but argues that as the evidence from other frontline workers comes out it is clear that poor practices are commonplace.
She insists she isn’t normally a political person. “I don’t have a particular axe to grind … but it does always seem to happen under the Conservatives,” she adds.
Can this be England? has only had a couple of performances in Quaker meeting houses, but more are planned in the coming months. As for what lies ahead, Neville is adapting the stage play for radio and says the script is freely available to other performers who want to put the play on. One reason for doing so is to gain a wider audience but it is primarily because she and her co-writers worry about serious problems down the road with social security reform. “I’m really scared that these next [welfare spending] cuts are going to come along and that people are going to get used to it and say: ‘that’s just the way it is’. It’s the acceptance of it I can’t bear to think about.”

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/04/jobcentre-adviser-play-benefit-sanctions-angela-neville


You can only get a hardship fund if you are classed as 'vunerable' and there is no legal definition of 'vunerable' so it gets turned down all the time.  The Job Centres themselves say sorting out sanctions can take months.

If my 'scumbag' friend can get hardship payments then surely a woman with children can get them. ..


Fact remains. .. you don't get a sanction for more than 3 months for being late to an appointment. ..


Plus a bank statement will show what money is being paid into that particular account... it will not show you why the job centre have stopped paying into that account...

You obviously know fuck all Tommy.  It's not the length of the sanction, it's the time taken sorting it out, and in some cases it's been known to take over a year.

Now I suggest you apologise to Nicko.

Rubbish sassquatch!

A sanction is imposed immediately and for a set length of time... during this time you can claim hardship allowance... when the sanction period is up all benefits switch back to normal... you must still comply with job centre requirements during ths time... any appeal against sanction will be dealt with separately and will not extend sanction period.


The max sanction period for being late for an appointment is 3 months. And then won't be imposed for a first offence.

And in my experience. , staff are much more likely to sanction a single man than a woman with children.

Last time I was in the job centre, they were trying to set me up for a sanction straight away by telling me I had to show I had applied for enough jobs every day to avoid sanction but wouldn't tell me exactly how many jobs this number was!!!

While next to me was an old looking foreign woman,  looked maybe Tibet an or ethnic Chinese,  couldn't speak English so had a younger foreign woman with her,  the advisor was saying that this was the umpteenth time that the woman hadn't done any job searches but was still refusing to issue a sanction!!!


All in the name of equality I'm sure!!!

Employment and Support Allowance sanctions can either be open ended or can last for one, two or four weeks depending on the circumstances. Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions can last for four, 13 or 26 weeks (but can be up to a maximum of three years).


http://liverpool.gov.uk/benefits-and-grants/advice-if-your-benefit-is-sanctioned/

Tommy Monk wrote:Nicko,... fact remains that the maximum period for a sanction for missing an appointment is only 3 months and not imposed for a first offence... benefits return to normal after sanction period is up and doing this period people are able to claim hardship allowance



"The new JSA regime changes how sanctions are applied with three different levels attracting different lengths of sanctions.  Lower level sanctions, including missing appointments at the job centre or workfare provider will see claimants left without money for four weeks in for the first offence and 13 weeks for the second. 

Intermediate level sanctions also attract four then 13 week sanctions, but it is not detailed what this is for, except that they follow a period of disallowance.

Higher level sanctions are for the supposedly worst offences such as being unable take part in Mandatory Work Activity, or failing to apply for a job. The first will be 13 weeks, then 6 months and finally 3 years. If someone gets a job for 6 months, then any remaining sanction will be written off."

Did you read this that I posted earlier...! ?

Clearly states the sanction periods that can be imposed. . .  And 3 months is the maximum for being late for an appointment. .. although you are given up to ten minutes time to arrive late without penalty... plus can get out of it by having a really good excuse or by using one of your two allowed sickness periods!


Give it up sassquatch... I know the system better than many job centre advisors!!!

No Monkfish, you just THINK you know the system better.  As usual, you are not only delusional but as thick as mud at the bottom of the river.

Tell me one thing I've said that is wrong about jobcentre procedure so far...! ?


Your previous post about sanctions being up to 3 years just shows that you are thick as you didn't read my earlier post that already said that!!!


But the important factor is that the maximum period for missing an appointment is only 3 months!!!


Give it up sassquatch... I have been on the dole many times and I know the system better than many job centre advisors!!!

not tommy you are a tory propaganda machine

you hate the isabled and less fortunate, as is witnessed by your frequent attacks on them on here, and the misrepresented facts you spout

get this tghroeugh your dense skull...what is prescribed and what is delivered is two different things and there is no one there to "deal with" useless deliberartely evil jsa staff..

they are quite simply liars, manipulators and twisters.

the whole feckin lot should be burned at the stake....

I note that you also havnt acknowleged that you screwed up big time and jumped in spouting you drivel, having failed to read te O/P properly

in your haste to ""bash the poor" and point out how "idle they are" ........you didnt even spot that in fact it was the "system" that had failed....

Listen Elmer... so the govt card machine wasn't working... go to a different shop... simple!


Or maybe that was just bullshit like much of the rest of the story sounded...


My points still stand...

I note,
statement "been on the dole many times" Why is that then?

No work...

Tommy Monk wrote:If my 'scumbag' friend can get hardship payments then surely a woman with children can get them. ..


Fact remains. .. you don't get a sanction for more than 3 months for being late to an appointment. ..


Plus a bank statement will show what money is being paid into that particular account... it will not show you why the job centre have stopped paying into that account...

You sound like you know everything in theory and sweet sod all in practice....no offence.

I'm talking from my own personal experience.

So are other people.

No not quite... nicko is relaying someone else's story... sassquatch is spamming leftie waffle propaganda...

I am talking from my own personal first hand experience!

Tommy I don't think you can know every case inside out and each case is different.

Tommy Monk wrote:No not quite... nicko is relaying someone else's story... sassquatch is spamming leftie waffle propaganda...

I am talking from my own personal first hand experience!

I mentioned my son....you said he (as a single person) should manage.
Nicko was talking of his daughter.

Maybe you are one of these people who know how to screw the system for every penny......most don't.

The rules are clear and the same for everyone... knowing the rules is crucial when making a claim.

Tommy Monk wrote:The rules are clear and the same for everyone... knowing the rules is crucial when making a claim.

Well I have never made a claim, but I know people who have and it can be complicated, and as has been mentioned delays in payments getting through can occur.
You seem to think your experience is the only valid one.....it isn't.

I have been fortunate in my life/career but I honestly admit, IF IF IF things had gone really bad for me I would have done most things to feed/look after my family crooked or otherwise.

Bleedin MPs do.

Tommy Monk wrote:Listen Elmer... so the govt card machine wasn't working... go to a different shop... simple!


Or maybe that was just bullshit like much of the rest of the story sounded...


My points still stand...

you dont HAVE a point...just tory bull shit

Syl... so your son ran out of work and had to sign on and got £73.40 a week paid fortnightly... and He got his rent paid plus only had to pay about a tenner a month in council tax...


I have been in exactly the same position so I know exactly what it's like from my own personal experience of it!!!


73 quid a week is nothing if you are used to earning around double that a day... I know that all too well too!!!


But what I said was that food is relatively cheap and for 30 quid you can get more than enough for yourself for the week... then 15 quid on elec... leaves around 30 quid a week for phone and fares... or beers!!!


Jsa isn't supposed to provide more money so as to have a luxury lifestyle.


But as a qualified scaffolder it wouldn't be hard for him to get another job... if not scaffolding then plenty other things he could do...


I have had many periods of being on the dole... it used to be easy at the job centre to hang it out for a while if you wanted a bit of time off work... and many people did... me included sometimes!!!


But not now!!!

Lord Foul wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:Listen Elmer... so the govt card machine wasn't working... go to a different shop... simple!


Or maybe that was just bullshit like much of the rest of the story sounded...


My points still stand...

you dont HAVE a point...just tory bull shit

I vote Ukip Elmer. ..!!!

I have known people who were entitled to help but became so befudduld by the system they did not apply straight away, did at a later date when they got independent advice.
One lad lost an arm in a motorcycle accident and was told by a black as your hat benefits geeza that he was not entitled to anything in case his arm grew back, he is still suing them 4 years on but on benefits now.

ahh...you mean you vote for tory lite then who differ from the tories by one policy ...

Tommy Monk wrote:Syl... so your son ran out of work and had to sign on and got £73.40 a week paid fortnightly... and He got his rent paid plus only had to pay about a tenner a month in council tax...


I have been in exactly the same position so I know exactly what it's like from my own personal experience of it!!!


73 quid a week is nothing if you are used to earning around double that a day... I know that all too well too!!!


But what I said was that food is relatively cheap and for 30 quid you can get more than enough for yourself for the week... then 15 quid on elec... leaves around 30 quid a week for phone and fares... or beers!!!


Jsa isn't supposed to provide more money so as to have a luxury lifestyle.


But as a qualified scaffolder it wouldn't be hard for him to get another job... if not scaffolding then plenty other things he could do...


I have had many periods of being on the dole... it used to be easy at the job centre to hang it out for a while if you wanted a bit of time off work... and many people did... me included sometimes!!!


But not now!!!

He didn't run out of work he was made redundant as was all the workforce......twice, with 2 separate companies that hired a foreign cheaper workforce in their place.
He did get another job and is now working for a better company...he has been there 2 years.

His rent was paid...that's all. He had to find council tax, elec, gas, water rates, TV licence, phone rental, bus and train fares (which as he was looking for work cost a lot) and food, plus he helps support his son who lived with his mum and step dad.
He neither smokes nor drank....and believe me if we had not helped out he would have starved.

Not sure how you can say you have been in "exactly the same position"...where you live and how much you pay out on transport varies for a start.

Tommy are you saying that the DSS don't make mistakes?

I live in London...


Are you saying he didn't claim jsa..?


That's about 73 quid a week... meant for food and basic expenses...


And is all I got when I signed on last.


Spend it wisely and you have enough food!


Other debts have to wait...

Tommy you are talking absolute wank.
£73 is not enough for living at all.
i will admit, you can cook for cheaper than most people actually do, but you're living in cuckoo land.

You did it "for a while"
Anyone can live like that for a while, but the longer you do something the harder it is to get out of debt because life doesn't run smoothly and things pop up.

You're looking at a massively complicated issue and trying to simplify it in a world that isn't real.

Eddie... if you don't jump through the jobcentre hoops or are caught out lying or cheating the system then they are quick to fuck you up... if you have valid reasons against a decision against you then you appeal... these appeals go to adjudicators and are dealt with between 2 to 6 weeks... if sanctioned then people can get hardship allowance for the period and will then get awarded any extra money due if win appeal.


It is true that the tory s have tightened up the system... it is also true that the system needed tightening up...


If you want to claim jsa now then you will still get money and rent paid etc but you are expected to look for and take any job regardless of what you normally do or want to do... and you must show shit loads of proof that you are applying for all sorts of jobs every day!!!


They now expect you to spend most of your day, every day, without fail, looking for and applying for any and every possible job that you can possibly do.


As I said before.. that is what they put on me... I asked them how many jobs a day was enough to apply for and they told me there was no set number... how long is a piece of string?

Tommy Monk wrote:Tell me one thing I've said that is wrong about jobcentre procedure so far...! ?


Your previous post about sanctions being up to 3 years just shows that you are thick as you didn't read my earlier post that already said that!!!


But the important factor is that the maximum period for missing an appointment is only 3 months!!!


Give it up sassquatch... I have been on the dole many times and I know the system better than many job centre advisors!!!

You can't compare the UK benefits system to the U.S. "benefits" system.

Tommy Monk wrote:Eddie... if you don't jump through the jobcentre hoops or are caught out lying or cheating the system then they are quick to fuck you up... if you have valid reasons against a decision against you then you appeal... these appeals go to adjudicators and are dealt with between 2 to 6 weeks... if sanctioned then people can get hardship allowance for the period and will then get awarded any extra money due if win appeal.


It is true that the tory s have tightened up the system... it is also true that the system needed tightening up...


If you want to claim jsa now then you will still get money and rent paid etc but you are expected to look for and take any job regardless of what you normally do or want to do... and you must show shit loads of proof that you are applying for all sorts of jobs every day!!!


They now expect you to spend most of your day, every day, without fail, looking for and applying for any and every possible job that you can possibly do.


As I said before.. that is what they put on me... I asked them how many jobs a day was enough to apply for and they told me there was no set number... how long is a piece of string?

What has that got to do with the answer I gave you re your post about how far £73 a week will stretch?
I am not disputing this post - you obviously know your shit and it all sounds about right

Tommy Monk wrote:I live in London...


Are you saying he didn't claim jsa..?


That's about 73 quid a week... meant for food and basic expenses...


And is all I got when I signed on last.


Spend it wisely and you have enough food!


Other debts have to wait...

No I meant his rent was paid and he did get the £70 approx benefit pw for everything else I listed.
That was not enough to live on....short term he managed with help.
Anyone who has to manage on that amount of money for any length of time would just sink further and further into debt.

Eddie... how much food does one person need a week..?


30 quid will get one person plenty of nice grub if you spend it wisely and cook it indoors.

Edds, he most definitely does NOT know what he is talking about.  You can't just appeal anymore, you have to go to a Mandatory Reconsideration, it was brought in in 2013.


This was written for ESA, but it applies to JSA as well:

What is a mandatory reconsideration for ESA?

In order to make it harder for claimants who have been found capable of work to challenge a decision about their ESA, mandatory reconsiderations are being introduced from 28^th October 2013.
From that date, you will no longer be able to go straight to appeal and, if you have been found to be capable of work, you also will not be able to get any rate of ESA whilst the mandatory reconsideration is taking place. Instead, you will have to try to claim another benefit, such as jobseeker’s allowance or manage without an income replacement benefit at all.
In brief, the mandatory reconsideration is a process by which the decision you are unhappy with is looked at again, usually by a different decision maker. Once you receive the mandatory reconsideration notice, telling you whether the decision has been changed and, if so how, you can then appeal if you are still unhappy. At this point you will be able to go back onto the assessment phase rate of ESA. There’s more about all of this below. 
Back to top.

Does mandatory reconsideration apply if I lodged my appeal before 28^th October?

No, it doesn’t. Mandatory reconsideration will only apply to decisions made on or after 28^th October. The letter giving you a decision about your ESA must explain that if you wish to challenge the decision you will have to go through the mandatory reconsideration process before appealing. If that information is not included with the decision letter then you can go straight to appeal.
Back to top.

How long do I have to ask for a mandatory reconsideration?

You must do ask for a mandatory reconsideration within the time limit of one calendar month. If you have asked for a written statement of reasons for the decision the deadline may be extended.
If you miss this deadline you will need to give reasons for why your request is late and it will then be up to a decision maker to decide whether to extend the deadline.
The decision maker has the power to extend the deadline by up to 12 months.

There is no right of appeal against a decision not to extend the deadline, however. The only slim hope would be to try to have the decision judicially reviewed.


https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-appeals/mandatory-reconsiderations

The bottom line here is that Tommy is just one of those people who looks for reasons not to be kind to others. They want to be stingy without the accompanying guilt

How true!

Syl...


"He had to find council tax, elec, gas, water rates, TV licence, phone rental, bus and train fares (which as he was looking for work cost a lot) and food, plus he helps support his son who lived with his mum and step dad.
He neither smokes nor drank"

Council tax used to be totally covered by benefit if able to claim housing benefit then council tax benefit was entitled too and processed at same dept... now you don't get full money for that. You get something like 90% cover in benefit... so mine was only something like 8 quid a month I had to pay.


Elec and gas is only about 15 quid a week in total.

Water rates are not a lot at all... and TV license is only about a tenner a month.

Fares? You can get fares paid for job centre for specific interview journeys... weekly bus pass here is about 15 quid a week.

Phone... buy a cheap pay as you go from tesco for a tenner and use it sparingly... also if you have a bus pass there is nothing stopping you going to the job centre and using their phones and computers for free every day for work related job searching and phone calls.

He'd have to put the cash handouts to his son on hold for a bit if he was out of work and didn't have the money... surely?


So if you add all that up for the month plus 30 a week for food... out of approx 300 which would be 2 x giros of approx 150 quid each for the month...


Still got a few quid left over!!!

Sassquatch. .. that is about esa you twat!

If found fit for work then you make an immediate claim for jsa and still get your money!!!

The person ringing you to tell you that you have been found fit to work will even offer to transfer you to the jsa new claim team!!!

I know this because it happened to me!!!

He's right sassy JSA is different

And Tommy? I said you were right about the food amount (not great though and still not cut and dried as to make a lot of the sort of food you're taking about requires herbs and spices), but not about the rest of that amount over a long period of time

Like I said, anyone can live 'poor' for "a little while"

Bloody hell Stormee, must give yourself a fright looking in the mirror in the morning.

Can we stop with the pictures please? Let's be adult eh?

As I said, the process for JSA and ESA is exactly the same and has to go to Mandatory Reconsideration first:


1) JSA or ESA claimant and sanctioned?
Are you a JSA/ESA claimant and have you been sanctioned? If so, it’s important to take effective action promptly. You have a right to appeal. Currently only one claimant in three appeals a sanction. This is far too few, because the statistics show that the success rate of appeals is currently over 50 per cent. In other words your chance of success is better than evens. In fact, everyone should appeal, because even where sanctions are legally justified, the penalties have become unreasonably harsh.
If you don’t appeal and you then get another sanction within 12 months, the next one will be longer. So you MUST appeal every sanction even if you think you can cope with it.
1.1) Types of sanction
http://refuted.org.uk/sanctions/newregime/
2) Mandatory reconsideration (Appeal first stage)
The process of appealing to the first stage, after the DWP has sent you their Decision Letter, is an internal ‘mandatory reconsideration’ by DWP. It is simple and doesn’t cost anything apart from telephone calls, stamps or fares. https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit

https://wwwrefuteddotorgdotuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/sanctionstips/

How long do I have to ask for a mandatory reconsideration?

You must do ask for a mandatory reconsideration within the time limit of one calendar month. If you have asked for a written statement of reasons for the decision the deadline may be extended.
If you miss this deadline you will need to give reasons for why your request is late and it will then be up to a decision maker to decide whether to extend the deadline.
The decision maker has the power to extend the deadline by up to 12 months.

There is no right of appeal against a decision not to extend the deadline, however. The only slim hope would be to try to have the decision judicially reviewed.