Tens of thousands of people on sickness benefits will receive backdated payments averaging £5,000 following government errors. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has revealed it is paying more than £1.5bn owing to the mistakes.
The staggering incompetence of the current government continues unabated. This story throws up three interesting questions, in my view.
1. Who will pay the (political) price for this error, which has cost some of the most vulnerable members of society hundreds of millions of pounds?
2. Why will 75,000 of the victims of this error - which dates back to 2011 - have to wait until the year 2019/20 to receive the back payments they are owed?
3. Will an additional £1.5bn sloshing about in the economy - in the hands of those typically least likely to stash cash away in savings - have a material, profound and false improvement on the economy?
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Comments
Sun reader alert.
..........of course it was tongue in cheek.
(I bet old Henners blood pressure went into orbit)
So war veterans, scroungers, very sick folk,
Slightly sick folk and all folk with mental health issues, either full time or part time, people in accidents, genuine folk who would only claim as a last resort are all in this number.
It is another error from Government which compounds the suffering of the honest claiment whereas the shyster just bides his/her time to the next opportunity.
The saddest thing about this is that some of the most in need people in our country have been left lacking the funding they need to get by.
The second saddest thing about this is that the dirtiest, most dishonest benefit fraudsters of this country will reap even more funds from a system that is ridiculously easy to cheat and will only end up with us being forced to pay more in taxes.
Not a lot extra with current low interest rates I know, but every pound counts to the vast majority of these claimants.
I wouldn't be surprised if a number of these owed these back payments have subsequently died - let's hope the Government still releases the money to their families.
I imagine those responsible for all the f***ups in the DWP will all have been given lovely bonuses.
1. The failure to agree a Brexit deal, or, indeed, the failure to agree a consistent position.
2. The failure of Universal Credit to be rolled out, thanks to the government's "weak management, ineffective control and poor governance".
3. The plethora of government resignations since last year's general election. Including Lord Bridges, Lord Price, Baroness Aloney, Michael Fallon (sexual scandal), Priti Patel (unauthorised meetings with foreign governments), Damien Green (lying about porn), Justine Greening, Amber Rudd (lying), Philip Lee, Greg Hands, David Davis, Steve Baker and Boris Johnston. Losing a cabinet member every six weeks is breathtakingly incompetent.
The government set the policy, collect the taxes, determine how they're distributed, create the structures that administer that distribution and employ the ministers, managers and staff to make it happen. The shortfall in payments started in 2011, one year into the Tory-led coalition and have continued into the following two Conservative administrations. Of course it's the government's fault.
I agree with you that it's sad (although I would put it a lot stronger) that the most vulnerable people are hardest hit. But I would say that the worst aspect of this is the length of time the government is setting itself to put it right. The government owes these people this money now, not in two years' time.
Those affected have been underpaid when moved from incapacity benefit to ESA - this is a change that happened ten years ago. So @Chizz this simply is not a failing of the current government, as much as I dislike them.
Equally I doubt it's even a failing of either the Lab or Coalition government. It's not on those in government and ministry who have set policy, but it's on government bodies who have zero ability to effectively deliver anything, which ultimately also reflects quite badly on the ops and logistics parts of the civil service/DWP.
This is a big, big fuckup, but not really something any one group - with the possible exception of those in operational/delivery parts of the civil service - can be blamed for.
I love the idea that if Labour were in power it would suddenly become efficient.
ESA was introduced in October 2008. But the issues were created when the DWP began reassessing people on incapacity benefits (e.g. Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance) for eligibility for ESA in March 2011. Errors relating to the amounts paid first came to light in 2013. So the Coalition set up the process to assess some people to move to ESA; and the Coalition was still in power when the first issues came to light.
This isn't an issue on which the Tories will be able to pass the buck to a previous government. But, worse than the mistake (because mistakes always happen) is the disgraceful length of time it's taken first to work out a fix (five years) and second to make amends (several more years).
The reason I don't find politics interesting, is simply because politics always seem to be primarily built upon lie after lie.
I do however appreciate those that have more of a clue sharing their 'knowledge' or understanding and so I thank you for sharing those details around how the Conservative government is to blame.
I've asked again and got a reply -
It reads like you're suggesting that the coalition came in and decided to change a policy that had already been around for a few years, so they could deliberately start paying people less.
The policy and rollout plan started in 2008. The timing for said rollout was set in 2008. While this started in 2011, that was after years of planning beforehand (not that this really matters given it's apolitical). This was initially a minor mistake by low-level civil servants - by poorly-paid staff who have nothing to do with politics, but will remain in their role regardless of who is in power - that has ballooned into a massive mistake.
To actually quote the person I'm talking to - "It's like this guy genuinely believes they designed a policy, but didn't even think about how they would roll it out until three years later, and that they gave it one day's thought and started the next day."
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You might be right about the timeframes, but even so, this is WAY more complicated than leaving the buck with the Conservatives (as much as I would like to!).
And don't get me fucking started on the DLA to PIP migration, let alone the so called "managed migration" process from ESA to universal credit that they're proposing.
Esther McVey: “...Hold my pint”