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Culture of Contempt?
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Welfare Rights Adviser - Southwark Law Centre, Peckham
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Sorry, but that one actually made me chuckle.
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Support Services, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, London
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Stainsby - 19 March 2019 03:46 PMI have uploaded part of the DWP response to a PIP appeal by one of my clients
You may well recognise the usual cut and paste, but this one might inadvertently expose a canteen culture of contempt among many decision makers at the DWP
I don’t know how this particular submission writer thinks they can get away with calling a claimant a “lying bitch”
How did your client feel when she read this?
That is the issue.
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Solicitor, SC Law, Harrow
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Sangeeta1 - 21 March 2019 11:18 AMHow did your client feel when she read this?
That is the issue.
hardly
the issue is that no one in a professional office, whether that by DWP or anywhere else, should ever commit such a phrase to writing (or even vocalise it) and more especially where the person subject to the vitriol can read it.
If one wants to comment on someone’s credibility/veracity, there are much more elegant and polite ways of so doing (which also can be nicely cutting)
which is why ones file notes should also be carefully drawn if one actually thinks that one’s client is being “economical with the verite” - or in other words, is lying.
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agreed. I was trying to say (too briefly perhaps) that the client’s reaction and impact it had on her should form the basis of any complaint.
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It’s an extraordinary use of language. I have got DWP to take disciplinary action for less.
Aside from the unprofessionalism and offensiveness, the use of the word “bitch” may also trigger sex discrimination issues as it’s a gender specific word.
So a sex discrimination claim would also be in order.
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On refection Stainsby. I wonder whether a complaint and any legal action should start now rather than waiting months for the Tribunal?
I can see the logic of not wanting DWP to partly revise and then having to start all over again, but to pursue an issue such as this which involves possible disciplinary and sex discrimination claims loses its impact if left and there are strict time limits for the latter.
Moreover, do we want this DWP officer carrying on harming other people in the meantime?
If they did partly revise, then presumably that’s a bit of a result anyway for the client who may be grateful for the extra money in the interim?
From the Guardian -
The Department for Work and Pensions has been criticised after one of its officials apparently submitted papers to a benefits appeal tribunal in which they called a disabled claimant a “lying bitch”.
The submission, formally rejecting an appeal by a disabled woman against the removal or downgrading of her personal independence payment (PIP) award, was made public by her outraged advice worker.
In an extract from the papers, the DWP official questions whether the claimant is genuinely entitled to carer’s allowance, a benefit for people who care for another person for at least 35 hours a week.
“In this lying bitches [sic] case she is receiving the mid-rate carers [sic] allowance component for providing day time supervision to another disabled person. The tribunal may wish to explore this further,” the official writes.
A welfare adviser posted a copy of the submission on the discussion boards of Rightsnet, a site for advice workers.
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council
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‘We do not comment on leaked documents.’
Nice try chaps, but it isn’t a leaked document is it?
Are Guardian journalists spying on Rightsnight?
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MaggieB - 22 March 2019 06:41 PMAre Guardian journalists spying on Rightsnight?
seems like it. but it’s not exactly hidden behind any secure walls - rightsnet often comes up if you’re googling e.g. a case or whatever benefits linked. So i should have thought journalists writing on benefits etc. issues would have had it bookmarked…
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It’s the having it viewed by clients or people who want to become clients which is more of an issue.
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Solicitor, SC Law, Harrow
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Mike Hughes - 23 March 2019 12:38 PMIt’s the having it viewed by clients or people who want to become clients which is more of an issue.
that’ll require different software, i expect…
certainly the APIL Forum does NOT show up on google searches - wholly inaccessible to non members…
Hi all,
I think this lays bare what most of us suspect to be the culture behind the decisions we see from DWP. The response is predictably risible.
I’d be happy to have a look at this from a discrimination angle if the service user wants. I’ve also attached a brief training document on discrimination in welfare benefits in case it is of assistance to anyone.
File Attachments
- Discrimination_in_Welfare_Benefits.pdf (File Size: 165KB - Downloads: 2604)
Demos finds that the DWP will never be able to engage effectively with ill and disabled people due to lack of trust -
Pathways from Poverty: The future of the DWP
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Daphne - 26 March 2019 11:16 AMDemos finds that the DWP will never be able to engage effectively with ill and disabled people due to lack of trust -
“Falls over in mock horror” :)
Bit surprised lack of basic competence doesn’t come into play though.