{"id":8007,"date":"2016-03-07T15:02:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T15:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8007"},"modified":"2016-03-08T17:34:18","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T17:34:18","slug":"grotesquely-cruel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8007","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Grotesquely cruel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s benefits sanctions regime has ravaged the nation, punishing vulnerable people up and down the country for the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098crime\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of being the victims of a failing economy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHalf a million people have been sanctioned and had their financial support withdrawn in the last 12 months alone,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Liane Groves, Unite head of community.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMoney can be cut for arriving late at the Jobcentre, missing an appointment to go to a funeral or even failing to apply for a job while waiting to start a new job,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In 2013 David Clapson, a diabetic ex-soldier, died starving because he was penalised by the Jobcentre for missing a meeting.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His body was found surrounded by CVs and his electricity had been cut off making his insulin unusable.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His sister, Gill Thompson, has been campaigning for an inquiry into his death.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She will be handing in a petition containing tens of thousands of signatures to the Department for Work and Pensions on Wednesday (March 9).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis harsh benefit sanctions regime treats claimants worse than criminals fined in courts, leaving people without money and unable to feed themselves and their family,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Liane.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is a system out of control with decisions on guilt taken in secret and claimants not even allowed to be present to explain their case,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The petition calls on the prime minister David Cameron to implement a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098broad and independent\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 review of benefit sanctions as per the recommendations of the Work and Pensions select committee.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unite community members have organised a day of action to coincide with the petition being handed in.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFar from helping people back to work, the cruel sanctions regime harms physical and mental health and drives up food bank use and homelessness,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Liane.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Campaigners will be protesting outside Jobcentres in over 70 towns and cities across the UK on Wednesday as part of the national day of action against the benefit sanctions regime.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is totally counterproductive and there can be no justification for this grotesque cruelty by the government. It can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be allowed to go on,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added Liane.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; The coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s benefits sanctions regime has ravaged the nation, punishing vulnerable people up and down the country for the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098crime\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of being the victims of a failing economy. &nbsp; \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHalf a million people have been sanctioned and had their financial support withdrawn in the last 12 months alone,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Liane Groves, Unite head [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[231],"wps_subtitle":"Campaigners in nationwide protests over benefit sanctions","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8008,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007\/revisions\/8008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}