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‘Sham’ Timms review protests planned in Wales

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‘Sham’ Timms review protests planned in Wales

Disabled claimants will be protesting against the ‘sham’ Timms review in Wales when carefully managed workshops are held there later this month.

DPAC Cymru are organising the events in protest against the failure of the review to genuinely consult with disabled claimants.  They argue that:

 “The UK Government promised that the review would be 'co-produced' with Disabled people. Instead, it is an undemocratic and top-down review being used to justify cuts, particularly for young Disabled people.”

Their concerns are echoed by disability Rights UK, who greeted the latest update from Timms by responding that:

“The Government has consistently failed to properly include Disabled People’s Organisation’s in decisions and processes that affect us, including a lack of notice of significant updates and decisions during the Timms Review process, and not co-producing any part of the Review with DPOs despite promises to do so.”

Even one of the Timms co-chairs has admitted that the review “isn’t fully or true co-production”.

  • DPAC Cymru are calling for:
  • No disability cuts
  • No sham Timms Review
  • An independent review, led democratically by Disabled people and our organisations, including our trade unions.

The first protest is scheduled to take place outside the Timms review workshop taking place in Cardiff.

1pm, Friday 25 September

Outside the Cardiff & Vale College (Business Centre), City Centre Campus, Dumballs Rd,

Cardiff, CF10 5FE.

The second protest will be in Bangor on 30 September, to coincide with the Timms review workshop there.  Further details to  be announced.

Readers with queries can email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can download a flyer for the protest here.

Benefits and Work will be happy to publicise any other actions taking place, please get in touch if you have details.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Tortuga.
    · 7 days ago
    I'm so frustrated about this cancellation.  I was to attend the Cardiff Workshop today and hoped to represent the views of older carers like me, I'm 69, and our disabled adult son who has a very rare lifelong complex syndrome that means he'll never be able to live alone.  Instead our voices have been lost, as I don't have the tech equipment to join the online Workshop.   Did you really think this protest through?  Those attending don't want cuts either but some of us have been denied our say that would have supported disabled people.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Bruce
    · 17 days ago
    I too am tired of the constant 'other news' comments beneath these news articles.
    This part of the site is becoming somewhere that I, sadly, consider a doomscrolling zone. I stress, not the articles themselves - I mean the comments under them. 

    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Frances
      · 17 days ago
      @Bruce Some comments are alarming, but replies often try to allay fears and give some measured reassurance or informed advice, and I don't think it's a bad thing that people have a chance to express anxiety, even if posts don't always relate directly to the current topic.

      Posts on current articles are more likely to be seen, and sometimes people raise issues which are then taken up and explored by B&W in a subsequent article. I feel that any irritation arising from comments which seem to stray from the point is outweighed by the value of being able to share immediate concerns.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Mandy
      · 17 days ago
      @Bruce I agree. 👌
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    rookie
    · 18 days ago
    @CaroA "some of the political rhetoric" and some of the opportunist sharks in media.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      rookie
      · 17 days ago
      @CaroA Yes, It is heartening that those wider views are cutting through now. It might give courage to Labour mps, especially, who feel inclined to vote against any hostile proposals arising from the Timms review recommendations, or indeed give the review panel pause for thought.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      CaroA
      · 18 days ago
      @rookie Absolutely. Many sections of the media have played a huge part in creating and reinforcing these attitudes too. Which is why I found these figures so heartening — despite all that rhetoric, it seems the public is much less hostile towards disabled people who cannot work than we are often led to believe.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    CaroA
    · 18 days ago
    New Survey gives kinder public perspective 

    BSA 43 | Attitudes to welfare | National Centre for Social Research https://share.google/SfAzuD6zlqx1vdMca

    I'm not sure if this has already been posted but in case it hasn't....

    We have still got such a battle on our hands, but this gave me some hope.

    The latest British Social Attitudes survey, published by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), has some striking findings about public attitudes towards disability benefits.

    Only 7% of people think there should be less spending on benefits for disabled people who cannot work, while 49% think more should be spent — even if this would probably mean higher taxes.

    What particularly struck me was that even among Reform UK supporters, only 11% favour reducing spending on benefits for disabled people who cannot work.

    This isn't simply because the public is generally supportive of welfare spending. Attitudes towards unemployment benefits are considerably tougher. That makes the distinction people are making about disabled people who cannot work particularly significant.

    We have still got such a battle on our hands over disability benefits and the way disabled people are talked about, but I found these figures genuinely encouraging. They suggest there is considerably more public support for protecting disabled people than some of the political rhetoric would have us believe.




    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      N.B.C
      · 12 days ago
      @CaroA Here's hoping that what you have put here is in some way how it turns out coz I'm so scared of all this, I just want to be left in peace.

      Sorry to go on all the time.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      TheDogmother (The original)
      · 17 days ago
      @CaroA Very kind @CaroA wishing you the very best too. X
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      CaroA
      · 18 days ago
      @TheDogmother (The original) No problem TheDogmother sending you all the best with all that you're dealing with at the moment. ❤️
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Denby
      · 18 days ago
      @TheDogmother (The original) Oh Dog mother Fantastic.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      TheDogmother (The original)
      · 18 days ago
      @CaroA Sorry @CaroA  my comment wasn't for you it was for @Look Again.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Look Again
    · 18 days ago
    Its understandable that people are venting, I would just like to point out however that commentary here is speculative and worst-case thinking. 

     “I feel like a metal duck waiting for my end.”

    “I’m on a cliff edge.”

    “This is dystopian.”

    “We’re guinea pigs.”

    “Public opinion is negative.”

    These comments are coming from a place of fearful assumptions and interpretation, not fact.  Understandable, but still not helpful to people coming into this forum and thinking this is 'how it is'. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      TheDogmother (The original)
      · 18 days ago
      @Look Again @CaroA my metal duck comment is because I'm waiting the best part of a year on a pip review! We are as entitled to our opinions as you are. It was nothing to do with the Timms report per say. If you think we are all going to be upbeat about what could potentially happen, considering the vast majority of us have been through the ringer for years you are wrong. If people take our comments and interpret them as they will then thats their affair. 

  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Frances
    · 18 days ago
    @TheDogmother (The original)

    Understandable that you don't want to ring, but it might be that you just haven't been informed of the decision, or it could speed things up. Try calling them right on the dot of when the lines open to get through fast (it's 9am in England and Wales but might be different for you) and just ask for progress on your review. Could save you worrying, or explain the delay.

    Maybe you could have someone with you when you make the call, who could intervene if it gets too much.

    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      TheDogmother (The original)
      · 18 days ago
      @Frances @frances Thank you. Ill see if I can pluck up the courage. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    TheDogmother (The original)
    · 18 days ago
    @D also i am in Northern Ireland and the department for communities who deal with pip claims work a but differently from rest of UK and a six yr award is not inevitable. In other words they didnt set up a system that should you continue to receive pip upon a new award,you get a six year award ,Hope you get what i mean. I just checked to see. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Diddy68
    · 19 days ago
    Following on from when Liz Kendall and Keir Starmer, tried to introduce the 4-point rule, it looks like there is going to be another wave of protests, around any possible/probable, detrimental changes to PIP. Only this time, the momentum is greater, in that it seems to be starting early and is anticipatory. Having not learned its lesson first time round, perhaps the Government, will learn it this time, if their plans are struck down or watered down again.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Jon
      · 18 days ago
      @D The Disabled Community is Fragmented.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Thelux
      · 18 days ago
      @Diddy68 They already managed to cut the amount of money in half that new claimants of health element are awarded.. They are slowly eroding the welfare system bit by bit. They're making massive savings yet they still can't stop attacking us. They won't be happy till we have nothing. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      D
      · 18 days ago
      @Diddy68 And we just had the new assisted dying bill voted down at 2nd reading

      I do believe disability organisations did play a part in the argument that this isn’t the right time

      We’ve had a few very public victories these past 18 months - for the first time we actually may have a couple of cards we can place
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    TheDogmother (The original)
    · 19 days ago
    You know the shooting range at the fairground?The one were the little metal duckies keep passing by in a row and you try to hit them? That's what I feel like, a yellow metal duck waiting for my end ,you know that its gonna be you turn at some point. 
    I'm already in a pip review almost a year and I'm in the dark as to what's happening, all I can say is my pip award ended this week. I've has nothing to say where my claim stands, if I'll be assessed by phone or f-f etc 
    I'm really on a cliff edge and all this Timms review fills me with extra dread and horror ,when I thought nothing could top the fear and distress I already feel,not just for myself but for us all. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      TheDogmother (The original)
      · 18 days ago
      @D @D no no not at all I didn't find your comment harsh at all. I found it rather interesting and I understand fully the impact of the times review should it come to fruition. And I agree that disabled people's voices are ignored no matter how times and co dress it up. Its merely lip service to try to appease the masses, they forget its chronically ill and disabled we are ,not stupid or gullible. They'll have a fight on their hands. We've had enough. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      D
      · 18 days ago
      @TheDogmother (The original) @dogmother im sorry, i was unnecessarily harsh in my response to you 
      Of course all limbos are mentally damaging and draining and all types of limbos the dwp leave claimants in whether it’s during an assessment process or waiting to see if you are the guinea pig for possible dystopian reforms (or will sneak under the wire with the old current system)

      It all sucks and it all takes its toll - and it is all unnecessary 

      Ministers could have saved money on disability welfare without putting millions of disabled into panic and despair.
      This gov has chosen to let media publish lies to turn public against us as a social group, appoint ghouls like milburn, McFadden and timms free rein to verbally attack & threaten our ability to survive. Regardless of whether can stop these reforms or not, the damage is done - 20 years of successive govs coming after disabled has taken its toll and public opinion of disabled is so negative it will take years to reverse it back to something more tolerant. Disabled people are not the ones excluding themselves from society - (when I was growing up I was told ppl would make adjustments for my autism - biggest load of bullshit, I was forced to mask so not to be an inconvenience - like working 2 jobs at once so exhausting)

      Dwp are only coming after disabled as they save more welfare money if they knock us - not because we are the best candidate for the limited jobs available 

      I’m not saying more neets shouldn’t be in work or that incapacity welfare doesn’t need to come down - but it does feel like timms and milburn have ignored all feedback and chosen the most destructive so called solution they could think of

      Worst thing - they claim it’s a collaborated solution made is the disabled communities blessing!
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Tree Top Trimmer.
      · 18 days ago
      @Jon Me too. Takes me to 71. I hope that's the end of all this worry.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      TheDogmother (The original)
      · 18 days ago
      @D @D I think your comment was aimed at me? Thank you. Yes I understand the current situation and the things to potentially come, The entire thing stinks, they never do anything for our benefit thats a given.Yes I sent my review form,medical evidence etc back long ago. The wait is terrible as it was the other three times before, this time its taken three times as long as before. The whole limbo thing is terrible esp when you suffer from anxiety depression, panic attacks on top of a myriad of physical conditions  that are lifelong or decades long. I truly worry about the future for all of us. 
      Take care.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      TheDogmother (The original)
      · 18 days ago
      @Frances @Frances tbh I'm way to afraid to engage with them.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    keepingitreal
    · 19 days ago
    I have posted in response to Wendy's terrible news in B&W's previous article, where she explained how an emergency with another patient affected her own treatment. Not only was that patient in desperate need, the psychiatric services are so stretched that Wendy missed out on a CPN visit.

    This is what happens when media whip up a storm.

    As I understand it, those with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia would retain pip. Of course I could be wrong about that, but that's the point - we don't know, and bad actors in the media and those with political interests are seizing on, and distorting scraps of announcements to prey on the fears of the vulnerable for sales, clicks, comments, whatever.

    I remain baffled as to why the recent Timms report preview was released, as, unlike with the earlier interim report, there was no apparent pressure on the committee to do that. It was a mistake. I'm increasingly wondering whether it was to test the water, and because the process is floundering, therefore seeking reaction before committing to recommendations.

    It is clear from their most recent update that the leaders of the review cannot possibly formulate a plan by later this autumn. If they had any courage or conscience they"d come clean in their 'final' report and say there has been insufficient time to consider this vast and complex matter and they are unable to make any recommendations without proper and genuine consultation with meaningful representation from those who would be impacted by pip reform.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    (No) hope
    · 20 days ago
    Let’s expand this so that the protests are countrywide.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Mick
      · 18 days ago
      @denby Well if they arrested me then it wouldn't just be a disabled trouble causing terrorist they'd be arresting, it wouldn't look good arresting a veteran wearing my beret and veterans badge etc.  I wonder if the plastic patriots would be up in arms about it, seeing as they are so patriotic and all about our veterans and one of our own!
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      denby
      · 18 days ago
      @Mick It would be interesting, wouldn't it, if disabled people did protest and were then arrested in any numbers like all the various eco and justice [eg defend our juries] people have been. For things like having a bike lock about one's person, that you might be carrying to secure your wheelchair if you'd got out of it to walk the few steps you could. Or a placard 'they' deemed too offensive.
       Where would they put us all with the prisons full to bursting and not functioning to rehabilitate offenders as a result? Don't get me started, eh!
      Just make sure you are prepared for arrest if you protest. Eg, plenty of your meds in original packaging along with the prescription. And a lawyer's phone number marker- penned on your arm.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Mick
      · 19 days ago
      @(No) hope Agreed, if we are to have any effect and be listened to at all then this needs to be countrywide and massive, hopefully not just disabled people either.

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