The View From England

by Tom Best

UKCAP Vice Chair

March 2009

 

Reporting from the

Unemployed Workers Centres

Tom is now involved in working for the rights of pensioners and is a director of Prescott Unemployed Centre. He is also secretary of the TUC Unemployed Workers Centres and was involved in Welfare Rights work for many years including during the Thatcher years. He says that with the credit crunch the numbers of people now coming into Job Centres has dramatically increased. The new appointments system is collapsing under the pressure of numbers.

 

“You can’t see anyone. They give you phone numbers to make appointments, but now anyone with an appointment is told to sit and wait as it was in the old days. From the Unemployed Centres point of view, there is a change in who we are working with. Coming in as clients are people from service industries, managers, top personnel in banks and businesses and all we can tell them is phone the Job Centre.

One had been a Personnel Officer at Lloyds TSB where he was on £30k per year. Now he’s on £61 per week as a single person on benefits. He was amazed at the low levels of benefits and that he could not receive any help with his mortgage straightaway.”

 

Tom says that lots of people coming into the unemployed centres have no idea what the benefit rates are, even Union Shop Stewards. “People have been reading the Daily Mail and the like and so think the unemployed have been living the good life”.

 

Tenants Services Authority

Tom has been finding out about the work of the Tenants Services Authority and attended one of their regional events. Their website is www.tenantservicesauthority.org and their phone number is 0845 230 7000

 

The TSA are the new regulators for social housing (taking over from the Housing Corporation) and the champion for tenants and next year will extend their work to Shared Ownership schemes.They have teeth and can force landlords (including private landlords) through powers of intervention to fulfill their responsibilities to tenants. They can stop investment in social housing if they are not meeting standards of upkeep and if they don’t involve tenants on the board.

Tom asked them if they are an independent body and was told that they are and they are a statutory body who has certain obligations to government on setting rents.

The TSA are wanting to hear from tenants - for more information look at www.nationalconversation.co.uk Their first consultation finishes on March 16th.

See all entries | Back to Member Blog Entries