Hey, Dear Readers! It is lovely to see you as per usual! I hope you’ve had a great Winter Holiday! My Winter Holidays have gone pretty good for a change! Still, my work is far from over! Oh, it hasn’t escaped me that since I have put my Go Fund Me in my updates I have been receiving negative comments. Gosh, how petty! How pathologically dense! AMBITION Ambition should be rewarded and not thwarted! When I become successful I will be able to employ others, and that’s a good thing! But, hey, if you don’t think that having ambition is a positive way to escape the black hole that is Universal Credit then good luck to you! Please cancel your signature and please do so quietly e.g. don’t make yourself look like an ass by writing some lame ill-conceived deranged reasoning as to why you no longer wish to support the cause! First of all, you just contradict yourself, and, lastly, nobody cares! Goodbye and good luck! Thank you for your continued support! If you can make a donation to my Go Fund Me then great! Please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/Veganergize Every little helps! THE PATH FOR JUSTICE – A GUIDE FOR UNIVERSAL CREDIT NEWBIES Yes, the path to justice is a long road… If you have been a victim of “Benefit Fraud” - a work coax creating a false narrative or narratives to impose an illegal sanction or sanctions then I urge you to do the following:- 01. DO NOT DESPAIR. What this evil system of Universal Credit want you to do is to feel less than human. The Universal Credit ethos is, “Making Work Pay” and when translated the true ethos is that your freedom of choice is taken away. You are led to believe that these work coaxes have power over you when they simply do not. Think about it… “Making Work Pay” has to be one of the most idiotic phrases ever coined in the history of mankind! We go to work to earn good money and this simply isn’t happening for a lot of people. It seems that only a Tory can come up with such an excruciatingly bad idea and enforce it on people. Oh, I think Nazi Germany is the where the Tories took their inspiration from... Arbeit Macht Frei. 02. MAKE YOUR ARGUMENTS CLEARLY & LOGICALLY Usually, you will get a notice of "doubt" with either a UC70 or 71 form. However, you are encouraged to call the Service Centre to give an account for yourself against a “doubt” raised by your work coax. I would advise you to record the telephone conversation if you do decide to make that call to the Service Centre. Bear in mind that the Service Centre telephonist is not the “decision maker” and that he/she will relay what you have stated. In my case, the telephonist clearly stated that I wouldn’t receive a sanction yet around 4 months later… Guess what? That’s right, I got sanctioned. I won a tribunal against that “decision” last month, November 2016! If your situation is too complex, call anyway… Tell the telephonist that you want to send more information via the post or via email through your work coax. You do not have to use the UC70/71 form(s) enclosed. Reformat the form to suit yourself. Give as much logically coherent details as possible. Make it hard for these “decision makers” to impose a sanction! 03. WRITE A MANDATORY RECONSIDERATION NOTICE In the advent of your reasoning being rejected by the “decision maker,” you will have to write a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice. In a nutshell, you are saying why the “decision” should be reconsidered – hence “Reconsideration”. This nearly always results in a failure! Be warned! Do not panic if your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice fails. The next stage is to ask to access the Hardship Fund as the sanction or sanctions will leave you in destitution. From there you need to... 04. INSTIGATE A TRIBUNAL Check out the following Citizens Advice Bureau link: - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/benefits-introduction/problems-with-benefits-and-tax-credits/challenging-a-benefit-decision/challenging-a-dwp-benefit-decision-on-or-after-28-october-2013/appealing-against-a-benefit-decision/appealing-against-a-dwp-benefit-decision/ You will find all you need to know about instigating a tribunal. Here’s what I wrote earlier: https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-cease-welfare-assistance-sanctions/u/19096040 05. ORGANIZE Ensure that you get your paperwork organized. Study the paperwork – especially the bundle from the respondents! You will be surprised as to how many contradictions there are in the respondents' defense. Don’t do what I did and write a massive 200-odd pages worth of tribunal testimony. Be as succinct as possible and stick to the facts. Don’t rant. Don’t curse. Just state the facts that clearly illustrate the flaws in the respondents' arguments. You could ask to be accompanied by a representative such a Citizens Advice Bureau advisor. But if you decide to go it alone – as I have – do not be intimidated by the judge. It is quite possible that you may have the misfortune to get a pompous judge that tries to make you look like an idiot, but stick to cold hard logic and you will defeat the judge very easily! Be consistent with the testimony bundle that you have sent to the tribunal beforehand. WHAT IF YOU LOSE THE TRIBUNAL? Usually, the logic of your argument should ensure a victory. Bear in mind that judges want to hear certain arguments based upon logic. For example, you inadvertently forgot to attend a “work-focused interview” you can’t say, “I forgot...” The judge knows that already. You need to say why the “work-focused interview” was missed and why what you did was more important. It is possible that you may feel exhausted from going over the same old stuff again and again. It is mind-numbing to go through it yet again in a tribunal. So, make sure you get some good sleep the day before. Anyhoo, I digressed… If you should lose your tribunal and you instinctively know that the decision was wrong, you can ask for the judge to set aside his or her decision. You will be asking the judge to give an account of the basis on which the decision was made. In my case, the judge did not submit any notes. I had a retrial, got a different judge, and I won. I put my loss down to submitting a 200-odd page testimony and being exhausted. All of the above is time-consuming! The amount of time spent refuting an illegal sanction detracts from looking for work. It can be a drain on your mind, body, and soul. But whatever you do, do not give in! Here are some more Dos… 01. If you feel that your work coax has set you up for an illegal sanction then ask to see the manager and request that you work with someone else. 02. Put in a formal complaint against your former work coax. 03. Write a complaint about your work coax and experiences to your local MP. 04. Wait for the manager to respond to your complaint. What you are looking for from the manager of your Jobcentre is a final response. From there… 05. The final response should include the address of a complaint resolution team to escalate your complaint further. Send your complaint to the complaint resolution team. 06. You receive a final response from the complaint resolution team. You should get the name and address to escalate your complaint even further. Your complaint should go to someone with a higher ranking connected to the same organization. 07. You receive a final response from a higher ranking person of the complaint resolution team. If the resolution is unsatisfactory, you can then approach the Independent Case Examiner. In part two, I will reveal more of the Long Road to Justice… It's a major fight, and you are well within your rights to dispute the gross misconduct of a "work coach" = work coax. Thank you for reading, and for your support! Best wishes, Blue :) xx