Good Evening, Dear Readers! It is lovely to see you as always! Gosh, it is freaking freezing! I sit here with a lot going on in my mind… But it is so wonderful to have your support, and genuine concern! Yes, fighting against the injustices of a broken system is taxing! It can be a drain and a pain! A pain not only for myself but to those around me that have to listen to me wax on about my illegal sanctions and the mess they have left me in. I do thank my family and friends for helping me to see beyond this battle for justice. I do make an effort to cast aside my quest for justice, which gives me some reprieve. Even I need a break from it all! But my breaks are rather short-lived… Since the 3rd of this month, my phone has been ringing periodically: morning, noon and early evening. Various debtors want money from me and I just do not have it! It is tiring trying to get these debtors to understand that the situation that I have found myself in was not of my making! Still, I have to keep going somehow! Again, I am so very fortunate to have family and friends around! I know that this situation would be very bleak if not for them (family and friends). And, of course, your support helps to keep me going too! I consider you a friend too! I AM DONE From this point on, I will not be responding to the trolls, shills, and general unconstructive criticism. I have tried to reach out to them to find out where such misconceptions, animosity, and assumptions are coming from. I am none the wiser. I thought that by reaching out to the likes of Mr. Ayres, that I would understand the personal attacks better. I don’t. And, furthermore, I just do not have the time to attend to misinformed individuals. It is rather peculiar that some people will try to bring me down through this petition. It ain’t rocket science: If you do not agree with this petition against (illegal) sanctions of the Personal Living Allowance of Universal Credit or Job Seekers Allowance then why engage in this futile harassment? Don’t you see how ignorant this makes you look? Whether you can see how dumb you look or not, we are done! It is very bizarre, to say the least, that I should have had to defend my petition from those who have signed it. UNENVIABLE POSITION Right now, I am in the unenviable position of having to take apart a letter/notification from the London & Home Counties Complaint Resolution Teams. As mentioned in an earlier update, this document is an astounding work of fiction. I don’t think there is anything written in the document (from the London & Home Counties Complaint Resolution Teams) that is factual. So, I have to arduous task of taking dissecting each lie and to break them down for a high ranking “decision maker” within the same organization. Yep! It is a purposefully long-winded process. Again, the road to justice can be a long and frustrating one! See the following updates – if you haven’t already: - Long Road To Justice 1 https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-cease-welfare-assistance-sanctions/u/22179805 Long Road To Justice 2 https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-cease-welfare-assistance-sanctions/u/22182564 These updates should clue you into the various stages that you have to go through when you have launched a complaint! Back on track… Once I have sent in my dissection to the high ranking officer at the London & Home Counties Complaint Resolution Teams, I will then have to wait for 2 to 4 weeks before I get a “final response” and from there, I can then approach the Independent Case Examiner (ICE). In fact, I am still waiting for a response to my last complaint registered with ICE! It’s been roughly 6 weeks now! Maybe, the person from ICE who is dealing with my complaints is waiting for my recent complaint to come through in order to lump them together! I must crack on with this dissection this week! Look, do not be put off with the long waiting times for your complaint(s) to be looked at; if you have been illegally set up to have had a sanction or a series of sanctions imposed upon you, you should fight back! I get it, you are thinking about your bills and other debtors… Getting justice is the last thing on your mind! So, here are some survival tips: - SANCTION SURVIVAL TIPS If you have been sanctioned – and heavily at that, e.g. the most part of a month – you are going to be in panic mode. I know was! Here are some tips to survive: - 01. You must send in your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice if your UC70/71 form and/or call to the Service Centre failed to overturn a “doubt” that led to you being sanctioned. 02. In the failure of your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice, it will be clear when you will be sanctioned and for how much. It is imperative that you instigate a tribunal straight away! 03. If you feel that your work coach was unreasonable and/or set you up illegally then you must speak to management to request that you work with a different work coach, or “work coax” as I call them. Register a complaint with the management at your Jobcentre Plus against your former work coax. 04. Speak to the management about the Hardship Fund… If you are going to be sanctioned for over 28 days you are going to need to access the Hardship Fund. However, it would be best to see if you can get your family and friends to help you out financially as the Hardship Fund has to be paid back, and it is taken from your subsequent Personal Allowance – usually – on their terms. In other words, they take a considerable chunk of the Hardship Fund back, which can leave you not that much better off afterward. This is why I have dubbed it the “Hard Shit Fund”. Be aware that the form is quite long and it asks you really stupid questions as to why you need to access the fund… You have to spell it out for the morons that you need shower gel and toiletries such as toilet-paper in order to maintain body hygiene, for example, – I shit (pun intended) you not! 05. Find out where your Citizens Advice Bureau is located, make an appointment over the phone or just turn up very early in the morning as you will need a Food Bank voucher. If you are lucky, you might find that the Citizens Advice Bureau can help you in your tribunal. Please, do not waste your time feeling ashamed that you have to resort to taking charity. Swallow your pride and some food too! Even working people have to access the Food Bank in order to get through low wages. The costs of living keep rising while the wage keeps getting smaller. Hours are cut... “Universal Credit, making work pay...” What utter nonsense! Me? As a Vegan, I have had to survive on plain and simple oats… Oats for breakfast, lunch, and dessert. It was not all that bleak… I also had cans of vegetables, packets of rice and pasta. My Vegan requirements are very strict and this allows me to survive on basic foods. 06. Conserve what little money you have… Forget what you might consider as luxuries. My cable TV was the first casualty and I do not regret it as TV is mostly crap – in my most humble opinion – yes, the soaps, comedies, movies, etc can be a form of escapism but I had to ask myself, “At what cost?” I feel that I have gained a bit more of an IQ as a result of canceling my cable. Oh, be aware that if you have to cancel stuff, you may be charged a cancellation fee. The cable company was not happy that I canceled and demanded a fee that amounted to the rest of the months on my contract. I refused to pay it on the grounds that the cable company failed to honor the contract through not being able to provide a landline service that did not work 98% of the contract. An engineer would come around and fix the landline, and a couple of weeks later the line would be dead. If I had the time, I would have taken the cable company to a small claims court. Know your rights! You are not obligated to fulfill contracts that have not provided a service as agreed. Seek out bargains in supermarkets… As you may know, at this time year, supermarkets have to mark down a lot of food items because of surplus stock in anticipation of Xmas sales. The other day, I got a big bag of potatoes for 20p as well as other vegetables. The vegetables went well with the Food Bank items as mentioned above. I have become a better cook for it. I try to make some interesting dishes. I have noticed that by cutting out a lot of processed foods that contain a high sugar and salt content, I can be sated with a very basic meal. I don’t know about you, but I find that I want more salty and sugary foods in order to get that “hit” - and before I know it, I’ve gone through 4 cans of baked beans, for example, in a few hours. I have had to respectfully and most humbly request to swap processed foods for plain foods (at the Food Bank). I would keep a jar of jam to sweeten my porridge, but I found that because of my sweet-tooth I overindulged. Not good! By me keeping my dietary requirements to the very basics, I have avoided putting on weight. Seriously, I feel that my mood is better when I am looking and feeling healthy. 07. Start to make minimal payment agreements with your debtors. It could very well be that you have had to stop a payment plan with your energy supplier if you already had an arrangement, but that arrangement could be a casualty of being sanctioned. Call or write to your main debtors and explain your situation. You may be able to tap into trust funds from your energy and water suppliers. When you are on the phone with them (energy and water suppliers) make sure you ask about the possibility of the having your debt wiped out with a trust fund bailout. The Citizens Advice Bureau could help you with that too! Keep the council informed about your situation as you will get council tax bills through your letterbox, and you will get a debt collecting agency banging on your door. You have to try and set up a minimal payment agreement with as many of the most important debtors you have. You may have to send them copies of your sanction notices, tribunal certificates, and so on. Get your debtors on your side. This government does not seem to realize that the economy takes a bit of a hit when the unemployed are not able to pay their bills through these (illegal) sanctions. Your debtors will then ask for the whole of what you owe, employ a debt collector that places a fee on top of the outstanding amount and then you become bombarded with letters and phone calls for months on end! This is where you can say goodbye to your credit rating! Well, that’s my survival tips! If I can think of any more, I will be sure to let you know! Thank you for signing, reading and for your support! Much appreciated! In my next update, I am going to tell you why you should consider self-employment. Oh, here’s my Go Fund Me as I am looking to start my business this year: www.gofundme.com/Veganergize Any help will be received with great gratitude! Kindest regards, Blue :) XXX