When Is Enough Really Enough?

 

The UK has descended into chaos since my last update. With the Conservative Leadership Race set against the backdrop of droughts, strikes and a cost-of-living crisis that has us nose diving towards another recession. But what is one person’s decade long quest for justice worth compared to the socio-economic upheaval we’re all currently facing?

Last month I lost 11% of my pay to the DWP because of this ongoing Carers Allowance issue. Loosing such a significant portion of my pay prompted me to investigate ways of increasing my income. That’s when I fell victim to a Facebook phishing scam.

A company set up only four months ago and registered in Ireland uses HMRC fonts and colour schemes to purposefully misrepresent themselves. They trick desperate and vulnerable people like me into providing personal information which they then pass on to a third party company which was set up during Covid.  

This third-party company defines themselves as a tax consultancy but seem to be avoiding filing their own tax returns because they’ve declared themselves as a dormant company, meaning they should not be receiving any income whatsoever.  

I was over the moon when I found out that I was getting my first ever tax rebate. But that joy soon turned to outrage upon discovering that my cheque was being sent to this third-party company and HMRC refused to cancel it because I’d apparently signed a legally binding contract.

Upon investigating I found an email which had been flagged as a phishing scam with a copy of a document which I had never signed. They’ve copied or forged my signature onto a document appointing themselves as my nominee.

I reported what happened to Action Fraud and spoke to the police but thus far there is fuck all that can be done because the industry is conveniently unregulated. What these companies are doing is worse then unconscionable, especially as so many people are literally facing the choice between heating their homes or having regular meals this coming winter.

To make matters worse my Freedom of Information Request asking for the release of all information relating to my alleged overpayment of Carers Allowance was forwarded as a Right of Access Request on 25^th May. They are duty bound to respond to such requests within one calendar month under GDPR but it’s now 12^th August and the request has neither been acknowledged or processed.

My second Freedom of Information Request asking for them to confirm the rates of Carers Allowance and Attendants Allowance (Severe Disability Premium) between years 2009-2014/15 as well as how much had been paid out for “offsetting” between those same years had a response stating that sourcing the information would exceed £650 and therefore my request was rejected.

The appeal I filed with HM Courts & Tribunals is meant to have a response/acknowledgment within three working days. It’s been over six weeks without any response or acknowledgement. DWP are committed to recouping over 5000% of any overpayment had “offsetting” been applied and they are doing this without any external review or judicial oversight.

My only real option is to petition the Secretary of State for DWP Therese Coffey for a waiver. Bearing in mind that in a recent interview on Good Morning Britain she said she was insulted by being questioned about playing party politics whilst her government fails to address the cost-of-living crisis. It doesn’t really seem like she is someone with a single compassionate bone in her body let alone a sympathetic ear.

But maybe there will be a new Secretary of State come September. However, knowing my luck it will be someone even more callous. Maybe I’m foolish to think that the Don’t Pay and Enough is Enough campaigns might inspire some desperately needed social change.

I marched to Make Poverty History in 2005 only to see poverty rebranded as austerity. I watched as DPAC protesters in wheelchairs stormed parliament over welfare cuts in 2015 and looked on as a million people gathered in London to protest Brexit in 2019 and things still only ever went from bad to worse. But I finally think that enough really is enough and so do a majority of us struggling in this dog-eat-dog world.

I just don’t want to see this cost-of-greed crisis simply rebranded as the recession 2.0 and something that we just roll over and accept, I think we all deserve better!