Defending people facing poverty

Show respect to benefits claimants and the unemployed.

Respect for Benefits Claimants and the Unemployed aims to bring together groups of claimants campaigning against cuts and combat the negative stories that appear all too regularly in most of the press about them.

Its Facebook page shares news about claimants who are being penalised as a result of government cuts, like 57-year-old Veronica Kenning from Birmingham who is dying of cancer, and who faces eviction from her home because she cannot pay the £23.57 demanded by the council.

Or Irene Lockett, 52, from Kirkby, Merseyside, who was awarded the Carer of the Year title at Croxteth Park Nursing Home where she worked, has fostered several youngsters over the years and gave up work as a carer when she had a heart attack. She could not pay the docked extra £23.24 per week docked under new welfare rules.

In the first month of the tax year on Merseyside alone, more than 14,000 people fell into arrears – 6,000 for the first time.

Nationally, at least 660,000 of society’s most vulnerable families have been hit by the under-occupation penalty with tenants forced to make up 14 per cent of their rent for one extra bedroom and 25 per cent for two.

It has a link to news that The United Nations Development Programme, which has just published the Human Development Report, said last week: “The United Kingdom, unfortunately, has an exceptionally high degree of inequality.”

The report shows that the poorest 40 per cent of Britons share a lower proportion of the national wealth – 14.6 per cent – than in any other Western country.

This is only marginally better than in Russia, the only industrialised nation, east or west, to have a worse record. Measurements of the gap between rich and poor tell a similar story. The richest fifth of Britons enjoy, on average, incomes 10 times as high as the poorest fifth.”

Britain ties for the worst performance by this yardstick among Western nations with Australia – and is, says the report, exactly the same as in Nigeria, much worse than in Jamaica, Ghana or the Ivory Coast and twice as bad as in Sri Lanka or Ethiopia.

Respect for Benefits Claimants and the Unemployed also collects facts and figures, like data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2009 that shows that the poorest 10 per cent of households pay 47 per cent of their income in tax, a higher percentage than any other group.

And campaign updates, such as Caerphilly Against the Bedroom Tax, which presented a 2,000-signature petition to a council meeting on 23 July; and information about co-ordinated demonstrations, such a day of action against the Bedroom Tax.

The group takes inspiration from the National Unemployed Workers Movement founded by Wal Hannington in 1918, which went on to organise the infamous hunger marches of the 1920s and 30s.

The Facebook page says that Respect for Benefits Claimants and the Unemployed campaigns for political change to address injustice and persecution of benefit claimants, continuing to build alliances with trade unions and progressive organisations around the world.

All this reminds me of the early days of the Anti Poll Tax movement. Lots of small, localised campaigns petitioning councils, turning up at courts to stop them issuing warrants, gathering outside the houses of non-payers to stop the bailiffs.

The Anti Poll Tax movement saw off Thatcher – let’s hope this movement has the same effect on this government.

Story published on Women's Views on News, 6 August 2013

Protecting migrant women against violence

WVoN spoke to Feride Kumbasar, director of Imece, which supports refugees, asylum seekers and newly-arrived migrant women fleeing violence.

Imece is a women-only centre based in Islington, North London, set up to help women fleeing from all kinds of violence.

It offers a holistic approach, providing support on a wide range of practical issues to women from all ethnic groups, particularly those from Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot communities.

“They have language issues, problems with immigration, their qualifications may not be recognised here.

“We make sure the resettlement process is easy for them.

"We offer specialist welfare rights advice, we support them to register with GPs or to get their children into school or nursery,” said Kumbasar.

Support is available for those who want to leave a violent relationship and establish a life for themselves.

“We undertake a risk assessment. Women fleeing from enforced marriage or honour-based violence is high risk, as the woman may be killed.

“The response might involve changing their names, changing their location.

“Everything needs to change. If they are a student they need to change their school.

“Honour killing is a huge issue in our community, which needs a complex form of support. It may need to involve the police, the education authority, the Home Office if it is [forced] marriage,” said Kumbasar.

A more ‘standard’ risk, involving violence but no death threats, might mean changing the locks on her flat or obtaining an injunction.

Some women are fleeing state violence, especially in Turkey.

Imece provides counselling and mental health support to help the women cope with their experiences.

Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish-Cypriot people have been coming to Britain for the last 60 years.

Turkish-Cypriots started arriving here after World War II to escape the civil war in Cyprus and in response to appeals by the British Government for labour.

A military coup in Turkey in 1980 led some to seek political asylum in the UK. Kurdish people have been migrating to the UK since the 1970s from Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.

Imece, which is Turkish for 'partnership', was formed in 1982.

Although Imece is a pan-London organisation it mainly works in Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Enfield, where most Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot Londoners live.

Although London has the greatest concentration of Turkish and Kurdish people there are also significant clusters in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool, but Turkish and Kurdish people can now be found in most parts of the UK, as they have fanned out across the country to set up businesses.

The Turkish and Kurdish community is now a lot different from what it was in the early days.

“At first people thought they would be here temporarily and set up organisations linked to political sects back home.  But the situation in Turkey has got worse and they have stayed here.

“Immigration legislation has changed a lot and doesn’t allow people to come to Britain as refugees any more, even from war zones. The doors are closed now.

“There are still some refugees but a lot of the newcomers are higher education students or men and women coming on spouse visas.

“That is when we have lots of forced marriage[s].  Families are forcing their young daughters to marry their first cousin in Turkey in order to bring them here.

“They don’t inform the young girl, some have boyfriends here, their families trick the girls telling them they are going on holiday.

“They come back as married women, and some of them end up knocking on our door,” said Kumbasar.

Imece researches the changing needs of its community so it can offer an improved response.  It also provides training to practitioners like social workers so they can better understand what the women are going through.

Although Imece was founded to support Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot women it now receives funding from Islington Social Services to run an outreach project aimed at all Black and Ethnic Minority women.

Kumbasar believes that culturally specific organisations like hers are necessary to help the authorities in Britain to fully understand what is going on in some cases.

“A woman went to the police saying her ex husband contacted her saying he was coming back, so she had to leave.

“She said they were separated because of violence, but more importantly, last time they saw each other her husband was with a man.

“The police interpreted this as homophobia saying the woman assumed the man was going to abuse his son because he was gay.

“We talked to the women and she told us the husband was with a guy who was 12 or 13 years-old and that he had always been interested in boys this age.

“She told us the last time they met her husband had looked at the boy strangely and touched him in an inappropriate way,” said Kumbasar.

Imece was then able to support the woman and her family to move away from London.

This year Imece launched a campaign against child abuse in Turkish and Kurdish communities.

A recent conference attracted over 80 practitioners.

“There are some child-rearing practices which might be seen by European communities as child abuse.

“For example smacking and beating is used to discipline children in Turkey.

“It is not only the parents who have a right to beat the child, but neighbours also.  If they see a child misbehaving in the street they have a right to beat that child.

“On the one hand we fight within our communities against these practices as well as explaining to the practitioners that this is a traditional practice and it will take time to change it.  They need to work with the families rather than labelling them as abusers.

“Child abuse is a problem in all communities as we have seen with the Savile case, but in my community it is a hidden issue.  It is not being discussed.  It is as if it is not happening.

“We know that most of the children who are being abused are being abused by their own family members.

“In Turkey it is the practice for newly-married couples to go and live with the extended family members.

“In this situation, in a crowded household you increase the risk of sexual abuse. You don’t have the spare rooms for children to have their own bedrooms.

“This is our fear about the new bedroom tax.  They are asking vulnerable people to rent out their rooms to strangers, but they don’t know the language, they don’t know the system.

“They will not be able to vet lodgers and, if something goes wrong, they will not be able to report it to the authorities, so we suspect that this will lead to an increase in child abuse,” said Kumbasar.

Domestic violence refuges face closure under benefit changes

Women’s Aid fears it will lose money when new benefit changes are introduced.

Half of all  refuges run by Women's Aid, a leading UK charity supporting victims of domestic and  sexual violence could lose money under Universal Credit being launched next month.

From April the Government will impose a £500 weekly cap on the amount of benefits a family can claim, and £350 for single people, excluding some disability benefits.

If benefits, including housing benefit, exceed this level councils will be required to reduce the amount of housing benefit in line with the new limits.

The government will also start to introduce Universal Credit.  Most benefits, including housing benefit, will be made in a single monthly payment directly to the claimant.

Women’s Aid is concerned that the Benefit Cap will hit survivors of domestic violence who receive benefits for two rents, one for the refuge service they are living in and rent for the home which they have fled but intend to return to.

Entitlement to Universal Credit will be assessed on the woman’s circumstances at the end of each monthly assessment period, so the refuge may receive no payment for a short stay of less than a month. Also, the 

Government have decided not to pay housing benefit directly to refuges like Women's Aid, which will leave them chasing money from their vulnerable clients.

Both these changes could mean Women's Aid refuges are under threat of survival.

And the new benefits may not cover charges for services like personal safety alarms and adjustments for disabled residents.

Women’s Aid owns around half of its refuges and the Government has announced that these will be exempted from the new arrangements for the time being.

But it will be up to local authorities to decide if refuges not owned by the charity will be exempt.

Women’s Aid fears this will lead to a two-tier system in which some residents and services face a cap whilst others don't.

Scottish Women’s Aid has reported that women their support will be hit by the 'bedroom tax'. This means victims of violence placed in larger homes on an emergency basis will be expected to pay for spare bedrooms out of their own benefits.

Women’s Aid is still in negotiations with the Government to try and make sure their refuges are exempt from benefit cuts that would threaten their survival.  They are urging its supporters to sign its petition and write to their MPs.

A template letter is available on their website.