BENEFIT CUTS & POLL TAX MK II.

[shirley frost]

Dear Friends

The council will be sending out the council tax and housing benefit  letters next week. For those under 61 the minimum council tax payment will be £4 per week regardless of status waged/unwaged or ability to pay. The council did not have to do this. They could have found another way to cover the govt. funding gap as some other councils have done.

They have already decided to put a gun to our heads and booked the (magistrates) courts to enforce payment. There is no legal aid or representation for this as far as I know. Enforcement could be deduction from benefits, attachment of earnings, distraint by bailiffs or jail. Imagine you are on JSA of £71 or £56 if under 25 (its only going up by 1%) and you also have water rates of nearly £10 pw. This is clearly Poll Tax Mk II. I will try to look up the Enforcement Regulations shortly.

The last time around the Labour movement stood back and allowed the council officers to do their worst. This time I suggest the only thing that is going to stop up to 24,000 affected people being subject to daylight robbery to fund the dissolute lifestyles of the rich is mass pickets at every court hearing. There are usually regular days for Liabiity and Possession hearings. We should not allow people to face penury unsupported.

I recommend as many people as possible attend the Benefits Justice Summit in London on 9th March * (see below) as there will be workshops on organising and legal rights etc. Also Unite the Resistance conference on Sheffield on 16th March where there will be a workshops on Benefit Cuts.

Also the first Benefits Justice/Unite the union public meeting will be held on Thursday 7th March 7pm at Firth Park Methodist Church, Stubbin Lane S5 where we hope to launch the campaign of resistance. We will then need to go on to organise meetings in every area of Sheffield to build a resistance needed to stop this diabolical policy.

Meetings and protests are being held in various parts of the country already and in the north east several housing associations have called a protest meeting of all their tenants! Extraordinary stuff but benefit cuts will soon endanger their business plan and some may go bankrupt. In some areas as well Treasury workers (Capita in Sheffield) and Housing workers are pledged to boycott enforcement work.

As well as this up to 6,000 people will be asked to pay extra rent because they have 'surplus' bedrooms. Our policy is CANT PAY WONT PAY & CANT PAY WONT PAY. These extra payments will eat into money needed for heating and eating. For some it will mean destitution.

The seriousness of this situation cannot be exaggerated. So if you have not already done so please send us a message of support and if possible a donation to the cost of this campaign made payable to 'Defend Council Housing' which is a co-signatory to the campaign's national statement & send to 28 Plantin Rise, Sheffield S20 4TG.

We can turn the government back on this policy but only if we can make it unworkable. I look foward to hearing from you about any help and support you can offer.

Yours fraternally

Shirley Frost

for Defend Council Housing

& National Campaign for Benefits Justice.

0114 248 3937

*Register at www.benfefitjustice.wordpress.com
 Enquiries: benefit...@gmail.com
                   in...@defendcouncilhousing.org.uk

[barriers...@virginmedia.com]

Hiya comrades,

 

I’m just circulating the fact that I have printed off several benefits justice campaign leaflets, with a view to distributing them tomorrow/Wednesday to invight people to the all-important meeting on Thursday night.

However, my PA (personal assistant) has rung in to say she’s too ill to work tomorrow, so I won’t have her help to do what I was hoping to do.

If anyone could help though (public transport is easy as no one pays for travelling with me) and it would still be productive to do what I can around Firth Park.

So, if anyone can spair some time tomorrow or Wednesday – please let me know on this e-mail or phone Sheffield, 221 9323 or 07854 986 573.

This is too important to ‘not try an make some time for’ so please get in touch if you can support what we all need to do in some form or another.

 

Cheers in solidarity,

Dawn   

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