Thursday, September 17, 2009

Department for Work and Pensions again denies me a Crisis Loan

As I said in yesterday’s blog “Department for Work and Pensions denies me a Crisis Loan”, this morning I was going to again request of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) a £40 Crisis Loan for living expenses for the next two weeks – the DWP has suspended my benefits because they have effectively lost my National Insurance Number (NINO) and I may have to wait several weeks to be reissued the NINO. Yesterday they denied me the loan because I don’t have ... a NINO. This morning, despite Declan's assistance, they denied me because Declan is deemed to have received enough for the two of us to survive on.

The fact that the £128.60 Declan got on Tuesday has to last him until 29 September is neither here nor there, according to the DWP officer I was speaking with. She was curious as to how I was surviving since I got my last crisis loan of £20 on 18 August (for the period 18 August to 24 August), and when I told her that the DWP made us homeless for more than 2 1/2 years and sometimes I find sandwiches discarded in bins which I then keep in the fridge, she was like ... well, there you are! Declan has once again written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Yvette Cooper, presented below, and will write to her again after I reapply next Wednesday for £20 for one week (the previous blog contains an email letter to Cooper, and also blogs of 15 September “Department for Work and Pensions forces me to apply for a Crisis Loan”, and of 9 September “Declan complains to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions”).

As I explained in the blog of 11 September “Declan’s formal complaint against the Sisters of Mercy lodged with the Archbishop of Westminster”, I am currently working on the “War on Terror” in the NAC website. In the book The War on Truth, bestselling British author and political analyst Dr. Nafeez Ahmed writes that “global citizens should organize and gather together resources and experts to establish the rudimentary beginnings of a public inquiry into the global war on terror and its roots”. So, as I am going around gathering high quality videos for the site, I have come across this one, “Anthrax War”, a provocative new investigative documentary by filmmakers Bob Coen and Eric Nadler (a Canada-France coproduction) that examines the 2001 US Anthrax Attacks and offers a shocking glimpse into today’s secret and dangerous world of germ weapons:


Anthrax War Pt 1. Anthrax War is a provocative new investigative documentary by filmmakers Bob Coen and Eric Nadler about the untold story of the 2001 U.S. Anthrax Attacks and the dark secrets of the shadowy world of modern day germ weapons research. The search for answers takes them from the US to the UK, then to the edge of Siberia and to Southern Africa and leads them into an underworld in which leading scientists working with germs die under mysterious circumstances. The growing list includes Bruce Ivins, who the FBI claims was the only person behind the U.S. anthrax murders; Dr. David Kelly, the former head of UK bio-defense; and Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik, the mastermind behind the Soviet Union's vast and illegal bio-weapons complex who defected to the West. Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.

For the record, this is Declan’s email letter this morning to Cooper:

Subject: Reinstatement of my joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance

Dear Secretary of State,

I refer to previous correspondence, in particular my registered letter to you of 9 September to which I do not appear to have received a reply. I attach copy of my complaint of 11 September that I lodged with His Grace Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, against the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy for unlawful discrimination involving the Chief Executive of Providence Row, Mrs. Jo Ansell (see attachment “Complaint(11.9.09)”). The letter opens as follows:


On 19 August 2009, my wife and I were denied access to food in the Dellow Centre of Providence Row of the RC Diocese of Westminster because, according to a Providence Row letter of 18 August, our “room/flat” is deemed by the charity “to be stable accommodation”.


With regard to the reinstatement of my joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) - which originally ran from July 2005 until it was terminated on 27 September 2006 because I did not "sign on" two days before I was due to so on 29 September 2006 - I reconfirm that Broadway Homelessness and Support ("Broadway") gathered on 31 July 2009 more specific details from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about my benefits claim of 17 July 2009. I was informed by Broadway that although my part of the claim had been processed (and £101.05 for the period 17 July to 30 July subsequently paid on 11 August), my wife's part of the claim has been suspended from the outset of the claim because the DWP has effectively lost her National Insurance Number (NINO), and consequently she needs to reissued a NINO before her part of the claim can be processed. (On 18 June 2008, I was robbed in the canteen of the Dellow Centre of all my and my wife's money and documents, crime reference no. 4215697/08; I was informed at Bow Road police station on 24 June 2008 that the case had been struck out due to the police being unable to obtain any CCTV footage whatsoever from Providence Row (see attachment "Ansell(25.6.08)").)

In numerous emails to the Chief Executive of Broadway, Mr. Howard Sinclair, which I copied to you for information, I pointed out that am also in receipt of a letter of 4 August from Haringey Council in respect of my claim for Housing Benefit, informing me that I must (a) tell them my wife's NINO and provide proof that it belongs to her by submitting a letter or form issued by the DWP, and (b) provide current proof of my wife's JSA by way of a recent letter from the DWP showing my current address. The Council advises in this letter that I must provide them with both of these proofs before 4 September or my claim for Housing Benefit may be suspended. We have subsequently received nothing in writing from Haringey Council to indicate that my claim for Housing Benefit remains open until the outcome of my joint claim JSA.

I can confirm that my wife has yet to be reissued the NINO - her initial appointment for 3 September at Camden NINO Jobcentre was cancelled due to "a regular clerical error", according to Broadway (see attachment "Broadway(8.9.09)"); she was subsequently interviewed on 10 September, but informed that it could take several weeks for the NINO to be reissued. Moreover, I understand that the DWP are not being of assistance to Broadway in providing the letter I am seeking that confirms that the payments of £128.60 I received on 18 August (for the period 31 July to 13 August) and 28 August (for the period 14 August to 27 August) are "hardship payments" for 2 persons - and not payments of my wife's JSA, which I only learnt from Broadway on 2 September is still suspended. I have repeatedly requested of Broadway that I be advised as to how long this letter will take to be processed and sent out. On 8 September, I received a reply from Mr. James Laurie for and on behalf of the charity, stating: "I will be in touch when I have heard back from the Jobcentre regarding the letter confirming hardship payments" (see attachment "Broadway(8.9.09)").

On 14 September, Broadway made inquiries of the DWP as to why my wife and I had received no benefit payment of any description from the DWP for the period 28 August to 10 September, but the DWP was unwilling to discuss my claim with them because they were not "sitting with the claimant" (see attachment "Broadway(14.9.09)"). I attended Broadway Head Office on 15 September to call the DWP to ask them whether the NINO had been allocated and where things stood with my claim. I was informed by the DWP that there was "no information" on my wife's NINO, and that £128.60 in payment of my JSA (not a hardship payment for 2 persons) would be lodged to our account later that day. Accordingly, my wife attended Broadway Head Office yesterday morning to apply for her third Crisis Loan (our fourth in total) on top of the £230 we already owe the DWP in crisis loans since 20 July. She requested £40 for the period 16 September to 29 September (2 weeks), but was denied by the DWP because they did not have a NINO in her name. This morning she applied again with Broadway's and my assistance, but was told that £128.60 was deemed by the DWP to be sufficient money for two people to survive on for a two-week period, the previous two crisis loans in her name of £70 (for the period 3 August to 16 August) and £20 (for the period 18 August to 24 August) notwithstanding.

We now have a very serious set of circumstances that may result in us being forced to return to sleeping rough at Salters' Hall. To further exacerbate the situation, I continue to be denied access to food in the Dellow Centre, despite my repeated protestations to the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy, Sr. Coirle McCarthy, about our unstable circumstances (see attachment “Complaint(11.9.09)”). The DWP terminated our benefits in September 2006 because I did not sign up early enough – even though both my wife and I were doing so in a timely fashion; and I exhausted the appeals process from the street: my case was dismissed by the High Court (Judicial Review), Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights in spite of the fact that I was denied the internal appeal process by procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority. That we are now dealing with a series of obvious "mistakes" (however deliberate), I cannot imagine what would motivate the authorities to repeatedly deny us benefits to which we are entitled.

You will note that I am taking the time to once again copy Superintendent Lorraine Cussen of Snow Hill Police Station into my current situation. As I mentioned in my registered letter to you of 9 September, it was Superintendent Cussen who, as the supervisory police officer who is overseeing Operation Poncho II within the City of London Police, suggested that I seek the assistance of Broadway (see attachment "Cussen(13.7.09)"). I am also copying this email and attachments to, among others, the former Law Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters’ Company c/o the Clerk to the Salters’ Company at clerk@salters.co.uk.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
NI no. ------------

Email: dheavey@gmail.com

Home address:
83 Priory Gardens
London N6 5QU

cc Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters' Company
His Grace Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
Sr. Coirle McCarthy, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy
His Grace The Duke of Norfolk, Patron of Providence Row
Alderman Sir Michael Oliver, Vice President of Providence Row
Mr. Simon Bartley, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Providence Row
Mrs. Jo Ansell, Chief Executive of Providence Row
Mr. Howard Sinclair, Chief Executive of Broadway Homelessness and Support
Superintendent Lorraine Cussen, Snow Hill Police Station