£71 Pittance.

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS made this Freedom of Information request to Department for Work and Pensions This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Lots of my correspondence from your department, carry the quote, "this is the amount the law says you need to live on".

1/ Can you please tell me which law this applies to?

2/ £71.00 is stated, how was this arrived at?

3/ When was it last updated to reflect rising prices?

4/ Has an exercise ever been done to quantify that the figure of £71.00 can sustain a human being?

5/ Does the Welfare Reform Act reduce the amount of money that was necessary to live on, as deduced in the pre-existing law?

6/ Can you please point out which section/act of the Welfare Reform Act lays down statute that allows the £71.00 to be further eroded in value?

7/ Has the £71.00 been capped in any way or is it to be upgraded in line with rising living costs?

8/ Could the reduction in the value of the £71.00 be interpreted as a breach of human rights given that the value of the pound is falling and the cost of living is rising?

Yours faithfully,

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.

By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 

If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.

Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
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For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
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References

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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Geoffrey Reynolds,

Please see the attached response to your Freedom of Information request.

Many thanks,

DWP Central FoI Team
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GEOFFREY REYNOLDS (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

You can expect a reply by 12 April unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request or
the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

"STRANGE HOW THE PARTICULAR LAW THAT PURPORTS TO ADMINISTER IT HAS NOT BEEN QUOTED"

For income-related benefits such as income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, £71.00 is the
current weekly personal allowance paid for a single person aged 25 and over. This rate is set
by Parliament each year. The amount is intended to cover all normal day to day living
expenses. The level of benefit needs to take account of the competing demands on public
expenditure and work incentives. Benefits are not made up of separate amounts for specific
items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges, and beneficiaries are free to spend their
benefit as they see fit, in the light of their individual needs and preferences.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Even stranger is the DWP herald that the claimant is free to use their benefit as they see fit. This is at odds with their flagship policy of forcing vouchers onto the claimant that can only be redeemed on essentials and not luxuries.
Stranger still, the DWP cannot have any formula in place to arrive at the £71 figure. It states that benefits are not made up of specific items of expenditure, hence the figure is contrived and takes no account of the outlay expected to scrape even a meagre existence!

For income-related benefits such as income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, £71.00 is the
current weekly personal allowance paid for a single person aged 25 and over. This rate is set
by Parliament each year. The amount is intended to cover all normal day to day living
expenses. The level of benefit needs to take account of the competing demands on public
expenditure and work incentives. Benefits are not made up of separate amounts for specific
items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges, and beneficiaries are free to spend their
benefit as they see fit, in the light of their individual needs and preferences.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

.

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
My questions relate to the proposed food vouchers that will be
made available instead of cash.

1/ Will the food voucher entitle the holder to a two course or
three course meal?

2/ Should a tuxedo or formal evening attire be used?

3/ Will the soup or gruel be of a consistency to be placed in a
begging bowl?

4/ Will the voucher entitle the bearer to a varied diet, ie;
is the menu changed regularly?

5/ Could a poor family share one voucher and save the remaining
vouchers as a treat for a weekend feast?

6/ Are knives and forks necessary or could the contents be decanted
into one bowl?

7/ Have the food vouchers been trialled at Westminster in any of
the taxpayer subsidised restaurants?

8/ Will the food vouchers be redeemable at participating
restaurants in either the commons or lords?

9/ Have ATOS HCPs tested the food available from the vouchers to
see if it is worthy of sustaining life?

10/ Are the vouchers edible, in the unforseen event food is not
available?

11/ Would sanctions be used against any poor person who turns to
cannibalism in the event the scheme fails?

12/ Does the DWP intend to keep a league table of satisfied
customers or will they just die, as they do at present?

13/ Will the holder of any unredeemed food vouchers be able to
convert them to cash after this policy of demonising the poor
collapses?

Yours faithfully, GEOFFREY REYNOLDS

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

The reason that they are stalling on this question is obvious.

If the amount had been set by statute they now realise there would be a challenge to the statute because they have effectively reduced this amount by welfare reforms.

In essence, they would be seen as breaking their own law and are afraid of admitting it.........

Anyone pursuing the issue in high court would have a cast iron case.

Talbot Gina PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FLDM MCT, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request

Yours sincerely

DWP Central FoI team

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GEOFFREY REYNOLDS

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request '£71 Pittance.'.

As usual you have not answered any of my questions.
In relation to;

1/ None of the statutes that you mention, state the "amount the law says you need to live on".

2/ You fail to define how £71.00 is arrived at.

3/ You have failed to answer when it was updated to reflect rising prices.

4/ You state "we believe the amounts are reasonable".
Please quantify why you believe, given that updating has not been done to reflect rising prices and lowering of the value of sterling.

5/ Your answer is a lie. The welfare reform act has reduced the income.

6/ You have not indicated where the welfare reform act states that the £71.00 can be eroded further.

7/ Answered

8/ You state the amount is compatible. This means you have information to hand. Please indicate the compatability within the human rights act.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/71...

Yours faithfully,

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.

By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 

If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.

Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.

For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.

[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Geoffrey Reynolds,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request; please see the attached acknowledgement.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team
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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Geoffrey Reynolds,

Please see the attached response to your Freedom of Information request.

Many thanks,

DWP Central FoI Team
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GEOFFREY REYNOLDS

Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,
You have not answered question 4/

Has an exercise ever been done to quantify if £71 would be enough to sustain a human being?

PLEASE ANSWER, ITS NO GOOD WRITING "WE THINK ITS REASONABLE"

Yours sincerely,

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached response to your Freedom of Information request.

Many thanks,

DWP Central FoI Team
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

show quoted sections

GEOFFREY REYNOLDS (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Dear Geoffrey Reynolds,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received 26 April. You asked;

Has an exercise ever been done to quantify if £71 would be enough to sustain a human being?

PLEASE ANSWER, ITS NO GOOD WRITING "WE THINK ITS REASONABLE"

We are not aware of any exercises undertaken by Government on adequacy of benefits.

However, I would like to draw your attention to the Households Below Average Income (HBAI)
survey we undertake, with respect to measures of poverty.

The HBAI publication presents information on living standards in the United Kingdom, as
determined by net disposable income, and changes in income patterns over time. The main
source of data used in this publication is the UK DWP Family Resources Survey (FRS). The
HBAI is used for the analysis of low income by researchers and the government.
The HBAI publication presents the following main measures of low income:
 relative low income - defined as below 50/60/70 per cent of the average income1 of
the year in question.
 absolute low income - defined as below 50/60/70 per cent of average income1 in the
base year adjusted for inflation.
 income inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, ranges from 0% (when
everybody has identical incomes) to 100% (when all income goes to only one person).

In addition, the publication presents information on the material deprivation experienced by
children in families and by pensioners.

http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbai/hb...

Household disposable incomes, adjusted for household size and composition can be used as
a proxy for material living standards or, more precisely, the level of consumption of goods and
services that people could attain given the disposable income of the household in which they
live. Therefore, looking at income movements gives an idea of the evolution of overall living
standards. This information is invaluable in developing and targeting Government policy to
support those with the greatest need.

The Government’s approach to welfare reform is underpinned by the values of Social Justice –
understanding and tackling the root causes of poverty rather than their symptoms. It is based
on ensuring that the most disadvantaged in society have the tools they need to transform their
lives, and the lives of their families, and to realise their potential.

The 2012 Welfare Reform Act introduced a wide range of reforms to make the benefits and tax
credits system fairer and simpler by creating the right incentives to get more people into work,
protecting the most vulnerable in our society, and delivering fairness to those claiming benefit
and to the tax payer.

We believe it is possible to do this and help people lift themselves out of poverty, and stay out
of poverty, through work and saving backed by the right support and encouragement.

As noted previously, the Secretary of State is required under the Social Security Administration
Act 1992 to carry out an annual assessment of the increase in the general level of prices. If it
has increased, he must then make a decision about the increase in benefits. This decision is
based on the increase in prices, the national economic situation, and other factors considered
relevant. (The legislation does not define the other matters which the Secretary of State may
consider relevant; but these would be set out during presentation of the Up-rating Order for
Parliamentary approval.) In light of the national economic situation, for three years from 2013-
14, certain working-age benefits – including the basic working-age personal allowance of
Jobseeker’s Allowance set at £71.00 in 2012/13 – will be increased by 1% rather than by
prices. Because of the economic climate it has been necessary to make difficult decisions; but
in doing so, the Government has protected pensioners, and those benefits linked to the
additional costs associated with disability.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

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Finally you have answered my question by informing me that, "YOU ARE NOT AWARE OF ANY EXERCISES BY GOVERNMENT ON THE ADEQUACY OF BENEFITS"

Therefore anything else you have said is totally irrelevant..............