I am about to be charged for an alleged Pension Credits overpayment of £8365.30 by the DWP for the second time, covering the exact same period as last time in 2014, based on false figures which were proved false by the very information that the DWP provided when I first claimed Pension Credits.
In their paperwork the first time around they stated, “I do not believe there is any doubt that you were paid both Incapacity Benefit and Pension Credit at the same time for the period 06/11/11 to 23/08/13.” On the sheet outlining my Pension Credits it states, “Incapacity Benefit for Keith Lindsay-Camer (sic) is not counted as income towards Pension Credit.”
On the first page of the current claim against me it states, “You do not have the right to appeal against the decision to take money off your Pension Credit.” On the third and final page it states, “You can appeal against this decision, but you cannot appeal until we have looked at the decision again. We call this a Mandatory Reconsideration.”
Speaking to the DWP Pension Credit department on the phone I was told that over the 94 weeks between 06/11/11 to 23/08/13 I had been in receipt of an occupational pension of £44 a week, this amounts to £4136.00. They were unable to explain why they therefore planned to charge me £8365.30, other than saying this was correct and that I had no right to appeal the decision and there was nothing further they could do. Yet on the same sheet that outlined my Pension Credits for this period it states under Other income, “personal or work related pension for Keith Lindsay-Camer (sic) £27.39” (per week), this is correct and amounts to £2574.66 over the 94 week period.
I am reminded of the old saying, ‘Oh what a tangled web they weave, those who practice to deceive’.
In writing this I have laid out the factual information available to me at this time which I do understand, what I do not understand (in any reasonable terms) is the utter nonsense the DWP have made of it, nor why they have been digging again at something dating back to 2011 – 2013 which I thought had already been resolved in 2014, when they had all the relevant information available at that time.
With the benefit of experience I can clearly state that the point of this exercise in utter futility, which could cost me a great deal of money if I don’t challenge it, could still cost me even though I am challenging it, and will cost me in emotional and mental distress whatever the outcome, is to create a hostile environment for all those claiming benefits, including the State Pension, which is also called a benefit.
This is the hostile state in action which now covers all interactions with government departments, and is especially targeted at, but not restricted to, people who are the least well off.
Of course the government denies any of this, let alone addresses it. All we hear from Theresa May are flat denials, lies, or finger pointing exercises, usually at Labour and Jeremy Corbyn in particular. Iain Duncan Smith was famous for dismissing criticisms of the DWP as anecdotal. When he was criticised by the UK’s statistics watchdog for misusing figures to promote the effectiveness of the coalition’s benefits cap on getting people into work and that his claim was “unsupported by the official statistics published by the department”, his response was, “I have a belief I am right.”
Bear in mind that this is the power one (excuse for a) man exercised over the fates of millions of people.
What I have laid out in the first part of this article is my own case. I am not making it up. I have all the evidence in hard copy and digitally. I am not about to bow out in servile obedience to the hostility and oppression I am being subjected to. I will not deny my own humanity because the government wants me to and nor will I believe their lies and I am not a fool.
I am an enemy of the state because that is what the state have decreed through their hostile intent towards me. I am not misreading this and nor am I deluded and I take particular exception to people telling me what I should think, which is something that no one, but no one, has the right to do. I am not talking about debating opinions here. Everyone has a right to their opinions but opinions are worth less than the effort it takes to express them and, as far as I am concerned, my own in particular, though some, like my opinions of Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa May (to name but two), are fervently held, but then, with good reason.
I am, as those who know me are well aware of, a political animal and never in my 67 years on this planet have I ever felt excluded from politics, as I do now.
As an individual, politics is the relationship I have with the state and the exercise of power by the state. Politics is fundamentally the relationship that all citizens have with the state. When citizens are excluded from that relationship by the state, then the state becomes their enemy. That is where we are right now in Britain where our livelihoods and well being are being attacked on a daily basis and it therefore falls to each of us to resist, as we are able,
I am reminded of John Donne’s powerful poem, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
Keith Ordinary Guy
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/may/09/iain-duncan-smith-benefits-cap-statistics
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jul/15/iain-duncan-smith-statistics-benefits-cap
