The Socialist 1 September 2010

A fightback can stop cuts

A fightback can stop cuts

Our future under attack

Anti-cuts movement builds momentum in Plymouth

North Staffs TUC public meeting against cuts

Cuts hit poor hardest

Fighting the far right in Bradford

Labour's three stooges aid Con-Dem coalition

Government cuts hit our benefits

Keep Middle Street centre open

Defend school meals

Slashing public services: do councillors have 'no choice'?

Lobby the TUC conference

Kazakhstan: Human rights activist beaten and arrested

Worldwide protests against brutal attack on three Russian socialists

Pakistan flood disaster: Workers' solidarity appeal

General strike movement sweeps South Africa

Battles ahead on London Underground

London firefighters ballot for action

Jobs threat at RBS

Coventry mail centre closes

Civil service jobs under the cosh

Previous issues, etc

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Government cuts hit our benefits

HOW WOULD you survive as a family if you had no money coming in?

This has been the reality for some families with children at the primary school where I teach. They are eligible for benefits but are constantly harassed for supporting paperwork, for example, copies of birth certificates, evidence that their children are attending school, passports and many other documents.

If these are not presented in a certain time their benefit is stopped completely and they have to reapply.

The families most affected are from Eastern Europe, but it appears to be a clear strategy to both save money and to force families to leave the UK. This strategy could easily lead to malnutrition and worse, particularly in young children.

The other reason given for stopping benefit is that benefit claimants have not provided enough evidence that they are seeking work. Most jobs now require you to apply by email or electronically.

In Hillfields in Coventry, many families do not have access to the internet at home. Many of them currently use the job club at the local community centre. Here they get advice on how to apply for jobs, access to the internet and are able to prove that they are seeking work.

Shockingly, the job club recently lost its funding. The likely result is that many more families will have their benefits cut or withdrawn.

Socialist Party members are actively fighting the closure of this job club and other community centres across Coventry. We cannot allow the Con-Dem cuts to ravage families in this way.