The need to know.

onebigvoice

We as a Scope community are going forward and because of the election of the new members, (and sorry to say if you did not vote, you really should have) since these people will be working with you, whether you voted or not.
After all, Scope does not put restrictions on what you want to know about and have said before if it bothers you, then ask. Why get other peoples ideas of what should happen when here you can ask and I am sure that you are not as alone as you think.

As a community over the next weeks and months not only the face of scope will change but the accessibility of care and ACCOUNTABILITY to benefits will change. Not that they already have not begun, but the accessibility from the government to cut benefits without due cause will stop.

If a case to cut a benefit or the way people access benefits is to change then present your case in line with the laws and charters in place, as these were negotiated by years of necessity and the new Social Care Act. (which by the way is not new, but REVAMPED to take the program of access forward and to look all the way back to 2016 to realise they made mistakes and rectify them) This is not about rewriting access and making it harder to get an entitlement but ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS. Even if you have left that position, you will be looked at and if found to be more than one instance then the whole team of Scopes new Elected members will focus on that person and that department to see what they have done since February to rectify their errors. ( the new act was finalised in September 2023, so its not as though they did not know what it contained since this was also from the previous year where no action was taken except to make things harder to claim)

This brings me to a little thing called the need to know:

This interesting story is similar to this: A man went into a hotel and asked to see the boss. The boss comes and the story begins.- The client: "Is Room No. 39 available?"- The boss: "Yes, Sir!"- The client: "Can I book it?"- The boss: "Of course you can."- The client: "Thank you."Before going to the room, the client asked the boss to provide him with a black knife, a 39cm white thread, and an orange 73g. The boss agreed although he was surprised at the things the client requested.

The client went into his room, he didn't ask for food or anything else. Unfortunately for the boss, his room was next to Room No. 39. After midnight, the boss heard strange noises and sounds in that client's room - noises of wild animals and sounds of utensils and dishes being thrown on the floor.

The boss didn't sleep that night. He kept thinking and wondering about the source of the noise. In the morning, when the client handed the keys to the boss, later he asked to see the room first. He went into the room and found everything all right. Nothing unusual. He even found the thread, the black knife, and the orange on the table.

The client paid the bill, and gave the bellboys a very good tip, and left the hotel smiling. The boss was in a state of shock, however, he didn't reveal what he had heard to the bellboys. In fact, he started to doubt himself.

After a year, the same client showed up again. He then asked to see the boss again. The boss was puzzled. The client asked for the same things: Room No. 39, a black knife, a 39cm white thread and an orange 73g. This time, the boss decided to find and know the truth by all means. He spent the night waiting for something to happen. After midnight, the same noises and sounds started, this time louder and more indecipherable than the year before.

Again, before leaving, the client paid his bill and left a large tip on the table for the bellboys. The smile didn't leave his face. The boss started searching for the meaning of all the things the client requested to have - Why he asked for Room No. 39? Why the white thread? Why the black knife? Yet, the boss didn't arrive to any convincing answer to all of these questions.

The boss now was eagerly waiting for the month of March, the month in which the client shows up. To his surprise, on the first day of March, the same client showed up. He asked the same questions. Wanted to book the same room, wanted to have the same things as before. The boss again heard the same noises, this time more louder than before. In the morning, when the client was leaving the hotel, the boss politely asked the client the secret behind the noises in the room.

"If I tell you the secret, do you promise to never reveal it to anyone else?"- " I promise I will never let anyone know."- "Swear?"- "I swear I won't reveal your secret.

"So finally, the client revealed his secret to the boss. As promised, the boss was a sincere person. Up until now, he hasn't revealed the client's secret to anyone. When he does, I will let you know. Thank you for reading.

The moral of the story is there are some people in the world that do have morals and others that don't, and will tell you what they think you need to know without telling you the full truth and the fact that because you have been refused a benefit that there are already other benefits available to my help you. This is how the food bank started, now the government make it sound that they are helping and doing this.

The food banks around the country are there to support people who have been turned away by the government either by sanctions that the full consequences of their action, is not their problem, and so supporting a family with even basic needs is refused, yet, not that I want to attach this to this post, illegal refugees, coming from France, are housed, fed, and clothed while awaiting assessment which can take six months. They are even given an amount of money each week like dole, to intergrate them into scociety? I have a case that have had benefits removed and run up a Bill for £854 in rent areas while being in HOMELESS ACCOMODATION?

I am sorry this is a long post but the need for change has already gone, now is the need to do what it says on the box and get back the accountability for your actions. After all you are supposed to be the "experts" in running the Benefits system and hiring other experts to give the decision maker a consice report that s/he can use, don't they?

I do require comments good or bad since as a Scope community member you really need to voice your opinion. Even mentioning others that are not memebers to show the problems they face to get a picture of what is happening around the country not just Cardiff. I do expect everyone who has had problems GOOD and bad to comment since the more issues raised the more they can be grouped into to things like filling out forms, no go to person, no contact with the assessor before or after and no contact with the decision Maker BEFORE a decision is given, the length of time taken to get an assessment, the length of time taken after the assessment. These are only some topic's YOU need to raise, afterall not all know how to navigate the system or what is exactly required of the DWP when trying to access benefits.

I do not deal in half truths or only part information being given, I also do not believe in the Claimant to have to apply for a benefit when all their medical history is already on file and on a central computer that can be accessed by any Government department, instead of asking the claimant to supply.