Stop_Stopping_Benefits.30042004.

txt/sjh

To whom it may concern

cc: Jenny Nye (ND25+PA)@Boscombe Jobcenter, Marilyn Hammond (Work Placement
Supervisor)@BCHA, Sue Warr (CIO)@Springbourne and Boscombe West Neighbourhood
Management, Andrew Smith MP, Minister of Work and Pensions, John Prescott MP,
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Clerk to the Justices, Bournemouth
Magistrates Court, Jerry Hallett (Jobcenter Manager)@Boscombe Jobcenter,
editor@Daily Echo, editor@The Times Newspaper.

From: Steven J Humphrey, indefinitely sanctioned jobseeker

Flat 2, 19 Windsor Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth, bh15dt
07952 648529
krasz01@hotmail.com or tenantsforum@aol.com
NINO: na921391a

date: 30042004

Dear sir/madam
Re: Stop Stopping Benefits

For those who don't know, I have recently left an absolutely 'brilliant'
work placement in local government organised for me via the New Deal 25+ Scheme
because my New Deal Personal Advisor (and other parties) and I could NOT come to
any reasonable agreement about the unpaid voluntary work I do as Chairman of the
Springbourne and Boscombe West Tenant's Forum based at the Neighbourhood
Management office (NMO) at 22 Sea Road, Boscombe and the work I had agreed to do
at the New Deal 25+ work placement.
Before I agreed to start this work placement, I believed I could take the
necessary time off to fulfill my duties as Chairman as I had expected to
successfully negotiate secure office space on wednesdays at the NMO for a
'Tenant's Surgery' where I and other members of the Tenant's Forum could help
local tenants thru Advocacy and other support. To enable this surgery idea to
become reality I and other unpaid volunteers would have to undertake CRB Checks,
Advocacy and other training to be able to provide a 'high quality' service and to
effectively 'signpost' enquiries to the proper authorities to be of any use to our
client group.
In the meantime, I and other volunteers would use the allocated office space
at the NMO to write letters, host meetings and other work that we could do to
usefully support local tenants, the Forum that represents them and for other
related unpaid voluntary work in general compliance with the NMO's 'Local Delivery
Plan' organised and managed by the NM Board here in Springbourne and Boscombe West
in Bournemouth.
For the last six months, I and other volunteers, have attended dozens of
Housing and Tenant related meetings, for example, last night (29042004) two
members of the Tenant's Forum attended the Springbourne Area Forum, and I, as
Chairman, have a seat on the SRB Support Theme Group, Bournemouth's Housing Forum
and I regularily attend the NM Board Meetings as a resident observor. I have also
actively participated in the development and implementation of Bournemouth's newly
launched Landlord and Tenant Accreditation Scheme, where I also have a seat on the
Accreditation Management Board.
Also for the last six months I have attended training courses organised by
Shelter (and other organisations such as NMO) where I learned about 'Housing and
Divorce', 'Finding a Place to live', 'Homelessness' and other training
specifically related to both my chances of finding work in the public/local
government sector and of relevence to local tenants and my work as Chairman of the
Tenant's Forum.
I also recently successfully applied for a Community Win towards the cost of
I.T resources that will both help me to update my I.T skills in WindowsXP
Professional (and related I.T Support skills) and gain experience in new skills
and develop existing skills as part of my own 'Individual Learning Plan' and for
me to help the Tenant's Forum become a viable, sustainable and longterm asset for
the local community.
By working in partnership with the NMO and other organisations and
individuals I have secured a permanent email and telephone resource for the
Tenant's Forum, organised training and publicity and, completed and identified
tasks working towards the NMO's 'Local Delivery Plan', all made possible by the
application of my existing and newly acquired skills as chairman of the Tenant's
Forum and the application of the resources of this successful Community Win
application.
In the last three months alone, I have created and forged new, productive
links and developed existing partnerships with Neighbourhood Management,
Bournemouth Borough Council, Poole Borough Council, the Dorset Residential
Landlords Association, Dorset Energy Advice Center, BBC Radio Solent, Aylesworth
Fleming, the Single Regeneration Budget Support Group, Bournemouth Churches
Housing Association, Community Self-build, Dave Wells Properties Ltd, and, dozens
of individual local residents, Board members, local councillors and other groups
and individuals towards both my individual duties and responsibilities as a
Jobseeker and as Chairman of the Tenant's Forum.
And, for six weeks from the 22022004 to the 09042004, I did a lot of this
'forging' while on a work placement at the Borough of Poole's 'Housing and
Community Services' unit as an I.T Support Worker, where I performed the duties
and responsibilities of this placement to 'good to excellent' standards and where
I felt (and the people supervising my work placement agreed) I was making a 'good'
productive contribution towards both my aspirations as a 'Jobseeker' and as a New
Deal 25+ volunteer on work placement, in addition to the 'good' productive
contribution I was making as Chair of the Tenant's Forum.
While on this 'brilliant' work placement, I had assumed that I would be
'allowed' to take Wednesdays and Friday afternoons 'off' to continue this 'good
work' on behalf of the local community of Private Residential Sector Tenants that
frankly had a 'good' productive 'champion' on their side for a change. As the work
placement continued I discovered that the time I was taking off for my work as
Chair was being taken off my holiday entitlement and, after five weeks when that
entitlement was exhausted, the problems as they say 'hit the fan' and, as both my
Work Placement Supervisor and my New Deal Personal Advisor explained to me, we
would have to find an alternative way to balance the timetable. The terms and
conditions of this work placement required me to work towards my 'Individual
Learning Plan' for 24 hours each week and I had assumed my work for the Tenant's
Forum would form part of this requirement - how wrong I was!
For most of the time, I was arriving at my work placement an hour-and-a-
quarter before the official start time, arriving at 0845 instead of 1000, simply
because the buses were more reliable at this time than at a later time. For two
consecutive weeks (the last two weeks as it turned out), I had generated several
hours in credit, which would have enabled me to take time off to work all day on
wednesdays as we had arranged at the NMO. Even with these hours 'in-credit' I
would still not accrue enough 'hours' to make up the time I wanted to use for the
Tenant's Forum work I wanted to do.
However, the time, skills and training I was doing as Chairman of the
Tenant's Forum was not being included within my 'Individual Learning Plan' as we
had negotiated thru the New Deal 25+ provision before and during the work
placement, as I had assumed it would be, even though I was using many of the same
skills and developing new skills, such as my 'good to excellent' telephone skills,
that were, in fact transferable between the two 'jobs'!
During this final period I was arguing the case that both my work placement
and my unpaid voluntary work as Chairman of the Tenant's Forum should be included
within my 'Individual Learning Plan' for the reasons that both 'jobs' were working
towards improving my chances of finding suitable work, both jobs were teaching me
new skills and improving existing skills, I was undertaking training and taking
other opportunities that would be both useful and transferable between the two
'jobs' and that 'all' I was asking for was a little flexibility and support (two
attributes prized and preferred by commercial employers when sorting thru job
applications) from both my work placement supervisor and my New Deal 25+ Personal
Advisor.
This previously 'good working' relationship then disintegrated at a meeting
where we had all four parties (my New Deal 25+ Personal Advisor, my work placement
supervisor, my on-the-job supervisor and me) together specifically to resolve the
difficulties my demands as an unpaid volunteer as Chairman of the Tenant's Forum
had generated. None of us could come to any practical agreement or compromise that
suited all four parties and I felt I could not continue working on-placement under
the conditions offered to me by my New Deal Personal 25+ Advisor and the
legislation and regulations that supported her position.
The conditions offered to me meant that, firstly, I would not be able to
continue working on wednesdays or friday afternoons as Chairman of the Tenant's
Forum, simply because I could not accrue enough time-in-credit to cover the hours
I had requested 'off-site' and secondly, because the time spent as Chairman would
not count towards the hours on-placement as part of my 'Individual Learning Plan'
or towards my aspirations as a jobseeker.
In effect, the time I was spending 'forging' new working partnerships in the
local community, developing existing skills, learning new skills and ways of
working, 'championing' the benefits of 'Decent Homes' standards or, in fact,
developing anything on behalf of local residents in one of Britain's 'most
deprived' areas would be entirely wasted as far as my 'duties and
responsibilities' as a Jobseeker were concerned!
I therefore verbally withdrew my consent for my participation within this
work placement, and after a few more minutes of frustrating argument and counter-
argument, I then gathered my belongings and physically left the building, which,
as I understand it, is why my entitlement to income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
and other benefits were then 'indefinitely sanctioned' by my New Deal 25+
providers and withdrawn, apparently, indefinitely and without any recourse to a
'fair and public' hearing, legal notification or any other lawful process, except
the opinion of a single Benefit Advisor and his or her supervisor.
On the 20042004, I made a new claim for Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
where I declared that I would not be available for work for ten hours a week (six
hours on subsequent Wednesdays and upto four hours a week on Fridays or at other
times) because I believed the unpaid voluntary work (including vocational training
and other work-based learning and development) I do for the Tenant's Forum and my
local community is far more important than my individual concerns as a jobseeker,
including whether I receive benefits or not.
While this belief is, perhaps suicidially noble (and stubborn) of me to
maintain, and as a Jobseeker with over twenty years' worth of experience 'actively
seeking work', there is a clear reason why I believe so strongly about unpaid
voluntary work being included as part of my Jobseeker's Agreement, is because most
employers are impressed by any effort a jobseeker makes while he is unemployed and
unpaid voluntary work gives a potential employer a clear indication that this
candidate, eg me, is prepared and able to work 'immediately' and with current and
contemporary skills already in place!
The other, more important reason for me is that my work as a local community
volunteer is actually needed within my local community! If I wasn't involved as I
am and as I have been, local tenants in Bournemouth as a whole would not be able
to become Accreditated Tenants because I would not have been able to put my
experience into the consultation into Tenant Accreditation! The Tenant's Forum
would not now have a weekly surgery available for their exclusive use, or the
resources of a state-of-the-art I.T office, or an email address or the resources
of the NMO available to them or any of a dozen other advantages now available to
them and the local residents the Tenant's Forum represents!
And what did I ask for in return for all this 'good work'?
I'm not asking for flashy awards or chauffer-driven limos or bottles of
champagne, no! All I'm asking for is credit where credit is due and to work in
partnership with my local jobcenter and other service providers so that I can work
towards getting a better job and where I can build a better future for myself, my
neighbours and my local community!
All I want is for the work I do as Chairman of the Tenant's Forum to be
included as part of my Jobseeker's Agreement and as credit towards any work-based
training I did! And, hopefully, the experience we learn during this process helps
other people in similar circumstances - all sixty million of us 'British Citizens'
- to have the same opportunities as I have to work towards improving our local
communities so that in twenty-five years' time places as deprived as Springbourne
and Boscombe West just don't exist anymore, where people as community minded as I
am, get rewarded for their 'good' efforts instead of 'degrading and inhuman
treatment', where we are not 'punished' but rewarded and where our 'good' efforts
count towards their civic 'duties and responsibilities' instead of actively
discouraged from participating in their local community!
Instead we have areas like Springbourne and Boscombe West where 40% of the
local population are 'Single Unemployed' living in poor, unsatisfactory housing
with high levels of drug dependency and other problems people like me actually
want to fix!
Instead, what do I get?
A mandatory conditional work placement where the law says I am not allowed
to participate in the regeneration of my local community, where I am not allowed
to take time off to participate in 'good, productive' or 'brilliant' meetings to
help other aspiring members of my local community fix local problems and where my
only concern should be to selfishly comply with employment legislation that is
frankly, sixty years out of date, legislation that even sixty years ago didn't, in
fact work!
Where I must comply with these conditions otherwise I will not be entitled
to ANY benefits, simply because my local Personal Advisor is advising me to stop
helping to regenerate my local community, where if I don't comply, I'll be
homeless, where, if I don't comply I'll starve to death! Where, if I don't comply
(and I manage to keep my home and/or I don't find a job), I won't be able to even
watch telly because my electricity would have run out because I haven't benefits
to pay my rent, feed the electricity meter or in fact, feed myself without
resorting to shoplifting or borrowing from my friends (if I have any left by then)
or selling my possessions!

I, therefore, cannot comply with any 'mandatory' conditions placed on my

'Jobseeker's Agreement' demanded by the Department of Work and Pensions and their
agents and servants on the following grounds:-

1) Such 'mandatory' conditions are in clear breach of my rights under

ARTICLE 4 'PROHIBITION OF SLAVERY AND FORCED LABOUR' of the Human Rights Act,
1998, specifically because this Act states:

1. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.

2. No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.

because I have already taken 'reasonable steps' to improve my chances of finding

suitable work under the terms and conditions of the 'Jobseeker's Agreement' I have
signed on 20042004 and other Agreements I have previously agreed to comply with;
such additional 'mandatory' conditions are 'unreasonable' and therefore unlawful.

I also believe that the 'indefinite sanction' and other exceptional and
unreasonable conditions placed upon my entitlement to benefits is also in clear
breach of my rights under ARTICLE 3 'PROHIBITION OF TORTURE' of the Human Rights
Act, 1998, specifically because this Act states:

'No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment.'

any 'indefinite sanction' under the Employment Act has removed my only source of
income, and will 'degrade' my rights under both this Article of the Human Rights
Act and other relevent legislation.

The 'indefinite sanction' of any entitlement to benefits will:

2. degrade my standard of living because I have no income to maintain the

standard of living I am used to and the law says I am entitled to;

2a. The PENGUIN ENGLISH DICTIONARY, 2001 Edition defines 'degrading'

as:
1. v to cause to lose self-respect or the respect of others, to demean.
2. to reduce the quality of. 3. archaic to lower in grade, rank or status, to
demote.

and the removal for whatever reason and 'indefinite sanction' against my
entitlement to benefits will lower and 'degrade' both my legal status as a
'Jobseeker' and my standard of living and is therefore 'degrading treatment' and
could be considered unlawful 'punishment' under this Article of the Human Rights
Act, in short 'torture'.

3. increase my vulnerability to homelessness because I have no income to pay

my rent and any 'indefinite sanction' for whatever reason will remove my
entitlement to Housing Benefits and other Benefits I was previously entitled to
receive and, therefore, my landlord will have no other recourse than to issue a
Notice to Quit because I do not have the ability to pay such rent;

4. put me in clear breach of several Magistrates Court Orders requiring me

to pay fines and other impositions because I have no income or savings available
to pay such fines and impositions leading to possible imprisonment for non-payment
of such fines and impositions;

5. put me in clear breach of my Television License Agreement requiring me to

pay �30.00 per quarter to pay for my current TV License, putting me in clear
breach of the Wireless and telegraphy Act, 1949 and leading to possible
prosecution under this Act;

6. increasing the risk to my life because I do not have the lawful ability
to cover my basic living expenses to buy food, 'top-up' my electricity or other
expenses the law says I need to live on which is also a clear breach of my rights
under ARTICLE 2 'RIGHT TO LIFE' of the Human Rights Act, 1998, specifically
because this Act states:

1. Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be

deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court
following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.

2. Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in

contravention of this Article when it results from the use of force which is no
more than absolutely necessary.
Therefore, without the ability to lawfully buy or acquire food, 'top-up' my
electricity or to pay for my other basic living expenses the law says I need to
live on, and if the 'indefinite sanction' remains on my entitlement to benefits
and/or I am unable to find suitable employment as I have previously agreed to do,
I will starve to death and therefore unable to live.

As I have taken 'reasonable steps' to improve my chances of finding suitable

employment by the following steps:-

2a. undertaking unpaid, voluntary work as chairman of the Springbourne

and Boscombe West Tenant's Forum working in Partnership with the Springbourne and
Boscombe West Neighbourhood Management Team,
2b. agreed to comply with the terms and conditions of the New Deal 25+
scheme;
2c. taken opportunities to participate in unpaid, voluntary training
and work placement experience in relevent subjects as and when such opportunities
present themselves;
2d. purchased thru the New Deal 25+ 'Advisor Discretionary Fund' a
provisional driving license, successfully passed 'Theory Driving Test', purchased
a 'Mobile Phone' and other relevent purchases thru this Fund;
2e. taken driving lessons towards passing both 'Theory' and 'Practical'
driving tests;
2f. taken other steps as and when these opportunities have presented
themselves, and taken such steps far in excess of those terms and conditions
required of any 'Jobseeker's Agreement', either currently or previously, I have
signed and agreed to.

Therefore, any additional 'mandatory' interventions or 'unreasonable' conditions

in addition to those I have already agreed to under the terms and conditions of
the New Deal 25+ scheme and the existing 'Jobseeker's Agreement' I signed and
agreed to on the 20042004, are both unnecessary and, I argue, unlawful.

I therefore argue that entitlement to benefits and the payment thereof is, by
implication, also a Right To Life, as defined by the Human Rights Act, 1998, as, I
believe the two conditions are inseperable in law under ARTICLE 2 'RIGHT TO LIFE'
of the Human Rights Act and other relevent legislation.

Therefore, under ARTICLE 6 'RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL' of the Human Rights Act, 1998,
which states:

1. In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any

criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing
within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by
law;

I hereby request such a 'fair and public' hearing where I can exercise my rights
under ARTICLE 6 'RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL' of the Human Rights Act, 1998 to the
following:-
(a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in
detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him;
(b) to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his
defence;
(c) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own
choosing or, if he has not sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be
given it free when the interests of justice so require;
(d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the
attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as
witnesses against him.
 I trust you will comply with all relevent legislation and comply with my
lawful requests in 'reasonable' time so that this matter can be resolved to all
party's satisfaction. Of course the easy way would be to reinstate my entitlement
to income-based Jobseekers Allowance under the terms and conditions I agreed to on
the 20042004 without prejudice or harm to my statutory rights as a citizen of the
UK and Europe.
But then the problems I have illustrated for my defence in this letter would
not be fixed and merely postponed until the next citizen encounters the same
'frustrating' problems when they agree to do unpaid voluntary work for their local
community! And I haven't included in this letter the thousands of unpaid voluntary
care workers who selflessly care for the thousands of individuals who are not able
to look after themselves because of disability, mental health or other Special
Needs these disadvantaged citizens have.
As Mila Jovovich once said 'Pleee-ase Heelp!"

Yours faithfully

Steven J Humphrey
30042004

We, the undersigned, agree with the comments and defense made by Steven in
this Open Letter and further suggest that not only should Steven have his full
benefit entitlement reinstated without prejudice to his statutory rights as a
citizen and Jobseeker or without any unreasonable delay, but that other benefit
claimants in similar circumstances should be fully supported by the Department of
Work and Pensions, so that no one has to suffer as Steven is now suffering thru
'indefinite sanctions' and other unreasonable 'punishments' for unpaid voluntary
work in what is, essentially, in the National Interest for people like Steven to
do on behalf of their local communities and for other individuals in similiar
unpaid voluntary work such as carers for people with special needs.

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