Iain Duncan Smith’s Work Programme is 'worse than doing nothing'

Fee and KJ are just trying to help...Iain Duncan Smith’s Work Programme 'worse than doing nothing'The new £5bn scheme for finding work for the long-term unemployment is worse than not helping them at all, official results suggest. In its first year just 2.3% of people who enrolled in the scheme got jobs for six months or more. But according to the government’s own calculations, 5% of the long-term unemployed can find jobs for six months if left alone to do so. The long-term unemployed experience the greatest difficulty in finding work. TELEGRAPHOUR...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 29th November)

Iain Duncan Smith’s Work Programme 'worse than doing nothing'The new £5bn scheme for finding work for the long-term unemployment is worse than not helping them at all, official results suggest. In its first year just 2.3% of people who enrolled in the scheme got jobs for six months or more. But according to the government’s own calculations, 5% of the long-term unemployed can find jobs for six months if left alone to do so. The long-term unemployed experience the greatest difficulty in finding work. TELEGRAPH(“Please help. Another year’s past...

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Suspected tax avoiders to receive letters from HMRC warning them of Special Investigations Unit scrutiny

...but Cameron shouldn't worry...Tax avoiders to get warning shot from HMRCThe letters will go directly to 1,500 people who have signed up to one particular avoidance scheme. The National Audit Office said such schemes cost the UK more than £10bn. If the dodgers get out of the scheme they can avoid penalties and embarrassment. High profile names are expected to be on the list. BBC NEWSOUR RELATED STORIES:Tax Dodging - how the 1% avoid and evade taxRichard Murphy on why HMRC’s tax gap calculation still makes no se...

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Claims Management Companies: a necessary pest

We at Ripped-Off Britons generally spend our time exposing rippers-off. For a change we want to put in a good word for a pack of ruthless ravaging ripping-off locusts. The good (consumer groups), the bad (bankers), and the ugly (the British Bankers Association (BBA)) have all condemned claims management companies, accurately stating that they charge a packet to do what Britons can easily do by themselves for free. But we are in good company in valuing the services of these insects. After all locusts have been deployed by no higher an authority...

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Government stalls on payday loan regulation

...Chris, Fee and KJ aren't surprised to learn 'legal loan sharks' will again target hard-up families this Christmas...Government stalls on payday loan regulation despite 'legal loan sharks' targeting hard-up families at ChristmasMinisters have postponed considering regulating payday lenders until next summer despite a rapid expansion of high-cost lending and firms targeting borrowers over the Christmas period. Research shows 5 million adults are considering taking a payday loan in the next six months - a 50% increase since this time last year....

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 22nd November)

Government stalls on payday loan regulation despite 'legal loan sharks' targeting hard-up families at ChristmasMinisters have postponed considering regulating payday lenders until next summer despite a rapid expansion of high-cost lending and firms targeting borrowers over the Christmas period. Research shows 5 million adults are considering taking a payday loan in the next six months - a 50% increase since this time last year. Payday lenders have told the government that the voluntary code is already working, making stiffer regulation unnecessary....

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Cameron 'calls time' on Labour's equality impact assessments

...and why not?...Cameron 'calls time' on Labour's equality impact assessments"Equality impact assessments" were introduced by Labour to make sure officials took account of disability, gender and race in their decisions. But the prime minister said there was too much "bureaucratic nonsense" and policy-makers should use "judgement" rather than "tick boxes". Supporters say they are essential to improving fairness, while opponents argue they are ineffective, expensive and time-consuming. BBC NEWSOUR RELATED STORIES:Cutting benefits will...

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The FSA's largest retail fine for scandalous mis-selling. The real scandal is the fine is so small compared to the scam.

The FSA imposed a "record fine" on CPP, who describe themselves as a provider of "Life Assistance products designed to make life less stressful". A penalty that CPP has accepted. The greatest scandal is not what CPP got up to, but the FSA's performance in this debacle. What CPP did is typical of what financial services companies do: mis-sell (PPI; Mortgage Endowments; Personal Pensions; Interest Rate Swaps...). Don't blame a dog that is trained to bite when it does bite - blame the trainer. The FSA has been training the financial...

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Commons speaker John Bercow accused of trying to rig MPs' expenses watchdog

Chris and Fee despair...John Bercow has been accused of the rigging in “revenge” for its crackdown on what MPs can claim. In the latest revelation last month the Telegraph revealed 27 MPs were legitimately claiming expenses to rent homes in London even though they owned London properties themselves, which they rented out. At least eight MPs are either letting properties to, or renting from, another MP! TELEGRAPHOUR RELATED STORIES:MPs make a try for a discrete £20k+ pay-rise in the face of the public sector pay-freezeCalling all public...

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The IMF and the end of austerity

By Ann Pettifor and Douglas CoeAt their annual meeting in Tokyo this year, IMF economists destroyed the case for austerity. While their analysis constituted a small part of a routine report – the World Economic Outlook  - and was technical in form, the devastating impact of their conclusions could not be ignored by the media. These IMF conclusions are of the greatest possible importance and must not be allowed to be lost with the passage of time. We are concerned that they should be fully understood by the public at large.IMF economists have...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 15th November)

Commons speaker John Bercow accused of trying to rig MPs' expenses watchdogJohn Bercow has been accused of the rigging in “revenge” for its crackdown on what MPs can claim. In the latest revelation last month the Telegraph revealed 27 MPs were legitimately claiming expenses to rent homes in London even though they owned London properties themselves, which they rented out. At least eight MPs are either letting properties to, or renting from, another MP! TELEGRAPH(Ooh, look! Someone's set up a tent in Parliament Square. In protest?... no, it's just...

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Energy price manipulation accounts for at least 50% of our bill rises?

Cameron grills his Energy Secretary, Ed Davey...Energy price manipulation 'could account for at least 50% of bill rises'Since whistleblower Seth Freedman's allegations that the wholesale price has been manipulated, energy price comparison experts believe this could have an impact on the amount consumers and businesses pay for their power supply. GUARDIANSEE OUR RELATED ARTICLES:Are energy companies really forced to raise prices due to high wholesale prices?OFGEM misses another opportunity to control rip-off energy bills by improving energy price...

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Tax cuts for the wealthy? Bumper pay rises for the executive classes? When will we learn: the policy of giving to the rich and taking from the poor is the cause of the crisis, not the solution.

The way it should beWe surely must admit the years before the bust were good. We had money to spend and things to buy. We had jobs to make the things we bought with the money we earned. Money, in the words of the old song, made the world go round. It was a result of our spending that companies grew, profited, invested, and employed us. So what went so horribly wrong?Those halcyon days were like being at a great restaurant where the Maître d'  served us excellent steak at knock down prices. We were satisfied, the restaurant was...

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