Legal Action for Women self-help workshop reports

1. Single mothers benefits and disability benefits 14 Nov

The workshop was attended by over 50 people.  We started with a report on what had been happening to benefits for single mothers and a summary of the benefits available.  A number of women spoke about the obstacles they faced when claiming.  A woman from Single Mothers’ Self-Defence described how they had been informing women that they didn’t have to authorise the Child Support Agency (CSA) to claim maintenance from their ex-partner if they “feared harm or undue distress” and how to press for their right to this.  They had also been using the self-help handbook, The Child Support Act: Your Rights and How to Defend Them, published by Legal Action for Women, which also drew on the experience of the Campaign Against the Child Support Act. One of the authors of the handbook described how the book was used by single mothers, new partners as well as “absent” mothers and fathers to defend themselves.  Armed with accurate information, many women were able to resist the harassment of the CSA which had to apologise for their often illegal actions in a number of cases.  Figures showed that over 70% of women were not giving their authorisation. 

Women described how the advice given by other agencies such as the CABs was often inaccurate.  One woman in Hull had set up an impromptu advice-line from home, as a result of her own experience, and had told the CAB to refer people to her because the quality of their advice was so poor. 

A man who had campaigned against the CSA described that one major problem was that the men who were also opposing the CSA refused to support single mothers even though this would have been in their own interest.  Women described that their opposition to the CSA had been hidden.  For example, women who had gone to the press to try and get some publicity for the fact that they didn’t want to comply with the CSA because of threats of violence found the press were only interested in fathers who were refusing to pay. 

The session on disability benefits followed the same format.  A presentation was done on the benefits available.  Two women representing Incapacity Action, a network of incapacity benefit claimants, described problems such as: how disability benefit criteria are too rigid when applied to fluctuating conditions, the notorious “all work” test and the discrimination faced by women with mental health problems.  A number of women said that medical examinations were intrusive, brutal and sometimes violent. One woman with a brittle-bone disability had broken her arm when she was made to get down on all fours and the doctor refused to help her up saying that she was not allowed help during the test.

Disability benefits are focussed on the bodily functions of each individual claimant rather than what they may need to do for others.  Women complained that because caring work is not counted as work and not seen as an essential function, their inability to care for their children or other family members as a result of receiving no help with their disability, did not count towards their entitlement to benefits.  This deprived them of the financial means to get help which might enable them to do this caring work.  A question was raised about whether the interviews with doctors were compulsory.  WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities) described their success in establishing that women can get exemption from these examinations and insisting that a decision be made on the medical evidence already available on paper.  Women complained about doctors charging for medical reports and other women described how they had persuaded their doctors to provide them free of charge.  Women complained about the racism of doctors, nurses, other medical professionals and Department of Social Security workers.  For example, a Black woman who is partially sighted and has a learning disability was refused home adaptations.  One suggestion was to contact people in the Church and describe the brutal and discriminatory treatment that people in their community are facing.  There are some people in the Church who have committed themselves to the service of others and we should ask for their support.

2. Self-help workshop on asylum benefits

The second workshop brought a new influx of people and was also very well attended by women who are currently fighting for benefits.  Some of the people from the previous workshop who had planned to leave, decided to stay.

Unlike with single mothers’ and disability benefits, benefits for women and children seeking asylum are not available from or managed by one Department.  Different Council departments, agencies, as well as the Department of Work and Pensions are responsible.  This is further complicated by frequent changes in legislation which for example, affect from what date an asylum seeker can get what.  This makes it much more difficult for women to know what the rules are and what they entitle them to, especially since advisers and lawyers often don’t have the time to keep up with the changes.  It is easy for each authority to refuse responsibility and pass women on elsewhere, misinform and even make up the rules.  So it emerged, for example, that two mothers in the workshops in almost identical circumstances, had very different level of benefits.

Women were furious that they had been refused housing benefit which they were entitled to and would have allowed them to find their own accommodation; instead they had been put in sub-standard hostels where the living conditions were appalling.  They had no privacy, were often one of a few women in a hostel full of men, suffered from abuse from staff, were cold and sometimes hungry as the food was inedible or insufficient.  It emerged how landlords were profiteering from the arrangement with National Asylum Support System as they charge exorbitant rents but are not held accountable for the conditions in which people are housed.  A number of women described how they had managed to get re-housed.  One woman did win housing benefit and was able to get her own flat.  

Women from Black Women’s Rape Action Project and Women Against Rape described how many voluntary agencies were well-funded to provide services to asylum seekers, yet when they tried to get emergency help for women, the agencies refused to help.  These agencies also refused to challenge the introduction of vouchers and other repressive measures and instead were now working very closely with government and implementing policies which were causing widespread hardship.  A man from Notre Dame Refugee Centre said that the staff he often dealt with were young and inexperienced and couldn’t be held responsible for the policies of the agencies they worked for.  Women disagreed, saying that whether they were inexperienced or not there was no excuse for racism and other discrimination or for brutality and a lack of compassion.  We discussed documenting women’s experience of advice agencies with a view to raising these problems with them.

home