Campaign against S&BP's exploitation of disabled people working for its Old Moat Garden Centre in Epsom, Surrey which has now dragged on for almost a year.
The scrolling images above are of board members , directors and senior managers of SABP and MCCH Society Ltd. These images are already available online on SABP's and MCCH's own websites. Click on images for details of who these people are.
The blog is playing up a bit at the moment but this is happening right across the blogger service as there seems to be some problem with their servers. I'm sure it'll get sorted soon.
posted by simply human @ 10:16 pm
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We are campaigning to see that SABP's disabled workers at least get the national minimum wage or if they are on benefits paid at the appropriate permitted work rules rates.
We are also appalled that Surrey & Borders has treated its disabled workers in this way while claiming that its services are User Friendly.
This uncaring 'professional' attitude towards and exploitation of disabled workers isnt just happening in Surrey, it appears to be part of wider DWP and NIMHE policy . Please use the Action Links below to support the campaign and let other people know what is going on.
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Shame the blog is playing up when I am in the right mad mood to do some research. But the comments seem to be working OK.
Anyway I have found out that Helen Lockett has since 2003 set herself up as something of an expert in paying the minimum wage in work projects and social enterprises. She co- wrote this report:
Paying a real wage to people in work projects
by Judy Scott and Helen Lockett, published by the MCCH Society
This is a guide for work projects and social enterprises on paying people, who claim benefits, a legitimate minimum wage rate and offering part-time employment. The guide is available from the link below.
At the link below it says:
Paying a Real Wage to People in Work Projects
A good practice guide for work projects, day services and social enterprises on enabling service users to become employees
The introduction of the National Minimum Wage and the implications this had on work projects for people with disabilities, stimulated the charity, MCCH Society Ltd, to stop making ‘attendance allowance’ payments and start paying people in the work projects a real wage. The guide is based on this and other real experiences and is written by the consultant Judy Scott, a national authority on issues of payments and benefits. The Low Pay Commission featured an MCCH employment project in their current review of the minimum wage as an example of how the introduction of the minimum wage has modernised the service. The Department of Health have funded the production of the guide.
A simple question and answer format explains when work projects should pay the minimum wage and how this can be managed for people who receive benefits. It explains how voluntary work can be undertaken within the same project, and outlines the rules around paying expenses, giving gifts, training allowances and honorariums. Examples of letters for voluntary workers and legal agreements for paid workers are provided together with sample letters to Jobcentre Plus.
The guide provides an overview of the benefits that service users are likely to be getting. There is a simple chart on work and earnings. The benefit rules for part-time paid work and voluntary work during a claim to benefits are described and for projects supporting people to move into full-time employment off benefits there is advice on how to minimise risks to future benefits. Staff working in organisations running day services, social enterprises and work projects can use the advice in their everyday work. Embracing the principles behind the guide will enable organisations to pay real wages to the people who use the projects.
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Paying a Real Wage to People in Work Projects is available free of charge, although a donation is requested to cover postage and packing, made payable to MCCH Society Ltd.
Please complete and return this form with your donation to: Gordon Boxall, Chief Executive, MCCH Society Ltd, Raglan House, St Peter Street, Maidstone, KENT ME16 0SN
Please mark it: “Paying a Real Wage”
Please print clearly
Name: ………………………………………….. Job Title: ……………………………………
Organisation: ………………………………………………………………………………………
Address: …………………………………………………………………………………………….
Postcode: ………………………. Telephone: …………………………………
Shame they can't just put the guide straight onto the WWW instead of faffing around with that snail mail and postal costs. Judy Scott seems to be getting the credit so maybe Helen Lockett has forgotten her own contributions about paying the minimum wage when she project managed the 'modernisation' to cut the £3 a day payments at Old Moat and other Priority Enterprises.
I will send for a copy and maybe we can remind Helen Lockett of her own guidance in the minimum wage field...
Oh no I just reread Declan Flynn's out of office reply and it seems he won't be back in work until Monday 4th September. The mail says contact Jo O'Neill for work services matters so I rang up to see when the Freedom of Information Act answers Declan Flynn promised definitely to send by the middle of last week would now be sent? But it seems Jo O'Neill isn't answering her phone. So I have left a message on the answerphone. More delays, more delays. Tell me what these people do actually do to earn their big salaries?
....well its clear Declan Flynn spends a lot of his working day trying to jazz up his signature in Word as the font, colour and style changes all the time, it was green, italic Monotype Corsiva in his last response to you..it's sad really.
Very unprofessional as well.
Well done for chasing down Helen on the minimum wage work. I can see you are revving up :) - just make sure that you pace yourself as SABP will go to great lengths to frustrate enquiries and to demoralise and mentally undermine and exhaust its critics and they'll be glad if we all crash and burn so that they can just get on with the business of deciding what our problems are and how they are going to solve them.
Ditto for SCMH and its staff and 'associates'.
Problems with the blog:
The problems are service-wide. Yesterday I lowered the number of posts showing on front page ( just use ' previous posts by name or month to navigate backwards ) as a temp workaround but posting blog entries and comments is still problematic and I think this will continue for a few more days.
Google, who own Blogger, are trying to synchronise Blogger and G-mail passwords to seamlessly incorporate Blogger as part of the already sychronised and, to be fair, very useful Google suite but this is causing real problems, particularly around logging in.
The decision to run the two services - Classic Blogger and Blogger Beta - side by side wasnt that smart either as it has basically co-opted everyone using Blogger into the Beta programme through fucking up the logging in process!
Still. its a FREE service so mustnt complain too much...
I also time this blog became a Team Blog as a lot of the comments merit being blog entries so anyone who is interested in becoming a Team Member of this blog with posting permission just holler and I'll send an invite that will allow you to do this.
Blogger is still playing up and scrambling pages every now and again.
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