Church and State blog: The Department for Work and Pensions refuses to interview me this morning for a NINO

Thursday, September 03, 2009

The Department for Work and Pensions refuses to interview me this morning for a NINO

As I said in the blog of 18 August “The Department for Work and Pensions denies me a Crisis Loan”, the Department (DWP) has suspended my benefits because they have lost my National Insurance Number (NINO). As a consequence, I have to attend an interview – to prove that I am who I say I am and my circumstances are what I say they are – to be reissued a NINO. Broadway Homelessness and Support have in fact been chasing this interview up since we got a roof over our heads on 13 July, after more than two and a half years sleeping rough on the streets of London (see for example blog of 6 August 2009 “The Department for Work and Pensions is putting us back to the street”).

Our history with the DWP goes back a long way: We came to England in 2003 and for two years attempted to get NAC up and running; we went on benefits in July 2005; the DWP terminated our benefits on 27 September 2006 because Declan did not “sign on” two days before he was due to do so on 29 September. Declan exhausted the appeals process from the street: the case was dismissed by the High Court (Judicial Review), Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights, despite that we were denied the internal appeal process by procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority (see, for example, blog of 12 July “Police threaten us with physical force at the place we sleep, Salters”).

Anyway, Broadway finally got an email on 26 August from the DWP stating that I had a NINO appointment in Camden NINO Jobcentre for this morning at 10.00am, and that I should have with me a letter from the police on the robbery of all our money and documents at the Dellow Day Centre run by the Sisters of Mercy (see blog of 18 June 2008 “Declan robbed in the Sisters of Mercy Dellow Centre”). I shouldn’t have bothered. The email that Broadway received from the DWP was “inaccurate”, the member of staff adding: “Sorry you wasted your time.” I now have to go back on 10 September … Oh, well.

For the record, this is Declan’s letter this evening to the CEO of Broadway, Howard Sinclair:

Subject: NINO meeting

Dear Mr. Sinclair,

Previous correspondence refers. On 26 August 2009, Broadway Homelessness and Support received from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) my wife’s National Insurance Number (NINO) reallocation appointment in Camden NINO Jobcentre for 3 September at 10.00am (see attachment “Broadway(26.8.09)”). Nonetheless, the DWP issued a NINO Appointment Letter on 27 August 2009 addressed to my wife stating that her interview at Camden NINO Jobcentre has been made for 10 September at 11.30am (see “DWP(27.8.09)”).

I can confirm that my wife kept her appointment at Camden NINO Jobcentre this morning, but was informed by a member of staff that the email letter of 26 August that Broadway Homelessness and Support received from the DWP was “inaccurate”, and that she was to return on 10 September at 11.30am. In accordance with this email letter of 26 August, my wife had in her possession the following documents/letters, etc. that would support who she says she is and support her circumstances:

- The Crime reference letter with the crime number on the theft of a holdall containing all my and my wife’s money and documents, including two passports in our names, from the Dellow Centre, London E1 7SA (see attachment “CRL(29.8.09)”)

- Letter of ‘support’ from the Dellow Centre confirming the length of time that we have been attending there - that to the best of their knowledge Mrs. Heavey is who she says she is, etc.

- Big Issue ID

- Evidence regarding the Joint claim made in 2005

Supplementary documents/letters, etc. include:

- Yorkshire Building Society cash card and stamped Account Verification printout

- Shorthold Tenancy Agreement

- Copy of Habitual Residence Test statement made by the investigating officer in 2005

- Copy of each of the following: passport, Irish citizenship certificate, marriage certificate, and birth certificate

In reference the above cited documents/letters, etc., Mr. James Laurie for and on behalf of Broadway Homelessness and Support wrote on 1 September: “Thank you again for this information. I am sure that the documentation you have gathered will be sufficient proof of identity and a decision will be made in your wife’s favor.” Please advise if this is no longer the case.

You will note that I am taking the time to once again copy Superintendent Lorraine Cussen of Snow Hill Police Station into my current situation. As you are aware, it was Superintendent Cussen who, as the supervisory police officer who is overseeing Operation Poncho II within the City of London Police, suggested that I seek the assistance of Broadway Homelessness and Support (see attachment "Cussen(13.7.09)").

Yours sincerely,

Declan Heavey

cc The Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Superintendent Lorraine Cussen, Snow Hill Police Station
The Manager, Camden NINO Jobcentre (by registered post - with attachments)

Church and State

MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
DAY 406 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A SECTION 21 NOTICE

(SEE PARA. 3 BELOW)

1. Our 308 Honorary Associates include 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Declan and I are engaged in a project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., climate change, population, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a non-profit company limited by guarantee, our main publication, found at the website, Church and State, calls attention to subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. We have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in threats to Declan's life, and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.

2. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the Church and State website from 20 Honorary Associates, eight articles, nine book excerpts and 33 petition signatories. (For example, one Nobel laureate signed our Nobel petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and gave us permission to excerpt from one of his books.) Our list of associates also includes 18 US National Medal laureates, and six Turing Award laureates (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in computer science). We have published one article and excerpted from the books of seven members of the British House of Lords. And there are 31 knighted professors on the site from 13 Honorary Associates, one book excerpt and 21 petition signatories. These figures are despite the never-ending assault on our email (this link reveals the targeting of our emails to, among others, a close colleague in Washington, DC as well as space advocates and Nobel laureates).

3. This is Day 406 for us living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' eviction by Peabody Trust.[1] We live in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property. Peabody's appalling new terms of tenancy have forced us into an unstable weekly periodic tenancy that poses a threat to Declan's life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. Declan accumulated quite a history with the Housing Ombudsman Service before he received the Ombudsman's decision not to investigate a referral from Lyn Brown MP on jurisdictional grounds. The Ombudsman was asked to consider whether or not our tenancy has been renewed like for like; and whether, if not, it should be in light of the landlord having accused us of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will not accept a referral of discrimination from Ms Brown, the Commission's helpline (EASS) having grossly distorted the complaint against Peabody. We no longer have pro se access to the courts (see next paragraph).

4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Ruth Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us. Declan currently has before the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman the decision of the Information Commissioner that allows St Mungo's to continue processing coercive support plans without our knowledge or consent and that also poses a threat to his life.

5. When it comes to traffic, we have had 10.7 million hits in the past three years on Facebook; however, I left the platform on 13 March 2021 for one year rather than risk being banned for life. It is indisputable that with any sort of level playing field Church and State would have far exceeded 2.5 million hits last year. In addition to a large variety of blocks without explanation, Facebook had so severely restricted our Page's distribution by October 2020 that it was almost as good as an unpublished page.[2] Currently, we are up to their 85th block since 1 December 2015, and as usual without an explanation. This block records as one half of their 3rd double block in the first five weeks of this year that lasted 60 days. Our traffic has also been curtailed by over 2.5K blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016, including 29 full distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since 17 May 2019 that have lasted for as long as 54 hours at a time.[3] About 70% of our hits are from Americans.

"This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site." Don Collins, Founder, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC

Last updated: 26/06/21

_________________________

[1] Once a fixed term has elapsed, the landlord has the option to seek eviction even if the tenant has upheld their obligations in full (though of course the landlord must still apply for and obtain a county court order).

[2] 17/10/20: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page

[3] Since October 2019, we have been defining a full DDoS attack as having such a high volume of up to 4-minute blocks on access to Church and State that we don't bother recording them all.

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Thursday, September 03, 2009

The Department for Work and Pensions refuses to interview me this morning for a NINO

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