Church and State blog: Letter to the CEO of Broadway on the seriousness of our situation

Friday, September 04, 2009

Letter to the CEO of Broadway on the seriousness of our situation

As I said in the previous blog, “The Department for Work and Pensions refuses to interview me this morning for a NINO”, Declan wrote yesterday to the CEO of Broadway Homelessness and Support, Howard Sinclair, who is assisting us in overcoming the various obstacles that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) continues to place in our way to stop us from getting the benefits we are entitled to - and this after putting us to the street for more than 2 1/2 years. His first email to Sinclair yesterday is presented below. It is the lead attachment to the email letter he has composed for leading human rights lawyers here in London; another attachment is a formal complaint Declan lodged against the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy on the grounds of unlawful discrimination (it can be read in the blog of 1 September “Declan lodges his complaint against the Sisters of Mercy”).

This letter to Sinclair is copied to, among others, the former Law Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters’ Company. It was at the headquarters of the Salters’ Company that we slept for almost a year before gaining access to a roof over our heads on 13 July (see blog of 26 July “We are interviewed on The Real Deal”).

Salters’ Company describes itself as a company very largely devoted to charity which also plays an important part in the system of local government in the City of London. Well, they seem to think we are going back to the street: they have covered the porch we slept in from January in sand bags! It means we will be moving back to where we slept from September 2008 through to January: about twenty paces from their front entrance, down some twelve steps (see, for example, blog of 5 June “Salters back in the spotlight”).

Today is Declan’s birthday, which reminds me that this day last year we returned to the porch we had been using since 3 November 2006 only to find that … a trellis gate had been installed (see blog of 5 September 2008 “A trellis gate is installed in the porch”). Anyway, we are being given such a run around by the DWP that I still haven’t finished our feature of the month for September. Last month we featured the assassination of the abortion doctor George Tiller on 31 May, in the United States, in “An Abortion Battle, Fought to the Death”. This month, as part of our questioning the “war on terror”, I am featuring the long-gagged FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, who has finally testified in court under oath about some of the things that she learned while working for the bureau. This documentary, “Kill The Messenger”, will be included:

This is Declan’s email to Sinclair yesterday afternoon:

Subject: Broadway assistance in claiming Jobseeker's Allowance

Dear Mr. Sinclair,

Previous correspondence refers. I attach copy of a formal complaint that I lodged with Providence Row against the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy for unlawful discrimination involving the Chief Executive of Providence Row, Mrs. Jo Ansell (see attachment “Complaint(1.9.09)”). Paragraph 1 under the heading “Please outline your complaint” states as follows:

On 19 August 2009 my wife and I were denied access to food in the Dellow Centre of Providence Row in London because, according to a Providence Row letter of 18 August, our “room/flat” is deemed by the charity “to be stable accommodation” (see Supporting Documents, p. 14).

With regard to the reinstatement of my joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) - which originally ran from July 2005 until it was terminated on 27 September 2006 because I did not "sign on" two days before I was due to so on 29 September 2006 - Broadway Homelessness and Support gathered on 31 July 2009 more specific details from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about my benefits claim of 17 July 2009. I was informed by the Broadway City Outreach team that although my part of the claim had been processed (and subsequently paid), my wife's part of the claim is currently suspended because the DWP has effectively lost her National Insurance Number (NINO), and consequently she needs to reissued a NINO before her part of the claim can be processed. (On 18 June 2008, I was robbed in the canteen of the Dellow Centre of all my and my wife's money and documents, crime reference no. 4215697/08; I was informed at Bow Road police station on 24 June 2008 that the case had been struck out due to the police being unable to obtain any CCTV footage whatsoever from Providence Row (see attachment "Ansell(25.6.08)").)

As first mentioned in my email to you of 6 August, I am also in receipt of a letter of 4 August from Haringey Council in respect of my claim for Housing Benefit, informing me that I must (a) tell them my wife's NINO and provide proof that it belongs to her by submitting a letter or form issued by the DWP, and (b) provide current proof of my wife's JSA by way of a recent letter from the DWP showing my current address. The Council advises that I must provide them with both of these proofs before 4 September or my claim for Housing Benefit may be suspended. We have subsequently received nothing in writing from Haringey Council to indicate that my claim for Housing Benefit remains open until the outcome of my joint claim JSA.

My wife has yet to be reissued the NINO, her initial appointment for 3 September at Camden NINO Jobcentre having been cancelled due to a clerical error. Moreover, I understand that Broadway Homelessness and Support will not be of assistance to me in acquiring from the DWP the letter I am seeking confirming that the payments of £128.60 I received on 18 August and 28 August are hardship payments for 2 persons - and not payments of my wife's JSA, which I only learnt from the Broadway City Outreach team yesterday is still suspended (see “Broadway(2.9.09)”).

My wife and I now have a very serious set of circumstances that may result in us being forced to return to sleeping rough at Salters' Hall. To exacerbate the situation, we continue to be denied access to food in the Dellow Centre, notwithstanding my repeated protestations to the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy, Sr. Coirle McCarthy, about our unstable circumstances (see attachment “Complaint(1.9.09)”). The DWP terminated our benefits in September 2006 because I did not sign up early enough – even though both my wife and I were doing so in a timely fashion; and I exhausted the appeals process: my case was dismissed by the High Court (Judicial Review), Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights, despite that I was denied the internal appeal process by procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority. That we are now dealing with another obvious "mistake" (however deliberate), I cannot imagine what would motivate the authorities to deny my wife the NINO to which she is entitled.

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 Homelesssness and Support (see attachment "Cussen(13.7.09)"). I am also copying this email and attachments to, among others, the former Law Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters’ Company c/o the Clerk to the Salters’ Company at clerk@salters.co.uk.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

cc The Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters' Company
Sr. Coirle McCarthy, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy
His Grace Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
His Grace The Duke of Norfolk, Patron of Providence Row
Alderman Sir Michael Oliver, Vice President of Providence Row
Mr. Simon Bartley, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Providence Row
Mrs. Jo Ansell, Chief Executive of Providence Row
Superintendent Lorraine Cussen, Snow Hill Police Station

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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Friday, September 04, 2009

Letter to the CEO of Broadway on the seriousness of our situation

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