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

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)