Perhaps it's sheer bitterness that causes me to post this. Today's post includes the Christmas appeal for charity from none other than the Salvation Army. It's not sent to me personally, just the household, that would be too much otherwise. The campaign is entitled 'Delivering hope for the UK's most vulnerable'.
I find this extraordinary: is this the state of our society? On one hand they can talk about how much it will cost, with your/my help, to give kids a few treats for Christmas, or to house a homeless person temporarily in one of their shelters, or to give a bit of companionship to an old person. Yet on the other hand their Employment Plus department, which, according to them, is fully a part of the Salvation Army, is quite able and willing to issue 'compliance doubts' leading to the kind of poverty they claim to campaign against!?! Is this reality?
"At tghe Salvation Army, we believe that no one deserves to be cold, alone or neglected, especially at Christmas. So, we are committed to reaching out to people who need us..."
I feel sick. There probably are some genuinely compassionate people that work for the Salvation Army who want nothing more than to help. But this is an organisation that runs the government's Work Programme which is failing the unemployed and makes use of poverty as a weapon of compliance. How can they square these two aspects?
The letter accompanying the campaign info/donation form is signed by a person (no need to mention names) who has the 'rank' of Lieutenant-Colonel! Again the militarisation!
On the 1st I wrote a letter of complaint stating that I will not see my adviser again. I made it clear they are to communicate only to me and that, if I hear nothing from them, I will assume my next appointment, with said adviser, is cancelled (fat chance). Unfortunately despite being sent recorded delivery there seems to be no evidence of it's arrival, if it has arrived. It really wouldn't help me if the letter doesn't arrive, but that's out of my hands. I'm not really looking forward to the ensuing 'discussion' this will provoke, but I am damned sure that they will be 'delivering' me from that adviser.
I have always found the Sally Army to be a faintly ridiculous organisation; with their military style ranks and uniforms I always imagine its senior members as failed army officers or civilian wannabes. But that is the least of their problems, with their shocking willingness to push people further into poverty and as you said the strange conflict that creates with their stated mission of combating poverty. There is one piece of good news on the fight against workfare though - it seems Age UK are the latest charity to pull out of the various DWP operated workfare schemes.
ReplyDeleteI suspect many of those that just give a few quid or do the ground work are completely unaware of the reality of their Employment Plus section. like most people they probably think EP can do no wrong, or perhaps that those who do fall foul of sanctions imposed deserve it. The truth is this is a charity that claims to fight poverty while causing it.
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