Thursday, 20 April 2017

Gas Safety at Church and in our Homes


Gas safety is a big issue in church and at home. Everyone, not just those who are disabled, are put at risk when the work undertaken that is not done correctly or safely. This certainly means that the fact someone has been laying gas pipes, and installing gas fuelled equipment for years does not mean a thing unless they have received the correct training and are registered with Gas Safe.[i] The Gas Safe web page states that there are nearly five-million households at risk from illegal gas fitters.[ii]



In our churches, we have a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act[iii] to ensure that we do everything reasonable to ensure the safety of everyone who attend our church, and those that use it for other purposes, such as weekly clubs.[iv] Many of our churches now have catering facilities either in the church or adjacent buildings. Health and Safety law applies fully to places of religion!



Below are extracts from the Health and Safety Executive regarding a reported case whereby someone undertook gaswork without being registered. As you will see he received, by current standards, a fairly a robust sentence. So how do you ensure the person is Gas Safe registered? Simply go onto the Gas Safe web site and the information you need is at your fingertips.[v]



Let us not forget that we have a duty as Christians to share this information with all in our congregations: so please feel free to share this post.



“An unregistered gas fitter has been sentenced for illegally carrying out gas safety work at a rented house.

Peter Knight, aged 67 undertook landlords’ gas safety checks at the house above a pub on Marlborough Street, Plymouth and extended a gas supply pipe to feed the pub’s kitchen despite him having no expertise in gaswork or being registered with Gas Safe Register.

Knight convinced the house’s landlords he was registered to do the work by using a properly registered gas engineer’s company name and Gas Safe Register registration number on the gas safety records he produced for them.

Peter Knight of Cornwall Street, Plymouth pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(3) and 3(7) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years and to ordered to pay £2,000 costs.”[vi]


[i] Gas Safe Register, The Official List of Gas Engineers. https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/
[ii] Gas Safe Register, Almost five Million Households at Risk from Illegal Gas Fitters. https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/news/news-2017/almost-five-million-households-at-risk-from-illegal-gas-fitters/
[iv] Sections 2, 3, and 4 Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (Chapter 37)
[v] Gas Safe Register, Find and Engineer. https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/find-an-engineer/
[vi] Cite this article as: Fr. Jeffrey A.Leach.CBV, " Gas Safety at Church and in our Homes
" in Disabling Barriers to Church Blog, 20 April 2017, http://disablingbarrierstochurch.blogspot.co.uk/

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Monday, 17 April 2017

Personal Independence Payments (PIP), and Employment and Support Allowance


Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and, Employment and Support Allowance
Although not specifically a church related matter I want to highlight the plight of 50,000 disabled people who have had their Mobility payments reduced by the Department of Work and Pensions. This means that those 50,000 people have lost their Mobility Vehicles; when I say lost I mean they have been taken off them.
The criteria for this change was a reduction from 50 meters to 20 meters in the ability to walk. So, if someone who was on the scheme previously was able to walk up to 50 meters they lost out. Now many able-bodied people may think that is fare, however there are many disabled parking spaces well over 50 meters from journeys end for a disabled person. For example, many supermarkets will reserve disabled parking spaces, yet I see many that are well away from the main doors. Some may say get a wheelchair, but this is just another cost the majority of disabled people cannot afford. [More below] So, what is the disabled person to do if their mobility payment is reduced? Well they can appeal; however, the vehicle is removed well before the process begins; as such many people become housebound, or totally reliant on others to do their shopping, and assisting them to get from A to B.

On top of this the caring UK Government has also reduced by £30.00 out of work disability benefits.[ii] This will leave them with £73.00 per week to live on, which is the same as job seekers allowance, although the Minister for Disabilities promised MP’s that other measures would be in-place to assist disabled people. Fare one might consider if the disabled person is out of work the same as anyone else. However, it is estimated that the average disabled person is £550. per month worse off than an able-bodied person.[iii] Yes £550. per month it is not a typo. Now you will see that income and need for additional costs of disability do not stack up against the £73.00 per week. So, debt and poverty of the vulnerable becomes a reality in the twenty-first century Great Britain. This is of course whilst the pay gap increases and those that created the recession do not have to worry about the next meal, or a roof over their heads.

This is a shocking state of affairs, and one that is getting worse by the day. The sense is this Government has little sympathy for disabled people; and would rather use the bullying tack to force people who cannot work to try and find work. It is a delusion. If you cannot work, you cannot work – I am living proof of this. So what can the church do? Pray, and continue praying for disabled people and a Government that does not care. Also raise this with your MP, the church militant!!


[i] https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2017/april/disability-rights-uk-calls-immediate-reform-disgraceful-pip-mobility-rules
[ii] http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/exposed-mordaunts-false-promises-on-wrag-cut-mitigation/
[iii] http://www.papworthtrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/UK%20Disability%20facts%20and%20figures%20report%202014.pdf
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Saturday, 1 April 2017

Brexit and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities


What difference will Brexit make to disabled people in the UK?
On face value things one would imagine that things would stay as they are; but we may be completely mistaken in this assumption. A great deal of today’s equality laws is based upon EU directives and European Court of Justice judgements, not on a caring UK Government (see below). So, disabled people need to be aware of what may lie ahead.



In the House of Lords the cross-bench Baroness Jane Campbell stated recently that she and fellow peers must be “highly proactive”, particularly noting the current Government’s wish that parliament should have little to do with Brexit. So she has warned that peers would need to be a “vigilant watchdog” as the negotiations take place.[i] She seems concerned that a correct process may lead to secondary legislation that may “bypasses proper parliamentary scrutiny” and disenfranchise millions of disabled people in the UK.



She also commented that disabled people needed to ensure their messages “get to the ears of the people charged with developing this legislation”. Many of these misgivings were voiced at a seminar where great concern was voiced ‘that many disabled people had not understood the risks posed by leaving the EU.’[ii]



This warning to disabled people co-insides with the UN Committee on the Rights of Disabled Persons (CRPD). It has found unfavourable findings with regards the UK’s implementation and compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).[iii]  The committee has found that the UK is in breach of the Convention following an inquiry into recent social security reforms.[iv] "[G]rave and systematic violations” have been noted by the committee. The issues are in connection with Welfare Reform Act 2012,[v] Care Act 2014,[vi] and Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.[vii]



The Committee has taken note of concerns raised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.[viii] The Government does not believe that it is in breach of the Convention, but then again it wouldn’t would it.
Cite this article as: Fr. Jeffrey A.Leach.OSP, "Brexit and the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" in Disabling Barriers to Church Blog, 1st April 2017, http://disablingbarrierstochurch.blogspot.co.uk/


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