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Kate Belgrave
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Interviews with people dealing with housing problems and welfare cuts. Dislike for those who let it all happen.Kate Belgrave Journalist and blogger Contact:  kate@katebelgrave.comHomepage photos courtesy of Latoya, the mother of the little boy with autism in the first episode.

  1. Harassment by councils - when you're trying keep a disabled boy housed

    4D AGO

    Harassment by councils - when you're trying keep a disabled boy housed

    In this episode, we hear about the ways that councils can drive people in housing need to the brink. This episode is the 4th about a family with a disabled and autistic 8 year old boy. Hackney council is trying to evict this family - with bailiffs - from their council home of 18 years.  The boy's paediatric doctor is so concerned about the threat this eviction poses to the little boy's health that she's making a safeguarding referral - ie she feels that the boy needs protecting from the council. Meanwhile Kyla, the boy's mother, says she is feeling suicidal because the council won't stop calling and emailing to tell her to get out of her home of 18 years and to move her family into temporary housing.  Her daughter talks about her mother's deteriorating mental health in this episode.  Harassment by bureaucracy, innit. Councils and the DWP are masters of it.  -------------- All music on this podcast is by © Concrete Uncle Photo credit: © photos.snapsthoughts.net Send a text

    15 min
  2. Protecting your 8 year old autistic brother when your council evicts your family

    FEB 15

    Protecting your 8 year old autistic brother when your council evicts your family

    We return to our Hackney eviction story - where Hackney council tried last week to evict an 8 year old autistic and disabled boy and his family from their council home. Bailiffs turned up to evict the family on Tuesday. Fortunately, the London Renters' Union, other supporters and neighbours saw the bailiffs off. Was a good day in that sense, but the council says it'll be back.  In this episode, we hear from the boy's 18 year old sister. She lives with her mother, Kyla, and her disabled brother.  She's a student and a carer for her brother. She dresses him, makes his food, and takes him out for walks and to the park.  She talks about her brother, her mother and the council's pursuit of them.  Councils should not be making disabled children homeless.  -------------- All music on this podcast is by © Concrete Uncle Photo credit: © photos.snapsthoughts.net Send a text

    22 min
  3. 1 day until Hackney council evicts a disabled child and his family from a council home

    FEB 9

    1 day until Hackney council evicts a disabled child and his family from a council home

    What a title that was to write.  This episode tells you exactly what it is like to try and stop a family from being evicted by bailiffs.  This is a family that is being evicted by their own council - so, that's a council actively making a family homeless and threatening them with dreadful temporary housing. The eviction is tomorrow, unless the council and/or the courts agree to call off the bailiffs. What a world we're in. -------------- All music on this podcast is by © Concrete Uncle Photo credit: © photos.snapsthoughts.net Send a text

    15 min
  4. Autistic and disabled child evicted from a council home - councils really don't have to do this

    FEB 3

    Autistic and disabled child evicted from a council home - councils really don't have to do this

    In this episode, we speak with Kyla who will be evicted from her Hackney council home by bailiffs next week. Kyla has an 8-year-old autistic and disabled son. She's lived in the council place for about 18 years.  As you'll hear in this episode, Kyla hasn't "done" anything terrible or even anything terribly wrong... but it's a cold world we're in. She will be evicted unless the bailiff's warrant is suspended.  At best, Kyla and her family will end up in a dreadful temp housing hovel somewhere. It'll break her son's much-needed routine and probably his mind as that is how it usually goes with autistic kids. He's always lived in this place and gone to the same school where he has 1-2-1 support. Kids with autism do not cope at all well with change. The council really could let them stay. It really could. ------------------ All music on this podcast is by © Concrete Uncle Photo credit: © photos.snapsthoughts.net Send a text

    15 min
  5. Do too many people claim PIP for mental health problems?

    JAN 13

    Do too many people claim PIP for mental health problems?

    Don't think so.  Mel claims the personal independence payment for mental health problems. In this episode, she explains how she got there and how one ongoing event in particular pushed her over the brink.  I'm a taxpayer and I'm more than happy for PIP to be awarded to people with mental health conditions. God knows we live in an era that seems designed to drive us all up the wall.  ------------ All music on this podcast is by © Concrete Uncle Photo credit: © photos.snapsthoughts.net Send a text

    15 min
  6. No nationalism here: trashing benefit claimants is a global sport

    12/07/2025

    No nationalism here: trashing benefit claimants is a global sport

    Last episode for this year! In this episode, we travel across our rising millennium seas to the home nation of New Zealand!  We're having a starter look at the ways that NZ's useless government is trying to crush benefit claimants.  The aim here is to start painting a picture of the way that governments are targeting vulnerable benefit claimants across the glorious West as it putrefies.  We hear from longtime benefits advocate Kay Brereton about Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's government - and its nasty sanctions regime and limiting claimants' spending to money management cards, et cetera.  Every Western government is pushing nationalism, but they're wonderfully united when it comes to favourite targets - immigrants and benefit claimants.  See you in 2026 :)  All music on this podcast is by © Concrete Uncle Send a text

    22 min
  7. Mixing files up, losing sick notes, scanning blank pages: how the benefits system really works

    10/21/2025

    Mixing files up, losing sick notes, scanning blank pages: how the benefits system really works

    In this episode, we take another look at the benefits and public sector system.  It is a total circus.  I talk with Michelle Cardno who is a benefits lawyer at Fightback for Justice in Bury.  Michelle tells an interesting story about the DWP scanning people's medical evidence the wrong way up, so that a tribunal judge at appeal only had blank pages to look at.  She also talks about the way that the DWP randomly allocates PIP.  There's also a covert recording from a meeting between a social worker and a homeless woman where the social worker reads from the wrong file entirely - it's another family's file altogether.  The point to all of this: getting benefit money and keeping it is not as straightforward as DWP head Pat McFadden would have the world believe.  He wants to put jobcentre staff into GP surgeries to get sick and disabled people into work. Problem is, you can't rely on the benefits system to get people's needs and stories right.  Public sector systems have been decimated by years of cuts. McFadden needs to look at that and make that work before he gets into his other big ideas.  ---------------- All music on this podcast is by © Concrete Uncle Photo credit: © photos.snapsthoughts.net Send a text

    18 min

  8. 10/07/2025

    ANOTHER leaked email telling professionals NOT to write rehousing support letters for desperate families

    In this episode, we look at another extraordinary email that a professional has leaked to me.  This one shows a Hackney council officer telling an education officer to stop writing support letters for families who need to be moved out of terrible housing.  This officer works with autistic and special educational needs children who live in rotten housing. Their families need these support letters to tell their councils why they must be rehoused.  Some of these letters and reports say that children are at high risk of death in their current housing.  We talk to a parent who has one of those letters.  We also talk about newly-minted secretary of state for the department of work and pensions Pat McFadden.  Specifically, we talk about the lies Pat McFadden is telling about people being able to declare themselves longterm sick to claim benefits. Rot, Pat. Pat McFadden needs to listen to Latoya in this episode, who talks about working 3 minimum wage jobs and still needing to claim universal credit to stay afloat.   --------------------- Episode artwork is by Latoya's son. Music © Concrete Uncle Send a text

    17 min
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About

Interviews with people dealing with housing problems and welfare cuts. Dislike for those who let it all happen.Kate Belgrave Journalist and blogger Contact:  kate@katebelgrave.comHomepage photos courtesy of Latoya, the mother of the little boy with autism in the first episode.

Information

  • Creator
    Kate Belgrave
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Who voted for this
  • Show Website
    Who voted for this