UPDATE: Both tweets deleted. Looks like this is something the DWP and some employers would rather taxpayers didn’t know about.
Probably not the best PR for a wealthy businessman to be seen publicly boasting about how he is happily using taxpayers’ money to subsidise his staff wages.
So it’s a bit strange to see this tweet from the DWP quoting the MD and owner of pub chain Whiting and Hammond bragging about how so very little he pays his staff that his workers have to rely on Universal Credit to get by:
Unfortunately for the DWP, Whiting and Hammond are now publicly denying everything that was said in the quote.
So much so, in fact, that they have asked the DWP to take down the tweet:
Blimey. Perhaps Theresa May and the DWP are so desperate to find any support at all for their utterly disastrous and so very cruel Universal Credit project, they’re resorting to making up quotes?
The problem for Brian Keeling-Whiting, however, is that he seems to have ‘forgotten’ he appeared in a recent but little-seen DWP publication aimed at employers called the “Employer Guide To Universal Credit“, in which Brian also boasts about using taxpayers’ money to subsidise his staff expenses:
I’m guessing Brian probably thought his quotes would only be seen by a handful of other employers – but now his boasting has been revealed to the general taxpaying public about how he’s using their money to subsidise himself, he’s quite rightly panicking a bit.
I feel there may be a boycott coming on …
Moke said:
This is not the first time that big business’ cynical and cruel treatment of its workers has been subsidised by tax payers. I remember workers in full time employment being entitled to Working Family Tax Credits because their pay was so poor. In effect WFTC enabled businesses to get away with not paying workers a proper wage. Today we have the living wage and minimum wage so it seems there has been a shift to ‘playing’ with hours and contract types. These employers are scrounging from the state in the worst possible way, at the cost of their employees and tax payers. Thank you for highlighting this. Love the blog always thought provoking. M
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snaithmagmailcom said:
Reblogged this on michaelsnaith.
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sdbast said:
Reblogged this on sdbast.
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thekeystonegirlblogs said:
Shades of the Thatcher era when people on benefits were sent to work for unscrupulous employers, while receiving unemployment pay. The hourly rate worked out at 50p an hour, and the employers were rubbing their hands together, as they sat with their cocktails on a beach in the Bahamas!
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Mark Catlin said:
Reblogged this on Declaration Of Opinion.
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Pingback: Pub chain owner denies tweet that Universal Credit allows him to push zero-hours contracts | East Devon Watch
Terry Davies said:
What is the name of his business so people can boycott it.
Perhaps bankruptcy is beckoning.
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mohandeer said:
Reblogged this on Worldtruth.
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james bate said:
Think you might be a bit harsh on the guy, accusing him of using benefits to top up low wages when his business and their employees might be “benefitting” from the flexibility supposedly available in UC.
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A6er said:
Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating!.
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hirsutemal said:
Reblogged this on MAL's MURMURINGS.
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hilary772013 said:
Reblogged this on hilary77blog and commented:
Capitalism at its worst.
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Maria said:
I seem to remember that, back in the days of Family Income Supplement, the late much-loved Bernard Matthews said that the workers in his turkey factory, who were complaining about their low pay, should top up their wages at the Post Office.
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