Soft drinks makers including Coca Cola are reportedly considering suing the Government over George Osborne's plans to implement a tax on sugary drinks, which could never see the light of day. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/sugar-tax-soft-drinks-makers-coca-cola-britvic-ag-barr-legal-suing-the-government-a6943871.html

Hello folks i thought i would tell my tale and i will keep updating and hopefully someone else may find my fight with the DWP useful. I have been waiting ages to get an operation on my knee. It really affects my day to day movements. So i was getting JSA up until the 28th Nov 13. My doctor then signed me off and wrote to the orthopaedic dept regarding getting surgery. These are the letters i then received. 18th Dec 13 i got the x-rays done. Surgery is needed. 19th Dec 13 told im on the waiting list. 6th Jan pre op assessment for the 29th Jan and operation on the 21st Feb 15th Jan letter from ATOS to attend medical 31st Jan . I phoned them and said it was pointless having a medical when im getting an operation 3 weeks later. Nothing we can do they said phone your benefit office. 21st Jan phoned the benefit office explained about my hospital appointments and operation. I was told to send copies of all my hossie letters and he would put on file that was my reason for not going to the medical. 22nd Jan sent copies of all letters to the benefit office. 22nd Jan letter from ATOS my medical was rescheduled for the 24th Jan . Phoned again explaining hossie and operation. Nowt we can do phone your benefit office. 27th Jan phoned benefits office explained again about hospital and informed them all letters were sent. 2nd Feb letter from DWP asking about my non show at the medical on the 31st Jan. Sent form back explaining about hospital again and told them all letters from the hossie were sent to them. 10th Feb letter from DWP ESA stopped because a decision maker said my reasons for not going to the medical on the 31st Jan were not good enough. Now this is meant to be the new efficient system. I am at a loss as to why i was to attend a medical when 3 weeks later im getting surgery on my knee. I have been taken of ESA because i missed a medical on the 31st Jan. That would be the medical that got rescheduled to the 24th Jan then. If i followed the way the DWP worked i would be having a new JSA claim from 1st Feb only until the 21st Feb when i would need to close the JSA claim and open a new ESA claim. This is to me madness and a waste of everyones time and money. I have written to my MP and i am awaiting a call from my benefits office today. In the meantime i now have no income and as my ops next week who would employ me? I shall keep yous posted. Cheers

I was targeted by DWP staff after the Christmas holiday period for not having made enough effort over this period to look for work. 1. HR departments would have been on holiday so would not have been able to respond to my enquiries even if there were any jobs being advertised. 2. There were no jobs advertised in this period. 3. I did apply after the main Christmas week for jobs abroad as they were the only ones advertised. 4. My Personal advisor (DWP) queried my applying overseas. I explained I needed to fulfil the Jobseekers agreement. She then took a long time to scrutinise my logbook/ diary, went to a colleague to discuss my logbook, returned & claimed I had not made enough effort to look for work. 5. This was compounded by fact that I was not required to sign on 4 weeks over Xmas & New Year so could not be advised there might be a problem 6. To date the Decision makers have had my case for over TWO weeks and have not yet made a decision nor asked for any further information. 7. If they do find against me I will of course appeal but this should never have gone to decisions makers in the first place. 8. It is the fault of my Personal advisor, she did not have to refer this given the time of year and I do believe it is malicious.