Goodbye

Just a quick note to say goodbye to everyone on Rightsnet whom I have interacted with over the years.

On 28th May I will retire from welfare rights work after more than 40 years.  It’s been a long road with many victories, some set-backs, numerous quirky experiences, many happy memories and immense professional pride. 

It’s interesting to see how the basic need for justice for claimants and the institutional obstinacy and introspection of the DWP has changed little apart from some window dressing over nearly half a century.

You all have a really important role in not only protecting the legal rights of marginalised people and providing practical steps to combat poverty, but most important of all, you uphold the rule of law which is one of the foundations of any democracy and which ensures that all are treated equally before the law and that the state is held to account.

You’ll be missed Neil .... thanks for being a good friend to rightsnet over the years .... hope we’ve played at least a part in helping you fight the good fight .... best of luck and good wishes for whatever comes next.

All the best ... Shawn

Your input will be sorely missed.  Good luck with whatever you do next Neil.

All the best Neil. Enjoy your retirement!

Don’t lose touch completely - I suspect that you won’t be able to resist keeping an eye on things anyway.  As another 40+ year veteran, i still find it a compelling area.  Best of luck.

Farewell indeed!!

Neil - fare you well and enjoy (and you’ve beaten me to it!).

Congratulations on your retirement Neil and what a fantastic sentiment to leave on.

40 years in welfare rights! What a thought. I have been doing this for 10 and have seen what feels like a lifetime’s worth of complication and controversy…

Bye Neil and best wishes for your retirement.

I enjoyed working with you on those expert witness HB cases, it’s one of the lesser known outposts of welfing but you have probably saved dozens of people from having a completely unjustified criminal record: without your niche role in those cases there would have been no-one involved at any stage from first instance decision through to Crown Court who had the faintest idea that the overpayment was just wrong, wrong, wrong.

Thanks everyone.  The work on exposing the fraud of benefit fraud cases needs to be continued.

Inflated overpayments and basic errors in assessing benefit entitlement underpinned by widespread lack of knowledge of social security law among the judiciary and criminal lawyers means it’s our very own version of the Post Office scandal. 

Message to all advisers (esp volunteers) - don’t shy away from benefit fraud cases.  There is much you can do to ensure the legally correct result happens.

Good luck with the retirement Neil, hope you enjoy :-)

All the very best, Neil.

All the best for the future Neil!!!!!!

have a long and happy retirement Neil

Have a happy retirement.

Completely agree on the fraud issue Neil & thank you for all you’ve done over the years.