Ah, the disabled benefit cheats at it again

[bialystockandbloom]

So the govt about to try to push through £2bn cuts to DLA. So, the govt spin puppets DM run huge front page feature on the "cheats" again.

All the usual bilge designed to convince the ignorant masses that disabled people are at best a burden to the "taxpayer" (as if disabled people never pay taxes), and at worst money-grabbing cheats who are almost single-handedly solely responsible for the financial mess the country's in. To pave the way for a resounding silence from the media and public when huge cuts are made to disability allowance, services, education and support.

FYI Daily Mail:

1. DLA is not a 'benefit'. It is a direct payment to provide assistance to people with disabilities who struggle as a direct result of those disabilities. It has nothing to do with whether you work or not.

1. One glaringly obvious reason why a % of recipients get it without 'attending an interview' is because they are children.

1. Another is that they provide medical evidence of their disability.

1. Ian Duncan Smith: "At the moment, hundreds of millions of pounds are paid out in disability benefits to people who have simply filled out a form." I simply filled out a form today (for a loyalty card at a local shop). Where the fuck's my money then?? Oh, that would be because the 100+-page DLA form isn't quite the same as simply filling in your name and address.

1. "More than 70 per cent of existing claimants are on DLA for life without facing any regular checks." Hmm, would that be because they have disabilities for life perchance? Blindness, deafness, CP, chromosomal conditions, autism, learning difficulties, ataxia, and all the other hundreds and hundreds of lifelong disabilities.

FFS I have never linked to a news story on MN before but am so spitting mad about this.

Mumsnet is there any chance of getting Ian Duncan Smith and/or DM editor (is it still Paul Dacre?) on for a webchat?

Thank you for posting this, bialystock.

I haven't read the DM article (not sure my blood pressure can take it) but your points are succinct, and relevant.

Anyone who thinks the DLA form is 'simply filling out a form' needs their bumps felt, tbh.

oh dear god.

I clicked.

I have only read the first paragraph, and already my blood is boiling

94% of claimants got benefit after only filling out the paperwork? only?! that owuld be the form that routinely takes days to fill in, which asks for supporting evidence from a medical professional, would it?

does "only" filling in paperwork inclde the appeal forms for those routinely turned down? what about tribunal paperwork? is that 'just another form' - simpe to fill in, so why complain?

fgs.

It's shit isn't it (and yes I DO mean the DM) along with the shitty attitude they are fostering.
Things is there will ALWAYS be benefit cheats but they can be caught out without huge cuts which mean many genuine people will suffer.

Hate the bloody Mail - it really is the Daily Hate for thick idiots who want to believe the things it says.

I saw this shared on FB this morning.

They make it sound like its as easy as getting a clubcard ffs. It seems to me that IDS and his cronies in the Government are using the DM and other more right-wing media outlets for some kind of smear campaign to make sure the public think all disabled benefit claimants are scammers.

There is a huge difference between genuine claimants and the ones who are perfectly fit for work but choose not to.

It is such a shame that everyone gets lumped together and more or less accused of cheating the system. Obviously there are a great many 'cheats' out there and it is right that this needs to be addressed.

Those genuine claimants should have nothing to worry about.

I feel a letter bomb to IDS coming on. The man is an arsehole of tremendous proportions.

I'd like him to spend a few days in my home to see what I deal with everyday. And my son has high functioning autism, hardly the stuff many others have to deal with. I think IDS would gain an understanding that he currently appears to lack.

AppleCider, DLA is not awarded solely to those out of work - it is a benefit that disabled people are entitled to (if they fit the criteria) whether they work or not.

Argh.
[weighs up whether it's worth going back to that 65-page form plus so far about 10 pages of extra text, which I've already spent about 8 hours on but the format is hideously inaccessible and the online one is worse. I've spent about 8 years avoiding it since friends first told me I should fill it in.]

If I didn't have depression before starting the form I certainly would by now. Let's spend some days thinking solidly about all the things I can't do...

And I'm good at form-filling - I even design them for work sometimes!

Trouble is applecider the people doing the assessing are getting things wrong!
My dear friend for example, able bodied enough but do agoraphobic she finds it hard to get on a bus. They found her "fit for work" despite her mental health issues which are well documented and ongoing.

So genuine claimants do need to worry.

AppleCider - it would be lovely to believe that genuine claimiants should have nothing to worry about, but when the govt are trying to make cuts, there is every chance that they will take the opportunity to "raise the bar" and exclude many people who were genuinely given DLA, not just weed out the cheats.

It takes a huge amount of jumping through hoops (figuratively of course!) to get DLA in the first place, and many are wrongly refused and have to appeal. If people don't quite jump through the hoops right when they are re-assessed, then they may have it taken off them for wrong reasons.

And even if she DID work she would STILL get DLA. It's not an out of work benefit.
My friend was assessed due to her ESA(incapacity) benefit.

But applecider this is precisely the point. This article, and the figures from the Dept of Work & Pensions which it's (loosely) based on, is not really about the 'cheats'.

The % of false claimants of Inacapacity Benefit is actually something like 0.01% of total claimants.

This story is not about stamping down on the actual 'cheats' but is giving the impression that all those who get the benefit are somehow cheats.

It might not affect the actual genuine claimants atm, but what it does is foster in the public an underlying distrust of disabled people. So that when massive cuts are made to disablity support, there is no outcry, it will be quietly swept through parliament with minimal media coverage.

A couple of years ago I complained to the BBC about a misleading article on a benefits fraud court case. They were very nice and wrote back with details.

One of which was that the journalist had checked his copy with the govt press department dealing with the story, and they'd said they were happy with it.

So yes, active propaganda by the govt.

And as others point out, DLA is not an "out-of-work" benefit, it is a small attempt to level the playing field a little for disabled people. The mobility component for instance was to help disabled people "get on their bike" and get into work, recognising that they might have to pay out a bit more to travel to work than others. So a lot of those in receipt of it are working and paying taxes.

Sorry applecider I didn't mean to come across that strongly to you personally!

Also when I said 'distrust' of disabled people that wasn't exactly what I meant - more that articles like this give the impression that the claimants of benefits are more often than not cheats - which is wholly untrue and unfair.

i filled out the form and yeah i had no face to face medical first time someone with no medical trainin g read the form and refused Dla not even glanced at the supporting evidence .

So called up told them to look again .They wrote to my specialist ( same one io had supplied the medical information from ) .He wrote back asking them to read his original letter that they had asked him for and when they get to the part that states unable to walk if they can not understand that to call him back and will explain it to them

Dla is not just awared on a form be that adult or child you have to supply supportiing evidence and they often contact school/physio/ot/gp/pead or other specialists

I really don't know where to start or have the time, just to say well put Bialystock that just about sums it up.

Yes, I see what you are saying, but the reason they have to cut back is because there is not enough money in the pot to pay.

By removing those who cheat the system, and it would seem it is going up by millions per year (i think) and making it more watertight there would not be the problem.

I( don't know enough about how it all works, but did read the other day that one can get a mobility car scheme if you have a child with adhd, just by filling in a form.

Apols to those who work, I am on about those who claim disability because they choose not to work.

I do think people seem to lump all the 'disability' benefits together, so DLA with what was IB and is now ESA.

oo wa sthat in the daily mail by any chance sorry but your wrong .I susspect you will find the children have other issues alongside the adhd and even adhd on its own at the severe end is dam hard work

Voidka

I have put of claiming ESA for myself due to the stress of it am just going to stick with claiming carers

I( don't know enough about how it all works, but did read the other day that one can get a mobility car scheme if you have a child with adhd, just by filling in a form.

Which I bet you read in the Daily Mail!

Voldka yes I was thinking that.

FFS. Just another stick to beat people who least need beating with. Hurrah! Good on yer, Govt - let's make sure all the people with disabilities are unable to leave their homes and then cut off their benefits because the idle buggers aren't getting themselves sufficient work! What a fanTAStic idea.

Not.

applecider - you are fully buying into the DM propaganda. It's not doing you any favours.

But 'removing those (few per cent) who cheat the system' would be likely to make bugger all difference, except to Daily Mail readers' blood pressure.