Tories want to cut sick peoples benefit.

[dottypotter]

Surprised no thread. Our wonderful caring Tory government want to cut ESA for people on the benefit. More MPs voted for cutting then against cutting. It makes me ashamed to be British and to think we live in such an uncaring society. How low can they go?

Cutting peoples money will store up more problems and is so mean. They don't know the meaning of the word support. Its everyones business what they doing. Nobody is immune from needing government help at some time.

[Samcro]

there have been lots of threads about these cuts.....they never get many posts as people don't care.
its awful the way the sick and disabled are being targeted,

[dottypotter]

as said people should care. I hope the people who voted the Nasty party in are happy now. Perhaps they will only realise when it happens to them or their family or there is no NHS for them and they have to take out private cover.

[sportinguista]

Many people care, but what the government wants the government gets it seems. I have friends who are disabled and campaigning on this. There are petitions out there. But they seem determined to do this. I think there will be creeping of charging to access various NHS services soon. The working poor will suffer the most from this (disabled or not) much as in America.

[BeckerLleytonNever]

minimum wage is going up to nearly £10.00 an hour.

carers ''allowance'' (that word sounds so patronising) is little more than £1.10 an hour for 35 hours a week.

NOTHING for the rest of the 24 hours carers spend with disabled people/family.

disabled people have enough problems without this constant targeting by the cuntservatives AND their voters.

and now thyre cutting even MORE from them.

they are thieves/murderers even. I don't know how the fuck they can sleep at night knowing what they do.

Dickens must be turning in his grave. the worlds no better from his time.

they take and take from the poor/disabled/carers and vulnerable.

carers inparticular save them BILLIONS a year so why the fuck do they take from us?

and the hard working NHS (except the fat cats at the top of course, the execs.)

the tories AND their voters are bastards they really are .

[Sixweekstowait]

Yes - I'm ashamed to be Britsh too re the cuts to disability benefits - and AA and DLA will go as well. WTAF did anyone voting Tory expect? And as they expected it, then yes they are bastards.

[OvariesBeforeBrovaries]

Wonder if all the Tory voters are happy with what they voted for? I remember when the Tories won and we were lamenting how awful the consequences would be, the MNers who voted Tory were calling us "sore losers", laughing and mocking when we said people would die as a result of this. It was all one big game to them.

Murdering scum.

[Thankfulforeveryday]

Can I ask what the changes are?

[Sixweekstowait]

Ovaries - of course they are happy. It was absolutely clear what a Tory vote meant. I do remember all their ' shroud waving' comments.

[SiencynArsecandle]

If disabled people are active in their campaigning, it can (and has been) used against them when renewal of their ESA or PIP rolls around. We are a forgotten voice and life is becoming unbearable. We celebrate if we get awarded a benefit we are rightly deserving of, only to be reassessed 12/18 months later and all of the stress (and work collecting evidence) involved is never taken into account.

I have never wished for an assassination attempt on someone in my life but I am getting very close now.

[coffeeisnectar]

Minimum wage is going up by 50p an hour. Not £10. And only for those aged over 25. Clearly anyone under that age has no bills to pay. Or a desire to eat.

My partner and I were getting £112 a week on ESA as a couple. He receives a war disability pension of £34 odd a week so they deducted that amount from our claim. This meant we had £146 a week as a couple to survive on for two years. We also had my kids living with us so got tc and cb but the stress of living on so little was nearly enough to push us into splitting. The thought of £30 being deducted from that measly amount is horrifying.

Now he's back at work bringing in nmw on a zero hours contract. We do get help from wtc but that's only because the house of lords overruled the house of commons. Or we wouldn't get that. As it stands we are living in rented property can't afford long term and are so far down the list we will never get social housing.

Three years ago we owned a property each. Ill health and a serious accident and we are left with nothing.

[prh47bridge]

Can I ask what the changes are?

This relates to the Employment and Support Allowance. Currently claimants receive £73.10 per week for the first 13 weeks. After they are assessed they are placed in either the WRAG group (which basically means they are likely to be capable of work in the future) or the Support Group (which is for those who will not be capable of work in the foreseeable future). Those in the Support Group receive up to £109.30 per week with no time limit. Those in the WRAG group receive up to £102.15 per week for one year.

The government intends to reduce the ESA rate for those in the WRAG group by £30 to bring it in line with Jobseekers Allowance. This would apply to new claimants only - existing claimants will continue to be paid at the current rate.

The government argues that the current rate acts as an incentive to claimants to stay on benefits as long as possible rather than seek work. Opponents argue that the cut will have the reverse effect to that intended, making recipients less likely to find work. Some also argue that a likely outcome is more claimants being assessed as belonging in the Support Group.

[VertigoNun]

Nobody seems to care. It's a disgrace.

[Thankfulforeveryday]

If that's the case then I too believe it is a disgrace too. To disadvantage the sick is terrible. Thank you for filling me in!

[Samcro]

i worry that they will cut the support group too.
if you are in a residential situation, you have to pay and ar left with 24.50 a week. (no dla as that is stopped)

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

Is there a link?

[BathtimeFunkster]

If disabled people are active in their campaigning, it can (and has been) used against them when renewal of their ESA or PIP rolls around.



Why am I even surprised?

They should just make it that if you manage to submit a claim that shows you don't need the money.

Kind of like a test for being a witch - you're dead either way.

FWIW (nothing) I do care. And I do know this is happening.

But this is what England voted for - dismantling social insurance. All of it.

People voted against their own interests because they were convinced that spite and vindictiveness was a reasonable foundation for a society.

"Why should my taxes... blah blah blah"

Clearly the want all their taxes to be used paying for pork barrel politics to keep the Tories in power.

Nobody gets to claim this is a surprise. We live in a democracy where people don't want to help each other. Even the vast majority who are not in a position to support themselves well without a decent welfare state.

[PhilPhilConnors]

There's too much disconnection between people with disabilities and people without, unless you've actively experienced it.
From the people without disability in their lives, I often get the feeling that those with disabilities somehow deserve to be in the situation they are in, that anyone can work if they put their mind to it, and why should others have to fund their lives and help to make things more manageable, and they have no idea what day to day life is like.

Or maybe that's just people I know.
They are short sighted twats stupid though, because every single one of us is only one accident or health issue away from being disabled.
The poor and the vulnerable should not be targeted.

[BathtimeFunkster]

There's too much disconnection between people with disabilities and people without

I'm prepared to agree with that, and it's a real indictment of our system of support that our neighbours with disabilities find it so much harder to take their rightful places in our institutions.

But that isn't an excuse for a failure to understand that they need more support than people without disabilities, by definition.

A lot of people in our society are ignorant (by choice) and mean.

Sadly there are no sanctions for them.

[frikadela01]

I work in mental health so the Majority of my client group will be affected by this. You'd think they were living it up on the money they get. Most are on the bones of their arse and clearly that'd where the tories want them to stay. How is it that tory voters didn't see this coming when the rest of us did?

[PhilPhilConnors]

Bathtime, I know it's not an excuse, but sadly in my experience it is the way it is.
I'm not sure how these people can be educated to believe otherwise, because they are so caught up in their own amazingness, anyone who doesn't fit their picture of "decent, hard working citizen", for whatever reason, is a benefit scrounger.

Until it happens to them, the hardships that others suffer mean nothing.

[BathtimeFunkster]

How is it that tory voters didn't see this coming when the rest of us did?



This is what they voted for.

This is what they chose.

That people in weaker positions than them would have virtually all of their support removed.

They did see it. They saw it and they wanted it,

[PhilPhilConnors]

Too many people who completely lack empathy for others around them.
Too much "I'm alright Jack" and "It'll never happen to me" going on.

[SiencynArsecandle]

Anyone can work if they put their mind to it
I come across this attitude so often. DD (age 14) was told by a neighbour that he had dyslexia and still managed to get out and work so her dad should too. He has Fibromyalgia, CFS, and Borderline Personality Disorder with episodes of Psychosis. Hardly a fair comparison.

Youd think they were living it up on the money they get
Oh this,a thousand times over. I would give anything to get out there and work but who will take care of DH? Remind him to take his meds? Force him to wash and change? Encourage him to eat healthily, not just shite he finds? Lock the doors, turn off the gas, answer the phone, open the post, never mind drive and accompany him to every appointment? And the amount we get doesnt even cover our outgoings. We dont smoke, I drink very occasionally, dont go out, no restaurant meals, no holidays etc etc. And yet we choose this life???? Theyre having a giraffe.

[BathtimeFunkster]

Youd think they were living it up on the money they get

No, I don't think they do think that.

I think they resent their "taxpayer's money" being spent on anybody at all.

This is not a situation people walked into by mistake. As a voting public, this is what English people wanted.

Pretending otherwise is not going to help fixing it.

We need to change the composition of the voting public. The ones who vote now are selfish and vindictive.

But there are a lot of people not voting who we can hope are better than that.

[VertigoNun]

I agree we love with people who delight in taking away child benefit, disability benefits and kick the homeless when they are down.

Then you get the likes of Just Law asking people to support children French SS are neglecting to assess. I don't see Judge taking these children into his home, it's do as I say not do as I do.

The only one that practices what she preeches is Emma Thompson, who took a boy into her home.