To be shocked that over half a million people under the age of 35 are out of work due to long-term sickness

Not all those 1 in 4 are born that way or have dodgy genetics. I know people who are disabled from accidents and other acquired health conditions. I for example, developed hearing loss in 2015 and have been told it's very likely down to the medication I was taking.

Tigerrag - what medication were you taking? So sorry you've suffered in this way.

This is a really complex situation- on the one hand there really are some complete pisstakers and I don't get how it is easy it seems for some people to get this that and the other but nigh on impossible for many genuinely pretty disabled people.
I actually know a woman now in her mid to late 50s - who hadn't worked for 30 years or so - no kids, single. She is a bit odd but I wouldn't say incapable of work of some kind , more of a personality disorder- she genuinely doesn't seem fussed to work and would rather struggle-

It's a lot harder to manage a fluctuating condition and to work now. When I first started work over a couple of decades ago sick leave was a lot more lenient- nobody kept central records, or demanded doctor/hospital appointments were logged as sick leave, people seemed to take a lot of time off sick and it was never an issue. Temps would be provided to cover work.

Now work is a lot more pressured, we don't get temps in to cover any more, just have to struggle on with it. The Bradford Factor scores mean you're penalised if you manage to get both flu and a stomach bug in the same year, so more people are at work whilst ill spreading bugs around. All of that makes it s lot harder for someone with a fluctuating condition to manage at work without ending up with disciplinary action. Yes, employers are meant to make reasonable adjustments, but that is a lot harder when it's a fluctuating condition.

And a lot of the WFH or more flexible jobs are more senior so you have to get the experience to be able to get those jobs.

For your son’s sake, I really hope he doesn’t develop a serious mental illness. Firstly, I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. Secondly, with your attitude of how people are being “labelled” and “succumbing” he’ll have an even harder time in dealing with it.

I'm disabled.

I use a wheelchair following an accident. Initially I couldn't walk at all but now I can walk short distances.

I've continued in my job since the accident.

The lift breaks on a regular basis. It's a 2 story building, loos are upstairs. If I stay downstairs I can't access a loo all day unless I crawl up the stairs. If I stay upstairs I have to crawl down the stairs to get to my car to go home.

Fortunately I have friends who carry my wheelchair down or up the stairs when the lift breaks.

But I really shouldn't have to rely on friends to get around the building I work in. And crawling up and down stairs is seriously demeaning no matter who you are.

i suspect it won’t be as small as you think it is, I was basically told to accept the news and accept that I’ll probably get worse from here on in. Cheery news

Before the head-on car crash I was a Size 6 Mother, I canoed, swam, walked and had to order my clothes online. Post crash, my knees are ruined - I can't walk. I'd rather work. Sometimes life happens.

Is she getting a tutor for GCSE English & Maths

Perhaps next time offer an opinion? As otherwise it looks rather like you intended for criticism to rain upon the heads of people with chronic illness and then rapidly backtracked when you saw the way the wind was blowing in replies.

I feel intensely glad to be 45 and to have been able to work since the age of 15, including whilst completing my degrees. My life has been absolutely enriched in every way because I’ve never had a major health issue. I’m very lucky.

I do think that low wages and the nature of many jobs means that people are left with long term sickness as a more attractive option.

My DH has a serious chronic health condition/disability but he has a well paid professional job that he enjoys so he makes it work. In fact, work is a release from some of the pain and inconvenience of his condition as it allows him to focus on something else. I can totally see how if he was working in a low paid job that he didn’t enjoy and with no autonomy to manage his own workload he would be far less inclined to carry on.

Individuals should take more responsibility for their own living expenses, it shouldn’t fall automatically to the taxpayer to foot the bill when people are too unwell to work.

54% of the population are net benefiters i.e. they pay in less than they get back. But sure let's just point our fingers at the disabled and chronically ill people as if they are the only ones.

So much for glad tidings of comfort and joy...

I'm lucky I can work from home or I would be one of those statistics. Since getting Covid and then being in a horrible rta I have lost the physical ability to drive.
I have had to cut hours as I can't stay in one position long enough.
I'm waiting for several operations and scans. It's been 2.5 years and not got an appt yet.

Isn't that the whole point of tax and NI payments - you pay in when you are able to work in order to get benefits back when you aren't?

Ideally yes it would be great if people paid into an income protection scheme. But people under 34 are already on average going to be earning less than someone 10,20, years older and more likely to be spending much more on housing.
How much money do you think they have free after tax, NI, student loan (12%), pension deductions, followed by extortionate rent, possibly childcare, and constantly increasing bills?

That survey is skewed. It's conducted through telephone calls (in working hours) and visits to people's houses

Who is going to be more available to take phone calls or be in their house during working hours - the elderly, stay at home parents and disabled people who are either out of work or part time

The government themselves literally say the results are skewed towards people over the age of 65

So if you only interview 0.3% of the population, of which a higher proportion are elderly or disabled then it's not surprising when the results come back saying "guess what lots of people are disabled". Its a biased dataset to begin with

Ask people you work with how many of them have answered a government phone survey. I bet you will count the affirmative answers on one hand.

As for that comment about "crap genes and born defective"...

I dont think that sounds unrealistic. Lots of people are born with things and lots of others aquire things as life goes on. With an aging population you end up with a heap of dodgy knees, hips, hearing loss etc.

Mother nature has dictated that 1 in 4 of us Brits will be born defective in some way..

You are being incredibly fucking offensive @EasterBun23 The sad part is I doubt you even understand why.

New wave Aktion T4 project, here we come...

Some of those 1 in 4 will have long COVID and other long term problems from COVID. People with things like cancer are living longer .

Not all those 1 in 4 are born that way or have dodgy genetics. I know people who are disabled from accidents and other acquired health conditions. I for example, developed hearing loss in 2015 and have been told it's very likely down to the medication I was taking.

You took the words right off my keyboard @IClaudine.

I just hope some of the judgemental prissies on this thread get to experience what it's like to have or care for someone with a disability at some point, and sooner rather than later, frankly.

Or will they only be happy when we live in a world where AI can identify the future disabled at, or even better, before birth, to all be suitably disposed of before becoming a burden for society? Those that are missed can be left to rot on a winter hillside, wasn't that once the Roman way?

God forbid people with disabilities might have good days and bad days, say, or need some short term help.

There's a massive shortage of assessors as few clinicians with a conscience will do the Tories' dirty work for them, only a handful still genuinely help and that under the radar, given the targets they have to hit.

Good clinicians with a heart are often kicked out of the hiring process early on. From the sound of it though there's plenty on this thread that would be only too happy to be PIP, ESA, or other assessors and take great joy in summarily dismissing all requests for help on the basis of Fred next door and his brand new motor.

How many of the people on here pronouncing these opinions will toddle along to a carol service or mass in a bit and not even see the hypocrisy....

There are genuine people that can’t but want to work but are unable to due to real sickness.

There are also people imo/e that can work but don’t want to so get signed off sick.

Well we aren't supposed to drink, or have a day out or a holiday, or go shopping so we certainly shouldn't be daring to celebrate Christmas, we can't possibly be "properly disabled" unless we never leave our houses and are suitably somber all the time..

Happy fucking Christmas 🙄

Oh a Christmas bash the disabled thread! How lovely.

Yes this is probably part of it

Plus companies where the culture is to not hire enough people or to not replace people when they leave so people end up working harder and harder to keep up

Then a culture in some companies (and some schools etc) that you will respond to emails in your own time so that you are never "off"

Even jobs that should be less stressful (is stress was correlated to pay) such as retail can be incredibly stressful when you add in sales targets and understaffed, and managers not backing up their staff against the public, and being torn apart if you don't greet the mystery shopper in the "approved" way, meanwhile you can get videoed and torn apart on social media if you aren't perfect

And then the other thing is the automation of "easier" jobs. So maybe at one point Larry who has autism could go to work in a factory where he had a very specific, relatively skilled job turning out a particular part. Everyone knew he didn't really want to interact too much and they left him to get on with his job which he was good at.

Now that job is done by a machine what is Larry supposed to do? Go work in a call centre, speak to the public all day, have his calls recorded and get bollocked if he doesn't try to upsell three times in every call?

People go absolutely years between assessments for disability benefits, and at the moment the system is so overwhelmed with new applications ( a huge surge this year ) that re-assessments/ reviews are being put on the back burner so people wait even longer. It's a mad system that needs urgent review.

Where do you live? That sounds like my wetherspoons 😂

Place is half full in the morning with the "anxiety" "depressed" crowd drinking cheap guest ales.

The irony is.. alcohol is a depressant, is exacerbates mental health issues and depresses you further..