To be fed of of vile comments re disability and pip- so come on those people suggest a job for me.

I was actually thinking MN should have some kind of sticker/warning for anyone posting about PIP and remind people to be civil or get banned. It shouldn’t be a free for all for bitter twinset keyboard warriors who don’t bother reading the thread properly and haven’t seen a PIP form. For some reason the ill informed believe they have a right to abuse disabled people. Perhaps I’ll go to site stuff or ask HQ.

Wow ! The downright ignorance of some people! No clue what being bed bound actually means! As if you’re just lazing around watching Netflix all day because you CBA doing anything else. Angry on your behalf!

I don’t know what your problem is @Gloriia
You are adamant you ‘know’ the system is abused yet statistics show it isn’t.
let it go.

They get it from inside their malicious, paltry, bigoted imaginations.

It is always the same tale, told over and over and over again. The embellishments change but the core lie doesn't. It is shameful that MNHQ allow such lies to stand.

No I actually don’t know other people where this isn’t the case.

I don’t ask what benefits people get and I don’t scrutinise their paperwork.

Like most people I don’t broadcast my DD’s benefits because of the clear hate that surrounds PIP so I’d love to know where people get their information to base their accusations on .

Of course they did , of course she did. It is AMAZING how all these PIP cheats are SO open about it. Honestly, at least try to be original. Nice shoe-horning in of "deprived area" too.

No one is saying that PIP fraud does not exist. But as pp said, it is so low, DWP record it as 0%.

I also disagree with the statement above about PIP not being for mental disabilities… of which Down’s Syndrome is one. There is a whole raft of mental disorders that would severely limit/impact someone’s ability to work. ASD, dementia, schizophrenia to name but a few.

But there is a world of difference between these and someone claiming they can’t work just because of anxiety. And I have had anxiety so I know what it’s like.

If anything, I think you should be more annoyed at people who claim PIP that don’t need it! Surely that’s what is causing the issues?

OP I would imagine that the majority of people would say that your case is what PIP is actually for. You can’t work with your condition.

But you can’t go around thinking that people talking about the system needing an overhaul are personally attacking you. I have a relative with DS who claims full PIP and I don’t think those posters are aiming their comments at him, either.

We need to have big discussions about societal level problems without everyone thinking it’s a personal attack on them. It’s so common on MN!

'I have a child who gets and deserves enhanced PIP for MH conditions and autism. She was pushed strongly by NHS professionals to get it and had letters of recommendation from them alongside a folder full of paperwork. Her conditions have caused repeated hospital admissions and impact her life massively.'

Of course like the op your dd has significant disabilities that necessitates pip and that is supported by professionals and repeated hospital admissions etc.

We all know of other people that this just isn't the case though.

It makes it incredibly difficult for genuine claimants as the system is constantly getting reviewed as the numbers claiming are soaring for conditions that's aren't lifelong and/or significant. The training and quality of assessors needs to be addressed.

I have a child who gets and deserves enhanced PIP for MH conditions and autism. She was pushed strongly by NHS professionals to get it and had letters of recommendation from them alongside a folder full of paperwork. Her conditions have caused repeated hospital admissions and impact her life massively.

You have no idea what is involved or how debilitating it can be and as for “ care under a mental health team” don’t make me laugh! What do you think people are getting. There is next to no “care” for MH.

I think that a lot more needs to be done to enlighten people about disabilities.

There should be a lot more on tv and in films as disabled people are hidden away. People don’t really see the level of care needs etc and have no idea.

I had someone once tell me that I was not suggesting that my son was as disabled as the son of her dearest friend who had CP!

What can you say about that?

At the time my son was fecal incontinent, struggled to talk on 1 percentile as well as ASD.

My son has now improved but still has high intense needs.

The lad with CP went straight to university with PA support and all is done my a PA.

My son has a place at university but had to go to life skills for 2 years as even with support he won’t survive university unless he improves a lot. I only get limited PA support and still am his main carer.

Even the system is prejudiced to physical issues.

I'm sorry you think I'm ignorant and ridiculous. I have family members who rightly claim pip for lifelong disabilities i also know people who have successfully claimed for medical conditions that can be managed without any financial assistance.

The problem ime is the quality of assessor and the very broad terminology used.

One relative was assessed by a paramedic! I believe they do a brief course to train them re conditions etc. This person just did not understand some medical terminology. If they don't understand the serious genuine stuff I can really understand how other minor stuff gets misinterpreted too.

What a ridiculous and ignorant thing to say on so many levels. Thankfully you don’t make the rules and MH is a protected disability.

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/legal-rights/disability-discrimination/disability/

That’s ridiculous to limit it to ‘physical disabilities’. My son aged 20 has ASD and complex needs. As an example of his care needs he decided to talk about suicide last week so for safeguarding reasons we had to arrange for him that come home from overnight life skills college ( as the request of college). We then had to travel 30 miles return trip to discuss his return to overnight stays and how to support him etc. His unhappiness was caused by his clumsiness ( he had motor coordination issues) in breaking his laptop and then being unable to cook a proper edible meal. This combined with a change of staff and routine altogether inpacted him.
He was not allowed to stay overnight last week.
His issues not only affect him but also me as I have to field his several calls a day from life skills college. Even when he’s not here I have to sort out his toilet ( invariably blocked he has constipation issues) organise his PA’s ( timesheets etc) his weekends ( what he will be doing) liaise with other agencies about his activities, his taxis to life skills etc His entire life is organised by my for the sum of carers allowance!

Disabilities are not just physical - the worst can be mental such as ASD. He has zero executive functioning and can’t even get the right day to see a friend. A simple arrangement - he can’t do it. Every week I get repeat phone calls eg do I have any online tutoring today? No look at your time table - your online lessons are tomorrow / Thursday.

I can’t wave a magic wand and wish it away - I wish that I could and frankly, the stresses of claiming PIP and UC on his behalf along with having to sort out an agency just to have a holiday or have a non holiday by taking him - frankly I saw my GP last year because for a day I actually thought that jumping off a bridge would be a better life for me ( no life). I was so scared I rang a friend who immediately came over. It was all too much and I hated my life. I felt like I was serving some
prison sentence with it all with no way out.

I’m now desperate to work and do something useful but all this upset occurred last week when I hoped that he was settled. I don’t get benefits for my self other than carers which is derisory for the work involved. In an ideal world he would be in supported living and I could get my life back but at present that would not work for him. So I’m saving the State money by keeping him home.

So frankly please understand disabilities.

If you have poor executive functioning like my son you need to be directed/ promoted through every step eg have you showered, change your clothes, don’t cook cakes at 4am. Look it’s raining - maybe a coat is a good thing. What would you like to to this weekend shall I arrange a PA to go to a museum. He has little concept of time he can be nocturnal so will get up at 3am shower,
fall asleep and not realise the taxi is there to take him to life-skills at 8am.

Today the local authority is picking him up at 10.45 to take him to an event ( he has to have his Covid jab at 9.15 first need to take him there). Afterwards he was making an attempt to see a friend at 2.30 but that did not work out ( it was a little task for him as part of life skills ) so I need to ensure the council send arrange to bring him home after the event. I was going to get a Pa to take him to see his friend.

I can never properly relax - I went out with friends on Thursday but my husband had to come home form work to cover the early evening ( not leaving him alone too long).

It’s frankly exhausting.

All this talk about the Government being broke etc makes it all feel worse and is unhelpful. Frankly that’s an issue with Government as there are huge quantities of tax payer money waste. There are huge amounts of tax fraud - try tackling that etc.
As it is people like me are already despairing about the future that our kids have and trying to provide for them as best we can.

Exactly, someone recently commented that I was walking awkwardly, in my local supermarket, I informed her why, yes I have moderate Parkinson’s at 62, affecting my right side more.(7 yrs in)
What others fail to notice is getting up, ( I live alone with dearest cat) being wonky, the pain at times and general weakness, I also get mild brain fog too.
I get pip, naturally I struggle with every day stuff and have become progressively worse over time, no pre testing

I can't believe the speculation on here. This is "othering" people claiming PIP. These are things you know absolutely nothing about. Idle chit-chatting and speculating about other people's conditions and whether or not they can claim PIP is exactly what repressive regimes want us to do in society and it has to stop. People who do not claim PIP have absolutely no idea the hoops they have to go through in order to support themselves.

I couldn’t agree more. In other European countries, the way support is structured means that she might get more or she might get less, depending on the nature of her disability. The further it has to spread, the less there is per recipient.

In fairness what PP actually said was that the DWP have assessed the fraud level as being practically zero. The zero figure comes from their official assessment and publication.

No one gets PIP on the basis of a few mad claims, no matter what you might hear in the playground.

You might occasionally get someone who’s such a good liar they’ve managed to exaggerate a. Condition and been consistent enough to fool all the professionals. But the number of people who would fall into this category is so vanishingly rare the number of fraudulent cases IS practically zero.

No one is getting PIP because they chucked some water down their leggings.

I've never said it was a majority.

My first post was just pointing out to OP that she wasn't what people were talking about when they say these things as hers is a genuine case and people were all trying to tell me that there's a 0% fraud score for PIP.

You're talking about an absolute minority. I'm more concerned about the fraud and lies from the so called assessors.

It's not made up ableist bullshit FFS.

Are people seriously trying to say that absolutely nobody falsely claims benefits?

But since you want to know- I worked until recently in a school in a deprived area. The parents would openly discuss their claims and the lengths they'd gone to to try and falsely claim benefits. PIP was sort of glorified as the top prize. This was a regular conversation had by many.

Actually one memory that sticks with me is a woman who announced to everyone that she hadn't pissed herself (the front of her leggings was soaked) but that she'd told PIP she pisses herself in public because she's so anxious. She was laughing about it and others congratulated her on her genius.

I don't think people understand how complex this can be. There are some cases that are clear cut, but for many, they have a diagnosis that is progressive or encompasses a large range of functioning, and so each case has to be assessed according to functioning and prognosis. When you do this, there's a large element of subjectivity in the process and so, especially if staff are under pressure to keep claims down, they can assess the person as more capable of tasks than they really are. As well as that, these assessments are often rushed so the staff can get through cases as quickly as possible.

It is easy to judge when you’re not the one in that situation. I have a disability and after a battle got awarded low rate mobility PIP, apparently I don’t deserve anything for daily living. So out of the £117 ish a month I get in PIP…to give you an idea in the last month I have spent £330 on osteopathy appointments alone, just to keep me ticking over so that I’m not in constant pain and being kept awake all night because of pain.

I haven’t been able to work for over a year, although I really would like to, and I’m trying to find a job that would be possible within the remits of what I’m capable of. I never thought my life would turn out like this. I’m also a carer to two ASD DC. I have a first class degree and worked as many hours as I could from the age of 14, until I got ill 9 years ago.

I’d swap my £117 a month of ‘free money’ for the opportunity to feel valued and contribute to society in a heartbeat. Shame on Starmer for prolonging the rhetoric that benefits claimants are lazy, I really hoped that there might be a bit more compassion from the new government.

Hi I just read about that 'permitted work' thing...it says you submit a form and then they tell you whether you lose any benefits or not.. why would anyone risk it? 🤔