To be really cross about the proposed cuts?

We are trying to fix a very broken system and it’s not possible to start with the root causes as it’s been going on too long

the long term sick rates in the Uk are mad

I’ve always felt that unemployment benefit should be quite lean and limited in duration, while sickness/disability benefit (for those too disabled or ill to work) should actually be quite generous. If someone is genuinely unable to work, we should be looking after them proper.

Which then raises the question of incentivising people to be ‘sick’. Personally I’m of the view that this can be prevented with a decent long-term strategy. Most people want to be self-sufficient. Most people want to have the money to have nice things and feel a sense of pride when they’ve been able to acquire something or achieve something through their own efforts. Give them half a chance and support to do that and they will.

When we have people who don’t, if you look a bit harder you’ll find the same patterns recurring time and time again, often the result of a disadvantaged childhood. Many lack desirable employability skills because they didn’t achieve many qualifications while at school and have poor coping mechanisms when under pressure. It is vanishingly rare that those who ‘play the system’ (and yes, of course they exist) are perfect employees who just woke up one day saying “nah, can’t be bothered anymore”. For these people, long-term unemployment or sickness is an end result.

If we really want to fix this problem, we have to take a preventative approach. We need a massive investment in education, early years support and social care. Which I don’t see happening.

For those already in this situation a few things that might help would be investment in mental health services, community support groups (communities in general to be fair), free adult education, an investment in public transport to make it easier for those too poor to learn to drive and own a car to get to work (outside of the main cities this is a major problem). I don’t see any of this happening either.

So we’re left with the situation where we fail to support people to get work or stay in work, and then punish them for not being in work.

Exactly. No one seems to try to cope, or look for alternative financial help from friends and family, or use their savings. They just try to get all of the money they are ‘entitled to’. I could no doubt put in a PIP claim for my child’s therapy fees. It just seems so unnecessary. If we couldn’t fund it privately we’d be on the NHS waiting list or a family member would fund it. At no point would I think of asking the government to fund it.

Since when did someone decide to become an MP for a taylor swift concert ticket ffs. Nonsense. The PPE? I don’t think Tory MPs went into the job with the sole intention of making money. An ego boost is much more likely. They saw no problem with helping their mates make a quick buck on the PPE and that’s (rightly) why they were booted out.

Absolutely true. I remember a friend from my 20s who went to the Doctors to get some anti depressants when a boyfriend was messing her about. At the same time I was trying to cope with the suicide of someone very close. Our friendship cracked over this period. She was pathetic.

Very little because everyone on here argues UC shouldn’t be affected by child maintenance, which it isn’t.

I absolutely think that CM should be taken into account for UC payments. But then the government should be coming down like a ton of bricks on absent fathers parents. And I don't think that CM should be reduced just because a man parent has decided to create a second family. So shoot me.

Pensions are benefits. There’s not some separate pot people are paying into current tax payers are paying the current pension bill, the number of pensioners is growing faster than the pool of taxpayers.

Which is why we need anyone who can work to be in work, to fund those at the end of their working life and those who can’t work.

The rise of young people who can’t work is a real cause for concern, there shouldn’t be the option to pass straight from DLA to PIP with the associated other funds also paid for by the tax payer other than for those with life long conditions. It makes for lazy planning in the part of professionals who should be supporting young people to find their niche, not anticipate a life in their bedrooms on the Xbox.

It's tricky. There is a saying 'necessity is the mother of invention.' I had severe anxiety, panic attacks etc when I left uni but had no family support (or anywhere to live) so had no choice but to find work, however scary and overwhelming it seemed. The alternative was homelessness (I didn't consider benefits as I had no idea they were a thing). I sofa surfed, applied frantically, got work and managed to support myself. My anxiety lessened as I realised I could cope. I had a serious illness a few years ago and worked whenever I could manage to. It was my lifeline and link to normality. Work, if possible is a good thing, and some mental health conditions can be improved by work, money and a sense of a place in society. Of course, it simply isn't possible for many people.

There is nothing stopping you from being a politician.

It is very easy to complain. Why don't you get off your backside and do something about it?

What do people do in other countries that don't have benefits?

I doubt that they have much higher suicide rates than we do.

If you need to work to eat then most people will find a way to work.

Please tot up the total value of the contracts, gifts and expenses, and let me know how much they come to. It won’t cover the welfare rise I’m willing to bet - by a long way. I hate backhanders etc, but let’s not pretend they’re the reason our economy has gone down the shitter

I feel very sorry for people who are in genuine need but the problem is as a country we cannot afford to keep people on benefits.

Tens of thousands of millionaires are leaving the UK every year and they pay most of the tax. So we have a big problem and it needs to be sorted.

There are lots of countries that don't have benefits and their people survive.

Nobody spends 25 years building their career for free Taylor Swift tickets.

Umm have we forgotten the freebies such as football tickets, free clothes, Taylor Swift tickets etc? Of course they are in it for themselves, same as when the Tories were handing out ppe contracts to their mates. How quickly people forget….

@Kendodd Yep. There have been posters on these threads, saying they'll kill themselves if the government take their money away. I've even seen people on TV say it. I've had very similar things said to me as a way of coercion.

But if they can no longer eat, pay their bills or rent after their benefits have been removed it's going to be hard to survive, wouldn't you agree? They might not see the point in living.

Really disappointed with this government, not what I voted Labour for at all. I keep getting their ads on Facebook and it’s all got such a horrible Daily Mail vibe- “look how many people we’ve kicked out of the country!”

I don’t disagree that PIP needs reforming and some of the changes are actually sensible- stopping reassessments for people that clearly aren’t going to get better, stopping penalising people for trying work. But the entire assessment system needs an overall and the assessors need much better training. A lot of them seem to have no knowledge of health and ability and yet ignore letters from doctors and specialists who do.

I can't do anything at all and if they try and force me I'll probably end up starving to death.
It's brutal and terrifying. I'm fearing for my life, no joke.

Very little because everyone on here argues UC shouldn’t be affected by child maintenance, which it isn’t.

This ^

Also, a Labour government should be addressing the fact that UC for those in work is not subsidising the claimants of that, but the businesses and corporations who don’t pay their staff enough to live on but dole out millions, sometimes billions, in profits to shareholders and huge bonuses to their executives.

And as I’m on my high horse, get after the millions of dads non resident parents who don’t pay for their kids or look after them in any meaningful way, but expect the mother residential parent to do it. Often by having to work part time and/or claim benefits to bridge the gap.
How many millions would that put back in the pot?

Pensions are benefits. There’s not some separate pot people are paying into current tax payers are paying the current pension bill, the number of pensioners is growing faster than the pool of taxpayers. Just like disability benefits state pension is a safety net for people unable to work.

The majority of pensioners have worked all their life so contributed and are now claiming pension they paid for so it’s not right blaming them.

Pensions are administered by the DWP and pensions and related benefits account for more than half their expenditure.

I think this is a really good idea.

If we had prize giving for writing bollocks on the Internet than you'd be in with a good shout for this post.
And if you really believe what you have written why don't you stand for election yourself and try to change things?

Calm down with the conspiracy theories!

who the hell would want to be a politician with the likes of you spouting this nonsense at them. Do you really think Wes Streeting is in it for what he can siphon off for himself? MPs earn way less than I do as a mid range manager in an IT company, for being at the beck and call of the likes of you 24/7. Shite job.

The country has no money. It has to find money to fund extra £50bn a year in disability payment comparing 2019 figs to 2029. It can’t go handing out £400 a money for therapy to someone, only to see that person spend the money on rent. If the person wants therapy, they get in the NHS queue like everyone else. In the meantime they work, or get their parents / family to help them out.