Upset by way govmt is managing disability benefits change

Hi I’m Finnish. This is true, but I will say - Finland is three times larger, geographically than England & has a 5.5m population compared to 65m in UK. Helsinki, it’s capital, has same population (500k) as 1.5 London boroughs ( London has 32 boroughs). We in Finland have a much better quality of life than UK due to welfare system being structured using socially progressive principles plus 50% tax for most people. BUT. The welfare benefits are huge - free public transport for families with children uo to age 3, 1-2 years paid paternity / maternity leave, if you are homeless you aren’t means tested - you are given a home…everything works public system wise etc. it’s a very different place and has benefit of no monarchy, it’s a republic, (meaning land is in main owned by its citizens/ companies not via heriditery / aristocrats as it is in England). Housing is of a high quality, it’s viewed as homes not investments, again differing from England. Pensions are generous and not reliant on assets/ investments/ housing/ property as in England. Education is from 7-18, is very high quality, with a totally different system than England - there isn’t the strange, sadistic testing testing testing of young children to produce performance reports to provide evidence for funding levels of schools etc. England can learn from Finland but England fundamentally has a different ideological system. Also England has the legacy of empire, incl commonwealth which obviously Finland does not. What’s sad is England has the wealth to not penalize the most vulnerable, and actually reverse the economic emergency/ crisis we are in. We just do not go to that wealth - mainly due to it being sovereign wealth plus the ideological stance we take.

Do you really not know why changes need to be made?

So many people are going to kill themselves. There leaving people with no options a lot of people who genuinely can't work or certainly can't work full time are going to lose there whole income what are they suppose to do. Not everyone can work 50/60 hr weeks

The top one per cent pay 30 per cent of all income tax revenues: a higher share than at any time in past twenty years. In other words, three in every ten pounds that the government receives in income tax is paid by just over 300,000 individuals.

Costs ARE ballooning and it IS unsustainable. Would you prefer they just pretended that wasn’t the case and did nothing about it?

There are limited options as to what can be done - the pie isn’t growing so we can’t just fiddle around slicing it up differently and expect it to pay for ever more benefits.

So sorry to everyone faced with this stress and uncertainty. DH tells me that our DC once adult would not qualify for most support under the new rules. I haven’t looked closely at the specifics myself because I’m burying my head in the sand, but we’re talking about a genetic condition where adults are nonverbal, cannot be left home alone, need help with every aspect of personal care, and are functionally like toddlers at best.

If my DH is right about this the mind boggles.

When is your award due to be reviewed? Is there anything practical you’re able to do in the meantime to prepare yourself for work?

They talk about anxiety and depression being over diagnosed. Of course these conditions are over diagnosed, GPS can't be arsed to actually investigate symptoms, especially if you're a woman. Head could be half off and you'd still get slapped with an anxiety diagnosis.

I will be affected.
I get standard rate for both and LWRCA. 11 points for faily living currently but all 2s and 3s. No 4 points.

Our household will lose :

£290 daily living pip (should be able to keep motability, as 10 points on that and blue badge)
£416 LWRCA
£200 from my DS being a carer
£90 non dependant deduction from housing benefit as DS living with me to care for me

Thats 996.

Thats basically all my money.

I don't know how we will survive :(

Do you really not know why changes need to be made?

Correct. Cruelty is all it is. Why?

I do wonder how many people who are on full disability benefits are saving money that would have previously have been spent by the state in looking after people. So many people are now carers for loved ones and are in poverty because of that. If this was really about getting disabled people into work they would have set up the infrastructure first and then made the cuts. It’s all v sad in my view

Yes so they could lose £1k+ overnight when that review happens if they lose their PIP ! One day they have PIP, LCWRA, carers allowance etc, then that decision letter drops through the door and all benefits will stop pretty much at the same time .

I will be affected.
I get standard rate for both and LWRCA. 11 points for faily living currently but all 2s and 3s. No 4 points.

Our household will lose :

£290 daily living pip (should be able to keep motability, as 10 points on that and blue badge)
£416 LWRCA
£200 from my DS being a carer
£90 non dependant deduction from housing benefit as DS living with me to care for me

Thats 996.

Thats basically all my money.

I don't know how we will survive :(

They’re not going to be taken away overnight. People will be assessed under the new criteria at the point that their award is due to be reviewed

Yes it seems very harsh that if someone loses their PIP they will also lose LCWRA and if part of an older couple with no kids that would mean losing a work allowance and potentially carers element too unless they are going to allow people to keep the work allowance ?. People could literally lose over £1k + a month overnight if they lose their PIP. Who on earth could cope with that particularly when jobs are going to be hard to find for people with health difficulties. An older couple losing PIP whose partner is a carer and owning their own home could face living on £670 UC a month and both having to start job searching. I don't think they have thought things through properly to be honest. As I said above the rules do need to tighten up but for new claims not taking thousands away overnight from people that have been reliant on this money for years on end .