Benefit cuts will cost the economy.

Lol at benefit claimants "raking it in! "

Most people claiming disability benefits (or having it claimed on their behalf) do not need specialist equipment. Many don’t require carers either

This. The time when disability meant hauling equipment, a wheelchair and grommets is long gone (apart from for a small minority). It means something quite different now, on the whole. Yet the money remains.

Why are disabled people in the firing line, though?

Do you think there’s a belief that most PIP claimants are malingering NEETs? I know there is a concern that some claimants meet that description (which makes me wonder, if true, why and how those awards are being made), but what did you think the belief is about the rest of disabled people?

Im finding this really hard to understand.

Im wondering, too, if weekday, daytime MN is more right wing than evening and weekend MN. I don’t usually come on here at this kind of time.

Benefits are not always significantly less than wages.

If you work full time on NMW then your take home pay each month would be around £1500.

If claiming then potentially you have

• £400 for single person over 25
• If assess as LCWRA then an extra £423
• If renting you can claim housing element of UC, amount depending on your area, but in my area for a 1 bedroom that is another £448
• If entitled to PIP then roughly £295 for lower rate

That’s £1566, so actually not vastly differently.

If you can claim enhanced rate PIP then £1711

If you have a child then another £292 per child for the first 2.

Who do you think is getting free utilities? Subsidy at supermarkets? Everything costs exactly the same for everybody?

People have a perfect right to scrutinise benefits without this being some kind of indication they would be happy to be disabled themselves. We can also criticise military spending without wanting to become soldiers. It’s emotional blackmail and it won’t work. I am disabled btw, and horrified by the spending. I could claim but choose not to (yes- really)

This. The time when disability meant hauling equipment, a wheelchair and grommets is long gone (apart from for a small minority). It means something quite different now, on the whole. Yet the money remains.

I don't care - if you can't come to a compassionate response on your own, why should I waste my time trying to turn you into a decent human being?

I’m a lefty but I wouldn’t put it like that. I think we are getting increasingly fed up as a society of people taking out and not contributing. That has impacted our attitudes to people on benefits and asylum seekers

Most people claiming disability benefits (or having it claimed on their behalf) do not need specialist equipment. Many don’t require carers either

Most people claiming disability benefits (or having it claimed on their behalf) do not need specialist equipment. Many don’t require carers either

There are so many jobs out there - I struggle to believe people cannot find jobs.

It’s probably advisable not to comment when you haven’t read the article.
I’d also suggest you avoid using the word “hindsight” if you don’t know what it means.

I think the country is undergoing a massive lurch to the right, unfortunately.

It seemed to start with concerns around immigration, but we’ve very rapidly reached a point where the Labour Party is onboard and kicking disabled people is fashionable. Depressing times.

In hindsight, surely it will do the opposite and encourage the people who do not work but are physically able to work, to work? No?

You really think disabled people and their carers are "raking it in"? Have you seen the cost of carers, disability equipment, etc?

Where are the jobs? People are so quick to suggest shelf stacking and cleaning etc but don't seem to realise that being able to work isn't the same as being able to do any job. I worked in a supermarket one Christmas as a student; it was an incredibly physically demanding job. Ditto cleaning.

I'm on LCWRA, I desperately want to work but could only work from home, but those jobs are like hens teeth. I just had feedback from a recruitment second stage that I couldn't have done anything different; they just had a very limited number they could take through to interview.

The government needs to accompany their benefit cuts with requirements for employers to allow wfh unless there's a very good reason not to, and incentives for taking on disabled workers. Trying to find a job as a disabled person is hell.

Did you read the article? Because apparently not.

Sorry but too many people are not working. As a society we cannot cope with so many people not working, the burden on those left to carry it is too great.

There comes a point where if you keep trying to pile more and more and more on an ever smaller group of people, they'll collapse under the weight.

Ok, so taking this at face (ish) value:

how do we get people who can work to work?

first, let’s think about what we mean by people who can work.

university students can work. We don’t make them stop studying and get full time jobs because as a whole for the economy we want people with high skill levels and so as a country we’ve made the decision they don’t have to work and the government will at least partially fund their studies.

back in the 60s and 70s it was generally accepted that women with small children didn’t need to be made to work. Since then many more women work and fewer men work.

see https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06838/#:~:text=The%20female%20employment%20rate%20was,compared%20with%2014%25%20of%20men.

lots of people who are retired can work. Most of them don’t want to and either have enough money coming in from private pensions and investments or state pensions etc that they don’t have to. Strictly speaking if you consider the state pension a benefit (which strictly speaking it is) this is by far the largest group of people on benefits who could be working but aren’t.

most of them don’t want to, and you’d have to really cut the state pension brutally to force some to go back because they need the money which would lose whichever government did it the next election.

then you are left with people of working age (18-67) who have not retired already and aren’t studying.

most of them have a job. The UK has a higher percentage of it’s population in work than any of the other European countries.
latest is 75.1%
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9366/CBP-9366.pdf

(remember most of that other 25% is students and early retired people).

the current focus on cutting benefits is not about getting people into work. The government have a financial problem in that benefits spending (which is about half state pension and a lot of the rest is benefits for people in work) is going up and tax take is going down because we are on the edge of a recession (Covid, Ukraine, etc).

pip is an in work benefit. People get it who work full time. UC is an in work benefit. People get it who work full time.

none of this has got anything to do with getting people into work, it’s just about cutting benefits. Cutting pip actually makes people less likely to work because it’ll pay for wheelchair adapted cars, taxis to work, etc.

And no, no single adult is going to get rich on benefits.

But if you are claiming UC, DLA for a couple of kids (as seems to be quite normal round here), carers, and PIP for one of the parents, yep that’s a very comfortable life indeed - around £50k, if not more.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/29/labours-benefit-cuts-will-cost-uk-economy-billions-charity-says

Interesting article which repeats what some of us have been saying about the likely consequences of the proposed measures, including increased pressure on services.