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AIBU?

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Original poster

Benefit cuts will cost the economy.

614 replies

MistressoftheDarkSide · 29/04/2025 08:33

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.

Labour’s benefit cuts will cost UK economy billions, charity says

Trussell report finds that higher levels of poverty mean Britain is losing out on £38bn a year of potential output

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

OP posts:
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15
Hastentoadd · 01/05/2025 23:45

BottleBlondeMachiavelli · 01/05/2025 23:43

Edging towards the term “useless eater” there, are we?

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Well if the shoe fits and people who can work but don’t work claim benefits then……

BottleBlondeMachiavelli · 01/05/2025 23:43

Hastentoadd · 01/05/2025 23:32

It isn’t the only value humans have but if you live in this world and avail of resources you should be contributing,
People who don’t contribute are just using resources provided by other people and not contributing anything themselves

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Edging towards the term “useless eater” there, are we?

WeylandYutani · 01/05/2025 23:37

Hastentoadd · 01/05/2025 23:32

It isn’t the only value humans have but if you live in this world and avail of resources you should be contributing,
People who don’t contribute are just using resources provided by other people and not contributing anything themselves

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ok I am not able to work so am not contributing in the usual sense of being a tax payer. And I would argue that anyway as I am not exempt from VAT on the stuff I buy.
But I can make my friends laugh, and therefore lift their spirits.
My worth should not be down to what I earn in money. At my funeral, no one is going to go on about what I earned (or didn't). they will be on about my impact on their lives.

Hastentoadd · 01/05/2025 23:32

MistressoftheDarkSide · 01/05/2025 23:22

I really think you're onto something there. There is a creeping insidious message being given across the board that the only value humans have is their economic contribution. And I don't like it one bit.

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It isn’t the only value humans have but if you live in this world and avail of resources you should be contributing,
People who don’t contribute are just using resources provided by other people and not contributing anything themselves

Original poster
MistressoftheDarkSide · 01/05/2025 23:22

BottleBlondeMachiavelli · 01/05/2025 23:17

The next big idea will be some form of repackaged eugenics. Watch.

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I really think you're onto something there. There is a creeping insidious message being given across the board that the only value humans have is their economic contribution. And I don't like it one bit.

OP posts:
BottleBlondeMachiavelli · 01/05/2025 23:17

WeylandYutani · 01/05/2025 23:10

Cutting benefits to all those groups wont stop them existing though.
They will all just be a lot poorer and those groups are typically poor anyway.

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The next big idea will be some form of repackaged eugenics. Watch.

WeylandYutani · 01/05/2025 23:10

Nsky62 · 01/05/2025 23:08

The system is too many elderly, too many special needs kids and too many disabled.
We don’t know of all the factors involved, I’d a multi sided coin of needs, prob more suicides.
lots want the right to die without influence, i do for my myself, when I really can’t cope, s nursing home isn’t for me, too much experience

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Cutting benefits to all those groups wont stop them existing though.
They will all just be a lot poorer and those groups are typically poor anyway.

Nsky62 · 01/05/2025 23:08

Shrubsie1 · 01/05/2025 18:38

Yabu I think its unaffordable to keep paying benefits. It needs to be a basic support net only.

The system is too many elderly, too many special needs kids and too many disabled.
We don’t know of all the factors involved, I’d a multi sided coin of needs, prob more suicides.
lots want the right to die without influence, i do for my myself, when I really can’t cope, s nursing home isn’t for me, too much experience

WeylandYutani · 01/05/2025 23:07

Vettrianofan · 01/05/2025 20:09

Gruel from a soup kitchen. Three times a day. Nothing else.

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If they can get out to a soup kitchen, they can get a job.
Being sarcastic.

Frequency · 01/05/2025 21:08

Vettrianofan · 01/05/2025 20:09

Gruel from a soup kitchen. Three times a day. Nothing else.

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That's a bit generous and also insensitive. Some full-time workers can only afford gruel once a decade. They have to eat dust the rest of the time.

Vettrianofan · 01/05/2025 20:09

ShanghaiDiva · 01/05/2025 18:45

And what would this basic support look like?

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Gruel from a soup kitchen. Three times a day. Nothing else.

PIPsqueakybum · 01/05/2025 20:04

Thronglet · 01/05/2025 19:54

I'd struggle to work five hours a week. So like you said, it'll just be sanction after sanctions when I can't attend appointments, can't attend interviews etc. Basically if I behave in any way like a disabled person, I'm going to be punished with homelessness and starvation.

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That will teach you, won’t it.

Or not.

Thronglet · 01/05/2025 19:54

PIPsqueakybum · 01/05/2025 19:40

Yes but with no LCWRA then the expectation will be to work 35 hours a week (assuming no young children) in order to get UC, which many of us won’t be able to do.

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I'd struggle to work five hours a week. So like you said, it'll just be sanction after sanctions when I can't attend appointments, can't attend interviews etc. Basically if I behave in any way like a disabled person, I'm going to be punished with homelessness and starvation.

PIPsqueakybum · 01/05/2025 19:40

Miley23 · 01/05/2025 19:33

There would still be standard element of UC and help with housing which single unemployed people currently receive but it is not really enough to survive on. I work for a charity and we are constantly inundated with requests form people saying they can't cope financially even when they are getting PIP and UC so with those taken away it will be really dire.

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Yes but with no LCWRA then the expectation will be to work 35 hours a week (assuming no young children) in order to get UC, which many of us won’t be able to do.

Pickledpoppetpickle · 01/05/2025 19:39

Shrubsie1 · 01/05/2025 18:38

Yabu I think its unaffordable to keep paying benefits. It needs to be a basic support net only.

What do you think should happen to people with disabilities?

Miley23 · 01/05/2025 19:33

PIPsqueakybum · 01/05/2025 18:48

The point is, under these proposed cuts there will be NO support net for disabled people. No PIP, no UC, nothing. I outlined this in detail above.

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There would still be standard element of UC and help with housing which single unemployed people currently receive but it is not really enough to survive on. I work for a charity and we are constantly inundated with requests form people saying they can't cope financially even when they are getting PIP and UC so with those taken away it will be really dire.

TigerRag · 01/05/2025 19:17

Shrubsie1 · 01/05/2025 18:38

Yabu I think its unaffordable to keep paying benefits. It needs to be a basic support net only.

Including the most vulnerable in society? It'll then fall to social services which will cost the country more

PIPsqueakybum · 01/05/2025 18:48

Shrubsie1 · 01/05/2025 18:38

Yabu I think its unaffordable to keep paying benefits. It needs to be a basic support net only.

The point is, under these proposed cuts there will be NO support net for disabled people. No PIP, no UC, nothing. I outlined this in detail above.

ShanghaiDiva · 01/05/2025 18:45

Shrubsie1 · 01/05/2025 18:38

Yabu I think its unaffordable to keep paying benefits. It needs to be a basic support net only.

And what would this basic support look like?

Thronglet · 01/05/2025 18:43

Shrubsie1 · 01/05/2025 18:38

Yabu I think its unaffordable to keep paying benefits. It needs to be a basic support net only.

It's much cheaper to cull the disabled, yes.

It's also very Nazi Germany.

Shrubsie1 · 01/05/2025 18:38

Yabu I think its unaffordable to keep paying benefits. It needs to be a basic support net only.

PIPsqueakybum · 01/05/2025 18:35

Miley23 · 01/05/2025 18:27

I think they are seriously going to have to re-think this idea of linking LCWRA to PIP. Having potentially millions of people losing both will be catastrophic.

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I really hope you’re right, I could probably just about survive with LCWRA and no PIP. It would be grim and miserable and no quality of life, but I’d survive. If I lose both then honestly, I’m fucked.

Vettrianofan · 01/05/2025 18:29

Viviennemary · 29/04/2025 08:55

I disagree. Benefits need to be cut. Absolutely ridiculous the amounts some folk are raking in.

You're absolutely right. Some of them are minted🤪

Miley23 · 01/05/2025 18:27

PIPsqueakybum · 01/05/2025 17:24

Oh and to add to my post earlier, when my PIP gets removed, I will also no longer get the LCWRA element of UC. Which means I will have no protection from being expected to work 35 hours per week in order to claim any kind of UC. But there is no way that I would be capable of that now, or at any time in the last 10 years so although I have hope that one day I might be well again, it’s not looking great for me. So when I’m unable to meet my claimant commitments, I’ll be sanctioned and have even less money, and when I carry on not being able to make the commitments my UC will stop and then all I’ll have is what I earn from the few hours work I can do a week. And I won’t be able to pay my rent, or pay bills, or buy food…I’m trying not to stress as that’s something that makes CFS worse but it’s hard not to.

I think they are seriously going to have to re-think this idea of linking LCWRA to PIP. Having potentially millions of people losing both will be catastrophic.

PIPsqueakybum · 01/05/2025 18:26

Thronglet · 01/05/2025 18:21

I know. It's magical thinking to believe that you can starve people into either curing themselves or finding a mythical employer who wants people who can't do the job.

It just means a lot of disabled people are going to die. That's all it means. People can tell me I'm fit for work until they're blue in the face. I'm getting more disabled every single day and there's nothing I can do about that.

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Exactly that. No one in their right mind would employ me, and I can’t blame them, I’d be a spectacular waste of their time and money.

I won’t even be able to go on a crime spree to survive because I don’t have the energy for that. And I’m probably a bit long in the tooth to be much interest to anyone on onlyfans.