Benefit cap? Benefit fraud?

Exactly. The average pensioner will become a net recipient by the age of 70. The state pension is legally defined as a benefit.

You don’t get to choose whether yhd pension is a benefit or not - it is. Period.

and I think you’ll find that the pension pot ran dry a very long time ago as today’s pensioners didn't pay in anywhere near enough - people paying taxes now are paying for the pensions

Winter fuel payment - excellent news.

It is a pittance for many families with disabilities.

I got not far off that as a single parent with two children one with a disability - I had to home educate because the school and SEND system was abc still is a travesty - we barely got by.

Just to make your blood boil a little more - I now work full time for a local authority in mental health - if I was a single mum now and somehow magically managed to continue my current job whilst still with the same child set up I’d be receiving DLA plus UC and would be getting around £3000 a month in wages and benefits.

If I were to become a single mum now with my children older, my eldest would still be receiving PIP, I’d still be getting universal credit and again, roughly the same would be coming into the household.

The winter fuel allowance has been means tested, your stats re pensioners is very dependent on whether you consider the state pension to be a ‘benefit’ or something that working people have paid in to all their working lives.

This!!! Well said!!!

If you consider £3,000 a month to be a pittance I’d like to live in your world. What would you consider to be ‘adequate’ ?

Means testing for the winter fuel allowance for a start - pensioners make up more than 50% of the National benefits bill (whoch doesnt include disability benefits spending - most of which ALSO goes the pensioners)

Single mothers on benefits makes up a tiny proportion of our welfare budget.

Taxing the mega rich and closing the loopholes would be a good start. Building council houses would lower the benefit bill as we'd then be investing in state owned property rather then lining the pockets of private landlords. And while we're at it re-nationalise all the other public services we sold off which are ALSO costing us a fortune and lining the pockets of private shareholders! Ever wonder how we had much better public services when we were a much poorer country...?

Haters will hate me too then.
I've 3 children on hrc.
Did you all see the thread yesterday about how many parents of disabled children have thought about suicide ?
Judge away though.
Having the freedom to go out to work would be a dream come true for me.

Then the country absolutely won't be able to afford funding residential care at thousands per week because the family carers have given up.

We owe them a huge debt.

And she won’t be the only one.

It’s nuts.

Really? I'd imagine most people would just be grateful their children aren't disabled and they don't have to sacrifice their career to care for them 24/7.

Crazy talk. Blue sky thinking. Let's focus on arguing over the crumbs under the table.

There are plenty of 9-5 nursing jobs

Quite

Missing the point

Where will this magic money tree come from then to pay more? The country cannot afford it.

Where will the money come from to not pay it?

I get carers allowance for my DD and she gets DLA.

She is currently assessed as needing carers to do bedtime and mornings as it needs 2 people (no staffing available atm), respite 2 nights a month (doesn't happen as no carers available), she has district nurse visits 4 times a week (mostly happen), school transport daily as the only suitable school is 45 minutes away (I live in the same street as a primary school but it doesn't have accessible facilities even if they could have coped with her - her transport is extremely unreliable), she has weekly physio (we pay), weekly speech therapy (we pay) and fortnightly hydrotherapy (we pay).

We've been asked to consider sending her to a residential school because of the difficulties in providing the carers and other therapy she needs. We've refused it so far because as a family we can cope physically and financially atm so can muddle through.

Where is the magic money tree to fund the care children like her will need if the pressure on families like ours continues?

@Straightjacketsandroses no need for that how utterly vile.

@pinkstripeycat having disabled children meant for mean no access to wrap around childcare, no holiday club, 2-3 appointments per week. One child well over a year our of school. I lost my full time job paying 40k and now work very part time (but above the carers allowance threshold). DLA has been critical for us to keep paying basic bills and afford a living. I couldn't love on the 18k I earn now annually in my part time role and pay the mortgage and utilities. We also had to find Speech and language therapy privately costing £80 per hour (weekly sessions). Without DLA, we would be homeless or I would have to hand over the DC to social care for a foster family which would have cost multiple times as much.

It cannot be really that hard to imagine that having to care endless hours and not being able to earn a full time wage has an actual cost.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if a government focused on closing tax loopholes for billionaires and corporations then?

Where will this magic money tree come from then to pay more? The country cannot afford it.

Article to introduce you to the world of the ‘disability tax’

https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2024/nov/18/anti-ableist-manifesto-book

Ok. I didn’t realise this. Thank you