To feel the Disenfranchised have been Scapegoated.

Benefits bill was 36 billion in 2020.

It’s now 52 billion.

14 billion in 5 years.

And it’s predicted to be 75 billion by 2030

That is not just the case of adding people with high rent.

But whatever way you slice it, this is unsustainable. And the people who will be hurt the most are those most vulnerable who need welfare.

I don’t want to see the welfare system collapse. I have people close to me who are severely disabled who rely on that as a lifeline.

But that is where we are headed. And it’s a dangerous place to be!

The lady on question time said she was looking for work. You can also claim PIP and work, as it is not an out of work benefit.

When you are award PIP, you are not told what to spend it on. So the person you read about who is not spending it on therapy is doing nothing wrong. They will have never been told to spend it on therapy, so your little tale does not pass the sniff test.

Many people on PIP do end up using it for food and bills because the cost of living crisis and because UC is not enough to live on.

Not everyone is in a position to reduce their hours at work to fiddle their taxes - some people have the sort of jobs that simply won’t allow them to suddenly work part time.

But it is selfish to be angry at disabled people for your problems when you voted for the Tories for 14 years and voted for Brexit.

Why do most people not realise that we are in this position due to Brexit? The other reason is Covid and furlough payments which were beyond anyone’s control. BTW, you’re a hypocrite if you received furlough payments and are now moaning about others receiving ‘free money from the government’. Let me guess, you’re ‘worth’ more? We know how that train of thought ends up…

Today, I heard a political commentator say that the UK would be 30% richer, had we not left the EU.

No, a lot is people who do work but get a top up anyway because they have high rent costs.

The lady with anxiety on question time... this was actually what she said.

"Erm, as someone who’s applied for PIP and knows how traumatic it can be to go through it, I can guarantee you that nobody is applying just for the money. They are applying because they need it and because they have a problem. Like, I have worked before. I’m struggling at the moment to find a job anyway, but it makes it worse being anxious and I think people need to have a bit more compassion. It is so traumatic going through all this assessment and you wouldn't actually do it unless you had a need"

She is getting brought up a lot on here, and people seem to think she was sat laughing in the audience and bragging about benefits. The above is all she said.

25% of working aged people are on benefits. 1 in 4. It’s not sustainable. I am more than happy for my tax to go towards supporting parents of disabled children, or disabled/chronically ill people that cannot work. But is that all 11 million in the uk?

Pip payments can be spent on anything so I'm not sure why its supposed to be spent on 'therapy' .Just another typical comment from someone who doesnt achieve a clue how the system works and decides to believe the propaganda.

I saw that too. She did not "robustly defend herself". She said her piece and that was it.
She also said she had applied for PIP, was not claiming it, and said she was looking for work.
I have seen many people reference this tiny snippet from question time over and over, and they all embellish it to make her look awful.

How can you possibly know whether or not the people you "see" are abusing the system?

I predicted this was the way we were headed on mumsnet in 2010. In 2010, the Conservatives had just taken over government in the UK under David Cameron. Conservatives held the office of PM and ran the government until July 2024, when Labour came in with Keir Starmer as PM. And yet, you blame Labour for the current state of affairs? How?

I'd love to see the figures on that.

If people cannot do salary sacrifice then they are going to change their behaviour. One method is reduce their hours and therefore the amount that goes tinto tax. They will look at how many hours they need to work in order to meet their financial obligations. In many cases swapping from 5 to 4 days a week will leave them little worse off because they will pay less tax. Ive seen the calculations done here on MN. They can then spend more time with their family rather than work for the tax man. Or use the extra time to find some cash in hand work.

Employers AND employees will have to pay NI over 2k.

There'll be extra National Insurance costs for employers, lower take-home salaries potentially and then there's the administration costs of any change in pension policy.
"Employers may just think the administration costs of changing this isn't worth it and scrap the whole thing," she added.
"Overall, I'd say this is a net-negative in terms of getting the UK saving more."
Others in the pensions industry suggested the removal of the tax break could lead to companies reducing planned pay rises and contributing less to pensions overall.
"Expect to see employers reining in their contributions," said Alex Foster, a Partner at Blick Rothenberg.

That is moronic and disincentivises people from putting more into their pensions.

Some people can apply for PIP online but it is currently restricted according to postcode. Our area was doing this but seems to have stopped. After making the initial enquiry to start a claim, the claimant would be sent a link to use to make the online claim. The paper version is over 40 pages long

I think that the UK is stuck in an austerity mindset. There is just constant talk about what to take away and from who and very little talk about what and who to invest in. The UK isn't going to become prosperous again by taking from the poorest and most vulnerable.

All this austerity mindset has done is lead to chronic under funding of education, healthcare, infrastructure which hurts longterm productivity and competitiveness. It's has worsened poverty, weakened social mobility, and created health and educational disadvantages. Created political instability, allowing populist movements to rise. It leads to 'brain drain' and weakens universities and innovation downgrading future economic prospects.

Imo people are looking at the wrong issues entirely by constantly looking at who to take from next instead of looking and who to invest in.

Exactly. Not only do we have the daily slog, we now need to be mindful of everyone else's feelings as well.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. People cough up, they don’t have to be happy about it when their own standard of living is dropping like a stone.

Which will cost the employee in the end, @JHound is right, it’s disinincentivising ordinary people from saving into a pension via salary sacrifice. Many people use salary sacrifice,

I dunno. DH has had a brain tumour, a mini stroke, has PTSD and still works full time. I’ve had cancer, and a lifetime of MH issues including ED, depression and anxiety and I have also always worked full time. We have one DD, I can’t have any more because of the cancer but even if we could we wouldn’t because we don’t feel we could afford it despite both of us being higher rate tax payers and what MN would probably consider as well off. I have seen people not working on what seems to be less significant trauma than we have been through (my cancer and his stroke happened in my maternity leave) and I KNOW it’s wrong but I can’t help myself sometimes thinking “I’m working so hard, I’ve been ill, I’m still suffering the after effects of it, yet x’s mum from nursery does fuck all because of her “mental health” and gets free childcare yet here’s me struggling into
work and paying for my childcare and hers as well”. I know it’s not right to think this way and I couldn’t possibly know what’s going on in other people’s lives but when I’m tired, and I feel guilty that I’ve missed DD’s bedtime because I’m in a meeting, I can’t help it. I can’t be the only one. I await flaming, maybe I deserve it, I just don’t know anymore.

Good post. Why does everyone need to be jumping and down with joy at funding others? It’s something that just happens, it doesn’t need joyous affirmation.

As an autistic woman I'm well aware of the misinformation about asd and the unhelpful comments from people towards myself who like you doesn't appear autistic and my ds who I've been told atleast he looks autistic (whatever that means) and I've also battled anxiety for as long as I can remember. Now as I also have dyslexia and hypermobility filling out all the forms for my ds really is the stuff of nightmares, but on no way shape or form is it traumatic and that woman was clearly taking the piss. I suggest you watch the episode and her facial expression she clearly swings between smugness and outrage and back again, its quite informative and is exactly why people are getting fed up with it
Do you know what really pisses me off about people like her its that she wont suffer when they do away with the system completely no it'll be my ds and the other severely disabled kids in his special school who wont have the help they need to survive, and with the assisted dieing bill going through parliament right now we are 1 step away from Canada where when you cant get the financial support you need to live the shuttle you off to a dr who literally kills you. Look up MAID laws in Canada and the numbers of poor disabled people who are killing themselves because they cant afford to live

I hope you absolutely report this people cheating the benefits system. You must.

You have misunderstood todays pension changes. Contributing up to £60,000 tax free still stands. However if you are in a salary sacrifice scheme rather than net pay scheme your employer will now pay NI contributions on amounts over £2000 pa.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd9zx8z5d1no

Yes they can.
PIP is not a means tested benefit so someone can be earning a decent wage and getting PIP as well (perfectly fair) but it doesn't sit well if they are using the PIP to subsidise a luxury car.