UK officially in recession...

[Startingagainandagain]

Latest stats released show the UK is now officially in recession (Office for national statistic data).

Gaslighting has started in the media by ministers to try to minimise that fact.

Isn't it time to face the facts instead and call a general election?

I know the picture is bleak and any new party in power will need years to try to sort out this mess but something needs to be done...

The UK's decline in the past few decade or so has really been dramatic.

Working for the DWP in covid one of the 16000 work coaches recruited in Bristol I can categorically tell you out of a case load of 120 people only 5% were work able or ready. The rest forget it. Absolutely no way woukd any of them able to get a job this was repeated across the board. From long term sick pregnant mental health insecure housing caring duties and so on it isn’t going to happen no matter how much people talk about it

Part of the reason my dd gets it is for depression, when she got it I had to fill out a 14 A4 page form with evidence from professionals( letters, medical notes, minutes from meetings)and copies of her diagnoses, medication prescriptions etc .There was masses of paperwork and interviews.

I have no doubt that if she had had the proper care in the first place she wouldn’t need it. Mentally ill teens are just being dumped onto paediatric wards. There is no therapy or treatment to be had anywhere. My dd has made several attempts on her life. It’s not enough for treatment as regards that part of her illness. I don’t earn enough to pay tax as there is no way I could work full time. It has had a massive impact on my highly qualified husband’s earnings too. Then there is the impact on our MH….

My dd is bright and wants to work. She wants to be well. So many young people are in the same situation. The system is shocking. There is no 18-25 care.After CAMHs very few get taken on to adult services because they’re rammed. So they dump them. They then turn NEET and sit without treatment and nobody does anything to help. Many will have used up the extra year of education they’re entitled to do Alevels. You have to literally be near sectioning to get anything. Do tell me how people crying out for care to get well are to blame for not being able to work.

Honestly until you’re in it you have no idea how bad it is. The lack of foresight from the government is what I find so scary. And still they’ll blame everybody else.More and more are getting locked into the MH crisis lack of care, NHS waiting lists, GP, dentistry and A&E crisis, crumbling schools, lack of care for the elderly, lack of affordable childcare. All these things impact people being able to pay taxes and the economy.Sadly only when it impacts you do you realise how bad it is. It’s scary to see the mismanagement and how bad things have been allowed to get in such a short period of time. At some point surely we’re going to wake up as a country and vote in a government that isn’t so inept and one that actually gives a shit about ordinary people.

I don't blame some people for being reluctant to work until they drop ( might be 71 soon) when most jobs are pretty shit and your treated like a minion by employers who do little for their staff
There was a lady on a phone in today who had worked in retail for over 47 years and can't wait to retire as the customers are so vile and the managers don't care. It's the same old story in most lower paid sectors and I actually have some respect for those who manage to say ' blow that ' !
I work part time myself btw and I know this is a controversial view , but honestly some jobs are just too depressing and I can see why some are not keen on being treated so badly for little money and zero respect. Plus those who do work hard but still have to be topped up with 'in work ' benefits of some kind.
Maybe if the work place changed then more people might be interested in forging a career , but employers just want their pound of flesh and nothing much in return most of the time.
Look at what happened with the company 'Wilko' the previous owners are sitting pretty , the ex workers they had not so much.

What it has to do with it is that this is not something unique to the UK, the CoL cirsis has affected many other parts of the world and is not something completely within the control of the government.

Why do people in the UK always think they are so "special" that they shouldn't be subjected to things which affect the rest of the world?

but Bread is from a time when such benefits weren’t really there. There has been an enormous shift and to deny is just to sleepwalk into… well, what we are already sleepwalking into.

Has that 'enormous shift' happened in the last 14 years the Conservatives have been in Government ?

Thank you for this. Will help me sleep better tonight 🤣

So true @DillyD0007854 how fast it’s deteriorating with no care atall of how it’s impacting real life.

I would say since early 2000s and yes the tories have accelerated it.

@IloveAslan yes the whole world has been affected by Covid and war. But the UK is disproportionately worse off than many other similar countries, mainly because that on top of these issues we also shot ourselves massively in the foot by imposing Brexit on ourselves.

depends what you mean by working age. I’m 59. Dropped to just agency work (teaching) and will drop out of that too as soon as I can. I’m costing nobody anything. Retirement age is beyond the realistic age to actually do most jobs - it’s been pushed back due to life expectancy, but we don’t actually have any more good years, just more of the frail ones.

The public think this? Any evidence?

depends what you mean by working age. I’m 59. Dropped to just agency work (teaching) and will drop out of that too as soon as I can. I’m costing nobody anything.

But the government wants more tax don’t they?

do you really think anyone would have made this point if Labour were in power?

Exactly! I don’t think I know anybody who thinks like this.

Some might be "economically inactive" but very active caring for family. All is not as it seems...

The profile of people needing benefits due to ill health has changed from those who are physically incapable of working due to a clear disability, to people with mental health issues or conditions with no pathology or hard evidence such as fibromyalgia.

Anyone who has observed someone suffering with serious mental health issues will know that they are as physically incapable of working as someone with 'clear disability'. Evidence is not hard to find.

As someone who has tried to get help for a family member with mental health issues I found that point very hard to read.

I also regularly help my brother through the PIP process. He has many complex health issues both mental and physical. He needs daily help with basic bodily functions. The PIP process almost breaks him (and me!) on a regular basis. Once it's approved, there's no relaxing, it's only a stay of execution until the next process rolls around. It's a cruel and brutal system of forms and interviews and waiting and is repeated regularly even for people like him who have no hope of ever getting back to work.

When people say the benefits system is too lenient or generous I think they've never witnessed it first hand.

They seem to want more than any government since the war despite apparently being the party of low taxation and claim the other lot will raise taxes.
Fear not though. I pay tax on my pension and earnings, I pay VAT, I pay council tax, vehicle excise, fuel taxes etc etc.

Plenty of evidence of this if you look in the Daily Mail right place.

And as I understand that was voted for by a referendum, not the government. I'm not saying that the UK doesn't have extra issues to contend with, but much of what I read on MN about various problems there also relates to many other countries, and yet so many think the UK is different and everything could be solved with a change of government.

I'm not actually singling out the UK btw - people here also seem to think the same way and it annoys me.

Can you say where you are @IloveAslan ?

It probably is quite common

I think there are some seriously heartless people on this thread. Seriously be thankful you have never suffered mental illness health yourselves. People who claim disability benefits for mental health reasons are entitled to every penny of it. You have no idea what emotional anguish many go through.

Just being glad it isn't you. Don't begrudge others money that helps them get by day to day.

You might have an axe to grind but do it elsewhere. Focus your attention to those at the top.

I've never ever voted conservative , but even I am sceptical that any new incoming government can do much either. I'm feel bad I feel this way , but the problems we all face seem insurmountable and climate change isn't being tackled effectively because it's just too huge. I feel defeated by the whole thing tbh :(
Might be an age thing though :(

@IloveAslan it was a referendum needlessly and pointlessly called by a Tory government under David Cameron and his sheer arrogance.

Lord Cameron thought that Remain would win.
The referendum should have been advisory to start with at least. His arrogant attitude was his down fall

@the80sweregreat and, more regretfully, ours.