No benefits if unemployed for more than a year and other ways Sunak wants ti tackle the Benefits system

[cakeorwine]

This are the headlines - I can see some massive issues here for people - it's easy to say there are job vacancies - but what if they aren't in the area people are and there is no transport to get there. How does that work? I can see a lot of exploitation here.

There's also the other rules here around PIP payments, part time workers etc.

I wonder how much personal experience Sunak has of such things?

This is an outline from the Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13330045/Benefits-axed-year-stop-lifestyle-choice-Prime-Minister.html

12-month rule for unemployed

Tory manifesto plans will see people on the dole have their benefit claims closed after a year unless they can convince Jobcentre staff they are actively looking for work and willing to accept any reasonable job offer.

Personal Independence Payments

Hundreds of thousands of people with anxiety and depression could lose access to payments worth up to £700 a month and instead be offered therapy to help them back to work.

PART-TIME WORKERS

New rules will require part-time workers on Universal Credit to look for more work. Anyone working for less than the equivalent of 18 hours a week on minimum wage will have to show they are actively seeking more hours.

Disability rules

The work capability assessment rules, which govern who is eligible for sickness benefits, will be tightened to require 424,000 with milder mental health conditions to start looking for work.

Sick notes

GPs could be stripped of their role in signing off people as sick and replaced by 'specialist work and health professionals' who will focus on what work people could do with support, such as flexibility to work from home.

Benefit Fraud

Investigators will be handed new powers to tackle benefit fraud, which hit £6.4 billion last year. In future they will have similar powers to those investigating tax fraud, including the ability to make seizures and arrests

It's all puff. DD2 waited 18 months for her first psychiatry appointment, after 6 months of fighting to get her on the list. How are they going to cope with more?

Tories.
This should surprise absolutely nobody.

It's so easy to say there are 1 million vacancies and if you don't get a job, then no money.

It reminds me of "Get on your bike". Well, the job situation might be very different in one place to another. Travel, housing costs and availability all make things complicated. Should people leave their place where they live because there are few jobs there but if they stay, they don't get any benefits?

As with all government proposals to policy change, the devil is in the detail.

What if there is no work in the area? Will claimants be expected to relocate? Will the DWP fund that?

To get PIP for depression and anxiety you generally need to be under consultant care and have a treatment plan, moreso if you're on the higher rate indicated in your post. If you're under the mental health services you're very unwell and should be entitled to PIP.

Part time working clamp down has been needed for a while, there are a lot of people who game the system I'd be interested to see how this is going to be implemented especially for people on zero hours contracts where the shifts may not be available.

Define milder mental health issues. I agree in principle that work can benefit mild mental health issues but it can worsen it too. Will this be managed on a case by case basis?

Sick notes - is this another hairbrained scheme for another government department and more administration to be brought in? It makes sense for GPs to issue sick notes, the patient is in front of them!

Right it does all sound a bit shit but this bit:

Tory manifesto plans will see people on the dole have their benefit claims closed after a year unless they can convince Jobcentre staff they are actively looking for work and willing to accept any reasonable job offer. sounds fair as long as implemented fairly (which I doubt it will be)

Tory manifesto plans will see people on the dole have their benefit claims closed after a year unless they can convince Jobcentre staff they are actively looking for work and willing to accept any reasonable job offer.

I thought people had to do that anyway.

I think there are some people who could work given the right support but this is what is missing from the Tory plan. No acknowledgement that getting specialist help is near impossible. Children desperately waiting for mental health appointments and not being able to get any proper help. How are these children expected to become adults who can enter the work place if their issues have not been addressed?
It is the Tories pointing the finger at the most vulnerable. No focus on the huge amounts of money they allow their cronies to squirrel away.

What is a "reasonable" job offer?

All in the definitions. And will there be a right of appeal?

They do. I think this manifesto is worded strongly to make it appear they're doing something when the reality is nothing is going to change as the "changes" are the current regulations anyway.

And there is also the bit about "AI " having access to the bank accounts of people claiming benefits so fraud can be tackled.

We all know how well AI works - and how there is no discrimination at all.

I noticed they're not asking why there's an increase in mental health issues, especially among our children. Yes for a minority it's the new "bad back" but for the majority it's quite concerning how sharply this increase has come about.

My SIL (who has some LD) could really do with some more focused get in to work support. He is willing to work, but the whole 'get a job' process seems to overwhelm him. He has had part time jobs but they have been obtained via contacts. There must be many like him out there.

Only if the tories get in.
Are people really that stupid to think if they vote for the same party that lost us billions of pounds in one single day (Truss) then awarded that person who lost us all that money with a very well to do pension are really going to change anything positively to this country?

I'll eat my hat if the tories get back in.

Apparently we have a crisis in the care sector with nobody wanting the jobs. I've applied for many in my area. Have not once had a response even to say no. These are jobs which say you don't need experience as they will train you up. The jobs then come back up repeatedly.

When are they opening the workhouses?

Tbh im sick of working full time, paying in and claiming nothing but Child Benefits, whilst hearing of others living without a care in the world as their benefits pay for everything. Theres nothing wrong with the people i know who claim (yes if you are genuinely ill/disabled, thats different). The others have manipulated the system to get their benefits. Its not right

Their benefits pay for everything? Sure it does. 🙄
You do know it's a pittance and the reason why we have so many food banks these days.

He'd be better off investing money in the NHS to shorten waiting times and improve access to mental health provisions. Tackle the cause, and help people to get better instead of punishing them.

The people who play the system will ALWAYS find the loopholes and continue to play the system. They exists and tbh, no policy will effectively weed them out. Policies like this only harm the genuine claimants as the vast majority of people in this country want to work because they want a better life - most people want a nice home, a nice car, nice holidays - things that are only really accessible via work.

I honestly thought they couldn't get any lower as a party and then they did.

When you see it written down it seems like they are mainly trying to appeal to a certain section of society without changing much. But its dangerous as its whipping up views against ill people and making vunerable people very scared..

The GP thing makes me feel why do the consevatives hate GPs and who is going to get the very expensive contract to replace them.

Tbh looking at our benefits bill as a country is good they're thinking of doing something. They need to divert the money they save into better healthcare/mental health support but the truth is there are definitely people who just don't want to work and tax payers are enabling that

Are they taking childcare costs into account? Of course not. My daughter is a single parent with no financial support from ex and can’t make ends meet, with working almost full time and all the benefits she’s entitled too, she’s still £200 short every month. Any legislation on men actually paying for their children? I thought not.
Government is Always punching down instead of chasing the billions in tax evasion. They never seem to announce anything that makes life better.

Recycle and repeat every time. Targeting benefits has always been the bulk of their manifesto but people will fall for it time and again.

I imagine taking fit notes away from GPs is a brilliant opportunity to award a lucrative contract to a Tory donor or similar to run an organisation employing low paid, unqualified people incentivised to find people fit for work.
Why give money to the sick and disabled when you can give taxpayers' money to the wealthy instead?

They need to invest in enabling people to access prompt medical care for both physical and mental health.

I'm sure there is a small percentage of people who are capable of work but are playing the system because in every walk of life there will be people doing the wrong thing, but personally I think it's obvious that the current government are far more culpable for stealing / misusing taxpayers' money than a small number of benefit claimants.

That’s for qualified support. I bet the mental health support will be a six week 50 mins online CBT programme of videos and quizzes.

This is from last year and details the spending on benefits

Benefits: Who gets them and how much do they cost? - BBC News

There's pensions, child benefit, Housing Benefit

I am off out in a moment - but will summarise that data better.