So they want to replace PIP/DLA money with vouchers?

[moneyinthebinthatsmrtim]

I don't understand it. It is really worrying me.

This payment helps pay for so many things. I doubt these vouchers would cover that, or give the freedom to shop or buy from where you want or need to.

I included DLA because it's really just the child's version of PIP. Eventually, my profoundly disabled child will be an adult and will have to be on PIP

Is there really any truth in this? I can't see any articles directly quoting Labour or Conservative. I might just be in such a worry that I have missed that bit

Apologies if there is another thread on this too. I am happy to get this one taken off if that's the case

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pip-disability-benefits-plan-rishi-government-critics-b2537209.html

Seriously with the amount of disable bashing on this thread and you are going to get upset about being called ignorant. The are so many more offensive things being uttered of here.

My husband is supplied with filters for his CPAP machine.

For context, I receive PIP (& UC LCWRA) due to having Parkinson's, so I know exactly how the process works and believe it or not, also had to go to Tribunal!

However my brother too receives PIP (lower rate than I) and is also on UC LCWRA (which is for those not expected to look for work at all, due to severe disability and we are left alone so no job centre visits). He gets these due to him being an alcoholic. He has no physical or mental issues - he told me this himself when he was awarded them as he was surprised he got it! - it's purely for his alcoholism. He still goes out every weekend drinking heavily and spends the weekdays in bed hungover (yep, all week). I've seen his UC Journal and his PIP award letter as he was asking me if he was entitled to a Motability car(!)

He receives zero support for his alcohol addiction although I've no idea if it's been offered and he's turned it down, but still. Given how well I know my brother's circumstances, I'd say he's a pretty good example of @MaryMaryVeryContrary 's point of someone abusing the system.
UC & PIP pay his rent, in our area if you receive UC LCWRA then you've no council tax to pay, so he is quite literally being paid to drink every weekend and not have to work.

I'd say your brother's situation is a damning example of the lack of decent and effective support for people with substance issued @EnglishBluebell It's a miserable life being addicted and although I don't have personal experience I do know services in many areas are crap and sometimes almost non existent.

Really he should be getting support from adult social care, MH services, and substance issues services. Unfortunately provision of all three is often beyond poor. He's being failed.

(Although I don't have personal experience, a friend of my mum's was married to an alcoholic. They divorced because of it. He was a high earner and a so called functional alcoholic so he didn't need benefits, but he died young directly related to his alcoholism).

Tbh being cynical I wonder if people like your brother are left without effective support and instead dumped on benefits because that's actually cheaper than investing in (decent and effective) support services.

Tbh being cynical I wonder if people like your brother are left without effective support and instead dumped on benefits because that's actually cheaper than investing in (decent and effective) support services.

That isn't cynical, that's realist. Good, effective and accessible healthcare services cost money. Of course in the long term they save a fortune, but it's easier to sneer at people and make cuts instead.

@EnglishBluebell as frustrated as you are alcoholism is an illness and your brother will have complex issues not everyone will fit into your criteria of "deserving"

Provision for alcohol dependency in my area is actually pretty good but the clients I have who are alcohol dependent and get PIP just don't attend meetings with the services they are meant to engage with.

This. I doubt English Bluebell'd brother is having a lovely life. People become addicted for a reason.

Perhaps because the grip of their addiction is so strong? Drink comes before everything else.

The problem with addiction (alcohol or otherwise) is that in order to really address it, meetings with a support service (something like Turning Point) aren't enough. They're really only any use at the point where someone has been through rehab and is ready to go back into real life, with aftercare. Addiction is so deep rooted and complex that dealing with it on an outpatient-in-the-community basis just doesn't work for most. The same thing arises with organisations like AA - they have their use in aftercare, but it's only a very small % of people who can find sobriety purely through AA. They do exist - my Dsis' partner is one of them - but the majority need more intensive interventions which are not provided on the NHS and are not affordable for most people or their families.

Yes exactly. The few I have in mind can't even make it to the Turning Point meetings, they do need intensive rehab.

Exactly what @Miley1967 said, I've just spoken to my mum and yes he was offered support through 'Horizon' whatever that is, and something via Adult Social Care but he refused to engage.
His excuse was that his GP said he cannot just quit alcohol cold turkey and so he must drink something every day. Unfortunately he uses this as an excuse to get blind drunk every day.

He may not be living the high life but he brags to people (including his own adult son!) that they "throw money at (me)" and he can do what he likes and doesn't even have to do a single hour of work.
Sadly, the reality is that allowing him to be out of work, has meant that he's now able to (& does) drink every single day, all day. Whereas prior to UC & PIP, he 'just' got actually drunk on weekends and his weekday drinking was just a few pints in the evenings. It's reallllly ramped up

We were institutionalised in droves.

@EnglishBluebell for what it's worth, being in work would not have saved him in the longer term. When alcoholics spiral, the job is usually the first thing to go. My late husband lost his soon after I had him removed from the marital home because he threatened to kill me. He'd have ended up where he is now anyway. The problem with addiction is that it can't be helped unless the addict wants help, which makes it very different from disabilities - but what we do with that is the big question. Ultimately I believe that the only way we will reduce the number of people on PIP and other benefits is to have a robust health system (physical and mental health), preventive support available from birth (aka Sure Start resurrected) and a change in our work culture so that employers get financial incentives for flexible working, job shares and retention for staff with fluctuating conditions.

C'mon, if it's OK to give PIP claimants vouchers and police what they spend money on, surely we can pay state pension as vouchers that you can only spend on what the state thinks is good for you? We could save loads of money by stopping elderly people from buying alcohol and cigarettes and stopping them from wasting their money on bingo. I mean, they've had their whole lives to prepare for retirement, they could have saved their own money if they wanted freedom to decide how to spend it, unlike disabled people who don't get to plan for being disabled because it tends to come out of the blue.

What's that you say? My idea is paternalising, infantalising, and unfair? Same goes when policing what PIP claimants spend their money on.

I am not sure why it is that disabled people are viewed by some, as to not having the wherewithal to know how to spend their PIP, on things that would make their lives easier.

It's ableism.

Imagine the outcry if Child Benefit was paid as vouchers, because it's a benefit designed to help meet the extra costs of having a child.
These days I wouldn't actually put it past Tory HQ to think that was a serious policy suggestion though.

It's for reasons such as this that I think a 'Voucher Scheme' for disabled claimants and not for other claimant groups, and not for other groups with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, wouldn't survive legal challenge in the UK. I did write that in my consultation response.

Anyone think the voucher system will come into place and when will it be I'm getting worried that my money will stop and I'll be have no money

Kindly, there is no point worrying. There are no definite plans for these proposals to go ahead.

I'm just getting worried

Sorry to hear that.

Is affecting my sleep as well

Jess, at the moment it is a question being asked in a review of PIP. It will be years before the review is completed and likely under a labour govt. it won’t happen. Please don’t spare it another thought.

Don't go giving them ideas!