7.4 million people claim some form of disability or incapacity benefits

[MidnightPatrol]

Given the various back and forth of discussion on the reduction in disability and incapacity benefits, not much data on the debate has been shared - it’s a mainly emotional debate.

So for context, the figures:

• 7.4 million people claim sickness benefits of some kind
• The total number of claimants has increased by a third in five years (up 1.8 million)
• 1 in 10 working age adults claims, and 1 in 12 school aged children
• 1.2 million people aged under 25 claim sickness benefits, a rise of two thirds in 5 years - 1 in 15 claiming something
• 4 million adults claim sickness benefit of some kind, up from 2.8 million in 2019. Two thirds of that increase is people under 50.
• 2.5 million people claim UC health benefits, up 500k people this year alone - in 2019 less than 500k people claimed this
• 1.8 million have no requirement to look for work
• Sickness benefits for working age adults are expected to cost £70b by 2030 - a third of the cost of the NHS

Two things that would save some money in my opinion would be to give longer / lifetime awards for people with lifelong disabilities rather than wasting resources reassessing people who won't ever see a reduction in symptoms.
And secondly I think there should be a middle tier of PIP which is lower. The threshold to get the maximum support is pretty low.

Agree
and I’m afraid they and many will have to step aside from the emotional in order to cut the bill significantly

Its clear many people will have less money but it’s also clear the country can’t pay the bill

Oh grief yes lifetime award - or at least mark them so that they only get reassessed if sone significant new treatment has been approved

They will speak to the school that sees the child six hours a day

For a start, they don't speak to them, but ask for a report, one that will say that the child is disruptive and struggles to pay attention which with the pads report will tick the box. They won't consider that ultimately, the child might be disruptive for other reasons than adhd.

It would be interesting to know the number of women over 60 men over 65 who once upon a time would have been retired when ill health hit, whereas now they have to claim benefits.

My back finally gave up aged 66 just in time for retirement. My bulging discs, sciatica disability a couple of years earlier would have qualified me for benefits.

It’s not about the most vulnerable in society - it’s the ones who are not

does anyone truley believe that only a small faction of claimants are actually cheating the system ?

How much does a private adhd or autism assessment cost for a child?

If somebody only has financial motives is it really worthwhile to pay for one of these assessments on the off-chance it might help them to claim DLA (and possibly about £100 a month worth of DLA)

Or perhaps only one tier for those whose disability is a significant disruption and cost to their lives and it cannot be managed through medication.

The growth in claimants seems more significant in the younger age groups

Well, I don’t know whereabouts you live, OP, but my DD has been unable to work for 8 years because of, among other things, depression, PTSD, other complex mental health conditions such as undiagnosed AUDHD, and Polycystic Ovaries.

If she had been taken seriously and referred correctly by her, frankly useless, NHS GP at the start, she may well have been given the correct medication and treatment for the AUDHD, which in turn could have prevented the extent of the infection depression and other MH issues, reduced the need for PTSD treatment and enabled her to stay healthy enough to avoid developing Polycystic Ovaries.

And that, of course, would have enabled her to keep working, and prevented her from needing UC and PIP.

She has instead been placed on MH “waiting lists”, then dropped off these for no apparent reason, been sent to inappropriate treatment courses (CBT doesn’t necessarily work if you have AUDHD), has had results “lost” by both the GP Surgery, the Hospital and the MH Services, had positive Ultrasound results denied by the NHS hospital, necessitating secondary and tertiary referrals. Both GP Surgery and Hospital have delayed appointments by over 6 months Etc. Etc.

Perhaps, instead of getting exercised over the “burden” this places on the Country, we should be looking at the efficiency (or lack of it) that is allowed to result in such scenarios and do something about that in the NHS’s highly inefficient practices.

They can speak to school if they wish to. On the form you have to write the schools contact details.

They would also need even more evidence for medium/high rate care.

What do you mean by sickness benefit? Previous colleague of mine claimed PIP to help buy disability aids as she became blind. These aids allowed her to stay in that job for longer. The blindness was caused by a disease but I wouldn’t consider PIP used like this as a sickness benifit. Being ill or disabled cost the individual a lot more money.

I have a child with autism. I very much doubt that we would be entitled to anything as she has low care needs no needs for a 1:1 TA at school or anything. Yet her autism and helping her deal with it does cost us more on a weekly basis.

But the issue is your daughter’s situation is duplicated en masse up and down the country. The NHS wasn’t set up to deal with children with anxiety and OCD and ND by the millions. It was set up to provide this kind of service to a limited number of unusual cases. You can’t criticise them for failing to meet a demand that is now called ‘unreachable’.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68725973.amp

People need advice because it is such a difficult, complicated form

It isn't a complicated form for the average intellect person. The questions are simple and factual.

What makes it complicated is thinking of what to write to increase the chances of an award.

Which is another , although agree linked, issue.

The NHS is crap and needs more funding and reorganisation. That needs money but the very people that need nhs support aren’t getting that support because there isn’t any money whilst benefits are being paid out

So
Cut the benefits bill
Use the savings to support people with the nhs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68725973.amp

Neurotypical policymakers not being able to understand wtf we are let alone what to do with us.

Which is why a pp noted that they had been told how to fill out the form to be approved
Thats completely unacceptable.
If that sort of advice is coming officially it needs to be pulled from websites and advisors need to stop

I'm certainly not stupid and found it to be a complicated form. Especially as during the time my child was still seriously ill in hospital.

Again, you can write all you like to try and increase the chances of an award but it will be meaningless without the evidence to back it up.

Day to day anxiety is not the same is GAD, which is an anxiety disorder, anxiety so out of control that it is disordered. It is debilitating and nothing at all to do with being a bit shy, or worried about something in particular.
You clearly haven't experienced it, or supported a love one through it, be thankful for that.

Multidisciplinary assessments cost upwards of £3k.

How would a genuine claimant live without benefits, the money is given because they genuinely can't work, and make their own money

This

Exactly. People can yell "thEy Can gEt a jOb" as much as they like, but if the employers won't employ them, then what? Disability discrimination is still a thing, it's usually worded as "on this occasion you haven't been successful, we wish you the best in the future", but every employer will choose the candidate that won't need time off for medical appointments/bad days over 1 that they think might. All they have to say is "well there were x amount of people applying so the disabled person wasn't the only one not selected".

Your first para links the idea of vouchers to pay for aids to help with life
The vouchers idea has been ditched by Labour but this really is a one off support payment .
Once you’ve bought the aids you don’t need to buy new ones every week and so don’t need the same amount in benefits every week.

I think Labour is more likely to encourage this sort of spend to
Get people back to work.

It also comes via tiktok, Instagram and YouTube in the form of happy, bouncy young people coaching others on what to say on their forms. Said happy, bouncy young people are claiming to suffer from 'chronic illness' themselves and looking to help others in the same situation and not at all trying to gain subscribers to increase their income I really wish I was happy and bouncy, but chronic illness sadly prevents this at time of writing and for the past 40 years