Thread 20 Starmer - Spring Statement

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5286167-thread-19-starmer-a-coalition-of-the-willing?page=40&reply=142981585

There were 5,282 people receiving the maximum amount of Personal Independence Payments for alcohol misuse as of October 2024.

@MyNameIsX article is paywalled, but I suspect (given previous statistics on the topic) that the data shows that those 5,282 people have alcohol misuse as one of several conditions, and the number of people receiving higher rate PIP for only alcohol misuse is far, far lower (and probably very close to zero). Most PIP claimants have multiple conditions, and the statistics collected do not separate out applicants with single conditions.

It's almost 40 years since my mum died - shocking to count up the years - and she was obviously pretty young. I used to get quite upset on MD but these days tend to think more about her on the anniversary of her birthday

to everyone missing their mums tomorrow

I am just catching up on my weekend reading.

Here’s the FT - pretty depressing stuff for the low paid.

When chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the NICs increase in her October Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility said most of the cost would be borne by workers through slower pay growth and higher prices, while the equivalent of 50,000 jobs would be lost through fewer roles or shorter hours.

But the fiscal watchdog did not look at the combined effect of the tax and minimum wage rises. It admitted last week that the tax rise could hit jobs more than it initially expected, because it increased costs most sharply in low-wage sectors where employers must keep raising pay, both to match the legal minimum and to motivate staff higher up the ladder.

Analysis by the Resolution Foundation shows how uneven the impact will be. While next week’s combined changes will add 3.4 per cent to average labour costs, the increase will be 6.6 per cent for the bottom 10 per cent of earners, according to calculations by the think-tank. It will be just 1.7 per cent for the top 10 per cent.

There will be an especially stark change for part-time workers, the think-tank said. Whereas labour costs will rise by 10.2 per cent for a full-time adult earning the minimum wage, they will rise by 14.2 per cent for a part-time worker earning £10,000 a year on the same hourly rate. This worker would previously have fallen below the NICs threshold.

Nye Cominetti, principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, estimated this would lead to a drop in employment equivalent to the loss of 85,000 employees, concentrated among the lowest paid. He forecast a drop in employment of 0.7 per cent in the bottom decile of the pay distribution.

“This is a significant number . . . which would have been smaller if policy had been better co-ordinated,” Cominetti told the Financial Times.

Thanks, let me look into that if I can.

I have a different mother issue. She has lived in America for 30 years now (she is originally form there) and our communication has become less and less. I haven't heard form her since November now and I know she isn't well. It's a long story but , yes, the whole Mothers' Day thing stresses me out , too. We were very close when I was a teenager so it does sting.

The article is about IDS complaining that the majority of assesments are not done face to face anymore. It does not mention anything about the amounts awarded or alcohol misuse

And here is a link to the full FT article that x quoted from

https://www.ft.com/content/fac4169d-bdc9-4654-9a08-e6259324c15a

I don't think IDS has much of value in this debate. Unless you are combining the news and Scrabble. I'm sure there's a podcast in that somewhere.

I can see why face to face assessments are unsuitable for many claimants, given the large number of complaints about the assessment centres.
In many cases the assessment room was deliberately further away from the door than the distance the claimant said they could walk on the majority of days, then claims were denied based on the claimant making it to the assessment room. No allowance made for the exacerbation of symptoms due to this, or that it did not reflect the capacity on a majority of days, or that a claimant would worry that the claim would be denied if they could not make it to the room. Ideally, assessors would visit claimants in their own homes, but that would cost far more than telephone assessments.

Years ago I met IDS - he has the most horrible hands/handshake - all smooth and too warm - urgh

A picture tells 1,000 words

Anyone else catch "The Naked Week" on R4 ? Nice wheeze to attribute a song to Reeves and get PRS rights on it in her name.

I can see why face to face assessments are unsuitable for many claimants, given the large number of complaints about the assessment centres.

I helped a friend claim PIP. If you wanted to devise a process less suited to needs of the claimant, then you'd come second to this.

There were several highlights. Probably the best one was the assessor turning up without the claim. Apparently it was DWP policy that the assessor never sees the form.

When I offered to give them a spare (I had a few printed) they acted as if I had asked to shit in their hand and were very put out. Again, apparently, DWP rules were that the assessor could take nothing away from the assessment.

Since the "assessment" consisted of asking every question on the form again, I just read out what I had put on the form they had. I gathered this was bad form as it meant there would be no discrepancy between the two (which is one marker for turning down a claim).

As if relations weren't bad enough at this point, having a copy my friends certificate of visual impairment ready to give the assessor (who couldn't take it) seemed to make things worse. Frosty would be the centuries understatement.

Still a lifetime award, so it was worth it. However it would have crushed anyone who just followed the DWP advice.

(One tiny nugget I picked up in the process was when I had the completed form ready and it was all printed out from an electronic template. Apparently that was supposed to be impossible according to the assessor, but they couldn't remember why)

The share of face-to-face PIP assessments falling to just 2pc last autumn, down from 80pc before Covid.

Source via DT.

You are repeating the same link X

Thanks, just pulling out the salient lines - the link is embedded.

What was it about big enough and often enough ?

My DS had a telephone assessment because you know, wheelchair, accessibility issues.

And that made no bloody difference because also, stack of medical evidence an inch thick that took 4 hours to upload.

It's the usual benefit bashing from the DT, especially the article where x first quoted from

The DT’s just a comic these days. I don’t bother to read it anymore despite having access to a subscription.

Thanks for taking one for the team there. I won't bother reading it.

Oh dear, will someone pull me up for talking about taking one for the team? Proof we are tag teaming and all that?

If it doesn't mention alcohol misuse then the reference to alcohol misuse is particularly crass in light of someone's candid post about their mother, earlier today.

Agree - crass and totally uncalled for

Same for my ds.

face to face or over the phone it wouldn’t have made much difference unless they wanted to observe the physio o give him. Or observe him trying to work out what to wear. Or observe him trying to lift something out of an oven.

someone blind doesn’t suddenly have vision because an assessment is face to face.

someone deaf can’t suddenly hear because its face to face.

someone with epilepsy won’t have a seizure on a face to face appointment to prove they are epileptic.

I think it streamlines the process much better when a consultants letter stating someone can’t walk and uses a wheelchair is enough with it making them attend a pip centre just to test they can’t climb up to the first floor!

It's no different from the benefit bashing headline about how many people are getting PIP 'for ADHD'. When you look at the data, the vast majority of those people have an absolute host of comorbid conditions. It's revolting to use statistics that way, but then that's the Torygraph for you. Using it as a source says a lot about a person.

My mother used alcohol for untreated PTSD going back to WW2. Being married to my dad saved her, but once he died, she had no anchor any more.