Are ADHD benefit claims and work exemptions becoming too widespread?

[JoyousOpalLemur]

This was the top story on LBC this morning.

The number of people who get benefits for ADHD so they don't have to work has gone up by a staggering 40% in just the last two years.

The taxpayer now funds more than 100,000 people to not work because their ADHD makes work too difficult for them.

About 40% of them receive the top rate of daily living and motability allowance - £194 a week - and that's on top of several other benefits. Those who receive this do not have to look for work. This is now costing the taxpayer billions of pounds per year. Most of the beneficiaries are young people.

This is absolutely bonkers!

I know someone very well who receives these PIP payments for ADHD so she doesn't have to work. She's got a lovely flat in London that most people her age couldn't afford.

Her main argument is that her ADHD means she can't work, because it's "literally impossible" for her to follow time and transport rules - which means she never turns up on time at appointments, and often will call about two hours later saying she thought the appointment was a different time, and she's got lost finding it and is nowhere near.

That is true - she does do that a lot. However, she also goes on holiday several times a year. And I've never known her to once fail to make the holiday. Her track record of getting to the airport at the right time appears to be 100%!

This isn't party political - the Tories started this, Labour have made it much worse and Reform will almost certainly mess up trying to sort it out. And I'm not saying ADHD isn't real.

But this is clearly nuts, terrible for an economy and totally unsustainable.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/adhd-pip-claims-no-work-requirement-100000-9qlcpsqws

ADHD is something you have presumably had all your life, so you will have worked out ways of being functional, it isn't easy, but it is possible. My half brother was diagnosed at 13 and struggled , but he holds down a job and has most of the time he has been working age- he needed support and criticism from his parents. A life on benefits is no solution either for those with ADHD, th country or the tax payer- there is no excuse for not showing up roughly on time ADHD or no, as you observe when it is something they want to do, like go on holiday , it is not a problem.

My son has anxiety as one of his conditions. It isn't the reason he gets enhanced for both and is exempt from seeking work. It will be the same for many people who have ADHD listed as the 'reason' for PIP.

🙄🙄🙄

Dont make out that you're trying to hep people like me.

I'm now disabled after working for 40 years.

I had a stroke, they still don't know why, it could just as easily be you in my position.

it's just lovely being described as draining society. I claim pip, under £800 pm, I live on my rapidly deteriorating retirement savings. So I can look forward to s state only pension retirement.

but yeah, keep trying to take that little bit of help away & congratulating the Govt /Amazin.

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Surely most of the claimants have other disabilities in addition to their ADHD? Full rate PIP with mobility just for ADHD is unlikely surely?! I doubt many people get pip for ADHD alone and if so, then yes, it does absolutely need to be looked at as the diagnoses of ADHD are sky rocketing

These threads always go the same way. Someone questions the huge increase in benefits for mental health and ND conditions and there’s an outraged onslaught of posters claiming all manner of physical disabilities and saying things like “maybe you’d like to take away my wheelchair and make me crawl to work” 🙄
I understand PIP is not an out of work benefit. I also know at least 3 people well (not my hairdressers, cousins dog) who have lived quite well on various disability benefits for years.
One of them is a young man who has never worked, barely leaves his bedroom and gets the equivalent of 30k take- home a year. It’s not helping him! He needs therapy, support to do volunteering, training. Not this.
The other people I know are much older, and have never really worked full time but have niche careers in the arts.
It’s NOT that hard to gain access to multiple benefits if you do your research.
We absolutely have to be able to discuss this situation.

It was also on BBC Breakfast....
I think this runs far deeper than any news outlet will be able to report on.

I think young people are shafted. There are no decent jobs for them. The cost of living is so high, most will be living with parents for a long time... they need money, they need somewhere to call home and they want to spread their wings away from the influence of their parents.

Give them jobs with good career progression, give them decent wages and make housing affordable. Then you'll see less young people claiming benefits. Because at the moment benefits is the only way for many young people to have an independent life.

@Laurmolonlabe

as you observe when it is something they want to do, like go on holiday , it is not a problem.

This is pig-ignorant garbage.

My partner's ADHD doesn't disappear just because we want to go on holiday. Doing so requires weeks of planning, I usually have to write extensive checklists, check the packing myself, double pack certain items because I know they'll be forgotten, verbally confirm two and three times to ensure things are actually done, and lie about departure times to pre-empt the inevitable last minute panic and delays to leaving. This is just to make sure they have what they need for a 2-3 night stay. I still have my own stuff to take care of on top of that.

It isn’t sustainable at all and I really hope the tide will turn very soon.
the reason for the increase in claimants is obvious isn’t it- they claim because they can- they aren’t just getting £194 ( or whatever amount it is) they’re getting all the other benefits that go with it- housing / child/ free dentist, prescriptions , cheap days out. It might not lead to a luxury lifestyle but it’s still beats a 40 hr minimum wage job ( in their eyes anyway)

Lots of very defensive mumsnetters jump on these post, the voting tends to give a more accurate representation of people’s true feelings.

It’s a shame it’s got to this that so many people are taking the piss. They’ll be nothing left in the pot soon for the genuinely disabled .

It’s a shame it’s got to this that so many people are taking the piss. They’ll be nothing left in the pot soon for the genuinely disabled

This tiresome shite appears in every single one of these threads.

There is no "pot". What someone claims has absolutely no bearing on any other individual's entitlement or payments.

I don’t think that this is a benefits bashing thread at all and it’s a discussion that needs to be had.
I am unsurprised to see that the mere suggestion that the current approach which yields an ever increasing number of people requiring assistance for ADHD, brings out the usual foaming at the mouth comments. This needs proper discussion without people immediately feeling attacked.

We have a problem in the UK and (also in other parts of the West) with a heavy over reliance on medication and labels. I also think that social media has hugely contributed towards this trend, as there are countless sites where people can get affirmation whilst cautious or contradicting opinions are not permitted. This isn’t just about ADHD but a general observation and it’s hugely worrying. You see the same trend in trans or any other gender related groups, and it really worries me how this will only get worse.

Edit to add that this trend is absolutely not sustainable and it does not need addressing.

Please do c&p & keep reposting it on these goady threads 💕

But why would they need extra money for that?

My partner does not claim PIP, is not a "he", and ADHD people who qualify for PIP are not given "extra money" because they have a partner who helps with things they struggle with, they are awarded PIP to account for the added costs associated with disability.

PIP doesn't come with all those things you listed. Those things are related to UC.

I spent many years working on hunting down benefit fraud. For all the people on this thread pretending people can't possibly lie about things to get PIP or other benefits, that is categorically untrue. Almost every day, just when I thought I'd seen it all, I'd encounter some new, innovate way someone was abusing the system - some of what I saw was truly jaw-dropping in the audacity of it.

I spent about a year looking at PIP, and while it's true you can still work, a massive percentage of people chose not to - and I don't mean people who were too disabled to do so, these were people that definitely were not incapable of work.

OP, I agree that things simply aren't sustainable at the levels you've quoted ...

I should add to my post- I was diagnosed with moderate- severe ADHD over 20 years ago.
It helped me make sense of my chaotic life, and it also spurred me on to go after types of jobs I do well. Sometimes I get overwhelmed.
I had some time off recently when life got difficult and my work suffered. I recognised the need to stop and re- charge. My work recognise this and I have reasonable adjustments.
Most of the time though, being great at my job gives me a sense of worth and power. I could possibly claim PIP but I can manage without it, and my life is no more expensive than anyone else’s anyway.
If, at 20, when I had failed school, and already had 5 jobs, there had been a way for me to stop working, I might have taken it but I’d be 💯 worse off in every way.

and this is one of the big problems. Several people on threads like this are quick to shout about PIP, DLA etc but often don't seem to even know what they actually are.

It’s NOT that hard to gain access to multiple benefits if you do your research.

yeah right.
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it is if you're single. No dependents, have a mortgage and more than tuppence in your bank.

https://www.disabilityid.co.uk/blog/freebies-extra-support-you-can-get-when-claiming-pip

not guaranteed but highly likely

Sorry, I assumed she had pip as this is a thread about people with ADHD on pip. It’s annoying to need to write lists for your partner but it isn’t an added cost.

I feel like you're conflating two things - anger at people who don't work and anger at people who receive benefits for a disability or neurodivergency that you don't think warrants any support.

You say "I know someone very well who receives these PIP payments for ADHD so she doesn't have to work." I say "I know plenty of people who receive PIP who work." I know Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s who are working because the benefits they receive help to remove some of the barriers they face in employment.

The main issue I hear from the Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people I work with is that PIP is a very challenging and stressful process, that Access to Work is essential but also has its challenges and has been unreliable.

Some articles which illustrate this point:
Praise for ‘incredible’ new plan to replace ‘deeply-flawed’ PIP – Disability News Service
I depend on PIP and DWP work grants - cutting both is cruel

The system definitely needs reform with the involvement of disabled people.

The people I know who claim PIP aren't able to afford the life they want to live without also working.

The person that you know very well who receives PIP payments for ADHD must have incredibly low living costs if she's able to survive and thrive on under £6k a year. Even if she's receiving the mobility component at the higher rate (doubtful if she's only living with ADHD and no other disabilities or long term health conditions), that would be just over £10k a year. How much PIP you can get and for how long - Citizens Advice

So what do people with ADHD who are similarly affected to my partner, but do not have a significant other to assist them with those things do?

Gosh, don't go pointing out facts & truth! It spoils the foaming!!

Despite this very factual and informative post, people will STILL not believe that such people exist!

OP, I agree that things simply aren't sustainable at the levels you've quoted ...

GDP of the UK is somewhere between 4 to 4.25trillion pounds.

PIP spend on ADHD is somewhere between 400 to 600 million.

The "unsustainable" thing is complete and utter nonsense.

The UK spends £125 billion on education, 55 rising to £80billion on Defence, £180billion on Pensions, £250billion on the NHS. But no, it's the PIP spend on ADHD, a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, that the country apparently can not afford 😆