Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

people who need support shouldn't be cut off..

44 replies

MaimAndKilloki · 13/10/2010 00:26

.. just for the sake of catching a few who don't?

Surely it's better to risk some cheats getting though than risk taking away support from those who are in need?

Especially when we are talking about removing the means to live from those with disabilities?

OP posts:
CrazyPlateLady · 13/10/2010 20:07

I am dreading this sooo much.

I am on In Cap for a long term illness. It isn't going to get better, but as I look fine and its hard to 'prove' I am ill, I get assessed every couple of years. I have just been done (under Labour) and was 'safe' for another 3 years, now I'm going to have to prove, yet again, how I can't work in a half hour meeting with a doctor I have never seen before.

I am absolutely terrified!!!

salizchap · 13/10/2010 20:08

YANBU, I agree entirely.

thefirstmrsDeVeerie · 13/10/2010 20:19

YANBU.

You see all kinds of threads about benefit scroungers on here and NMs. As soon as the OP is challenged they say 'I dont mean you, I dont mean genuine cases'.

The thing is these new rules and changes dont really distinguish between the real and non real cases. They never do. People will always fall between the cracks. Those that are determined to cheat the system will always manage.

If someone wants to claim DLA for e.g. they will pretend they need a wheelchair. Most people with mobility problems play down their disabilities because they dont want to appear needy or useless.

The shamless will always manage to cheat.

Everyone else will be buggered.

BertieBotts · 13/10/2010 20:44

Yes, exactly what MrsDeVeerie said.

Was having a conversation with a friend the other day about single parents (I am one) he said "But you're okay, you had your child when you were in a relationship, it was all planned out, you didn't mean for it to end."

Funny how he says this, because from the outside it's pretty much the opposite. I was 19 when I got pregnant. I ended things with XP (yes, he was abusive, but I had no bruises - so to an outsider I could be making it all up)

northerngirl41 · 13/10/2010 20:44

I can't see how they can cut benefits that much TBH - it's not like they are designed for boob jobs, plasma screen TVs and video games, no matter what the Daily Mail tries to convince you of.

But I do think the money is the incentive for people to take advantage, since it can be abused. Perhaps if they replaced the money with food/clothing vouchers and power cards there would be less fraud without penalising people who really need these benefits in order to live?

Theincrediblesulk1 · 13/10/2010 20:57

My oh has chronic lung disease, at the moment he cant even speak properly! i am too terrified we are unable to work as its a 24 hour job for me to take care of him, not that this is acknowledged at all!
If i am forced to work, he would end up hurting himself or collapsing with no one there to help him.

He was medically discharged from work, its not like we have lived on benifits before.
And i feel under threat every day at the moment. :(

MaudOHara · 13/10/2010 21:00

Its pretty much what I expected of a Tory government - I know they need to save money but there has to be a better way surely?

Mumcentreplus · 13/10/2010 21:06

YANBU...benefits and the reason they are provided and their regulations cannot be determined by cheats but by genuine situations and conditions..

Theincrediblesulk1 · 13/10/2010 21:06

There is just an attack on people who claim benifits at the moment, all spurred on by the government! They are "addressing" people claiming benifits that mount to more than people who are working earn!Why not raise the minimum wage rather than take more away from the poorer!

Also £40 million a day to be a member of the EU? and its people who are ill and unemployed that are causing all the problems?

thefirstmrsDeVeerie · 13/10/2010 21:07

theincredible I know what you mean. My OH has MS. He does work but only part time in the evenings. He can do this work because I care for him and do everything else. I also work but very part time. If I had to work more, OH would have to do more for himself and for the kids, round the house etc. This would probably end up with him becoming very ill and having to stop work altogether. Then I would have to give up work to look after him full time.

So instead of earning some of our money and paying tax we would both be out of work, non tax payers and deeply depressed.

That is the sort of thing that happens when there is a benefits 'shake up'

I am properly worried.

2shoeprintsintheblood · 13/10/2010 21:07

yanbu
I live in dread that some paper pusher will decide dd is not disabled enough

Mumcentreplus · 13/10/2010 21:07

theincrediblesulk have you applied for Carer's Allowance?

Mumcentreplus · 13/10/2010 21:09

Unfortunately 2shoes that can sometimes be the case..

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 13/10/2010 21:12

Oh god yes. One of my closest friends has ulcerative colitis, she is regularly completely incapacitated, but because it is unpredictable she has been deemed fit to work.

She has tried working, and is always sacked because of her illness. Her money was stopped at the say so of someone who did a 1/2 hour assessment last month (not even a physical exam)and she is totally screwed now.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 13/10/2010 21:14

thefirstmrsDeVeerie me too! its really making me lose sleep :(

Mumcentreplus,

We are still waiting to hear from the DLA at the moment, since June 1st, So i don't think i would be able to claim until they acknowledge he needs care! to be honest its all getting me down! He has been signed off work for 2 years now, and its chronic so the prognosis is not good, and they make you feel like your a scrounger i really hate it! its been a source of depression for me.

I have to come to terms with the fact i am going to lose DH (he is only 31) early! but i am also left in limbo for all this time.

Sorry for the rant i just need to vent

dizietsma · 13/10/2010 21:16

YANBU. All they've been doing is cutting from the poorest and most vulnerable, those with marginalised voices: disabled, students, children, lone parents. Everyone who can't afford it is paying for these cuts Angry If we're "all in this together" where is the contribution from the richest 10% of the country coming from, and why isn't their contribution even close to proportionately equal with ours?

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 13/10/2010 21:20

I'm actually torn about appealing re DS's DlA claim (ASD). I'm thinking we could get by without it so maybe best leave it for those that need it. But then that seems ridiculous.

2shoes, I promise you that will never happen, I have faith in that at least.

Mumcentreplus · 13/10/2010 21:21

I have personally met a man who had cancer and was awaiting treatment who was forced to claim JSA...he was obviously unwell imo...I used my discretion and made sure his situation was taken into account when signing but tbh I was sickened he was expected to sign in his condition..Sad

misdee · 13/10/2010 21:22

oh theincrediblesulk have some unmumsnetty {{}}

dh was very ill, and for the first 3 yrs of his illness was not ;disbaled enough' to recieve DLA. (he had progressive heart failure). so we were left in limbo, and his place of work trying to get him backto work, though he physcially wasnt able to.

when he went for his IB assessent, he was lucky in that the doc assessing him had lost a friend of his to the same disease. and signed him off as unfit to work.

they finally awarded him DLA in 2004. in 2005 he was placed on the heart transplant list, and bumped up to HR DLA. last year, 3yrs post-transplant, they lowered his award to LRM and LRC

Theincrediblesulk1 · 13/10/2010 21:25

TheDevilWearsPrimark, I have been told they will say no to 70% of claimants the first time, to put you off! if you don't need it that is different, i too would not claim it if we didn't need it.

mumcentreplus, that is terrible! poor man, i am sure that is not right

Mumcentreplus · 13/10/2010 21:28

incredible you can make a claim without the DLA decision from the information I have...has someone told you that you have to wait?...I will check for you ...so sorry this is happening to your family ,it's so wrong Sad

Theincrediblesulk1 · 13/10/2010 21:30

Misdee, i don't understand how they figure it all out! i am sure it just goes off who is in the office that day!

Dh has been assessed and deemed incapacitated by the government. But that is not proof enough that he is disabled, i am glad we are not the only ones though, not that i am glad you too were messed about, but just to know we are not alone.

So sorry to hear about your dh xxxxxxx it must be difficult

2shoeprintsintheblood · 13/10/2010 21:30

TheDevilWearsPrimark i hope your right,
Tbh I worry more about the people who will have to "prove" their disability, I think a lot will fall through the cracks, which is terrible when you think how hard there families have to fight already

Theincrediblesulk1 · 13/10/2010 21:32

Thanks mumcentreplus, to be honest i have not got a clue what i am doing with the whole thing, i don't even know who i would claim from! i just assumed that would be the case.

misdee · 13/10/2010 21:33

it is honestly dependant on who looks at your claim. dh applied for DLA 3 times, and the final claim when they awarded it, took 7months! i think it was his doc writing 'at risk of sudden death' swung it for him.

he is doing well now, had a heart transplant in 07 at the age of 28, and is now back at work. it was very very stressful at the time, and i honestly didnt think we would have him alive now. i know his lifespan is considerably shorter than most, but he is here now.