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

[MaimAndKilloki]

.. 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?

Wow! i am pleased to hear he is doing well. My husbands claim is taking so long because they asked for information from a Dr dh had never been to. (we moved) i had told them he didn't ever see this doctor and they attempted to dazzle me but it didn't work! i went mad! they are now contacting his current doctor, she was so worried the first time she seen him she had him admitted to hospital that day.

It makes you laugh, why would anyone put them self through at]ll this if they were not sick! it grinds the ill person down so much, causes more stress and anxiety!

The thing is unfortunately the person you see is not looking for the truth but to see if there are lies...I on the other-hand have been doing my job long enough to see the truth and not jaded enough to believe everyone is on the take...I firmly believe most people who claim are in dire need...there will always be cheats and liars but i cannot base my decisions and actions on the minority but on what I percive...

This whole reassessment thing started under Labour, not the Tories.

Why?

Because even they knew that Incapacity Benefit was being widely abused.

If you are a genuine claimant you hopefully have nothing to worry about. It wont make the process any less stressful though, unfortunately.

yanbu

:(

I think all politicians should be forced to live on the 'average wage' - that would soon enlighten them to the problems of the 'average person'... it's all very easy to have such a cavalier attitude when you earn what they do, then to boot you have a multi millionairess wife...

I hope that none of you lose the little money you are getting now :(

ccpccp We do though. When DH was last assessed they decided that actually he was healthy (quote of the day, "patient suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome ... patient shows no sign of fatigue") and cut us off. Totally.

We had no IB/IS (yes, that's right, I got cut off too as we count as one claim due to living together), and no HB. It took 3 months to get income again, during which we were told to sign onto JSA if we wanted money, but that if we signed on then we'd be ineligible for IB/IS no matter the result of the tribunal. It took 6 months to finally get it all sorted.

And now they have changed it to ESA, and are talking about redoing the test. Which means now we are worried we'll have to go through all the shit again. Only 4 months after we thought we'd got a break.

I'm not sure if they've decided to change the time between "work focused interviews", but if they've changed it to 1 year then we've got till December to go through it all again.

Then there's the fact that, conveniently (), a huge amount of people on IB got kicked off IB at the same time as us - just in time for a govt announcement that the amount claiming IB had fallen. Funny that.

Can't help thinking that the current govt might find that just after they've announced all kinds of changes (especially aimed at stopping "scroungers") it would be mightily convenient to find that the number of claimants suddenly drop.

I refer you back to my original post, is it worth putting genuinely disabled in awful situations (like me and DH have had) in order to catch a few cheats?

YANBU. I worked for Citizens Advice for years so my blood boils when people come out with crap about how well off people on benefits are. As the saying goes, do the maths! I also came across far more people reluctant to claim what they were entitled to (particularly older people) than people trying to screw the system.

Maim thats the same as me. I have M.E./CFS, although I luckily get In Cap. Yes Labour brought in being reassessed which I was last year and was due anyway. Now the Tories are doing it again, what a complete waste of money! I was assessed for DLA by one of their docs, I was shaking like mad and he had to stop me doing the exercises, he wrote that I was fine though. I lost that appeal as I wouldn't go to the court that was 4 hours away to attend the hearing so they just failed it. I reapplied the next year on exactly the same criteria and got the lowest rate care! Makes no sense.

No, people who are genuine do have something to worry about actually!! Not all illnesses can be 'proved' and its a case of 1 doctors opinion (and M.E. can be controversial) and how they see you that day.

How can you show that you are totally exhausted and aching so much? Conditions fluctuate on a daily and hourly basis. Its hardly fair that 1 assessment from an unknown doctor is the basis on whether you are awarded benefit. It should be an assessment from your own GP, the doctor who actually knows you.

I over do it the day before (housework and a short walk up hill, normal everyday things to everyone else) so they can see how tired I get.

Its a sodding nightmare, and like a previous poster said, genunine people tend to play down their disability whereas someone fiddling the system really puts it on. I could hire a wheelchair and sit in that if I wanted to, but I don't want to lie about it, why should I?

I know of someone who was assessed in his home for his 'bad back', he crawled up the stairs, made it look really good, got his benefit. Then the doctor saw him carrying all his shopping around outside the supermarket. This man is someone who knows how to really fiddle the system and always gets away with it.

I also know of someone who claims they are agrophobic. Doesn't stop them going down the pub all the time though.

Good luck to everyone on here, all the genuine ones who are worried for a good reason. I'm even more worried now after reading the awful conditions people have and have still had trouble!

The problem with CFS MaimAndKilloki is that it is exceptionally difficult to clearly diagnose.

This is why such illnesses are abused. I dont have CFS but I dare say I could make a strong case for IB after a little reading up on the illness on the web, and a few lies.

This makes it harder for genuine claimants like yourself, as testers are going to be much more sceptical of the illness.

Having your benefits stopped for months is not fair, no. I trust they backdated them though?

My husband has copd impossible to fake as its caused by massive scarring on the lungs, that are very visible on X-rays but they still question him and act like he is a fake!

Riven, because disabled people obviously choose to be that way, and have way way to much dignity already!

That attitude actually makes me sick! WHAT FUCKING DIFFERENCE WOULD IT MAKE

People who would be claiming illegally would not care if it was money voucher!

but i would! its bad enough our lives are tainted let alone getting filthy looks in tesco's when i walk in with my food vouchers like a fucking knob!

Far more people are not claiming benefits who could, than people cheating the system.

Met someone a few weeks ago who had got into serious debt through not claiming.But guess that will never make the headlines.......

I've been told there is a target to get 10% of people off ESA and onto JSA. Problem with all the work capability assessments etc is of course that ill people can't always attend them, then their benefit is stopped.Then they lose their HB CTB.I'm sure the situation with DLA/AA is going to be similar.

"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?"

great idea, lets make vulnerable people feel even more shit.

Can you pay the chiropractor with food vouchers?

well I suppose they might take them...
or you could save them up for a wheelchair

It's lovely isn't it? Seriously, life when you are disabled is shit. Really shit.

I would give anything to be a "normal" person, I spend my entire time having to think and act differently to "normal" people. Is it really so bad that we are allowed to spend real money? Rather than fake money/vouchers?

Give us some semblance of normality ffs.

Yes, in theory vouchers may make sense. In theory. However you aren't taking into account just how many things people with disabilities need to buy.

Eg.

• as cory said - treatment
• I sometimes have weeks where I can't sit up without help, I still need shopping. How will you make vouchers work online?
• then the really glaringly obvious. How do we pay our bills?

Because if you want us to have vouchers then how will we use them to pay bills? Or should we have some vouchers and some money? How much money? (Fraudulent claimers might use the money)

Then of course you'll want to stop people selling their vouchers. So you can only use the vouchers yourself, not say, give them to a friend or relative to buy you stuff. Which, lets face it, if you are disabled you are quite likely to have to do.

There are so many holes in that plan.

Maybe they should bring back the freak shows, we could earn our keep then