to think that IDS should go out and see how bloody hard it is!

[Dawndonna]

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/14/disability-benefits-slashed-half-million?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

'just allowed to fester'

nice.

This can only be a good thing.

After all, we are all in this together....apparently!

Wow, now not even losing a limb gets you a shred of sympathy from these policitians. I can't imagine how those who have lost limbs via army service must feel when they have their own country turning on them.

And FWIW I thought that life time awards were very rare. Not 70% as quoted in this article.

My DH has a lifetime award, well had, because it's going to change. He still gets checked every two years or so.

It's a bit different for former military service personnel who have lost limbs, because they receive a guaranteed income and a lump sum as part of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. I think using them as an example of DLA assessments is more likely to confuse than illuminate.

Yes, shocking and unacceptable way to talk about those on disability benefits.

Can we arrange to cut off IDS's legs and lips and then promise to remove benefits from all disabled people if he can run down the street playing a trumpet?

Lost a limb? You can get a prosthetic one so you can still get around. It doesn't matter if it's painful or gives you sores, you can get around so you're not disabled any more!

I think all of these people need to live as a disabled person for a week.

Surely there's a drug that can be injected to these people so they have a test of what someone with disability or illness has to put up with. Or let one of their child be injected and ofcourse they should be refrained from accessing their millions.

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/14/disability-living-allowance-reform-analysis?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038
A further article commenting on the above.

Several weeks ago his little mate Chris Grayling called disabled people "a waste of a human life"
They are cunts of the highest magnitude.

Dr Evil strikes again... Unless one of IDS's 'festering claimants' helpfully lurches into the Jobcentre waving a can of Special Brew or lights up a joint, just HOW will Jobcentre staff be able to 'tell' that someone is an alcoholic/drug dependant? And don't some recovering addicts receive DLA anyway? Doesn't bear much analysis, as usual. www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/22/jobseekers-alcohol-drug-addiction-benefits-cut

ooh er - posting the title of the above article would have helped [for those who can't face reading more] 'Iain Duncan Smith to signal measures allowing Jobcentre Plus staff to dock allowances for claimants who refuse treatment'

I used to think there was something fundamentally decent about IDS. I was clearly deluded and suffering from some extreme form of (hopefully temporary) idiocy. Stupid stupid man.

They are cutting the benefit because claims went up 30%. Well if you didn't send people to places where they had limbs blown off it wouldn't have risen so fasst.

All this about people never being assessed - I've been assessed four times. I know someone with one leg who is assessed every three years. I think the only people who were not assessed were the ones with terminal cancer- but they can now only claim for a year.

Claims went up 30% because people got better at playing the system. It always happens over time with most benefits, which is why we need reform now.

As a country we are now 30% more disabled than a decade ago. And why is it that we are more likely to be disabled if we live in an area where there are fewer jobs?

Pull the other one its got bells on.

If you are disabled, you have nothing to worry about from these changes.

Oh and I would add that it was Labour who pioneered this new 'tougher' approach to assessment. IDS is just continuing their work.

Were they expecting it to grow back?

I think IDS should go out... into the sea like Reggie Perrin and not come back.

Yes, claims may have gone up (I doubt by 30%) but that doesn't mean these claims have been upheld.

sashh

They are cutting the benefit because claims went up 30%. Well if you didn't send people to places where they had limbs blown off it wouldn't have risen so fasst.

There've been about 2,000 servicemen injured in Afghanistan since the invasion in 2003. They are barely a blip on the numbers on DLA.

The cost of welfare to the taxpayer has doubled since 1997. Are twice as many people disabled as 15 years ago?

carernotasaint

^Several weeks ago his little mate Chris Grayling called disabled people "a waste of a human life"
They are cunts of the highest magnitude.^

Perhaps you'd like to show us where and when he said that, because I think that's nonsense.

So let's just send these disabled people out to get jobs with no financial support to get them back into work, when there are no jobs anyway because we are in a double dip recession?

If you are going to 'doubt' the official figures and the figures in the Guardian, you are going to need to go and look them up manicbmc!

As you well know 'disabled' covers an entire spectrum of ability. One person could easily work, while another not. The new assessments are designed to identify this.

If a disabled person falls into the 'isnt working but clearly could be' category then yes, their life just got a little bit tougher but at least they aren't being written off for life at the taxpayers (and their) expense.

What rubbish about the lifetime awards. I worked in a local authority Travelcard office, so we saw DLA claims constantly. I only ever saw one lifetime award and it was passed around the office to be exclaimed at as it was so rare.

Most of the awards were indefinite, which is not the same as for life, just means there is no set time for it to finish because obviously it depends on their condition. These claimants are reassessed regularly.

Looktoshinford, DLA has nothing to do with whether or not you can work. Working claimants still get it. It's to cover the increased cost of living as a disabled person, such as having to get a taxi after the buses stop running when other people could walk.

Yes but there are people who will really struggle to find appropriate employment who are now being demonised because of these policies. People who may end up losing what job they may find due to so many hospital, and other, appointments. It really is not that black and white. With some disabilities you could have a good few days where you are capable of work and then a week where you can hardly get out of bed. This system is failing the most vulnerable people in our society.

And, no, I will not trust any figures published in a newspaper.

"Several weeks ago his little mate Chris Grayling called disabled people "a waste of a human life" They are cunts of the highest magnitude."

That shocked me so much that I googled for it - and it's not quite true, is it? Even in an article criticising him, the full quote is "employment minister Chris Grayling (below) says this "emphasises what a complete waste of human lives the current system has been"."

Since he (and presumably IDS) are arguing that the current system traps people into poverty via benefit dependency, this is hardly the same as calling a disabled person a waste of a human life - quite the opposite, in fact, since it is saying that disabled people's lives are being wasted, and they (the Tories) are trying to stop that from happening. Whether you agree with DLA reform or not, believe the Tories are bastards or not, that sentiment is hard to argue with.

Getting dla does not mean that you don't work. It is as SC said. It is there to help with the additional costs incurred if you are disabled and it also helps those who are to be able to afford to work.