AIBU to be incensed at the inequalities in the benefit system? (long sorry)

[Libran70]

I read MN every day and think how awful it is that so many people are struggling to cope on inadequate benefits and of the nit picking interviews they have to go through to get anything extra. And then there's ASOS causing so much upset and forcing disabled people to justify their existence.

I know there is a very small minority who play the system but they seem to be the only ones we ever hear about. So many people are struggling, no one should have to go to a food bank to feed their children.

However, there are cases where the money could be shuffled around and aimed at those really struggling.

My cousin is autistic and she lives in a wonderful complex within the community. She has a flat (bedroom, kitchen, living room, bathroom) and there is a care worker on call 24/7. SWs call daily to help her prepare meals, do her washing, take her shopping and so on. She also has an active social life, organised by SS and a local charity. She also has a supported job washing up in an old people's home close by. She sees her remaining parent every weekend and they go on holiday together. She pays for her own holidays and some of the care from her allowances.

This really is an example of excellent care. She was recently reassessed and she is entitled to every penny she gets in allowances and benefits.

However, she has a five figure amount of money in savings. All of this is saved from her benefits and allowances. I hope she has a long life ahead of her but when she dies this money and a lot more, I guess, will go to her family.

AIBU in thinking that this would not be fair? And AIBU in thinking she is getting far too much (at the moment) and there are people out there who need it more?

I'm guessing with the sorts of benefits she gets then she can't have amassed savings of more than £6k otherwise she will start to lose some of her benefits on a sliding scale anyway. On that basis, her savings will cover the cost of her funeral when she dies and there will be very little left over - unless of course you are planning on paying for her funeral as her next of kin. Last funeral bill I saw was just under £4k - and that wasn't for anything flash - and didn't include the 'do' afterwards. So I would guess that no one will be getting anything left over when your cousin dies.

Stella I am a wheelchair user so have very limited mobility I am currently pregnant with twins ( my 5 and 6 th child) amazingly I was actually able to conceive whilst lying flat on my back. Obviously unlike your Ils who must have needed to swing from the chandeliers to conceive their children.
Oh and a mobility car is not free btw it is leased.

when you say 5 figure savings, why dont you just say the amount?

you want us to think it is more than it is, i think

There is a social worker in the complex 8 - 12 every day, sometimes staying later if needed. Each resident also has a named social worker. There are also several support workers and care workers on shifts all day until 10pm. Some of the residents have higher physical needs than my cousin.

Her job is 2 hours a day at lunchtime 5 days a week, helping clear tables and wash up.

Maybe I should have called it the welfare system not the benefit system.

And maybe IABU but I don't think it's mean spirited to wish that those in need has more resources from the limited pot. This is quite the reverse of benefit bashing, such a shame that some people couldn't see that.

Perhaps instead of wanting to remove money from your disabled cousin for the 'limited pot', you should want to get companies to pay their taxes and MP's to stop claiming for bog roll and moats.

Its very mean spirited to begrudge someone with a disability their income.

Hth.

If this is anything like the situation my friend works in then it sounds ideal but is a living hell. A block of flats which are not exactly nice on the roughest street possible a street that people with any choice wouldn't walk down in broad daylight. The 'clients' all have 1-1 care but live ' in the community' every single penny that is spent has to be recorded and to a certain extent justified by the support workers to the social worker which in real terms means as little as possible is spent because no one wants to be accused of misappropriation of someone else's money. Those little treats we might enjoy like a bottle of wine or an occasional take away are extremely rare to non existent. The person living this way will have every part of their life scrutinised. Is it any wonder that someone in that situation ends up with savings. Believe me if someone gets that level of care their life is beyond bad already.

I agree it stinks.

It does not add up. The DWP appointee of the cousin is not doing their job properly. I find it hard to believe that if the appointee is dong their job properly that they can "amass savings" from paltry benefits instead of spending the money appropriately on the claimant and also they should be informing the DWP that the savings limits have been reached.

Another attempt at divide and rule.

"If someone gets that level of care their life is beyond bad already".

Well that fills me with happiness for my DD's future. Thanks.

Sorry fanjo I didn't mean to upset you.

insensed by non tax paying multi nats would be more useful tbh

For anyone else reading and feeling depressed..my DH's auntie ( who has a severe learning disability) lives in supported accommodation with her friend and seems extremely happy.

To get a motability car you don't have to be virtually unable to walk you just have to be in receipt of the high rate of DLA ( not sure how the PIP works for that) and to get the high rate of DLA you have to be virtually unable to walk OR be a very good liar. There are still lots of people who manage to cheat the system. And to the people who have said the cars aren't free are right but they still work out a lot cheaper than buying and maintaining your own vehicle.
I don't think that the OP is saying that people like her cousin shouldn't get benefits but thinks that the money available should be more evenly spread out so that everyone should be able to live comfortably and not worry where their kids next meal is coming from.
As for the idea of vouchers, I think that for some benefits it would be a good idea as there are definitely families who find it hard to budget and dont always spend the money on what it is actually for. I can see the point of the poster who is in receipt of carers allowance who wants to treat herself but carers allowance is her money as a wage for being a carer and is a bit different from the people who think child benefit is for spending in the pub.

There arent lots of people who manage to cheat the system.

The fraud rate is very very low.

And you need lots of supporting evidence from.professionals.

You are spouting myths and untruisms.

So 5hundred what do you think child benefit should be spent on and how should it be paid then?

I don't think it's mean spirited to wish that those in need has more resources from the limited pot.

I don't thnk that's mean spirited either, I agree with you in fact. But I don't understand why you would say that someone who's level of need is so high that they have to live in supported accommodation should be the target for redirecting money away from.

There are plenty of other ways that public money is spent inappropriately, why not be incensed at those instead of your cousins perfectly valid reason for receiving state money?

As for your comment that maybe DLA should be means tested - just no. For lots of reasons.

I'm not spouting anything and the figures of fraudulent claimants are obviously only the ones that have been caught. If they caught up with everybody who is claiming things they aren't entitled to the number would be more accurate and a lot higher.
And child benefit should be spent on things that benefit the child. The clue is in the name.

Go and read a DLA form and all the evidence required then come back.

But what do you class as benefiting a child? Having a roof over their heads, food to eat, warm beds, clothes, shoes or does it have to be something over and above that? Swimming lessons, school trips? Child benefit goes generally into a communal pot and there can't be many families who spend less than that amount on the children.

Figures from both the ONS, DWP, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation all demonstrate that the number if all perpertrators were caught would be around 0.6%. The DWPs own figure for fraud AND DWP error currently stands at 0.4%. So no, not a huge amount, in fact a very small amount, partly because of the soul destroying forms one needs to fill in and partly because the sheer weight of evidence that is usually required.
Oh, and as for far cheaper than running your own car, I really don't know any car that costs £79.15 per week to run, that's £316.60 per month, do you 5hundred

Dla has a fraud figure of less than 1%
The care for the lady who is severely disabled in the original post is provided for out of her care package which is assessed by a social worker working for the local authority, so it has nothing to do with benefits or dla or motobility cars.
The ignorance on here is astounding and so is the envy of the most vulnerable in our society. What the actual fuck.
I am speechless, honestly!

To be fair, the DWP isn't about to tell the nation that they estimate more than 1% of claims is likely to be paid wrongly are they?

I don't have any more faith in this government figure than I do in any of their others.

The lady in the op would have to use her dla mobility rate to pay for taxis as she is too mentally impaired to drive and her Mum would not qualify for it because her daughter no longer lives at home. Just in case you were UN clear on that

I probably should have known how this was going to end up.

Same old, same old.

If the fraud rate was said to be higher, I doubt anyone would be arguing that it was untrue somehow.