To ask the truth about life on benefits nowadays

[ginorwine]

Too many benefit programmes on implying different things- blaming media .
Also on some fb pages reports of increased food bank use and people with disability killing self due to new laws .
My cousin who is a wheelchair user has a sister bedroom and no issues over the bedroom tax and also says she as enough money for what she needs including a fantastic car that picks up the wheelchair and packs it into her boot , sufficient money for nice things , Petrol and meals out and said to me she genuinely feels she has a decent lifestyle .
Amongst the media hype am wondering what the reality actually is these days ....

Thank you. Only caught end of programme.

highfruit You're missing my point. I get ESA and PIP, I know what I'm talking about! The difference financially between me qualifying for PIP or not is huge; the difference in my health is not. That's what I meant by it being "all or nothing". It's not a gradual increase depending on severity of disability; there is a steep cliff edge.

If I get a bit better, I lose PIP and end up barely able to survive, but still disabled enough that I can't work.

I am not on benefits, but I live in central London and am on my own. I can't imagine benefits being enough to live decently here. I know ia few other people on benefits who have extra spending money and a good lifestyle, but they are living at home. They don't have to worry about rent, bills Apart from their phones and other things.

I would disagree that it's 'all or nothing' though RintelsPoint. There are two rates of daily living component of PIP, and two rates of mobility, and the support/work related groups for ESA. So there can be a bit of a gradual increase in severity.

In my disability support group, there is a tangible difference between people who are severely affected who get the support group of ESA and top rates of both PIP components, and someone who is more mildly affected and in the work related group of ESA with no PIP. And there are lots of people in between.

7 ways the Tories have helped Disabled People
Posted this on another thread, too.

highfruit the difference between support and work group of ESA now is much bigger as work group gets the same amount as JSA (those under 25 get the same as well - before it was flat rate).

The higher rate of pip for care and mobility passports people to other benefits, services and in some areas funds. So there is a big gap.

(The difference between work and support group is now around £40, maybe more, per week which is a lot).

The difficulty is dawndonna not every disabled person eligible to vote can get into their local polling booth. Postal votes require someone to be able to manage fiddly envelopes. I know people who can't vote because of their disability. Getting into a polling booth with a wheelchair can be a nightmare (assuming you don't knock it down and break it!). It's bloody frustrating and what the article fails to mention is not one main party had anything positive to say about helping disabled people last time - they were all for cuts and getting disabled people back to work.

The only party that did? UKIP.

@Highfruit, I agree with @Rintelspoint the criteria for PIP are so much more narrow than the old DLA. The severely debilitated still have a reasonable safety net and support, thank goodness, but many people who are not well enough to work but are not as severely ill as some now find themselves not eligible for any extra help despite still having significant health issues and needs. The financial support also can help the sick and/or disabled person's health not get even worse

I am severely ill and receive enough support for which I am very grateful but I know I only have to improve a bit, still poorly, still have mobility issues, and I would lose all my PIP.

@user, I don't task for granted the support I get for being ill, I have always said I am grateful I live in a country that provides for the sick, disabled and those who need a safety net when losing their jobs. However, I do think it's frightening as a disabled person to see that support shrinking and for the process to be so stressful now with frequent assessment and many unjust decisions requiring appeal.

@willow2017, thank you for your kind words. Unfortunately, they only gave me quite a short award and I will be up for reassessment this autumn again, dreadIng it :(

One more thing to remember those in the wrag group for ESA and not support group are still classed as too ill to work currently just assessors decide they may in the future be well enough. So if they are still too ill to work why do their needs suddenly reduce? Somebody sick with a small hope of improvement are less likely too if they can't afford decent food, heating and all the stress of living on the breadline. The government Cutting the wrag group's allowance this month to the same as JSA is a cruel policy.

highfruit I appreciate there are different levels of payments for PIP and ESA. However, there is a big gap between just about qualifying for PIP, and not qualifying for it - and that's largely due to the premiums on other benefits (plus extras like disability rail card). I'm a bit on the borderline for PIP and a fairly small difference in health can mean a huge difference in benefit income - without really much difference in day-to-day costs.

I brought it up because I think it contributes to the mixed messages about benefits - I'm comfortable, and because I know my income can drop a lot at short notice I'm fairly frugal with day-to-day stuff, so I might appear to have quite a lot of money (eg. able to pay for education). But if I was marginally less disabled and didn't get PIP I'd be really struggling - on around JSA level after rent paid - so then I'd be in the group of disabled people living in poverty.

A family member of mine has 2 children and has just got out (in the process of getting out) of an extremely violent relationship. The council have done next to nothing to help her and expected her to stay in a property within yards of him, where he carried on mentally abusing her (think standing staring through windows at 3am)
All she wants is somewhere she can raise her children.

On the flip side of that, I know someone who deliberately got pregnant at 17 (she told us she done it on purpose to get a property)
!) and was given a 3 bedroom house in a very nice area in Kent and received all the money she could.

My DM has a terminal illness and gets PIP but no funding to help with things like adapting the house.

It seems to me benefits are not done even remotely fairly and we there's huge flaws in the system

sleepyowl
thats just typical isnt it?
If they made the awards for a longer period of time, which would be easy with long term disabilities, illnesses etc it would be cost effective. Having to go for reassessment, then maybe appeal will cost the gov a fortune. The companies who do these assessments will be making a fortune.

Fingers crossed for your next assessment you get a human being not a box ticking robot.

Littlelegs your DM should be in receipt of a DS1500 which will entitle her to significantly more help.

Thanks @Willow2017 appreciate your support. Agree with you all said, the cost of these private comapaneis to do the assessments plus high appeal rate costs more than money saved, not to mention inhumane decisions making people more ill. I have been ill for 18 years and severely ill for the last 12 years. Prognosis is uncertain, some can improve, but people who have been as ill as long I have are very unlikely to make significant improvements and if they did it would be very slowly, over years.

The crazy thing is when I filled in my pip I supplied extra info and didn't just tick boxes. I was interviewed in my bed, commode in my room . Yet I think the assessor didn't believe that my illnsss could effect me that badly despite supporting medical evidence.

Little legs
Yr relative who is terminally illmay be able to get attendance allowance under special rules ( depending on prognosis ) or at least dla or aa

Why are goats popping up here?