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 ....

YY Elinor Ive posted it on several threads to try and bust the "pensioners are being left alone" myth.

I currently live entirely on benefits/Carers/child DLA/child maintenance.

If it wasn't for child maintenance/Carers/DLA we'd have an income of £370 per week. My rent is more than 1/3 of that figure.

And he will also keep being reassesed and reassesed. We are eventually going to see ppl in their 70s keep getting dragged in for constant reassesments.

There's no consistency because some benefits are circumstance related e.g. If you are single, how many kids you have etc. It will also depend on your living circumstances and expenses e.g. Did you run up debts waiting for your benefits or whilst ill that you are paying off? Do you own a house? Are you in social housing? All these things make a huge difference to how far your money goes.

It also depends on if you are on esa/pip as these benefits are seemingly constantly being changed and revoked these days. We used to have a mobility car. We don't now because my DH is now considered not disabled enough for one despite his disability being worse now than when we originally got awarded the high level mobility.

I know a few people on pip or who should be on pip. Everyone I know who has been assessed for pip in the last 2 years has had their benefit reduced or removed. The assessment process for esa and pip is degrading and hugely stressful.

Its not all been sunshine and roses in social housing either.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2901354-Housing-associations-Are-you-having-problems

I know a single person on jsa 72 per week. In some respects she is lucky as lives in social housing. However she still has to pay council tax and all other bills out of this princely sum.
She is fairly malnourished and is the type of person who despite working for 20 years is now pretty much unemployable. Should have retired but they keep upping her retirement age.
She had to pay 6.00 every two weeks to sign on.
She has no computer mobile phone or internet so has to walk to library daily to job search.
Once she was wrongly sanctioned for doing voluntary work.
She had ring an 0845 number to sort it costing her a fortune.
My mum was claiming pension and higher rate disability etc and clearing 250 per week with no rent or council tax to pay. But conversely she had to pay for LA care at 18 per hour.

Actually maybe nearer 200.

@Lordcake, yes so many people are losing disability mobility benefits when they change over from DLA to PIP as the criteria for the motability have been made so narrow with the new PIP. I read the other day almost 50,000 people have lost their mobility cars when transferring to PIP from DLA as the new more narrow criteria mean they are no longer entitled to high rate mobility and access to the mobility scheme. A lot of people with Parkinson's, MS and M.E are effected as they may not be permanently in a wheelchair but can only walk very short distances and with the distance cut down to 20 metres in PIP. from 50 metres in DLA many are no longer meeting the criteria for high rate mobility despite having significant mobility issues. I am sorry your husband lost his car despite now being even worse.

Ps, also to add, some are unable to reliably and repeatedly walk 20 metres yet assessors are still denying saying they can walk over 20 metres. PIP appeal rates are high and I think latest figures are showing 67% win at PIP appeals, showing the assessments are not fit for purpose.

Sleepyowl
It's really crap isn't it? It's completely set up for people to fail the assessments. The paperwork is designed to put you off even bothering. There is no room for the person it's just ticking boxes.

Hope you are staying as well as you can and dont have to face anymore stress for a long time.

Yes single people on JSA are fucked. Incredibly hard to manage on that amount of money.

Helena - I agree that new pensioners are not getting the good deal that older pensioners enjoyed. I cannot believe that all these reassessments, particularly for older people are cost effective - the money saved from paying benefits must be spent on assessors and appeals etc.

An ex neighbour of ours is 65 and he has been assessed 3 times in 6 months and is still fighting for pip.
I am over 20 years younger than my dh and if I ever receive my pension I am sure it will not be such a good deal for pensioners. I believe that the winter fuel payment, free bus pass and free tv licence my dh receives will have been abolished by the time I reach his age.

When I first went on ESA there was no minimum limit to when you could be called to be reviewed. I was called four times in twelve months. Despite conditions being genetic and can only get worse I'm still assessed at least once a year. They're allowed to assess maximum twice a year now, but it's very common to get reviewed after winning (or even during) an appeal.

It costs a fortune.

That said the ESA renewal letters now say they are assessing people for any work, as everyone is better off in work. There's no longer mention of independent medicals. It's a new form and letter, criteria narrowed again, and this covering letter. Honestly I've spent days trying to sort it out and just can't see the point (no help for forms where I live).

Becca you should ask them for the form ESA85, this is the group they put you in for ESA (e.g. support group) and reasoning, it can help for the nest time, to show things are still the same. You can also do something called a SAR which means they send you all the paperwork they use, for free. Also, finally a good site is CAB online or benefits and work, HTH.

Is the form you mention the ESA50 form, or a new version? benefits and work have a guide to applying for ESA..

When I first met DP, he was claiming ESA, DLA, housing benefit, tax credits and DLA for two children and was materially very well off with no financial concerns. 5 years prior to that, he had his own business, his own home and a comfortable lifestyle. Circumstances change dramatically, situations mean that benefits are needed and he is eternally grateful for those that existed when he was in dire straights.

He is now back at work full time. Financially, significantly worse off than when I met him but we manage. The benefits system needs to exist as a safety net. At times he has struggled with stepping away from it and I think that one of the main issues that needs to be tackled is the dependency that becomes ingrained in some people.

It's the new ESA50. It's very different as are the criteria. I've got to get it back this week I've no time to ask them to do anything, anyway I can't use a telephone and letters take far too long.

I can't afford to join benefits and work. Financially things are very difficult

I'm struggling to cope anyway and this form is just making things worse.

Sorry for the derail there op.

I'd give anything to not be dependant on benefits. Anything to be away from this horrendous way of living where I dread post every day. I even have panic attacks about it. Every day.

I don't know how anyone can become dependant on living like this. I feel like a beggar or criminal.

My condition can only worsen and in the last eighteen months it has, massively. Yet I still get people asking me why I don't want to try work (locum GP, social worker two weeks ago, mental health advocate) as I've worked before. Because I can't.

The new form, and criteria, are really really strict.

Maybe the CAB could help? Think I'm due a ESA reassessment soon. In the support group- risk category. I have my form saved online, they do a pdf version. was planning in sending it off again.

This is the online ESA 50 form, to fill in. Is it different to this then Becca?

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/607234/esa-50-capability-for-work-questionnaire.pdf

There's no CAB where I live and no welfare rights support. Since my last renewal appeals are now held at county court. Medicals are not accessible.

No that's the one, it's literally been updated two weeks ago.

The criteria are also now very different. The form I had filled in ready to send off to try and make this easier for me is very different - for example the incontience question is about washing not about being incontient. I'm not able to wash so won't score on that question despite being doubly incontient because it is about how often you wash your clothes and body.

Ability to wash yourself you only get points if unable to wash tummy - nothing for the rest of your body.

The mental health side is strictly for mental health/learning disabilities/neurological disorders - though people could struggle with those things from the effect of high doses of pain killers for example.

I recommend you take a look at the changes the government made to ESA to help you fill it in. I don't have any supporting evidence either as I don't have secondary care anymore.

A disability site I used previously (I left as I was bullied) has had masses of people posting about being in support group and being called for reassessment - obviously intending to move them to work group and much lower rate.

The stuff about being better off in work is on the new covering letter.

My son's DLA award was for life. (He has autism and other conditions). PIP assessment awarded him but only for five years. And he could be recalled and reassessed at any time. It is an obscene, sick, disgusting system and what THIS tory government has done to the disabled, should lose them their election.

Husband was turned down for PIP and as I posted elsewhere on here, the tribunal was held in the local court. Prisoner in handcuffs walked past inches away. He was confused by the aggressive questioning and failed to overturn the decision.

Theresa May is treating the disabled as criminals. This didn't go away with Cameron. This is still happening. Today. Now. In the name of this government. And if you voted for them - in your name. Let's see the Daily Heil print that.