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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To Think the Tories Are STILL At War With The Disabled?

554 replies

JoffreyBaratheon · 03/05/2017 10:56

As parent of a disabled child, this is what I'm preoccupied with, during a General Election...

Under Cameron and Osborne, and iDS - it was clear the tories were engaging in an all out war on the disabled. Cuts to benefits, and services and of course, the loathed and disgusting PIP replacing DLA...

But what has strong and stable (well, weak an unstable) Theresa May done to reverse the damage? Nothing, so far as I can see.

My son had DLA for life and by some miracle, managed to get PIP but will now have to re-apply in five years. If the tories have the cure for autism and it is going to be made available in 5 years - fair enough. But something tells me - they haven't. We were put through months of hell for that.

Other disabled people and their carers have far worse stories.

Now I might be stupid but I can't see what May has done to address the callous culture of PIP. She is still attacking the disabled. Or am I missing something and AIBU?

I think this should be enough to lose them the election. The fact they have attacked disabled people to the extent they have. Am I the only one not to be hoodwinked by this 'I'm only a vicar's daughter' BS? What she has done to the disabled is the least 'christian' thing I can think of and I want her held to account for it. Anyone else?

OP posts:
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6
LovelyBath77 · 03/05/2017 19:07

Devilish you can just save the ESA50 online form filled in and then keep it for next time printing it off.

gamerchick · 03/05/2017 19:44

What I find alarming when those who post from their lofty perches with their opinion that the bare minimum should be provided... No more no less is unless you are independently wealthy you shouldn't be feeling smug that 'joe blogs down the street is being put in his place for playing the system' is getting his just deserts at the expense of many people's suffering.

You have no idea what is around the corner for you while you applaud the dismantling of the welfare state.

BadKnee · 03/05/2017 21:10

No one has said or implied either of those things gamerchick

There has to be reform of the system. Most agree

Everyone on the thread has agreed that the treatment of claimants is inhumane.
No-one has said that bare minimum should be paid, (I said as a society we have to make decisions on that NOT that that was what we should decide)
No-one is applauding the dismantling of the welfare state.
Everyone has condemned private companies being paid millions to take money away from people.

But people do want to discuss how the system can be improved, how it should be funded, how people who don't play fair should be dealt with. Those are completely different issues

Devilishpyjamas · 03/05/2017 21:33

Thanks lovelybath - it's on my urgent jobs list - I will investigate!

Theresa May went to the same Oxford College as me - many people there didn't really have much 'real' life experience TBH. Said as a fact rather than with a chip on my shoulder. As a leftie liberal I think a little bit of life experience or an ability to empathise gives you insight into people's problems. I don't see much evidence for either from TM.

Babyroobs · 04/05/2017 20:09

I learnt today that apparently under Universal Credit you will not be able to be recognised as sick/ disabled at the same time. So presumably people will be stopped from claiming carers allowance for each other.

TheMonkeyandthePlywoodViolin · 04/05/2017 20:15

If they could 'try to balance the books" Hmm without fucking over my child it would be appreciated.

HelenaDove · 04/05/2017 20:37

"No-one has said that bare minimum should be paid"

Go back and read Rainbows and Unicorns post again.

HelenaDove · 04/05/2017 20:39

She has form for posting about her hatred for women (particularly single mums) and poorer ppl on here.

Oswin · 04/05/2017 22:10

Yep helena she has an odd hatred of single mothers.

NoLotteryWinYet · 04/05/2017 22:28

Goldilocks im sorry to hear this - there's no compassion in any of the systems is there? As for PiP being assessed by poorly qualified people in private firms, it's a horrible joke. It is something the tories have badly mismanaged, it's sad though that Corbyn won't win and he doesn't have a better plan on the whole. We should be looking to concentrate on fixing this mess - it is a big enough problem by itself.

Madhairday · 04/05/2017 22:59

It's not a Tory issue. They're just trying to balance the books. It's a society problem.

No, it's not. It's a Tory ideology which has been clear since 2010 and before. They're not trying to balance the books. They're trying to cut disabled people's benefits no matter what effect on disabled people because their ideology says that disabled people have not done enough to help themselves.

Original poster
JoffreyBaratheon · 04/05/2017 23:34

It's an all out attack. Let's not pretend otherwise. Balancing the books? How is giving millions of pounds to ATOS and CAPITA (public money, txpayers' money) balancing any books?

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Shockedwife · 05/05/2017 03:03

YANBU they are fucking apalling Angry

DJBaggySmalls · 05/05/2017 03:22

YANBU. DLA was to help disabled people with the extra costs we face. PIP is the bare minimum for the most disabled only.
If the Tories really wanted to balance the books they'd go after tax dodgers.

mimishimmi · 05/05/2017 03:57

They at war with all but the very richest of us and have been for a long time.

Antiopa12 · 05/05/2017 07:27

I am a taxpayer, my brother and sisters are tax payers, my friends are taxpayers, my neighbours are tax payers, the people who who treat and care for my son are taxpayers, I am very confident that these taxpayers would rather one Frank down the road who may be swinging the lead, slips thorough the net rather than pile on the pressure for the genuinely disabled.
We are a rich country, we can together afford to give dignity to the lives of disabled people, people who whilst being unable to work contribute a lot to their families and communities, who are very much loved and valued. The true measure of a person is not how much salary they can earn.

The disabled are us, if not now then in the future. We will all get old and infirm, that car/motorbike accident could be just around the corner, our children may be in good health but will our grandchildren be fine?

We need a decent safety net for people, as a society we can afford it.

Badknee as the mother of a much loved severely disabled son I find some of your posting very chilling

Crumbs1 · 05/05/2017 07:58

Antiopa12 spot on. The Tories might be trying to balance the books but are doing a very bad job of it! National debt has risen far more under them than ever it did under labour. I think most Tories are ideologically opposed to supporting the vulnerable and disabled. I think they have a view that food banks should be there for the 'deserving' poor as opposed to the just plain broke and hungry. I think it's going to get worse with an even more polarised society after 8th June and Brexit.

Toysaurus · 05/05/2017 08:14

Eight weeks now or probably more waiting for carers allowance. No money coming in except my child's much needed DLA. We live on his £300 a month an adult and two children. I can't even get into the politics of it. I give up. I'm too tired. You can never get through to people who think benefits are plentiful, easy to get and a life style choice. I loved my job and was gutted giving it up but had to due to my son's disability. I will never get out of the debt created during the wait.

Original poster
JoffreyBaratheon · 05/05/2017 11:34

Toysaurus my son is at uni so I now only get Carers when he is home. Which is about half the year, but intermittent so they make you reapply from scratch every time.

The last payment I had was in - wait for it - August 2016. He has been at home for the whole of xmas, half way through term, the whole of easter... and we had to go to where he is to care for him when he had an accident, and we're still waiting to be paid for basically every time he has been at home or I have been there to help him, since August.

They will only let me apply in blocks of 12 weeks, or so, which means between payments I have this wait of MONTHS.

I can't apply online, as a first time claimant could so I have to go through the whole rigmarole. Over and over.

Sometimes, it is in a queue waiting to get to the decision maker, for months. Then with the decision maker for months.

So yes. My last payment of carer's allowance paid for last August. 8 months ago. I have no idea when the next payment - which is a back payment so money that is accruing them interest, that belongs to me - will come.

I had to give up my career to care for my son and now he's an adult have been out of it too long and am too old to be employable.

I will have no pension.

I saved the state maybe hundreds of thousands because I was a carer.

Under the last two governments, the Carer's Allowance payments have become a joke.

I will repeat. An 8 month back log. So that is all money, multiplied by hundreds of thousands of people - accruing interest for the government. And not in the accounts of the people to whom it rightfully belongs. Who have already sacrificed pensions, careers maybe owning a home - as I did - to caring for their loved one.

Why are people voting tory?

OP posts:
TheMonkeyandthePlywoodViolin · 05/05/2017 11:52

Because they dont give a shit about carers

lottieandmia · 05/05/2017 11:54

As others have said the Tories will always be at war with the disabled. They don't give a fuck about anyone genuinely disadvantaged and in need of help.

NoLotteryWinYet · 05/05/2017 12:03

People are voting tory because they mostly do not know anybody personally that's had this awful experience of trying to get benefits, and some of labour's policies are terrible in different ways, and they also don't look competent enough to execute any of them.

I agree, the tories have been a shower of shit on disability stuff, my family member has had a very stressful time of it and has been made to feel like a scrounger, it pains me to say it but the labour leadership still needs better talent.

What are Corbyn's policies for the disabled? I know about the National Investment Bank, renationalization of rail, minimum wage - but where is the talk about disability benefit reform? It should be right at the front.

lottieandmia · 05/05/2017 12:13

Thing is, it wasn't easy to get provision under Labour either. Now, though with individual councils being told they need to cut their budgets by 40%, everything is even more of a fight.

I live in an area where the council used a specific solicitors firm to bully and harrass stressed parents who were having to appeal to the tribunal to get suitable provision for their disabled child. The firm called itself 'niche' as in their job was to warn people off trying to get this much needed provision. I discovered that our council had spent over £100,000 on this odious firm one year.

I was in the fortunate position of being able to hire one of the best SEN lawyers in the UK and they must have looked at our position and realised that they were not gong to win. But frankly I don't think it is acceptable that we had to pay £10k just to get them to settle. I have an extremely complex child. I dread to think what happens to people who don't have access to resources.

herethereandeverywhere · 05/05/2017 12:14

A vote for Tory is a gamble that you will never need to claim a carers allowance never become or have a family member become sick or disabled, never need to use the NHS regularly, never need to rely on social housing or financial support when destitute. Never need to rely on state education an nothing more (no money for tutors etc).

It is an absolute lack of empathy for for anyone's situation but their own and it's all dressed up as being 'sensible' for 'economic reasons' when it is being 'selfish' for 'selfish reasons'.

Flowers to everyone on this thread doing such a bloody tough and thankless task. Dealing with such hardship and heartache. More power to you all X

Original poster
JoffreyBaratheon · 05/05/2017 12:20

It is an absolute lack of empathy for for anyone's situation but their own and it's all dressed up as being 'sensible' for 'economic reasons' when it is being 'selfish' for 'selfish reasons'.

Well, that nailed it!

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