to wonder why Rishi Sunack hates the disabled?

[drinkingcherrywine]

I am just not sure I can feel any worse right now about how the U.K. is treating its most vulnerable but tomorrow may tip me over the edge. We have had what little societal, health and charitable support there was swept from under us during the pandemic, costs of living have gone up massively (especially for shielding), medical care a distant memory, rent evictions are underway, it gets worse every day.

The government has increased the standard allowance in Universal Credit and the basic element in Working Tax Credit for one year. Both have increased by £20 per week on top of planned annual uprating. This applies to all new and existing Universal Credit claimants and to existing Working Tax Credit claimants.

So no uplift for carer parents of disabled children claiming child tax credit. Or anyone on legacy benefits who will be worse off on UC (majority disabled). If you are a shielding adult you will be vaccinated soon hopefully but will still be told to continue shielding. If you are a shielding child no vaccination for you, stay in for however long we say, could be another year could be longer - no one cares, you are invisible and shall remain ignored.

Shielding means staying in so expensive due to;
no budget groceries via yellow stickers, end of day reduced etc
no going to library to use computer/ask for help
no going to friends/family/public buildings to reduce home heat/electric/food budget
no going to visit offices who won't answer the phone drs/ council/utilities/citizens advice etc
no taxis/public transport
no sharing childcare favours
no organised affordable group trips

Some of this list was all that kept people going before. Life is more restrictive and much much expensive in many more ways for shielding. The assumed 'local' help that keeps being touted as a fix all simply isn't in existence sufficient to bridge the growing chasm.

www.swlondoner.co.uk/life/25022021-disabled-legacy-benefits-claimants-struggling-with-pandemic-poverty/

If you aren't working due to disability you aren't worth it right?

And no being a ft carer and saving society a fortune in caring obligation doesn't count. Being unable to find a job that flexes to include disability or being too unwell to manage paid employment doesn't count.

If you aren't working due to disability then you aren't part of society. No thousand pound uplift so no worries about uplift continuation. As long as everyone understands the disabled's place in our billionaire budget maker's societal hierarchy, right Rishi?

www.jrf.org.uk/blog/20-weekly-uplift-must-be-extended-legacy-benefits

It cannot be right that some of the most at-risk members of our society have not been thrown the same lifeline as those on Universal Credit. It would be operationally simple to extend the £20 uplift to legacy benefits as part of the usual annual uprating decision later this month. The Government has an opportunity to right this injustice, strengthen social security and help many families stay afloat in these turbulent times. This would send a clear signal that they are committed to supporting everyone in our society.

www.z2k.org/latest/why-the-20-uplift-in-universal-credit-must-be-extended-to-those-on-legacy-benefits/

We want to see the 2.2 million ‘legacy benefit’ claimants get the extra £20 a week too. For us, it still beggars belief that the Government thought it was right to give the increase to one kind of claimant, but deny it to others, especially when you realise that three-quarters of those 2.2 legacy benefit claimants are disabled people on Employment Support Allowance.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/100-groups-demand-20-benefits-23025818

He's a Tory, they hate the disabled. They set it out in writing when they published the blueprint for Universal Credit and verbalised that when they said that there was no reason why carers shouldn't work. They don't recognise carers as working.

No, not correct, Mr Sunak hates the disabled who are not Tory donors. Who if they were would have got Covid 19 supply contracts, just as the man who runs Matt Hancock's local pub.

Agreed they could do far more to help disabled people BUT the UC system is worse for disabled people than legacy. Under legacy benefits they still have the Severe Disability Premium, Disability Premium and Enhanced Disability Premium. There is nothing like this under UC and the £20 uplift is measly in comparison. I suspect the £20 uplift is just to get people to move over to UC anyway but does show benefits aren't enough to survive on

£20 uplift ... does show benefits aren't enough to survive on

doesn't it just?

edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/58083

That this House recognises the financial effect that the covid-19 outbreak has had on disabled people; further recognises that research from the Disability Benefits Consortium found that over six in 10 disabled people in the survey had gone without essentials such as food, heating or medication since the pandemic began; is concerned that no uplift was provided to people on legacy benefits such as employment and support allowance, jobseeker's allowance and income support; calls on the Government to implement a £20 uplift for legacy benefits to reflect the additional costs disabled people have faced; and further calls on the Government to commission research to assess the adequacy of benefits for disabled people.

www.indcatholicnews.com/news/40928

Each year, the Government is required by law to review the level of benefits, for example to consider cost of living increases. In April 2020 Mr Sunak increased both Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by £20 a week. That uplift was worth less than the reduction in value of these benefits since 2011. He first announced the increases as a temporary measure during the pandemic, to expire in March 2021. He did not give the extra cash to many people who are sick, disabled or juggling caring responsibilities, through Employment Support Allowance, Income Support and Job Seekers' Allowance. These 'legacy benefits' were excluded from the £20 uplift.

The charity leaders' first calls on the Chancellor are to make permanent the £20 uplift, as a minimum, and extend it to people entitled to legacy benefits.

Do you think people will care enough to show it at the polls?
Ime society are still firmly in the benefits = scroungers camp.
Even with covid, clearly showing us it is socialism that carries us through bad times, some believe that a call to the docs with a bad back and lifelong sicknote is the goal of the leeches.

What can you expect from the Tories. They have hounded and lied about the sick and disabled over the last decade...Atos, etc. They dont care. The nasty party.😰

@Countrygirl2021 can you provide any evidence of widespread cases of people wrongly claiming benefits? If that is a significant issue then how is it fair to penalise legitimate claimants without first resolving that issue?

I 100% agree with you op.

I didn’t intend to have a disabled child needing 24/7 meaning one of us had to give up work & become a carer. To not even be given £10 a day by govn. No childcare exists for such children.

Genuine people find themselves In these situations because of circumstances outside of their control.

He's a Tory, they hate the disabled

Yes this !!

[quote Nacknick]@Countrygirl2021 can you provide any evidence of widespread cases of people wrongly claiming benefits? If that is a significant issue then how is it fair to penalise legitimate claimants without first resolving that issue?[/quote]
Whenever people peddle that bollocks, it's always time for this graphic.

Notice how no one (except me ) ever mentions the unclaimed benefits exceed any fraudulent claims by a factor of fuck off to one.

Although on the other side for some disabled workers being able to work from home (where their disability does not prevent that) has meant some have found the pandemic better for jobs rather than worse.

@Countrygirl2021

Message deleted by MNHQ. Quotes deleted post

Oh my god I don't even know where to start with the amount of ignorance and ableism in this post.

Health conditions affect people differently. To use one of your examples anxiety can be mild or it can be completely disabling. Many physical conditions are similar. So to have done sort of hierarchy in your mind of "acceptable" health conditions based on the name of the condition is complete bollocks.

There is way more tax evasion and unclaimed benefits than there is benefit fraud.

I can't even bring myself to comment on your disgusting comment about people with CFS

Are you a PIP assessor by any chance?!?

Oh my god I don't even know where to start with the amount of ignorance and ableism in this post.

Welcome to Mumsnet. Hope you enjoy it here.

@DGRossetti I wish I could like your post.

The nasty party..

Who for some unfathomable reason keep getting voted back in though.

He's a Tory. You have to be married, successful, white, wealthy and 100% healthy for them to like you. To be really sure of your popularity with them you need to be a millionaire who can donate ££££.

He's a Tory. You have to be married, successful, white, wealthy and 100% healthy

He's of that strain of Tory that is colour blind. As long as you are loaded - you're in. Not sure why working class white voters haven't cottoned on yet.

Coronavirus has opened my eyes to how this government and other people, treat and see the disabled.

Do not resusitate, vulnerable people not vulnerable enough to be eligible for group 6 or whichever group it was. Only changing tack when a celebrity gets involved etc. I looked up carers allowance, and the amount is pitiful. And the hoops to get it were mind boggling.

Sorry to all those who have to suffer with how they are getting treated, on a daily basis.

Tories don't want people to live comfortably on benefits. Their whole ethos is around people taking personal responsibility and creating their own wealth etc etc. How you do that when you have a profound disability, a severely disabled child, or any one of the myriad other things that make it so much harder for vulnerable people is your problem to sort out, in their view.

They truly are the nasty party. I didn't realise the £20 uplift didn't apply to legacy benefits, that's appalling. And the suggestion that it is the fault of people fraudulently claiming benefits for the state of the country's finances, is frankly bollocks, as Rossetti's excellent graphic demonstrates.

And dear god, what kind of country do we want to live in? One that looks at the people in our society who have the hardest lives, and goes, 'nah mate you're on your own'? That's not the society I want to live in.

**11:50DGRossetti

Nacknick

@Countrygirl2021 can you provide any evidence of widespread cases of people wrongly claiming benefits? If that is a significant issue then how is it fair to penalise legitimate claimants without first resolving that issue?

Whenever people peddle that bollocks, it's always time for this graphic.

Notice how no one (except me grin) ever mentions the unclaimed benefits exceed any fraudulent claims by a factor of fuck off to one.**

Your graphic is interesting but doesn't focus on working age benefits does it? There are many who can claim and do. Many people capable of work who don't that don't feature in your pretty picture.

Most definitely not ignorant of CFS. If you manage the psychological causes and use grading, exercise, good diet and enforced routines around sleep rest and activity it can be managed.