There's too much animosity towards benefit recipients.

[Threadkillacilla]

Any and every flavour of benefit recipient, disabled, pensioner, out of work, low paid, single parent etc etc.
There's a mean and nasty cohort on mumsnet who are vitriolic in their hatred for them all.
What do people want instead of giving people a basic level of existence?
What do they think will happen without benefits?

If I hadn't got pip I wouldn't have been able to retrain and qualify in my job. I wouldn't have got DSA that gave me the support I needed to do my degree.

I am clearly wrong, and I accept that.

Stripedbag101

But you don’t know what she does or where she lives, what her responsibilities are. She shouldn’t be disadvantaged because of her disability.

YANBU

There seems to be a lot of benefit bashing on MN lately. It makes for a depressing read. I am on benefits, and already feel like a burden. Then you see posters on here saying people on benefits are a drain, should live in poverty, should be forced to "work" full time for £74 a week etc.
A lot of it comes across as foot stamping tbh. "What about ME?" when the CoL payments are being given out. The payments are not rewards for working hard ffs.
If the benefit system was more tightly controlled/ less "generous", do all these people moaning about it genuinely thing that they would be better off as a result? Forcing others to live in misery wont put £s in your pocket.

There was also one who had over £300k equity in their home and was furious at the thought they’d only get an interest free loan to pay the mortgage interest. They thought that the government should pay their entire mortgage for them…and that despite falling on hard times they should get to keep this huge asset instead of considering selling or equity release.

And you know what? This is exactly why I'm real life I never say I claim any benefits.

Because everyone feels they have the right to stick their nose in and judge and say "you don't need it".

I do. It's a gateway benefit.

Fuck this shit.

Sorry I was talking about extreme examples - I honestly wasn’t meaning to take benefits away from the majority people and was only entering into a debate.

the poster earning over £150kk said she didn’t need the extra £100, she needed the additional adjustments the benefits brought. I am absolutely supportive of those adjustments for everyone. I was just debating. This is a very emotive subject and one people really should’ve debate clearly.

I meant no offence

I want to book tickets for a concert. I can't access any other part of the venue except the accessible areas. If I book an accessible ticket then ticketmaster expect me to prove, within 72 hours, my level of disability.

Do you want to have to do that every time you want to book to go to a concert?

This is a really good point.

And l work with people who claim benefits and some of them, (not all), do milk the system- they can afford to smoke and have lovely holidays whilst simultaneously claiming free school meals etc but other people l know who work full time can't afford such luxuries.

Of course we need to support people who struggle but some of them need to help themselves too.

Do l hate people on benefits? Of course not!

Should have rtft cos things what l was trying to say.

I absolutely agree. No one should be disadvantaged because of a disability. We should do as much as is reasonably possible to ensure everyone has the same opportunities. I seem to have wandered onto the wrong side of the argument by asking some questions to the lady who earns over £150k a year. She should of course have all the barriers removed where they can possibly be.

And how am I supposed to do that without evidence in the form of my pip claim? Or my blue badge but oh yeah I need pip to get that. Or what? My consultants have to write letters every time I want to book to go somewhere and they only have 72 hours to do it or I don't go to the concert?

Trivial example but has literally just happened to me.

And it's fucking humiliating having to prove my disability.

I tried not to books free carer ticket too but their system doesn't let you buy disabled and ordinary tickets at the same time so the person you're going with can be beside you so I had to get a carer ticket when I would've paid for it and I don't need a carer anyway.

@Stripedbag101 but you're saying I don't need pip. So what else would you suggest?

PIP is more about levelling up than safety net. It’s purpose is to offset the extra costs of being disabled that abled people do not pay. So wherever you are on the income scale, you can theoretically have the same standard of living as an abled person with the same income as you. PIP is not near enough to actually do this, but that is it’s stated purpose.

Sorry I just meant the cash. I am clearly poorly informed so I back down and apologise

@medicatedgift

@Stripedbag101 didnt say you didn't need pip

They asked you a question about needing the financial support. They've admitted they didn't know about the other things pip brings.

They said it was a debate point and it wasn't personal

David and Samantha Cameron were pretty open about claiming DLA for Ivan as a 'gateway benefit', weren't they? (Despite being extremely wealthy.)

The threshold for free school meals is £7,400 a year.

Lovely holidays?!!

Sorry I was talking about extreme examples - I honestly wasn’t meaning to take benefits away from the majority people and was only entering into a debate

Thanks for clarifying and apologising.

Report them?

Thanks @Stripedbag101

Exactly. Billions are lost to tax evasion (illegal), over a thousand times more than to benefit fraud. And they know who is doing it. Brexit was all about the rich pushing propaganda out to get a Leave vote because they wanted to avoid the EU legislation that was going to close many of the off shore tax shelter tax avoidance (still legal) schemes. They know whose doing it, if you read the HMRC and how they handle high net worth individuals with proven tax evasion, they often do a back door deal and settle their tax debt for a penny on the pound. So even if they caught at it, they don’t even have to pay the full tax they owe.

Yeah pretending that people playing the system to get more than they could by working is a myth doesn't help

I think this is one of the issues @Stripedbag101 unless you need it the only reference point you have is what the gov and media put out.
the smoke and mirrors about skivers and shirkers obscures the true needs people have as described here. All we hear about is safety net and welfare bill.
I would likely be able to claim low rate pip but after seeing the struggle my brother had I daren't, my mental health couldn't take it.