Suicide because of Benefits Being Stopped

[StridTheKiller]

Another casualty of our brutal benefits system. RIP.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/dad-who-took-life-days-28813953

As a disabled person the way you are treated at reviews is dreadful . They have untrained staff who preform odd physical type examinations ie touch yours toes bend down ect . These people have NO medical training . My husband had a stroke during a review !!!! They told him to come back next week . I know other people on different benefits and once a case has been opened they are very quick to stop all kinds of benefits regardless of the genuine havoc this can cause in honest peoples lives ( people who aren’t cheating the system ) . Mental health is not taken seriously by the dwp

Does that include sickness and disability benefits? These benefits are usually a separate stream to out of work benefits whilst capable of work but looking for employment.

I know other European countries with similar size economies give much higher rates for jobseekers who have lost their jobs, but there is a time limit for the higher rates. I haven’t research other similar sized economies disability and sickness benefits in comparison to a U.K. I do know though the U.K. assessments for both disability (PIP) benefits and too ill to work benefits are as another post said set up for the claimant to fail and many have to appeal to get the correct word causing stress and hardship.

• typo in my comment above, ‘Correct award’ not ‘correct word’

I just googled Germany’s unemployment benefits for those capable of work which work similar to France’s I believe. Like France, Germany’s is considerably more generous for up to 2 years (12 months for those under 50) if you have been working for at least 12 months in the previous 30 months. But even if you don’t fulfil that criteria or reach the end of 12 or 24 months depending on age unemployment insurance at 60% of salary, Germany still provides income support. This is according to google €502 euros a month plus housing and heating is covered as long as reasonable costs. In the U.K. the universal credit basic allowance is £334 so £100 less a month and of course no 60% (67% if you have children) of salary for the first 1-2 years if you have been working. I presume France will also still have some sort of support once the 2 years is up and the person is still not working whilst capable of it.

I haven’t looked at German benefit rates for those too sick to work and disability benefits.

I'm on contribution based esa and pip. I didn't get the extra £20 uplift. I'm not entitled to uc

Disabled on UC did get it though. That is what I was saying. You didn't get it as you are not on UC.
I am not entitled to ESA as I live in a full UC area.

France only pays that for two years. I'd say our system is far more generous, being pretty much indefinite.

@Sugarplumfairy65 yes, that's because we were discussing unemployment benefits.

@Puppamumma the benefits system is hardly cruel if somebody can choose to leave their job, claim money to live on and not be required to know the actual laws around whether they are entitled or not 🙄

@ganachee I looked up French unemployment benefits. We're told time and time again that UK sanctions are cruel, but France seems at least similar, and the t&cs do state several times that unemployment benefits are only payable for a maximum of two years (which is reducing to 18 months).

"Unemployment benefits can be stopped if claimants fail to meet their obligations by:
• being unable to document their job searches,
• rejecting a reasonable job offer on 2 occasions,
• missing required appointments scheduled by Pôle emploi,
• refusing to enter a training program, etc.
Benefits can be stopped for a period of 1 to 4 months, depending on the type of violation. Payments can be permanently stopped if the claimant declares false information."

https://www.cleiss.fr/docs/regimes/regimefrance/ann_5.html

www.thelocal.fr/20221121/french-government-slashes-unemployment-benefits/

The ignorance in this post. I am not even going to bother other than saying educate yourself maybe before posting next time

I live in a full uc area too but I'm in the support group and have been for over 5 years

Really? Try having an illness where you can’t really work without it meaning that you can’t look after yourself/travel/have to live in places you can’t use the bathroom because you can’t walk up stairs etc but have to because despite a diagnosed terminal illness you’re told you’re ‘fine’ then come back.

Then you claimed ESA before your area went full UC. I rang the number to claim ESA, and was told it was no longer available and I had to go down the UC route.
I think my area was full UC for a year before I tried to claim.

Eventually, everyone on ESA will be moved to UC. My understanding is was that 2023 was the year for this, but it has been moved.

I have a friend on ESA who moaned he did not get the £20 uplift.. but there is no Severe Disability Premium on UC, so on ESA he was still better off even without the uplift.

"If he was suicidal, it wasn’t the fault of the benefits system. if he wasn’t suicidal, a “brutal” benefits system could not make him hang himself.
Suicidal people will always have a reason.
Its sad, but nobody else is to blame for this. I speak as someone who moved across the country for a man, ended up unemployed and was ultimately left to starve. I didn’t hang myself because I’m not mentally vulnerable"

You don't have to have a mental illness or be mentally vulnerable to feel suicidal.

People kill themselves in prison, people kill themselves to escape a painful situation.

No money and no hope can drive someone to take that final step. No amount of pills or therapy could change that in some cases because it is a life issue, and not a mental health issue.
The man in the OP would not have killed himself if he was not having issues with benefits

I currently live on benefits and I feel it’s enough to live on - for our situation personally- but also agree with PP’s saying how hard it is with a disability.
Despite one of of my four children being severely disabled, we still have to fill in a ridiculous 40 odd page form for DLA every few years, with ‘evidence.’
I get £69 a week carers, my sons on the highest DLA which is roughly £380 a month. On top of that is child benefit for 4 and universal credit.
The total I get each month is around £3400.
we also have higher mobility so we have a car that we only pay petrol for, and a new car every 3 years.
but for a single disabled adult, or couple/single without children, it’s abysmal.

@Lilyhop , for comparison, that is about the same as me earning £60k, after all the tax and NI is deducted, and without the free car. It's essentially a lower middle class income, and you are right. It is more than enough to live a comfortable life.

And I have to fill in a ridiculous tax return each year to make sure I am contributing an appropriate amount.

Well are all the suicides enough blood for you. FFS mind you don't over do the compassion.

What is the alternative? Give people benefits and don't expect them to meet their commitments in terms of attending appointments etc? No matter how low you set the bar, some people will fall under it.

So being on benefits and having to live or rather just about exist on a pittence isn't quite the lark that you anticipated it to be, then. Funnily enough I didn't think it would be.
At least you're being honest about it though.

Poor man

so young

yes, that’s exactly how I see it as well. But I know that it is not the same as say a single disabled adult, as they seem to barely get enough to scrape by.
when my son is 18, he will have the option of going into a residential care setting. He is 14 at the moment, but I’ve already been asked a few times what our plans are for when he is 18, as waiting lists for suitable places can be long. I find it hard to think that far ahead, and think it’s more likely he will be 21 when I make that decision. Once he leaves his school setting at 19, I can’t imagine I would be able to provide a good quality life for him, or for me, and some of the residential settings might be the best for him. As an adult, his DLA is then his, and he will be receiving the benefits and I will go back into full time work (which I know will be hard after so long out of work.) I honestly wish I was at work most
of the time. I have a degree that I was not ever able to actually get use out of. I will be 40 when he’s 18 so have a lot of years ahead of me to work. He has the mental age of a baby, and is 24 hour complex care. Also spends a lot of time in and out of hospital. But the one thing I haven’t had to worry about is money, so for that I am very very grateful.

When I was at the age of claiming ESA, in the support Group, I had various minor strokes, and a couple of bigger ones.

They left me semi/fully paralysed for days and weeks - totally flat physically.

Perhaps I should have seen if I could have found a job as a draft excluder? 🙄

I have worked for the DWP, I have (afterwards) done voluntary stuff with welfare benefits, and I (and DH), are now permanently disabled - thankfully now on pensions and not ESA.

I can see all sides of the argument, and, trust me, as far as disability is concerned, it can be brutal.😗

(Maybe i could get a job as a draft excluder)

Or As that was joke that Kevin Bridges said. What do you mean you cant work because you're paralyzed from the neck down. There's a farmer down the road looking for a Scarecrow.

Well, unless you bother to look into the sums (which most people not reliant on benefits don't have any particular reason to do) you do tend to buy into the rhetoric you're fed over and over. I.e, the benefits system is overly generous and sickness benefits are a doddle to claim. How many threads crop up on here with people complaining about their cousin receiving more in benefits for not working than they do working full time at a minimum wage job?