To think this will just increase pressure on the poorest/vulnerable?

[Zebedee55]

Sanctions increased, putting more (often unrealistic) pressure on parents, carers, and sick/disabled.🙁

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/universal-credit-sanctions-hunt-budget-b2298836.html

All these people who claim to know those who clearly are commiting benefit fraud, I truly hope you're turning them in otherwise, you're part of the problem. Coming here to talk about those who're gaming the system while knowing those who're gaming the system (let's face it, they must be comfortable enough with you for some reason to be so open about it in your presence. Are you one of them?) doesn't change that you're at best, enabling them and at worst, an accessory to benefit fraud.

@sharonlovesredwine been on the red wine today?

You can’t compare the two examples in your post though.

Depression is real and it’s debilitating. My partner has depression now; but is able to work and functions to a point where nobody would know most of the time. He occasionally does have a “blip” where he struggles to function; but fortunately now has the coping mechanism to be able to seek appropriate help, and has an understanding employer.

However, 7 years ago this was not the case. He spent two years in complete crisis, during which time he would call me in a panic because he had a panic attack while standing on the train platform on his way to work, or he has been having intrusive suicidal thoughts, or I’d come home and he had slept for the entire time I was at work. He lost his job because of it, and there was absolutely no way he could either look for work, or attend work.

Fortunately, I made just enough to keep us afloat - and it literally was just keeping us afloat, I had to pay for full-time nursery (£1000 per month; half of my take home pay) plus all the bills etc off one wage. This broke down as follows:
-take home £2k
-nursery fees £1000
-mortgage £450
-council tax £150
-car inc insurance £250
-utilities £80

we had about £50 per month to live off plus £80 child benefit, not including our phones, internet, food, clothes etc.

We were not entitled to any support from the government whatsoever, despite the fact that I was effectively his carer, our toddler daughters primary parent, and also worked full time.

So please, please, do not compare depression to “wanting to pick your kids up from school”

I personally decided to end the friendship as I couldn’t take listening to her complain about her free 2 bed Zone 1 London flat.

Years before someone (not me) dobbed her in for living with father of child but claiming to be single. Council slapped her with a £12k bill for rent that should have been paid (as bf earned over £50k) she declared herself bankrupt and never paid it.

Few years later bf saved enough to purchase (in London!). During this time they also ran 2 cars. The system is easy to game.

I know 2 others who right now are genuinely single mums but one has had a period (years) of living with baby daddy and not putting him on the books.

Nope again I didn’t say that. I do a crucial role, I get paid by the government, I’m doing a post grad qualification through work and I have a child. He’s old enough not to need child care now but when he was younger, we just had to pay it! You could get help via tax free childcare allowance, free 15 or 30 hours for 3 and 4 year olds or the childcare element of Universal Credit.

@KievsOutTheOven if you were working full time then you weren’t his carer were you?

@Moonicorn I have had it now. If you want to know more about autism/ADHD we have this amazing thing called Google, which you can use to look it up and find out that (gasp) it isn't a personality related. Since you are able to use MN, I presume that you are able to use the Internet, which means that your post is at the very least disingenuous.

I couldn’t take listening to her complain about her free 2 bed Zone 1 London flat.
Free? There are no free homes, you just said yourself she had to pay rent so what is it you mean by free?

Where did the rent money come from?

Which is it? A neurotype or a disability? It shouldn’t unreasonable to ask?

Actually, yes. You can be an unpaid carer and still work. Your ignorance is astounding.

OK.... but what if you CANT pay it? Like, your wages don't leave enough money for the basics? Yours clearly did. Mine don't.

I'm not sure they give a toss about that.

A friend was summoned to an interview with a work coach a couple of weeks ago, despite being full-time carer for her disabled son. The work coach flatly refused to take any notice of the fact that she got carer's allowance for her son in addition to ESA for herself and has given her a load of bumph about courses she ought to do.

Amazingly, none of the courses seem to involve finding a cure for her son's ASD and MH issues.

You clearly know nothing about the millions of unpaid carers in this country. Are you British?

Of course she can be a carer and work.
It doesn't necessarily need to be round the clock care.
My mum works full time and cares for my dad with Alzheimer's.
She takes care of all his basic needs so he can live at home.

I'm failing to see why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist. The tories know what a woman is. Nothing else matters on mumsnet.

Its all just a smokeshow. If you really wanted to stop people from claiming long term sickness benefits you'd invest money into the NHS so people aren't off work sick for months/years before having an op, and developing secondary or tertiary illnesses as a result (e.g. I know a lot of people whose weight has ballooned due to not being able to exercise in any real capacity while waiting for a hip/spine/etc. Op...so they are then further at risk of obesity, in some cases have devloped diabetes/high cholesterol which makes the op, when they finally get scheduled far more dangerous), means they have a longer recovery time, lose self confidence etc.

You'd increase mental health provision so that people with mild-moderate depression can get the treatment they need. You'd encourage flexible working so that people could work from home at hours that suit them - if they have a flair up they finish work early and make up the hours on the weekend. You'd increase wages so its actually worth working.

Basically you'd think outside the box rather than penalise people to the extent they give up and either die or magically get better without any support. Saying all that of course some people do need to take a bit of responsibility for themselves and need a push - as someone whose had mental health issues, it shouldnt (apart from the most severe cases) be a case of "I've got mental health so I can't work" but should be "I've got mental health issues so I might need a short time off work while I receive intensive treatment of whatever kinds is best for me, followed by help back into work with appropriately regulated adjustments."

It’s a council flat so the rent is around £700 - and this is fully covered by housing benefit because she doesn’t work. She doesn’t have council tax or service charges to pay either. Heating is communal so pays a nominal amount for that which is more than covered by the £600 and £900 help with cost of living lump sums for those on UC.

Before she got the council flat they asked her to find her own place on the private market and that was £1,800 a month and they covered it.

I really didn’t want to be privy to the intimate details of her finances but she’s an over sharer - ultimately I had to end the friendship as I couldn’t take the injustice.

My mum works full time and is my carer. She doesn't receive carers allowance because she earns too much. But she is still my carer.

Jesus fucking wept. You know nothing. Honestly, you’re just embarrassing yourself now.

I work full time. I am also my husband’s carer. Registered as such with his GP and our LA and recorded as such by my employer. No, it’s not ideal that I can’t be with him 24/7 but I have to work to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. No, it’s not ideal I sometimes have to take time away from work to take him to medical appointments or deal with his health crises but as his registered carer my employer has to provide reasonable adjustments for me to do so.

That is the reality of life for many people.

What happens to your husband when you’re working?

Not to mention she probably saves the government significant money because if she wasn’t doing it, someone else would have to - and they’d need paid.

A significant value of money was saved by me taking on a lot of caring responsibilities for my partner - the alternative was inpatient treatment.

If she worked, depending on earnings she would pay a sliding scale of rent, up to the max of around £700pcm.
But she doesn’t, so housing and council tax benefit cover her accommodation costs fully.

She works 0 hours a week (has been unemployed for many, many years) but the other 2 work hours up to just below the point benefits would start cutting off and one of them supplements with a lot of cash in hand work.

My DB has bipolar disorder. He has a very long cycle, with years and years of crippling depression, during which time he is a total recluse who finds leaving his home terrifying, followed by manic episodes that result in being sectioned for months on end.

At the moment, his condition is controlled by depot injections every 4 weeks, that reduce him to a zombie for at least 2 of those weeks. He's nearly 58, and hasn't been well enough to work for over 30 years.

What job do you think he could do for the last 10 years or so of his working life?

The same as what happens to people who have paid carers during the time that their carers aren’t with them?

carers.org/downloads/resources-pdfs/working-for-carers/unpaid-carers.pdf

This might be helpful; it lays it out pretty clearly so there should be no margin for misunderstanding. There is no excuse for ignorance on this matter.