AIBU to think the disabled are the next target?

[Locutus2000]

The Guardian

Though Jeremy Hunt said the government was “not in a position” to contemplate a decrease in tax immediately, he said the welfare budget could be hit further down the line to foot the bill.

He told the Times that 100,000 people a year were “moving off work into benefits without any obligation to look for work” – a sign he said showed the system was not working.

The welfare system had to be a “mix of carrot and stick”, with more assistance required to help people find work, given there was “no shortage of jobs”, he added."

Funny how 'carrot and stick' always equates to 'more stick'.

Its a shitty decision to have to make but the Tories have led us to this scenario

Fixed that for you Goblin.

Still a pretty sweet position to be in. All massive house prices have got me is an enormous mortgage over a 30 year term and a lower standard of living than previous generations in my profession would have had.

Most of my close circle of friends who are no longer working in their fifties are doing so because of their massive public sector pensions rather than ill health.

Oh I'm sorry to hear that happened to you too, Twilight. How absolutely rubbish for you.

I wish the house prices were lower for my dc or others so they didn't have to rent

But the state pension isn’t huge, how are pensioners supposed to survive on less. Wealthier pensioners are taxed over income of £12k. So are you saying those still working our arses off until 68, paying taxes should do it for nothing?

Good luck with by that.

It is etiquette on MN to link to sources that are mentioned in posts. Your response has echoes of the "do your own research" mob.

What I have found though is this is a thread about disability. That needs a real conversation about how we make society more accessible for those who can/want to work.

Yet the same core group of pensions are taking over the thread again - making it all about the poor pensioners. It’s so self absorbed. Which is the issue I guess.

I don’t really care - you wouldn’t read it anyway. It’s been out months now.

Possibly but you could argue that most pensioners will have paid some NI for their pension over many years whereas housing benefit/LHA or the housing element of UC is paid to many people who have never paid into the system or paid very little (and in London this means potentially thousands of pounds rent paid by the taxpayer per month for bog standard housing). HB bill will also go up because more and more people will need to have their rent paid because none of the parties will build social housing.

Bad housing also contributes massively to the cost of healthcare - if landlords are encouraged to buy up all the houses because they can get their mortgages paid by the taxpayer whilst spending minimum on making them habitable (to maximise profits) then this puts massive pressure on the NHS due to things like black mould, poor insulation, unsanitary conditions leading to health problems. They are both connected.

Welfare’s growing cos we all die later - old people use 95 per cent of the nhs budget, and most welfare payments are pensions.

But most voters are old.

All of us?

I've never voted Conservative.

Does it matter though? Fact is that this is a wealthy pensioner cohort and this is being achieved at the cost of everyone behind them. Wealth distribution is concentrated in this age group like never before since the creation of the welfare state.

Reminds me of this thread, where another highly skilled and well-employed disabled person was threatened with the sack for no discernible business need.

Fortunately the MNer who was her line-manager was on the ball and prepared to woman the barricades for her.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4522777-Hired-a-disabled-woman-in-lockdown-who-I-now-have-to-fire?page=1

Mostly agree with this but order to shift capital away from property into more productive investments you need a US-style property tac on owners.

How likely is that in the UK?

There are just too many people involved with their hand in the till asking for more.

Its economic rentieriesm run amok.

That type of pension was phased out back in the 90s. Very few are retiring at 55 on "massive" pensions - though a few exceptionally physical jobs (like military and firefighters) still have an early retirement age.

It's a trade off, isn't it? Back in the 80s (when the last cohort to have had these options) were starting their career, public sector salaries were considerably lower than private sector (and bonuses non-existent). But it was known then that public sector offered better job security and better pensions (something that was well known during Thatcherite reforms), and people made their choices accordingly.

Even later, with public sector pensions reform making them less "massive" they (generally) remained defined benefit. And there's no reason why people who want that type of pension cannot move in to the sector that offers them

Voluntary Work is just that Voluntary Work.

Shocking suggestion saying people should be forced to help pensioners and would never Work.

Would you like your mum or dad looked after by someone who was being forced into I wouldn't.

I think it's abit of a red herring to blame Tory voters, I think Labour would have tried to buy votes in the same way. And also not useful to blame boomers, they acted no differently to his younger generations would in the same position. Eg I have been having conversations with people of my generation 50s since about 2005 saying house prices are too high, they often seemed unable to look ahead and at the wider picture.

Porridgeislife
How is it?

Maybe there could be some sort of house where we stick all these people and they do chores in return for a few quid? We could call it, oh I dunno, a workhouse?

My DM and her husband were wealthy pensioners. Hundreds of thousands in savings, property and pensions. They paid their way for everything. Private health care which they eventually had to give up mid eighties due to premuims being a few thousand a month, yes month. Then they paid for their private nursing homes and live in carers. Then they died of COVID. Good thing, because they had run out of money, and we were in the process of selling their house. All their money was gone. Not so wealthy by the end then.

It's really not an outrageous idea. Many (most) countries have a contributory system where you have to pay in before getting anything out and even then benefits are time limited. That's if they have a benefit system. If you don't want to go down that route this is an alternative.