To think that this government are at war with disabled people and always have been?

[MyopicBunny]

I am assuming that the part of their UC that will be cut is the disabled element? Most people can’t even get this at all if you are disabled. The rules to receive it in the first place are extremely strict.

Why us nobody talking about this? Has our society now become brainwashed with the idea that it’s acceptable to call disabled people with significant needs benefit scroungers?

Why is it the most vulnerable being shat on from a great height, over and over??

How are NHS waiting lists since 2010? Do you think it might have something to do with that?

If you have full work commitments on UC, then you are expected to look for work for 37 hours a week. That is a job in itself. Do you really think that some disabled people will suddenly be able to push past fatigue/pain/MH issues, and job hunt for nearly 8 hours a day? With threat of sanction if they don't... and threat of their claim being closed altogether, which means they will no longer get free prescriptions. So they will be denied their medication too.

Also, if you are in the fit for work group, you will be on considerably less UC too.

its the reassesments for LCWRA that are worrying - tightening up whether you qualify, and then doing away with it altogether. The assumption being that whatever the issue, you WILL work.
I believe Ive read that PIP will be used as the qualifier, which of course is not to do with the actual disability that someone has, unlike for example, DLA for kids, but what you need someone else to do for you.

And PIP is hard to get. Plus you often are denied it, only to be awarded it over 60% of the time if you take it to tribunal - showing a terrible quality of assesment. And whilst you are appealing against the decision, you are cut off all disability payments that you may have had (if this is a usually uneccesatry 3-5 year 'reassesment of a condition that you are not miraculously going to grow out of) and risk sanctions for not now suddenly working / loss of mobility car, poss loss of eligibility for an extra room for a carer/ your own 1 bed place while this tribunal process takes place. Not to mention the stress and anxiety.

In addition, PIP isnt necesarily a marker that you cant work - its an acknowledgement that life is more expensive if you have a disability. So using it as a tool to determine if you can work or not - which is proposed as they phase out the fit to work assesments - is misaligned in its purpose.

From what I have concluded from reading the report on the proposals.
A lot more people are being awarded the LCWRA element of UC than was originally anticipated so they are changing the descriptors. People are awarded LCWRA then stay on it for years and haven't been being re-assessed as the system is overwhelmed. So they are changing the descriptors so that only the most seriously mentally ill people will be awarded LCWRA. they are also changing some of the mobility descriptors. I think basically rather than so many people being put on LCWRA, people with say anxiety and depression will be offered more talking therapy and unless you have major psychosis etc, they will likely now be put in the LCW group rather than LCWRA so will have to take some steps to returning to work rather than having no work commitments. Those on PIP will have a health element added to UC rather than also having to be assessed for work capability. so this cuts down the number of assessments people have to go through for two different benefits.
Those who already have LCWRA will not be re- assessed unless their condition changes, or it was awarded due to pregnancy ( and therefore short term) or was awarded because they were having cancer treatment for a period of time which will end ( people receiving cancer treatment are automatically awarded LCWRA without assessment currently so I don't think this will change).
From 2025 all new claims will be subject to the new changes.
I think we can expect a lot more people to be awarded LCW rather than LCWRA as they are removing the ' serious risk' descriptor.

If you believe that, you'll believe anything.

people with say anxiety and depression will be offered more talking therapy

... and five years on a waiting list for it.

Believe what? That there are very few jobs that are totally work from home?

Isn’t that just saying that if you can work from home, then you should? And will get sanctioned if deemed able to work from home but refuse to do so? I’m not sure I’m seeing the problem, the article doesn’t explain it very well though.

where do you think all these WFH roles will come from esp for many who have not worked for a long time???

Well I think the plan is to recruit a lot more therapists !! I guess whether that happens remains to be seen . To be honest talking therapy is not effective for everyone. I certainly didn't want to engage in it when I had bad anxiety.

Like everything I'm sure there's many factors that play into the figures and if I was conducting the review would try to look at the data 'in the round'. I'm sure it's not straightforward.

well if the talking therapy is actually made available then that would be great. But will it? or will it be some buget version, 2 sessions and your out, because this is about fitness to work, not the underlying issues of poverty, trauma and anxiety brought about by living in the frightening, precarious bottom financial rungs of society.

According to my local NHS trust, I have had my fill of therapy, and wont be offered more.

For those who want some more stats...
https://ifs.org.uk/news/big-rise-claims-means-disability-benefits-bill-70-higher-expected-and-claimants-average

The report finds that:

• The growth in disability benefit claims has been primarily driven by an increased prevalence of mental health conditions. Four-fifths of the rise in the number of disability benefit recipients over the past two decades is accounted for by those with psychiatric conditions (such as mental health problems and learning disabilities) as their main disabling condition. They now make up almost half (44%; 944,000) of all working-age disability benefit claimants

I think the reason people lack empathy is that a lot of the times they don't think the person "looks" disabled.

There are also people who have no comprehension of debilitating anxiety or clinical depression and think "well, we all feel a bit worried or a bit down from time to time - it's perfectly normal, just pull yourself together!"

I think we can expect a lot more people to be awarded LCW rather than LCWRA as they are removing the ' serious risk' descriptor

No extra money in LCW though, so many people will be plunged into deeper poverty, which in turn has an effect on health.

indeed. my daughter has PDA and being told she HAS to talk to this therapist or she will have all her money taken away, is likely to spiral her into sitting under a table at home and hitting herself in the face. But the DWP would see that as a no show, and a refusal to engage

Weirdly I am able to be concerned about more than one thing. Unless you are constantly delivering aid in Gaza right now I'm sure you could too

I've seen adverts for counsellors to work with various agencies offering talking therapies to "encourage" work engagement. They appear to be very target driven. Potential counsellors are expected to work with a minimum of 6 clients daily, back to back, and the rate of pay is shocking.

How will they need to job hunt 8 hours a day? If they are only able to apply for work from home jobs and there are few available it's not going to take long to find them online and apply. Probably a few minutes a day.

Presumably, WFH jobs are not subject to you only having to job search within a certain radius/commute time.
And how do you prove there are none to apply for?

speaks someone who has never been subject to having to provide proof to the DWP

if someone has been awarded LCW, they would be unlikely to be expected to look for work for 8 hours a day, just expected to take steps towards looking for suitable work. Job searching for 8 hours a day is for people on UC ( fit and healthy ) who are in the full work search commitments group.

The trouble @Overthebow is that there will likely be an assumption that a person can work from home. That there must be a suitable job for them. That they don't have a condition that fluctuates so some days/weeks they might be capable or working and others they can't (good luck finding an employer who accommodates that) and so on.

Yes, it sounds reasonable on the face it but the language around it suggests the assumption is if you can't even take up a WFH job, then you're obviously not trying. Never mind the fact that much home work is skilled work that some people with disabilities may not have had the opportunity to gain the qualifications they'd need from it. Never mind that disability is more than 'getting to a job might be tricky'.

This government is very much in the business of finding anyone else to blame for society's problem except them, big business and their rich mates.

Thank you for highlighting this, OP. Disabled people are often forgotten about, except when the government wants to blame them for the benefits bill, or the public need some group or other to label scroungers.

I must admit I'm scared. I'm still on a legacy disability benefit, in the ESA support group. I'm terrified they will try to make me work. I was close to being sacked in the last job I had; I couldnt do the job I'd done for years previously, beford my disabilities took hold. Working from home makes no difference if you're cognitively affected and struggle to learn new things/tasks/processes etc.
And I'm disappointed to see on here that some people weren't even aware of the government's proposals.

Someone I know gets disability benefits for severe social anxiety, which she claims makes her unable to work. She has ASD - she did work in a shop, but finds it hard to respond "in the moment" to difficult situations, so customer facing jobs are hard. She is not in good health, so shelf stacking also tricky. She probably could work some hours from home, if someone could find her a job that matched her capabilities - she writes well, has GCSE C English etc. I think that in days gone by she would actually have had an easier time - she is a very sweet girl and probably could have had the kind of job on a production line that my grandmother and many of her female friends went in to, but she would struggle and be overwhelmed going into an environment where she didn't know people, so it is a non starter. I'm not sure that doing what she is doing for life is going to be great for her mentally either.

I can't believe we've come to this, but this poster is absolutely right.