To be shocked that over half a million people under the age of 35 are out of work due to long-term sickness

[puncheur]

I had no idea. These numbers are extraordinary. 560k people between the ages of 16 and 34 economically inactive due to long term illness.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/24/500000-under-35s-out-of-work-long-term-illness-uk?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

We're a sick society so it's no surprise that a large number of people are deemed incapable of working. Life's shit. If we want to make it better for ourselves we need to make it worse for other people - in the case of making the country better, we need to make it worse for those abroad. There's only so much happiness and prosperity to go around and a long time ago we seem to have decided to give up our own to improve those of others. Long term sickness and poor mental health are the inevitable consquence.

Don’t want to get sucked into the debate but just to say you can receive DLA/PIP and work.

ESA is the benefit for not working because of illness/disability.

Access to work is available for support in the work place but there’s been so many problems with this that a lot of people have lost jobs.

I was thinking similar - given the number of people that are off sick with stress, could it have anything to do with management practices (embraced by/forced on the public sector as well as the private) that have made what used to be relatively low pressure jobs enormously stressful? Teaching and childcare and how they are treated by OFSTED would be one example. Another is the NHS where it’s not just management practices it’s trying to deliver a service with chronic underfunding and staff shortages which causes people to go off sick or leave because they can’t cope and then it spirals.

This is a subject that I have a lot of interest in. Mostly work related. The government are throwing more money at 'mental health' treatment than ever before but it is not 'working' as numbers keep increasing. I've discussed this personally with a range of practitioners, including charities for the young and wider mental health support organisations. They suggest there is a decrease in resilience particularly amoung the young, a medicalisation of mental health and social pressures.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts goldcrestonabranch

Well sure "disability access" can be a thing

One office I worked in had a lift out of service for four months and still scheduled meetings on the third floor

Another one is in a huge building with meeting rooms spread across it, some can be accessed by lifts others can't and if you don't walk quickly enough when one meeting ends at half past and your next meeting at the other end of the building starts at the same time then comments are made

Then there was the building where there were normal external doors and a revolving one. We had a colleague with a guide dog be told that everyone could now only enter the building by the revolving door even though the dog struggled to guide my colleague through it

Then there was a colleague who was yelled at by the receptionist for parking in the one disabled bay because the CEO liked it to be kept free for him, the CEO wasn't disabled, my colleague who was yelled at had a blue badge.

I've seen departments be restructured and coincidentally a far higher number of disabled people be made redundant than able bodied people

I've seen WFH hours be removed from people who can only work with them in place, flexible working arrangements and part time hours turned down "because otherwise everyone will ask for them" etc

So sure many could contribute some useful hours weekly but the reality is if you can't do full time hours, or you have a physical impairment that makes it harder for you to access the qprk space, or you have a higher amount of sick leave then no matter how useful your contribution is employers aren't necessarily all that interested in employing you.

I have a team where their entire job can be done sitting down (coders) and we tend to work remotely. Despite me speaking to HR on multiple occasions about our job advert wording they still only talk about how they want to encourage women into the workspace. they refuse to say that the job can be done by people with a range of disabilities, even though it can, because realistically they don't want to actively recruit people with disabilities.

A lot of people of all ages need medical help but the guardian and independent only focus on the young because of the toxic ageism of the times..also social media and the desire to sometimes weaponise mental health also adds to.this.Plus the cult of living your best life etc.Physical issues are neglected through all age groups.

Where do you live? That sounds like my wetherspoons 😂

Place is half full in the morning with the "anxiety" "depressed" crowd drinking cheap guest ales.

The irony is.. alcohol is a depressant, is exacerbates mental health issues and depresses you further..

People go absolutely years between assessments for disability benefits, and at the moment the system is so overwhelmed with new applications ( a huge surge this year ) that re-assessments/ reviews are being put on the back burner so people wait even longer. It's a mad system that needs urgent review.

Yes this is probably part of it

Plus companies where the culture is to not hire enough people or to not replace people when they leave so people end up working harder and harder to keep up

Then a culture in some companies (and some schools etc) that you will respond to emails in your own time so that you are never "off"

Even jobs that should be less stressful (is stress was correlated to pay) such as retail can be incredibly stressful when you add in sales targets and understaffed, and managers not backing up their staff against the public, and being torn apart if you don't greet the mystery shopper in the "approved" way, meanwhile you can get videoed and torn apart on social media if you aren't perfect

And then the other thing is the automation of "easier" jobs. So maybe at one point Larry who has autism could go to work in a factory where he had a very specific, relatively skilled job turning out a particular part. Everyone knew he didn't really want to interact too much and they left him to get on with his job which he was good at.

Now that job is done by a machine what is Larry supposed to do? Go work in a call centre, speak to the public all day, have his calls recorded and get bollocked if he doesn't try to upsell three times in every call?

Oh a Christmas bash the disabled thread! How lovely.

Well we aren't supposed to drink, or have a day out or a holiday, or go shopping so we certainly shouldn't be daring to celebrate Christmas, we can't possibly be "properly disabled" unless we never leave our houses and are suitably somber all the time..

Happy fucking Christmas 🙄

There are genuine people that can’t but want to work but are unable to due to real sickness.

There are also people imo/e that can work but don’t want to so get signed off sick.

You took the words right off my keyboard @IClaudine.

I just hope some of the judgemental prissies on this thread get to experience what it's like to have or care for someone with a disability at some point, and sooner rather than later, frankly.

Or will they only be happy when we live in a world where AI can identify the future disabled at, or even better, before birth, to all be suitably disposed of before becoming a burden for society? Those that are missed can be left to rot on a winter hillside, wasn't that once the Roman way?

God forbid people with disabilities might have good days and bad days, say, or need some short term help.

There's a massive shortage of assessors as few clinicians with a conscience will do the Tories' dirty work for them, only a handful still genuinely help and that under the radar, given the targets they have to hit.

Good clinicians with a heart are often kicked out of the hiring process early on. From the sound of it though there's plenty on this thread that would be only too happy to be PIP, ESA, or other assessors and take great joy in summarily dismissing all requests for help on the basis of Fred next door and his brand new motor.

How many of the people on here pronouncing these opinions will toddle along to a carol service or mass in a bit and not even see the hypocrisy....

Some of those 1 in 4 will have long COVID and other long term problems from COVID. People with things like cancer are living longer .

Not all those 1 in 4 are born that way or have dodgy genetics. I know people who are disabled from accidents and other acquired health conditions. I for example, developed hearing loss in 2015 and have been told it's very likely down to the medication I was taking.

Mother nature has dictated that 1 in 4 of us Brits will be born defective in some way..

You are being incredibly fucking offensive @EasterBun23 The sad part is I doubt you even understand why.

New wave Aktion T4 project, here we come...

I dont think that sounds unrealistic. Lots of people are born with things and lots of others aquire things as life goes on. With an aging population you end up with a heap of dodgy knees, hips, hearing loss etc.

That survey is skewed. It's conducted through telephone calls (in working hours) and visits to people's houses

Who is going to be more available to take phone calls or be in their house during working hours - the elderly, stay at home parents and disabled people who are either out of work or part time

The government themselves literally say the results are skewed towards people over the age of 65

So if you only interview 0.3% of the population, of which a higher proportion are elderly or disabled then it's not surprising when the results come back saying "guess what lots of people are disabled". Its a biased dataset to begin with

Ask people you work with how many of them have answered a government phone survey. I bet you will count the affirmative answers on one hand.

As for that comment about "crap genes and born defective"...

Isn't that the whole point of tax and NI payments - you pay in when you are able to work in order to get benefits back when you aren't?

Ideally yes it would be great if people paid into an income protection scheme. But people under 34 are already on average going to be earning less than someone 10,20, years older and more likely to be spending much more on housing.
How much money do you think they have free after tax, NI, student loan (12%), pension deductions, followed by extortionate rent, possibly childcare, and constantly increasing bills?

I'm lucky I can work from home or I would be one of those statistics. Since getting Covid and then being in a horrible rta I have lost the physical ability to drive.
I have had to cut hours as I can't stay in one position long enough.
I'm waiting for several operations and scans. It's been 2.5 years and not got an appt yet.

Individuals should take more responsibility for their own living expenses, it shouldn’t fall automatically to the taxpayer to foot the bill when people are too unwell to work.

54% of the population are net benefiters i.e. they pay in less than they get back. But sure let's just point our fingers at the disabled and chronically ill people as if they are the only ones.

So much for glad tidings of comfort and joy...

I do think that low wages and the nature of many jobs means that people are left with long term sickness as a more attractive option.

My DH has a serious chronic health condition/disability but he has a well paid professional job that he enjoys so he makes it work. In fact, work is a release from some of the pain and inconvenience of his condition as it allows him to focus on something else. I can totally see how if he was working in a low paid job that he didn’t enjoy and with no autonomy to manage his own workload he would be far less inclined to carry on.

Perhaps next time offer an opinion? As otherwise it looks rather like you intended for criticism to rain upon the heads of people with chronic illness and then rapidly backtracked when you saw the way the wind was blowing in replies.

I feel intensely glad to be 45 and to have been able to work since the age of 15, including whilst completing my degrees. My life has been absolutely enriched in every way because I’ve never had a major health issue. I’m very lucky.

Is she getting a tutor for GCSE English & Maths

Before the head-on car crash I was a Size 6 Mother, I canoed, swam, walked and had to order my clothes online. Post crash, my knees are ruined - I can't walk. I'd rather work. Sometimes life happens.