Don't be poor, disabled, sick or elderly . .

[MistressoftheDarkSide]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/apr/19/rishi-sunak-sicknote-culture-welfare-reform-post-office-horizon-conservatives-labour-uk-politics-lastest-updates

So this is a big part of the next Tory strategy to get elected.

I hope the buggers don't get in

Why would I? I'm 56, a bit old.

Also working full time. But yeah, annual leave. Honestly, I'm beginning to think you're posting satire.

Have you checked entitlement to Universal credit ? Because if you are in the support group and you do not have a partner or significant savings then you would be eligible for a top up of UC ?

Axe to grind much, @JenniferBooth?

Mental health is known to improve with purpose and having a meaningful life, getting a job is exactly what is needed if you have poor mental health!

Ofc most people would be severely depressed stuck in day in day out and feeling hopeless! Of course they are going to feel lonely - isolated and miserable. No chance of improving their lives or having any money to follow their dreams and ambitions. No purpose or sense of achievement or accomplishment.

Being unemployed is a one way ticket to dreadful mental health. I wish more people would realise that rather than compound the issue. If you are sectioned that is different but otherwise there are jobs available for most people.

There is not enough MH resources to go round now, let alone suddenly "freeing" them up so people can swap benefits for them. I used to know loads of people under CMHT. Nowadays, the only people I know under them are people in active treatment. No one is just under them for monitoring now. That is all down to GPs...many of which don't have a particular interest in MH issues.

I need my benefits to pay bills and eat. On what planet is it wise to swap either of those to get therapy (and I have had my "fill" according to the NHS).

If I remember rightly though you don't get PIP anyway which is what he is proposing I think?

I can't believe you actually used the word "commie".

Joe McCarthy has been dead and gone for decades, ya know.

It is a weird choice of word, isn't it?

Oh it’s alive and well alright sadly! You can see plenty of posts on here.

Someone im close to has been waiting five years for his knee replacement
a. he has been phoned several times by the NHS asking him if he still wants to remain on the waiting list
b. at his last appointment regarding this they did a complete about turn and told him his knee appointment was caused by his stroke. But the knee problem started before his stroke. He has always worked manual jobs but is now retired. Gaslighting fuckers

I have a partner and a child. I'm not entitled to any UC. I could leave him to claim UC, but I don't want to.

Believe it or not, I want to get better and work and not have to put up with this BS narrative about people signed off sick as swinging the lead. Some people do get awful diseases through no fault of their own. It can happen to anyone at any time. Unfortunately it doesn't happen enough to those judgemental people who victimise disabled people.

Definitely agree with this to some extent. I work in a small team, around eight of us. Four suffer from quite severe anxiety and MH issues, but it's a really supportive environment and they manage to turn up for work day in, day out albeit with a struggle. One underwent a severe trauma over a year ago, it's unthinkable really that under the circumstances she has actually been able to return to work but because it's such a supportive environment she has rather than going onto benefits which would have been the alternative( no partner ).
Many people with MH could get back to work in a supportive environment but it's often not available. I work with a lot of these people and they have literally been off work now for so long I doubt they would be able to return to the workforce ever. Many are completely unemployable.

It’s perfectly fitting. What many are proposing on here is communism in all but name, because they can’t be bothered to make anything of their lives - and they don’t want anyone else to.

A quagmire of utter misery and lost opportunity is not my idea of utopia

You've never worked in mental health, have you, @Polishedshoesalways ?
Yes, work is good for you. My DS loves his job. But he will never be able to work full time because his myriad health conditions, for which no cure exists at present, do not permit it. He has been very lucky to get a job that suits him, with an understanding employer who makes allowances. Such jobs are like hens' teeth

For people who are worse off than he is in terms of their MH - the UK's mental health services are so bad that they cannot get someone to a point in their recovery where they can take a job, hold a job and benefit from a job. Waiting lists are huge. Thresholds for access to services are very high.

But you know all this, you just don't care.

Well I'm 61 and DD27 is disabled so if they do get in again we're stuffed.

Loads of people take the piss. I take the piss by paying lots of additional voluntary contributions to my pension. I work for the LA so I put in £100 they put in £350 and then it’s not earnings for UC so they give me extra. So for a 55p salary sacrifice I’ll get £4.50 pension. Bonus money if you manage to get it low enough to qualify for fsm one month and can apply for uniform grant. I have about 250k in equity in my house and a small mortgage. Life isn’t really a struggle.

It is shameless but within the rules. I’m sure lots of people struggle. Lots of people don’t. Possibly the rules should be tightened.

I work in mental health!

So do I. I hope you aren't patient facing.

How do you know what anyone posting here has made of their lives? Bizarre comment.

Again, what employer will take on someone that has not worked for decades? Or someone who has fluctuating health issues?

Not everyone who has not worked for years is a SAHM, or a carer. They will be people who have been off for MH issues, and have now been fit for work. They wont have been off training, or picking up useful skills. They will have just been surviving. Do you know what 'forced to find work' looks like?

Sorry, but it is a worry for me. I have not worked for 14 years. Highest qualification is a very out of date GNVQ (they were last issued in 2007... so no one will know what they are!). I have MH issues. I want to work and get out of this trap... but who is going to take the risk with me? The risk for me to be plunged into more poverty is very real one on my life.

If you pay 45% tax then you are privileged to be earning that much to do so. You probably spend more on eating out than I get paid in a month.

I am saying this because the academic research reliably informs most of us that it is a lack of purpose, fulfilment and direction that impacts mental health.

The lack of structure, malaise and lack of meaning can be crippling.

Of course I am, and you know as well as I do that work can be protective.

How can someone who can't even face getting out of bed until noon and needs alcohol for their first drink hold a job down though? They'd be sacked first week. Some people with mental health problems can work and some can't. You're just generalising. Should be left up to the individual and not some faceless bureaucrats following certain rules.

@XenoBitch have you tried to find work? You sound like you've written yourself off. Your MH issues might improve with a bit of work. There's plenty to be had out there. Every restaurant is looking for staff, every nursery is short staffed, plenty of jobs in hospitals in various roles.

You can have purpose and meaning without paid employment. This is some trope that needs to die a death.
Otherwise, you are just saying that people what are unable to work and "contribute" are just useless.

For some people, their MH is maintained by not working, as the demands and stress can make things worse for them.