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

I actually don’t know anyone who works cash in hand, or fraudulently claiming sickness benefits.

I do however know people who should be getting benefits but are having to fight for them. A friend with MS had her PIP withdrawn and her motability car had to be returned. She had to go to court to get it reinstated. She can’t walk at all. She’s a wheelchair user. Her hands don’t work properly, and she has very severe cognitive impairments which present like dementia type symptoms. She needs 24/7 care. It’s criminal that seriously ill people are being treated like this.

As long as people have phones and social media yes they can do it but don't expect Starmer not to be tough on so called shirkers...and we can't even move abroad cos of brexit.Time for mumsnet to support basic income and stop expecting life to be changed massively by AI.

I mean stop expecting life not to change massively.When you all talk about your kids retirements I have to laugh and sigh.and the nasty blaming of poor er boomers that goes on.

I have worked in the past. I just get fired, either due to me struggling in the workplace, or being managed out. Same with college courses too.
I have been sacked when working for a family company. They could not keep me on.
So I am on UC. Believe me, I wish things were different. Even a NMW job would make me feel rich compared to what I get now. But I would not even get an interview if I sent my CV somewhere. A dirty DBS wont help either.

If the government increased minimum wage to encourage people back into work they would help millions of people with mental health issues. Work has improved my anxiety and depression more than any medication or therapy ever has done. It is far too easy in this country to opt out of work. I did it myself for years but am in a far better place now that I am working.

The sole purpose of the world of work as it stands is to make as much money as possible for your employer's shareholders while being paid the lowest amount possible as minimising overheads such as wages is intrinsic. Technology replaces people too.

Employment is not designed to provide meaning or satisfaction or to support mental health because most industries are not therapy centred.

Environments that support mental well- being are few and far between and employer's will naturally favour those best suited to generating profit.

Many jobs don't pay enough to live on to start with.

I don't know where your Utopia is located, but my experience and that of many others suggests it's fictional.

Of course I know that. But it has to be the right kind of work, and the right kind of employer. Even then it won't work for everyone. I'm surprised you are unable to add this bit of nuance to your posts.

Your assumption that someone who is posting on MN during working hours must be unemployed tells me you are probably not a great person to be around vulnerable people with mental ill health.

This!!!

But it is not about the money you can earn for many with MH issues... it is about the demands, hours, effort... and impact on their illness.

Thank god we can make it all go away by pretending the resulting cost to healthcare is due to lifestyle choice. Phew!
Yes, it's much easier to believe that the nasty food retailers are all to blame for stuffing addictive unhealthy food down our throat than to accept that we have any control over what passes our mouth. Makes you wonder how some people manage to eat healthily at all or how the majority of our grandparents managed to be slim.

It IS our lifestyle choices that are the issue. Yes, we've become weaker at resisting temptation but that is an educational and psychological issue, not the fault of those who respond to it. It's because we can't accept responsibility and look at blaming anyone else that it's only getting worse decades after decades.

I am defensive because it’s utterly ridiculous and insulting to suggest there are any perks of being disabled. I am fortunate enough to be able to financially support myself. Those who don’t beed
the support don’t get it. The fraudulent minority should feel the full force of the law upon them.

What an odd comment about me being “actually disabled”. Why add that? Did it make you feel good inside?! 🙄

I help quite a few alcoholics to claim PIP. It is part of my job but worries me. They end up getting £500+ extra a month and just spend it on drink. They don't spend it on therapy or a cleaner or heating or nutritional food. It just makes their condition worse. I had a GP have a go at me recently for helping someone claim PIP, ranting that they would just drink more with the extra money and make his job worse ! I helped one alcoholic lady claim it, she had gas and electricity arrears in the thousands that were allegedly playing on her mind but used none of the PIP backpay to clear it, she then got it all cleared by her utility company because she got awarded PIP and that was one of the criteria for getting your energy debt cleared ! For some people like this it would actually be better for them if the PIP money went directly on therapy rather than alcohol. It's awful to see the money make people worse. It worried me immensely.

The ignorance is palpable from this post. This is the sort of thing that happens to me. I don’t muck out horses, but I have good days and bad days, some days I can walk a fair distance, but by God I’ll pay the next day and will barely move through the pain/ stiffness/ muscle spasms.

Sometimes I will take advantage of a good day and see the consequences as a price worth paying because we disabled people like to live life where we can, but there are consequences. Don’t speak about things you clearly understand absolutely fuck all about in future, eh? 😁

Work broke my mental
heath resulting in ill health retirement at 56. I was on much higher than min wage.

I was in public industry. This government have destroyed these too to make them punitive and critical places to work.

Dh in private industry couldn’t believe my sickness policy or expectations.

No need to whinge.

Some of us pay 50% in one country and additional in the UK without DTR on some aspects and we don’t complain. Taxes are a social good and necessity. You don’t pay for anyone, you pay your taxes (that which belongs to Caesar and all that), and the government allocates funds for social spending as they deem fit!

FORTY FIVE percent in caps mean nothing. Unfortunate sods in the UK pay FIFTY percent and like you, still have to deal with decaying amenities!

Even better, the bet365 lady pays millions and she’s not asking to stop paying for you!

(I don’t endorse gambling btw)

Oh, bless your cotton socks.

Do you also think that black people have no reason to fear the police if they haven't done anything wrong?

Services for drug and alcohol abuse are really poor in my area. It’s not my field of expertise but we really need better services to help people manage their addictions. I cannot imagine the temptation of £500 odd flying into your account when you’re in the throes of an addiction.

I think the problem is too many of us have encountered someone who fiddles the system. And as others have mentioned, they often boast it which particularly pisses people off. However, they represent a small percentage of claimants and in turn jeopardise things for the vast majority who genuinely cannot work and need the support. I honestly don't know how we can overcome the negative perception created by a feckless few.

I couldn’t agree more. I’m sick of bigots. The UK has become a country where nobody cares about adversity unless it affects them.

Mind you, I see very little chance of RS & the Tories being elected again. The private schools around me are carefully making plans to help parents survive the possible 20% VAT increase by offering them carrots so they won’t leave and promising not to raise school fees for X years.

I will tell my 88 year old DM this tommorrow Im sure this will cheer her up after having her body wrecked by 60 years of factory work. She didnt retire till two months before her 80th birthday
Fuck me you can spot the pen pushers and laptop class a mile off!!!

I know, I posted because!!!
she doesn’t have fibromyalgia and her daughter is not her carer.!
Even she said ‘it’s an easy one’ to pretend you have.

Try not to be rude please !
and at least read posts thoroughly to understand what is being said.
Thankyou

My Goodness...That's astounding.

It's so wrong.

People are really struggling and the feckless get their debts wiped...No wonder people get really pissed off with the benefits system being milked like this.

What are you talking about? Since 2010, the Tories have not only cut and cut benefits plus every public service under the sun, but they’ve also made them impossible for people to get in the first place. The people who boast are liars, most likely.

No matter how harsh the government rules becomes, there are people like you still saying that the system is easy to cheat. It isn’t! And the government is now whining about more people out of work than ever, which is a situation entirely of their making.

Please read the post that I was tagging on to.
I was referring to the friend as they are lying, they don’t actually have anything wrong with them
Thats why I tagged onto another posters comment

Please read running threads in full to appreciate posters related comments.

Alcoholism is an illness though. No one chooses to be an alcoholic. It can have a devastating effect on your life and health. It is so much more than liking the taste of wine or whatever.

One of the best MH nurses I met used to be an alcoholic. He was a success story.. he had the support to help him overcome his issues, and he ended up working in MH. He told me, when he was at his worst, his benefits were stopped. That did not stop him drinking.. he simply stole from shops instead.

He was not feckless. He was ill.