To be frightened about the Government’s plans for benefits reform?

[PilgorTheGoat]

I am one of the millions of people currently on long term sickness benefits. I receive the LCWRA element of UC and PIP due to poor mental health and autism. I have severe anxiety and depression and I am awaiting an appointment to see if I also have PTSD due to sexual abuse in my childhood.

I have tried every element of support offered to me. I’m maxed out on 2 different types of antidepressants. I have had back-to-back (excluding the 6 month wait in between) 12 week sessions of counselling offered via the NHS. I am on a waiting list for intensive CBT due to my possible PTSD. I am currently having twice weekly private, video counselling appointments.

I can’t leave my house alone due to panic attacks. I struggle to meet my own care needs and my husband has to do a lot of the work for us both (although he works full time). I have a very understanding friend whom I force myself to go for a short walk with twice a week in order to stop myself becoming completely imprisoned at home but I find this very distressing and we have to take the same route each time.

I am so, so scared about the government’s plans to end sickness benefits for people like me. We don’t have a load of spare cash, we’re just about getting by. There is no support available. I’ve taken everything offered and my husband has been very proactive in seeking out other services for me to be involved with. I’d love to be better, I’d love not to live in fear but there is no help.

It was me that said about council tax and your screen shot quite clearly says you still have to pay a reduced amount, and that the amount varies by council.

Which is EXACTLY what I said.

You still have to pay.

We have to have some tough conversations, too many people are sitting at home.

How many of those are working from home or have retired before 67, bloody shirkers !

Sometimes people are so unwell they are not able to do those things.

And perhaps people are often that unwell because they don't do those things?

That's utter rubbish as many others on here have pointed out. On this thread and many others.

You have to wait 9 months for SMI before getting it. If you then had any earnings at all you had to start the 9 month clock again. Every time.

I got £100 of help against over £8000 of mortgage payments.

And FYI its a loan. Its secured against your home.

And I've never said a word about Council Tax so don't misquote me.

Try harder.

So did you work that day?

The end result is the same. It’s a vicious circle.

Speaking as a MH nurse, there is a massive massive difference between encouraging someone not to sleep all day and thinking that they can work. In my inpatient ward (most patients under section) there are people who may be able to work when recovered, but unfortunately most just aren’t well enough. Unless you all think a treatment resistant paranoid schizophrenic should be required to get a job?

I don't think anybody is suggesting that people currently residing on psych wards should also be actively job seeking.

They are economical with the facts to say the least

@ThisOldThang except that, as I said earlier, some of my patients have been declined disability benefits. You implied that it was incredibly easy to be awarded benefits based on mental illness. I know that this is not the case.

You think not going for a walk or opening the curtains can make a person so unwell they cannot lift their head from the bed to get a drink? That they piss themselves because they cannot move from where they are?

Mental illness is a spectrum and some people suffer greatly, even if not constantly.

I work with social workers for some of my clients.

Some people with mental health issues qualify for a carer from social services to help them get out of bed and eat breakfast in the morning.

One of my clients was in tears at this suggestion. She didn't want the help. After a few weeks we narrowed it down and got to the point. When she's stressed, she vomits. She doesn't want breakfast because her Dr has told her if she's repeatedly ill she'll have to go to hospital.

She scored 0 points on her last pip assessment and we're appealing for her.

She would be told she has to work. Indeed, she is already being told she's not sick enough to qualify for her preferred method of help, or extra payments.

The whole system is insane.

I've suffered with depression (see my earlier post regarding my brother's brain injury).

I fell into a cycle of drinking, drugs, staying up all night and sleeping all day. I know the feeling of not wanting to leave the safety of my bed.

What I also know is that a job provides me with the structure I need to function. It stops me from indulging my negative tendencies and gives me a reason to go to bed at 10:30 pm and leave the house each morning.

If i didn't work, I think I'd be in a very bad place.

It's really great that this works for you, and I'm glad you're feeling better.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for everyone.

I have horrible anxiety and depression. I am able to work full time because I have an excellent supportive employer who has put adjustments in place for me. This is not most people's experience..... I can't believe the poster suggesting someone with anxiety do a customer service job from home - having people complain and having to problem solve under pressure????

You don't get full disability benefits from a doctors note. You won't get more than £340 a month plus a below market rate towards your rent. You have to pass an assessment with a government advisor to get any higher sums.

Also lots of working people get PIP, it's not means tested so getting disabled people back into work won't necessarily lower the benefits bill.

Due to austerity, the government have invested less and less in healthcare, education and community schemes - isn't it more likely that this is having a long term impact on the health of the nation, than loads of people have randomly decided to fake illness for sums of money that in no way cover the cost of living????

Well, I have bipolar and work full time, claim no benefits. I can tell you that my job does nothing to prevent me suffering crushing periods of depression or manic highs. When I'm that unwell the only thing I can do is be signed off sick and burn through my savings untill I'm well enough to return back.

It's funny how each illness and how it affects a person is different for everyone, isn't it?

Mental illness is a spectrum and some people suffer greatly, even if not constantly.

This with knobs on ! I have suffered from poor mental health in the past, had suicidal thoughts, planning my death etc I was extremely lucky that a friend recognised that I wasn't in a good place and pushed me to see a Doctor and I am still here. I was still outwardly 'functioning' if you can call it that.
I see people, through my job, with much worse mental health issues than I experienced, usually chronic and non curable, and it makes me appreciate how fleeting my experience was, mine lasted long months, theirs decades. I also see people who would benefit from intensive longer term support, who probably could come out the other end as a fully functional member of society, unfortunately that level of support is practically non existent ! And I don't blame them for the lack of decent services which could help them.

The problem with mental health claims is that the extent of the claim - depression, anxiety etc cannot be measured/ascertained as accurately as physical illness, so there is more room for fraudulent claims. Wasn’t it reported that MH claims had gone up by 41,000% in ten years last week? Something has to change. One thing could be banning private ADHD assessments as these are also giving rise to huge increases in claims.

You don't even understand the system, how claims are made, how assessed.

If you're going to spout on, you really should educate yourself just a little about the realities.

Isn’t it an amazing coincidence that poor mental health has increased exponentially since we’ve had a government that’s cut every public service to the bone?

In my city the local housing allowance for a room in a shared house is £509 a month. The average rent is £750. You're not entitled to the 1 bed rate til you're 35.
Why would a young person choose this? They'd have to make up the difference from their benefit money. Plus hardly any landlord would touch them. Young people are much less likely to be in council properties with cheaper rent.
Or maybe they're genuinely affected because their future feels hopeless- not like many can even afford uni as an escape anymore.

I have seen far more people permanently damage their health pushing themselves to keep working despite awful bullying and pressure.

One thing could be banning private ADHD assessments as these are also giving rise to huge increases in claims.

Are they ? most people I know with a ADHD diagnosis are working. Also I am not sure the Conservatives will be interested in reducing people's access to private medical care ?

I have ADHD and so do my children. You would have to be very seriously affected and untreated to get anywhere near getting PIP.

Perhaps we could look at what is causing people to suffer such mental ill health and fix that?