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.

Depends how ill or disabled they are.

Depends where they draw that line.

Labour know we are skint. If the mumsnet mantra about ‘taxing the big corporations’ was remotely truthful they would just do it, and wouldn’t worry about costs. Why aren’t they?

It's no good telling you not to worry, because you can't help it.
I believe it's for people who choose not to work, not people who can't.
There are people who see benefits as a choice , I know one who openly admits he does it. Lies to Drs and assessors.

But genuine claimants will get caught up in this too. And that is a huge worry.

I was really worried about this as well as sibling is on PIP and definitely can't work. Last time they got so stressed out they started throwing things around so that came to an abrupt end.

Disabled parent is retired and receives attendance allowance.

Hopefully it's hot air. I agree partially that work might help some people but that's case by case.

if all those who were actually capable of working were in work then there would be more in the pot for genuine claimants like you OP .If you are not capable of working and they can’t find you a suitable job for example working from home you would still receive benefits . I have two members of my family , one who suffers from a very serious physical illness and has a child with a long term illness as well . She works full time and also received grants for adaptive seating and laptop etc. I also have another perfectly fit young relative who has only had two jobs in her life and receives about £500 per month ( lives with a relative) for doing nothing . Does not look for a job either . This shows the wide range of situations that any government will have to deal with . I don’t think there is a simple answer .

if all those who were actually capable of working were in work then there would be more in the pot for genuine claimants like you OP

This is actually nonsense. There’s millions in unclaimed benefits, it doesn’t get divvied up among existing claimants at the year end.

Is it even fair on employers to make people who can't do the job waste businesses time attending interviews or worst waste employers money paying to find out someone is not fit to do the work their company success depends on them doing and cannot manage but then they can't do anything about it.

if all those who were actually capable of working were in work then there would be more in the pot for genuine claimants like you OP

How does that work when there are already more in unclaimed benefits, than claimed?

Liz Kendall is no Diane Abbott!!

Add in that privatisation loving goon Streeting as health secretary and the second coming of New Labour could be a fair bit to the right of the Blair version.

Don’t you think treasury information of income and spending is available ? I think to MPs it is ? Their normal excuse is not that , it’s “ it will depend on the situation at the time “;

I think a poster just provided the link. Guardian article 4th March, Liz Kendall.

Welfare spending was the single biggest component of public sector expenditure in the financial year 2021-22, at £298.7bn out of a total of £952.3bn. For the typical taxpayer, this amounts to close to a third of their annual tax bill of £6,500 paid directly towards benefits.21 Sept 2023

I know of a man that hasn't worked since the 1990's due to his gammy leg. He fell off a motorbike when on holiday in Greece.

There's nothing wrong with him and he could easily work.

I can't stand this immediate rush to defend the workshy whenever somebody suggests they exist.

I'm afraid that I agree with this 100%.

To take a random example, the populations of say Albania or Romania in the early 90s would have been quite traumatized by decades of hard communist dictatorship. Yet there was no large proportion claiming anxiety, PTSD etc, let alone out of work benefits due to such.
Similarly with Ukrainians currently - whether refugees or in their war torn country.

What job is he going to get now with a huge 30 year gap on his CV?

I know my cousin's friend's sister's window cleaner's dog walker is claiming fraudulently so I support everything Rishi has said.

Excellent point. And the state had already created a lot of uncompensated labour for recruiters, even before this policy proposal.

I can't stand this immediate rush to defend the workshy whenever somebody suggests they exist.

But they are a tiny minority of benefit claimants, given a lot of benefits ( not including pensions and pension credits ) are claimed by people who are in work ?

These ppl would not be loosing thete benifit so don't come at me this is not what I'm talking about !!!!!

I’m going to leave this thread now. It’s causing me more upset, my experience of being raped as a child may not be comparable to those leaving war torn countries but it is still very real to me. The fear I feel every day is very real. I wish I could just “get on with it” I beat myself up all the time as I’m not able to just “get on with it”.

I have a 14 year gap. Should I fuck off and die too?

And are far outweighed by the amount that goes unclaimed too.

But why let facts get in the way of ableist rhetoric eh?!