To be terrified about PIP?

[BobbyBiscuits]

I've tried to blank all this out for ages, but today it hit me when the government basically are saying I'm going to (they want me to) have my PIP cut off?
My main illnesses are severe depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder and severe anorexia. I've severe PTSD symptoms and also think I may have ADHD but have not been able to get diagnosed due to phobia of MH services since I got sectioned.
I now have physical symptoms also and severe osteperosis which I put on my last forms. But had no assessment for several years.
I'm praying this is BS from the Tories and they can't do it anyway as they'll be kicked out.
Or could labour still continue this assault against disabled people?
It would halve my already tiny income, other half is from ESA, and they could kick me off that too even though I can't do anything!?

What do people think?

Private? Private therapists will be beyond the means of many people expected to pay and be reimbursed later. And they won't want to be involved in voucher schemes.

This ^

Labour absolutely will do something similar

Great post

Labour will make it means tested.

They won’t do any of it. It’s empty, populist rhetoric to whip up the curtain twitchers x

@Overthebow has hit the nail on the head here. Private therapists. PIP scrapped and contracts to deliver voucher service awarded to one of Sunak's in-laws/public school chums?

It does seem to be a knee jerk reaction to the statistics but it is building momentum. Only time will tell.

I never thought they would get Rwanda off the ground but that seems to be happening.

@DrCoconut that is exactly what they have done to the NHS. We were all warned of the decline of the NHS years ago when part privatisation came in.

An awful lot of people seem to have very credible or compelling reasons to be on PIP but the fact it it’s unaffordable for the country and the projections are terrifying (see attached). Whoever is in power has to cut the welfare bill, because it’s wildly out of control compared to even 10 years ago. I’m sorry for your worry and hopefully the assessments will be rigorous enough to ensure those who really need the help get it.

I hope this also makes posters think twice before urging others to claim benefits for tenuous reasons because the system being so bloated is what has made these reforms necessary.

If contracts are awarded to the big companies running EAP services the clients will get a 15 minute phone call with a help desk staffed by counsellors, who will be told to offer them a range of interventions and signposting from a directory and will be tasked with gate keeping the affiliate counsellor service and avoid actually offering clients any counselling sessions.

Rishi really is a price twit isn't he? He is trying to make out that some people who have got mental health issues/autism/depression etc are making it up - because they are INVISIBLE illnesses and it's easy to do that apparently. However, some people make up physical ailments to stay off work too!

disclaimer: I know most claimants are genuine/don't lie/DO deserve the benefits etc, but to suggest that people only make up mental health issues and not physical ones is farcical.

Try not to worry @BobbyBiscuits As a pp said, this is ages away, and very likely won't even happen! We will have a new Government before this vile and damaging policy they want to implement even sprouts legs.

Take care and hang in there! You'll be OK !!!

Labour are saying that benefits do need to be reformed, but it will be ages before anything changes, whoever wins the election, so I wouldn’t worry just yet 🙂

I wouldn't worry. It's an ill thought out, knee jerk, "this will get us votes" announcement by a desperate Government.

I think the tories are hopeless at whatever they try but I think trying to wave this away like benefits will stay as they are forever is a mistake.

And who is going to pay for all this?

I get PIP for severe disability ( was thrown under a bus) l also get it for my MH.. but if they could be better for my mental health and help 100% with that l would gladly rather have that than the money..
I have used my PIP for private mental health therapy ( EMDR) after all that's what it's for to help you.

Thanks so much everyone for your responses. By and large I do feel reassured. I lunge from feeling like it's just evil shite from the Tories as a last ditch attempt to cull the sick or financially challenged who won't vote for them, but it won't work, to thinking I'll be totally broke for the rest of my life!

As many say, PIP is not means tested, you can work and even be quite wealthy I think. But the notion they could remove it for mental illness is abhorrent.
That and swapping it for vouchers? For what? I don't live in my own home, I don't need 'adaptations'? Other than for my brain, lol. I'm too scared to have therapy or counselling, as I've had bad experiences with that stuff before.
I use it for taxis to medical appointments for me and mum, food supplements, and grocery deliveries and for general living expenses to chip in to my household bills etc. I don't need a carer at this stage? How can they decide what people should spend it on?!

My heart goes out to anyone feeling worried about these horrible ableist claims by Sunak et al.

Anyway, thanks again for taking time to read and reply, and sorry to have a mad rant!

The irony is they were last going on about scrapping the Work Capability Assessment and using the PiP decision instead. They introduced PiP. They cut support services to the bone. Their needless cruelty over the last fourteen years is why many are ill, if not dead.

They did this. I hate them.

Timely.

@GoodnightAdeline what do you expect disabled people to actually do then? PIP is incredibly difficult to get….this tightening up isn’t a new thing you know. My friend has had two heart attack and now has heart failure and he’s had to go through hell to get benefits. Have you seen the film I Daniel Blake? He had a heart attack and was told by doctors he shouldn’t be working but he was declared fit for work. The stress of trying to get benefits killed him.

Ive got an interview for my son’s PIP claim this week. It was granted for three years and now it’s being reviewed. I do think you’ll be ok OP especially if you appeal but I know you don’t need the stress. People just don’t get it unless they’ve tried to claim it do they? I’ve tried twice and been rejected. One of the reasons was that I was able to converse with the assessor!

It was also heavily implied that I don’t have ASD even though I have an nhs diagnosis!

There are far too many people on PIP, it needs to reformed. In my line of work I see far to many people on it who have declared “ they are too ill to work” when the reality is they could do something. Aware you can work on PIP too but very few do. I don’t know what the answer is, probably better mental health services, but then again people get stuck in a cycle of “I’ll never be better” and don’t help themselves at all, this needs to be tackled.

As much as we can say the Tories won’t get in and this isn’t to worry about (we also thought Brexit would never be voted for but here we are) this doesn’t resolve the issue at hand that the country can’t sustain the growing reliance on hand outs.
Im NOT criticising those who genuinely rely on it, but from what I’ve read they are targeting those with anxiety and depression. Is that such a bad thing? Would those people be off if the they didn’t know there would be hand outs? Is paying for therapy (I know this is something that only works in theory not necessarily practice) not the better idea to get them support and back in work?

I receive PIP for what is now mainly visible, multiple physical disability. It's the only benefit I'm claiming and I'm still working, though harder and for less each quarter tbh. I'm one of the huge number who don't claim all supposed entitlements.
I wouldn't swap my malformed failing body or pain for a disabling MH condition, and my heart goes out to those afflicted by it.

I only finally claimed after being in hospital for over a year so needing to entirely rebuild my life, and most importantly to allow me to return to working. (Take it away or replace it with vouchers, and I'd be forced into unemployment and have to claim other 'benefits' to survive. I'd still need a carer but wouldn't be able to top their pay up.)

Increasingly I am expected to use PIP to pay for medical necessities that used to be part of NHS services for disabled people.

The aim of PIP was always supposed to be to level up the expenses of being disabled, so disabled people could actually access education and work. It was accepted that some just wouldn't be able to, but still should have quality of life.

Don’t be terrified. It’s just more like an expenses system rather than giving over ready cash. If you need the funds are are spending them on things you need then it won’t make any real life difference to you. The equivalent would be my employer paying me extra in my pay every month rather than asking me for petrol receipts as they currently do.