AIBU to hope that able bodied people will support disabled people against the tory attack on PIP?

[Blackcats7]

I have just been reading posts from many terrified disabled people on a facebook group I belong to.
People are afraid for their lives after the government's recent announcement to stop huge numbers of people with mental health issues qualifying for PIP anymore.
This attempt to scapegoat disabled people has a long history in the tory party and is popular with their traditional core but the attack on PIP is a new low.
Even those claiming PIP for other reasons think they will be the next target and that the tory aim is to pretty much eradicate any support for us with the half hearted usual disguise of "concentrating help on those who need it most" when they know they can't get away with saying what they actually are doing.
Disabled people have votes too (being housebound I thank goodness for postal votes) and I think this current tactic will have a big influence on how those votes are used but my question is how many able bodied people will take this attack on us into account when it comes to the election?
Should this nightmare come to pass there will be blood on government hands because I have no doubt people will die bearing in mind the targets are people with mental health problems and the tory propaganda that they are removing a right to benefit from those who feel a little bit depressed and anxious about life as most people will at some point or another is utter nonsense. Claiming PIP is extremely hard and requires a very high bar to succeed, especially for mental health. Popping to your gp for some anti depressants would not cut it.
So we need your support.
YABU we aren't that bothered or think the govenment is quite right to stop you scrounging bastards
YANBU this is disgusting ableism and we have your back

Are you including those who work who need pip because of their extra disability costs?

Just as this story gained prominence, an access to work scheme was revealed as having been axed after getting 300,000 people into work since 2017. Just FYI.

PIP isn’t about working or not. As with DLA, plenty on PIP do work.

ESA is the out of work benefit. No one, from the DWP, even mentions work, in respect of PIP.

Its paid for different reasons.

If people are aggravated about disabled people not working at all, they would be better talking about ESA (or whatever the system now calls it).🙄

Fix the NHS 😂😂😂😂 love to know their plans for that

"Please define normal every day stresses of life. Because currently I'm dealing with fallout from two bereavements, fighting homelessness and have lost my business and I'm currently supporting my elderly Dad who is staying with me due to fleeing DV from my elderly SM which is in no small part due to failings in the NHS. Those sorts of normal every day stresses?"

I wouldn't have thought they are every day stresses, no.

I meant things like the example I gave - I say I'm a bit stressed at work because its a bit busy = heres a 2 week fit note for work related stress. Another example in work recently - someone didn't get promoted so they cited stress/depression and got signed off when that's just disappointment (and that's not hearsay, I was involved in welfare meetings etc)

I was quite clear that I think there are separate issues here that people lump into the same thing and assume everyone with depression etc. is swinging the lead because of the ones who do probably just need to work through whatever it is to come out stronger. I think they are the ones that undermine the cases that are genuinely needing help.

I hope your situation improves soon, it sounds incredibly difficult ❤️

How many times... Pip is not an out of work benefit.
The mobility part of mine pays for an adapted WAV. The care part pays for any aids that I need, including £40 per week on incontinence pants and a cleaner to do the jobs that I cannot manage, car parking at the hospital twice per week and other things that I cannot do because of my disabilities.
I run my own business from home and although I don't earn a lot, it does cover my everyday expenses and tops up my pip

YES IT HAS
Have you even clicked on the links I've posted? I assume not!

I don’t think it’s that black and white. YABU to tell people how they should vote. I’m sure they can work it out for themselves.

Only skim read the consultation but it appears that after a review in 2016 which criticised PIP assessment for over emphasis on aids and appliances the government didn't make changes it agreed with to shift this emphasis.

It recognises that PIP is not generally spent on aids and appliances but that direct payment pays non direct costs of disability (increased utility, transport, food, clothing, housing etc) whether in work or not and that stopping direct payment would impact non-paid carers who would no longer qualify to receive carers allowance.

Then it merrily skips on to proposed reforms - a catalogue of approved aids and appliances; a voucher scheme to buy approved aids and appliances; a receipt scheme to refund the cost of approved aids and appliances.

But wait. Aids and appliances need only be bought once (and the NHS should supply) so no direct payment is needed.

People with depression and anxiety who have maliciously claimed (let's ignore the claiming criteria for how long impairment has been present and is expected by medical professionals to continue) don't need aids and appliances.

When you think about it, nobody really needs PIP for aids and appliances. Because support is really somebody else's problem. So nobody really needs PIP.

WTF.

I know it’s not an out of work benefit. I’m saying that the money available needs to be focused on those who genuinely can’t work, the severely disabled.

Huh? There are people who only work because they have pip

The consultation also mentions the reason for the uptick in claims is the pandemic - they refer a lot to pre and post pandemic claims. Particularly for anxiety and depression. No shit Sherlock.

Should the disabled (I'm thinking a throwing protective arms) pay for the consequences of government choices that were nothing to do with them (DNR if you are autistic) but just so happened to achieve a huge wealth and power transfer in the favour of the already rich?

I genuinely don't understand what you are on about. Could you elaborate?

No, and I never said you did - you said far too many. How can you know which cases are valid and which are not?

I wouldn’t hold my breath if you expect the majority to the U.K. to step up to protect people with disabilities or health issues who are reliant on benefits. Most people have absolutely no understanding of how the system works, and those who claim it’s unsustainable know even less. People sat back and said nothing about the 2012 Welfare Reforms which resulted in increased cost in administration and the awful consequences of those reforms. It introduced an element of cruelty that plenty of voters still have an appetite for.

It’s very upsetting dealing with vulnerable people who are already being put under stress when going through the process, face financial hardship when they have to go through the tribunal process. It’s even more awful when you’re dealing with someone who suddenly becomes very unwell and they think because they have worked they will be looked after. It’s always a terrible shock to them.

DH claimed PIP when he got his cancer diagnosis, for a few months it enabled him to continue to work. It helped pay, among other things, for the days he needed off work for chemo as his company only paid SSP, it helped with the miles backwards and forwards to hospital for chemo/scans/appointments, it helped cover the costs of keeping the house warmer than we'd previously needed it. It helped cover the hidden costs of illness/disability. Without it he would've needed to stop work and go onto out of employment benefits and how would that help an already broken system?

Funny how there are always magic money tree forests for banking bail outs, funding the arms trade, and a host of consultations leading to diddly squat in tangible terms though, isn't it?

and for batshit schemes to not send people to Rwanda

They could save an absolute fortune on the PIP bill if they just took the time to get the decisions correct in the first place, or at second look.

The cost of appeals is phenomenal. The place here that does them has 15 rooms, each with a lawyer and doctor (independent so not cheap) and some have a welfare rights person as well. They do multiple appeals a day and are so busy it takes around 12 months to get seen.

My DD was called the morning of her appeal and told the panel had awarded her after reading the pack.

When I went as support for someone else I was in the waiting room for 4 hours all in (I didn’t go into the room with them) and I literally saw two people leave having not won. The figures of people winning at appeal are staggering, and they are not all people who suddenly break out amazing medical evidence at last minute. It’s such a waste of money, and such a nightmare for the claimants involved.

You asked if I'd reviewed every case.

Not quite sure what your issue is with what I've said? Ive based it on my factual experiences, and, tbh, no one needs to review every case to know there are people who are claiming to have depression, anxiety etc. when it's just that they're having normal daily shit to contend with. I think they are the ones a lot of people are raising eyebrows over but they lump them in with those who are genuinely struggling.

It's a bit like saying there are far too many people who don't pay their TV licence when they should. I've not reviewed every case, I don't need to to know that statement is true, its obvious (not that I have a problem with people not paying!).

That is an excellent point. How much of the PIP budget is actually money paid to claimants versus the costs of crap administration?

You mean national security? Yes what a waste of money, especially now

I think it’s easy for governments to say disability benefits are too expensive without being transparent about how much of that money is going on administration. When New Labour introduced Atos costs increased by 300% now SERCO have a £350 million contract with the DWP. Private companies are benefiting in a system designed to make it difficult to claim benefits and keep them. They can do this because a lot of people are either naive in who needs that benefits and the likelihood they might need them too. Or, they don’t care about supporting vulnerable people.

National security which has had to be ramped up due to political meddling in national affairs you mean? Trotting into countries and contributing to destabilisation that already exists? Making the UK a bigger target than ever for extremists you mean? That national security? To a point where conscription is being bandied about (ridiculously of course) as a solution.

Everything is connected in a vast global chaos - the welfare budget is really the least of this country's problems, and the people dependent on it in any way are largely so due to necessity and decades of managed economic decline.

Numbers of billionaires in this country have tripled since Covid. I wonder how and why that is.