Dispatches- Britain’s Benefit scandal

[Sunnywalker]

Anybody watched this? It’s made me so angry. Some highlights include a company that can’t recruit an apprentice on 26k because sickness benefits would amount to 24k so it wouldn’t be worth it. 500,000, 25-34 years old on long term sick, a woman who has never had a FT job and claims 35k in benefits, this lady would like to work but says will never achieve the same income if she worked.

This country is bankrupt, public services crumbling! What is going on? Why isn’t there an overhaul!

I understand that LCWRA, the low capacity for work element of UC. is not being reviewed at all at the moment so once you’ve got it presumably you’re on it pretty much forever? Insane.

Well like you said yourself, not all disabilities are visible. Sorry I don't look sick enough for you.

Wrong. I was put on it in 2012 and reassessed in 2023. As I'd only developed other conditions it really was a waste of time

It really isn’t that easy. I know someone who’s diligently been applying for jobs and been turned down for at least 50 because they’re “overqualified”. Obviously you don’t need a degree to stack shelves but apparently it’s actually detrimental to have one.

Do these employers actually want to employ people with health problems? 🤷‍♀️

Theres a difference between those assessed to be be needing health benefits and those either choosing not work, those choosing short hours, to those unable to work. 🙄

personally it was only due to being made redundant that pickled me at the moment but given the choice id rather be working but then its down to companies to offer secure job contracts, how can agency or zero hours be acceptable when there are bills to cover

Well still a long time!

I remember back in the day listening to a government minister justifying the reduction in social housing by saying "poor people will be able to get housing benefit to help pay private rents".

Thus creating a massive poverty trap.

The destruction of social housing has been the worst policy decision of the last hundred years, including Brexit.

That isn't true, as someone who has been looking for any job in the last 6 months i can tell you that you still need to have experience to even get an unskilled job, even the lady at the job centre said i have no chance of getting a basic unskilled job with no experience and working just in childcare sector in the last 20 years

exactly and as much as im sure the public don't want to believe most of the time the companies are not interested

It's limited capability for both work and work related activity. You cannot do work OR the sort of fetching/carrying, sitting standing etc activities associated with most types of work.

It's not for life although (a) most conditions that meet the criteria are not something you easily recover from and (b) it's subject to review.

And how would you treat the sick and disabled and those in jobs not paying enough to live on without support from benefits?

How do you know the real percentage is very low? The percentage of people actually caught might seem low, but many others will not be caught, and these will not be accounted for in your percentages.

Exactly. Benefits don't give people enough money to run as car, severely limiting their job opportunities, and you STILL think they're given too much! Public transport is pretty limited outside of cities too so it is very short sighted.

It’s a household reference - PIP claim for adults and DLA claim for children. Households can claim both. Not one person claiming PIP and DLA but collective.

Not even a job at a supermarket/retail?

An astounding amount of ignorance about mental health in this thread. Always great to see.

That's just not true in many cases.

My friend became disabled overnight and was expected to live on the bare minimum of less than £400 per month until she had a disability assessment. This took well over a year and she ultimately lost her home.

OK but that wasn't how your post read.

Nope. Even graduates are getting turned down.

And what's the point of reassessing someone who was born with something incurable that will only get worse as they get older?

No, I'm not going to rise to this. I have worked hard all my life and continue to do so but what I find abhorrent is "punching down" and attacking those who are struggling at the bottom financially.
I'd rather call to account the arrogant rich like The bloody Duke of Westminster, Prince William and The King who are frankly taking the piss out of us all.

I'm watching the right Dispatches now. If two-thirds of people on these benefits are on them due to mental health illnesses then surely we should be looking at investing in the utterly woeful mental health services we have, rather than cutting their benefits.

Poverty and poor mental health go hand in hand.

Presumably not everyone on LCWRA has something incurable that will never improve?

My daughter has suspected ADHD (still waiting assessment) and the extra money from DLA all goes on her quality of life so she can join in with stuff. She can't go to school as it's excruciating for her to have to concentrate all day, they wouldn't give her a par time timetable, and it was impossible to get support at school, so it goes on a crèche with a ratio of 1:3, two hours away, which the money goes on fees for, as well as travel to and from. Will have to figure out what to do in the long-term, but it shouldn't be down to me to figure it out. We do have a free flat screen TV (aren't all TVs flat screen these days?) but it's because someone gave it to us second hand. I will have to apply to charity grants to get her a tutor, because the DLA doesn't stretch that far.

The could reform the school system to make it suitable for children with disabilities and then so many of us could go back to work, but it's easier to make noise in the papers and documentaries about benefit scroungers, and not actually do anything of long term substance.