To be concerned about what Liz Kendall is up to with disability benefits?

[Locutus2000]

The Times reporting just how enthusiastic Labour are about targeting the disabled.

I can only hope they are getting the worst ideas out there first, if not I dread to think what is coming in the upcoming review.

I was confident Labour would at worst be no worse than the Tories.

I was wrong.

Free archive link here.

So have you asked your employer if there is anything suitable for him?!

"free car"?

They are not free, they actually cost alot of money and for some families, like mine, we would not r able to function nor get our wheelchair-bound disabled daughter to school.

I'm desperate for a job. If Liz can find me a job that will allow me to work from home and won't sack me when I need time off for various appointments or because I have a brain tumour and epilepsy and sometimes bad days happen, I will jump at it. Find me the job, I'll do it.

If you look into it deeply enough you'll see that their are links to the private American Health and unemployment Insurance industry that goes right back to John Major's tenure as PM. Unfortunately New Labour carried on the same vein and then the Tories went full steam ahead. The US insurance industry has been chipping away at our system of social security and national healthcare for decades, weakening it and fattening us up for the kill.

Employers need to work harder to ensure people with disabilities can manage their working environment. But, the present situation is untenable and needs looking at.
There are people who insist that they are not going to work and their behaviour impacts negatively on those who are genuinely unable to work.

Given even attempting suicide doesn’t get you admitted the people in those wards are in no way shape or form able to work.

I can just imagine how it will go. Someone in full on mania being asked what type of work they can do and suggesting all kinds of bonkers careers.

I didn’t vote for them. They arent the tories but they are still a disaster.

Imagine if we had a working healthcare system and these people could get the treatment they actually need instead of being left to rot on a waiting list.

One is long term sickness benefit, a separate welfare payment from unemployment pay. An astonishing 3 million people are claiming it, up by 1 million in just five years. Two thirds of the claimants cite anxiety or depression or some other form of mental problem. It costs £48 billion a year, more than we spend on the police.

Bloody hell! That's terrible and the govt has got to do something about it. A three-fold increase in claimants in just five years? Sorry, but that's absolutely taking the piss.

"We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard"

Just a flash from the archive of oblivion.

Employers are going to have to wake up and smell the coffee on reasonable adjustments. Even with high levels of immigration (and there’s plenty of antipathy towards that!), falling birth rates are going to mean a shrinking workforce. Employers will have to be less discriminatory towards people with disabilities and older people if they want to attract and keep talent, and ultimately, keep the lights on in their businesses.

Guess thats what happens when you emotionally abuse and emotionally blackmail an entire country You reap what you sow

I remember the companies you mention. They were basically " disability denial" factories that helped the insurance companies get out of paying up! You are not wrong. Wes Streeting can't be trusted either !

I think with raises in pension age this has put the benefits bill up considerably. People can claim PIP until pension age and this can end up being hugely more than Attendance Allowance ( which people claim after Pension age) because it has a mobility component as well so can be almost double the Attendance Allowance rate. So more people able to claim more disability benefit because pension age has risen and then once you have that PIP award it just continues sometimes at £175 a week for the next 20 + years or however long you live for ! I can't believe someone didn't cotton on how much this was going to cost ??
I think mental health is going to be targeted. And I think there's going to be a lot more of checking up on people. I have noticed an increase people being accused of benefit fraud on forums and amongst my own benefit clients. I am really reinforcing with my PIP clients that if their condition improves they must report the change because many many do not and they are clamping down on it. People become completely reliant on the money.
In the past few weeks I have had one client in trouble because he was getting so much money from PIP/ ESA/ Disability premiums, all rent paid for etc and has let it build up in his account when he should have reported it, another has been found guilty of council tax fraud ( over a very small amount of council tax discount claimed) and slapped with a huge penalty, he is devastated.
The benefits bill is shocking and something needs to change. I guess we will have to see what Liz Kendall's spring reforms bring.

I agree that part of the issue lies with employers who need to make adjustments to allow individuals to remain in work or get back into work, For those with fluctuating health conditions it is particularly difficult to find a job. There are also other issues such as individuals sitting on long waiting lists for treatment or in the case of some people with mental health issues the right treatment. I spoke to someone recently who was offered group counselling but who declined this as he couldn't face speaking in front of a group but would have welcomed one to one support. He is currently on a very long waiting list to have one to one counselling. I also spoke to someone who has had three courses of CBT which she says has been of very little help but her GP said this is all that they can offer. More fundamentally we need to look at why there has been an increase in mental health issues and tackle this at source. Reducing people's benefits or making them harder to get is not going to improve anyone's mental health.

It's the constant overhauling things which is stressful. Rules changing. I'd recently heard of blue badge recently becoming available for people with mental health issues, yet now soon after dwp are thinking about targeting them? I can't keep up

It's hard because I see a lot of people with pip who spend it frivolously and seem to have more money than workers, they go on holidays etc.

The number of people on sickness and disability benefits has soared. It was never sustainable

This is part of the problem - claimant numbers have rocketed. I work with a lot of young men who have never worked and are claiming benefits for mental health issues but also involved in a lot of anti social behaviour and sometimes criminal activity. The devil makes work for idle hands.

These people are being conflated with the genuine mental health crisis that we have too - I don’t know what the answer is but we have to do something. Not because of the money but because we’re in danger of losing this generation of lost souls 😢

@Disturbia81 I assume you are talking about people not working? I know disabled people who are poor because they have to pay a significant contribution towards carers. But if people get PIP but do not need paid care or taxis, they can be much better off than someone on minimum wage or a low wage. I know someone who works with people with mental health problems, who all tend to have more money than he does.

Yes I see this too. It does not help them or society

But why would someone want to employ him rather than someone without his problems?

To get people back to work, you need them not only to be capable of work, but also attractive to employers.

Does anyone know - are employers still required to have 2% of their staff with disabilities?

It's not just the actual disability benefits ( up to potentially £175 a person per Week ) though. It's all the premiums etc that go with them too. I'll give you an example of an elderly couple I helped recently. They were both awarded higher rate Attendance Allowance. Now I know others on here will argue with me but I think AA is very easily awarded, there's no assessment etc. That gave this couple £215 a week extra. They then became eligible to claim Pension credit and with this ridiculous ongoing farce of being able to claim two severe disability premiums and two carers premiums for allegedly caring for each other, they were then also eligible for a load of Pension credit, all council tax paid, they would have got all rent paid had they paid rent. They ended up with over 1.6k extra in benefits per month. They themselves couldn't believe it. they thought they'd won the lottery. This was for ONE couple. Of course if they don't spend it they stop being eligible for the pension credit part as it's means tested so they just give it away instead. At least I guess that way some of it is going back into the economy.
My career in benefits is coming to an end soon as my project ends. and in some ways I'm relieved.
I think unless you are in the know about the amounts some actually receive. it is hard to understand why it's unsustainable.

@LizzieSiddal Unless you are highly skilled, it is very difficult to get a job once you are older anyway.

Have you looked at the civil service?

@Miley1967 certainly in England two people claiming carers allowance for each other was abolished a few years ago

@Miley1967 I have never known anyone getting higher rate AA who was not paying for carers. It means a high need.