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.

😂Complete ignorance summed up in one post

“Furthermore, we are constantly told that people with autism are neurodiverse... until it comes to getting free money, then it's a disability. Again, some people have autism are also intellectually disabled, but these are in the minority.”

Autism is a neurodiversity AND a protected disability all the time.Those that need disability allowance have a presentation that needs more support,often in order to work. Many people with Autism don’t claim PIP, many people have to claim it.Pip goes some way to level the playing field in the world of work and life. After diagnosis there is very little support with any of it. Those that have PIP and can use it towards private support and other measures which will in turn help get autistic people into work.

Re people with autism and work. Only 3 out of 10 work and there are many reasons why which will vary as to how autism presents and an individual is disabled by it and also intellectual ability and difficulties which will vary across a scale. Many people with autism will have ADHD too and also learning difficulties across a spectrum. Then there are the huge social , sensory and repetitive difficulties alongside a higher prevalence of mental illness and anxiety. For those that can and want to work there are massive challenges on top of all this, none of which is the fault of the autistic individual.

A review has recently been done to look into the issue for those that are able to work. The findings are as follows :-

“The review highlights that the biggest barrier to accessing employment for autistic people is a lack of understanding and negative stereotypes.
It also found that application and interview processes are rarely adapted to suit the needs of autistic people. Autistic jobseekers face barriers from vague job descriptions, ambiguous interview questions and sensory environments. Too often the emphasis is placed on social skills rather than job skills.
Access to reasonable adjustments is inconsistent. In most cases the onus is on the autistic employee to identify and advocate for adjustments. Around one third of autistic employees felt unable to discuss their adjustment needs at all, and those who did request adjustments, over a quarter were refused and more than 1 in 10 found the adjustment was poorly implemented.”

All the above needs to be rectified if we want more autistic people in work. It’s not for want of a will more a dire need of a way and yes unfortunately for the ignorant it will involve money as post diagnosis support, treatment and disability levelling out costs money.

So you see before you spout ignorance you really should do some research.

The barrier to my child working is them being disabled by autism, I would like to know how that barrier can be removed.

When the benefits paid to someone who has a mental health issue equate to what they could get from working it’s a massive disincentive to managing symptoms and trying to work.
I remember a study where people who had been through a trauma were told they needed counselling. They didn’t get any better while they were waiting. Other groups who weren’t told they needed it did much better.
Life is hard these day, complicated and stressful and work hardly pays more than benefits for huge numbers of people.
Time to recognise that everyone has problems. Working people need to know they’re not being made mugs going out to work to support vast numbers of people who have decided they can’t cope with work.

Plus it costs money to be neurotypical too! Why does someone who is depressed and agarophobic need more money than someone who leaves the house daily to work and socialise?

Apparently around 10% of the population would get an ADHD diagnosis if they pursued it. It’s just a personality trait at that point.

I’d like to see the evidence for your 10%, also you don’t get disability benefit for just an adhd diagnosis and no disability or significant impact from it. Dress it up in whatever insulting language you like but if adhd disables and impacts life support is needed.

Your ignorance re trauma is palpable too. You don’t just tell somebody who has been, raped, abuse etc to just get a grip. Trauma doesn’t work like that when it takes hold. 🙄

"After my dad had a stroke, he was given a brand new free car that was updated every 3 years."

He wasn't given a car. He would have had to apply for the motability scheme to get it and would have lost the mobility component of his PIP as a result.

People were busy cheering with the vat on school fees, non-dom and business tax. What people didn’t realise was they came for the farmers, the people doing well, the business - they forgot it would be them next.

VAT on school fees has made private education more elitist and killed social mobility stone dead. Only the truly rich can now afford it, Parents with SEN children or who are making sacrifices to afford it - now can’t. This would potentially mean parents in that bracket dropping hours if they don’t need to pay fees. Less tax. Cause and effect.

Business now have huge costs they weren’t expecting. Private sector only of course. FTSE is shrinking. Hiring freezes. Mass redundancies. Jobs being removed and leavers not replaced. Less tax. Cause and effect.

Non-dom taxes resulted in the biggest flight of wealth we’ve seen. 157% increase in millionaires leaving. So much so, the chancellor needs to reverse some of those policies urgently. Less tax. Cause and effect.

100K taxes. Already a cliff edge with personal allowance, childcare etc. People mentioning on here that PIP should be taken away too at this threshold. People are already dropping hours and changing behaviour to stay under this threshold. You can have more in your pocket at 99k compared to 124k due to some marginal rates. People drop hours and it has been proven by many economists, time and time again, it reduces tax take. As well as pulling Drs and dentists out of the work force. Less tax. Cause and effect.

The net contribution argument is absolutely valid. If you tax net contributors out of productivity - they will leave or change behaviour. We’ve literally watched this live in action in the past 6 months. Considering the majority of the UK are net dependents - who is paying for it all?

People voted for Labour because they are traditionally the party of handouts. The truth is: higher earners were never taxed so much under the Tories. All the while, pensioners were protected, benefits updated by the huge inflationary rates and the welfare state increased. Labour have come in and taxed the people bankrolling state, so heavily, they’ve picked their ball up and gone home.

Anyone who was reliant on the state should’ve been terrified about what Labour were suggesting. Less productivity = less money for state. That means welfare and next, those essential jobs in the public sector will need cutting. The public sector does not generate wealth. People didn’t want to hear it.

The sad thing is, people didn’t listen. They thought they could keep voting for other people’s money with no thought to where it came from. The irony is, this will see the welfare state cut harder and faster. There is less money now - after the budget.

Like school fees and WFA, people who shouldn’t be will now be impacted. Some parents and children who are doing their all because their SEND child has been failed by the state will be forced out of education all together. Completely innocent victims of a tax grab which is going to provide nothing to the budget in reality. They have to suck it up with no sympathy. People voted for Labour as they made the mistake of thinking they’d protect the disabled. With whose money? They’ve scared off people fiscally contributing. Time to pay the piper for those voting decisions.

People voted for Labour as they made the mistake of thinking they’d protect the disabled. With whose money? They’ve scared off people fiscally contributing. Time to pay the piper for those voting decisions.

I agree with you that people were cheering Labour and repeating their line on 'difficult decisions'.

It would always swing round to funding and hitting all other areas.

🙄 Private school fees concerning the rich and taxing land owning millionaires so isn’t relevant to this conversation.And re WFA, pensions were increased to the extent the rise was the same amount as WFA lost.

He also wouldn’t own it as it’s leased.

Well yes it is - for the reasons I’ve explained. It hasn’t reduced the gap it’s made it bigger. The very people who are hit are people who may just be affording it and may reduce hours. It’s made private schooling even more elitist. No skin in the game here, it’s just fact. The rich won’t be impacted.

Your post is a prime example of why we are in this mess. The voters can’t link the dots. They can’t critically think to see cause and effect. They went for the populist policies, which when analysed, don’t make fiscal sense. Now here we are. Our chancellor is going to have to slash state spending. Huge own goal.

They went for the populist policies, which when analysed, don’t make fiscal sense. Now here we are. Our chancellor is going to have to slash state spending. Huge own goal.

Any discussion on this happening was met with the usual backlash. People really couldn't listen.

Labour going for disability next is surely a wake up by now of what's happening. Nearly all other groups have been hit (which some cheered on as it wasn't them) just public sector left.

Oh for goodness sake read the room!!!! Only 6% of the population can afford private school fees. The vast majority will never ever in any way shape or form be able to afford private school fees .Stop trying to equate the two and turn disability payments for truly struggling people into a cause celebre for a privileged few whining about their school fees increasing.

I agree with you, people voted labour as they thought they’d be better than the Tory’s for the welfare state but didn’t think about how it was going to be funded. The money has to come from somewhere doesn’t it, and raising taxes for the private sector means less money to fund it. Of course they’re going to have to cut/restrict benefits, the money isn’t available to fund the growing bill. Personally, I’d rather see the criteria for PIP and sickness benefits tightened, and maybe means test PIP to some extent, and more money given to support those who genuinely need it. I’m diagnosed ASD, ADHD and have other health conditions. I work, my DH works and we have a high income. Going by the PIP criteria I could be eligible to get it, but should I?

What an incoherent labour bashing word salad 😂
One populist policy that didn’t make fiscal sense was Brexit.
and oh the poor oppressed non doms and private school parents😂

You are the one just picking on school fees. How about read my whole post? I tried to break it down into small, readable chunks. There are many, many reasons that welfare spending will be cut. It’s one small contributory factor. You’re so blinded by it that is clouded out everything else. It’s how Labour got in and it’s how we are in this mess.

Exactly. People don’t understand and get so get angry and start answering with emojis. I think it’s starting to dawn on people that their voting decision and the fiscal decisions made my Labour have cause this. Sadly, some people will now genuinely suffer for it.

Are you pleased that Labour will be looking at cutting benefits next?

I have CPTSD, and I work. I had to have 6 months off last year whilst going through a bout of uncontrollably dissociating for hours, muddled thought processes, waking nightmares and waking into panic attacks repeatedly, which meant I was getting very little sleep (I wasn't diagnosed with CPTSD at this point, I have been since). I'm still awaiting treatment but have managed to get through that bout and am back at work. The problem is, when it comes back - as it repeatedly has done throughout the years - it takes time to work through on my own to be able to function again. I can't have 6 months off work every year! I've been in and out of work for years with no help until my current partner advocated for me and got me through the NHS barrier that always seems to be restricting actual mental health help.

You can't leave people alone and expect them to get better. Medical problems need treatment. PTSD isn't just feeling a little bit bad about what happened in the past. I didn't think of it much at all in fact - until the nightmares would ramp up. It's a mental health problem, with symptoms that are not controllable. Not all trauma experiences will result in PTSD, but when it does, it's not something that gets better long term when people are left to it.

I also have agoraphobia. People with agoraphobia still need to leave the home, believe it or not - doctors appointments, dentists at the very least. We just need someone with us, due to the constant state of panic. Its unpleasant for everyone. I have my partner who gets carers leave from work to accompany me for necessary appointments, but not everyone has that luxury... And they'll need to pay for private help. They'll also need to pay for someone to run chores or tasks that need to be done too, if they cannot go - including covering petrol. Those costs are not the same as you needing more money to spend on a shopping spree or at a meal with friends.

Exactly. People don’t understand and get so get angry and start answering with emojis. I think it’s starting to dawn on people that their voting decision and the fiscal decisions made my Labour have cause this. Sadly, some people will now genuinely suffer for it.

Yes emojis won't help. Look at redundancies and who will be let go first. It's hard to switch from thinking Labour is the answer to getting that their policies hit funding and people will lose benefits and jobs.

I just don’t understand what people thought would happen. It will take time, it needs time to adjust, etc, etc. Try telling that to the private sector workers who have been laid off and now can’t get a job because hiring has been frozen. So many millionaires are now leaving and taking their tax, RR is going to have to reverse her own policies.

Did people really think that with the issues caused with wealth leaving and jobs being slashed at such a fast rate - wouldn’t filter through to welfare and the state? A huge shock incoming I think. However people didn’t think about what they were voting for. They just wanted to ‘sock it to the rich.’ Well less tax take now, less jobs, less business, less millionaires will equal a much smaller state. Actions have consequences!

The benefits bill is massive, increasing and some (not all) people take the piss. This is especially true for those with mental health issues.

The UK is now a low wage country in comparison to other western nations; as a consequence the tax collected is not enough to cover costs.

The maths just do not add up. It will bankrupt the country. No matter who is in charge, hard decisions need to be made. Its just totally unsustainable.

Are you sure you’re eligible. Lucky you earning a good wage, that is really not common for the vast majority of autistic people. Very few are in paid work at all. I have autism and adhd too.All my children have autism and adhd. Out of the 4 of us only 1 is eligible with other other conditions and claims PIP. I work and would not be eligible however my wages are suggnigicantly lower than they should be. I’m lucky that I have a partner who earns just enough to support us all. And before you ask yes every penny of my daughter’s much needed PIP is spent on her disabilities.

I’m sorry were you asleep during Brexit, the escalating costs that are only just beginning as a result and the exodus of skilled workers under the 14 year Tory reign. You’re just noticing now when your private fees have gone up. Oh ok.🤔

Pensions are NOT a benefit! You have to have worked full time for 35 years to qualify through NI contributions!

Where's your source that people take the piss? I'm personally more concerned about the way assessments are carried out. 70% of people going and winning is ridiculous. Why is no one questioning the way people are assessed?

I am aware that there are people trying too hard to fit the criteria (including someone on FB who asked if they could get points on pip for being unable to find their way out of a car park)