Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

1000 replies

Locutus2000 · 01/02/2025 13:54

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.

Long-term sick will need to look for jobs in benefits overhaul

Claimants could face cuts of £5,000 a year as government prepares for rows with backbenchers and campaigners over bringing down £65bn sickness bill

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/long-term-sick-will-need-to-look-for-jobs-in-benefits-overhaul-kzxr3hjpw

OP posts:
Thread gallery
20
Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 15:52

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:50

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

Two pensioners can still claim carers premium of Pension credit for each other as well as two severe disability premiums. It adds up to a huge amount of extra pension credit. please go and play about with the Age UK benefit calculator if you don't believe me.

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:53

@Miley1967 I did not know that. Of course they should be able to both claim disability premium though.

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 15:54

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:52

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

many of mine get awarded it. None are paying for carers..

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:54

What no one ever talks about is the large number of children getting DLA. It has been soaring.

Over the last decade, the number of under-16s in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in England and Wales has doubled, reaching 682,000 in 2023, equivalent to one-in-sixteen children.

cheezncrackers · 01/02/2025 15:54

cheezncrackers · 01/02/2025 15:23

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.

Sorry - that should say 'up by a third'. I misread the quote. It's still terrible and certainly suggests that a lot of people have realised the weaknesses in the screening process and are exploiting them. One of many reasons why this country is so skint!

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 15:55

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:53

@Miley1967 I did not know that. Of course they should be able to both claim disability premium though.

Two disability premiums and two carers premiums can add up to hundreds of extra pounds a week. It is not sustainable, especially given the numbers of ageing people. It would not surprise me if they make changes in this area.

Benmac · 01/02/2025 15:55

Terrified. My wife gets PIP. She works from home as she has agoraphobia. The PIP added to her salary gives her a living wage. If they take that away I cannot bear to think the effect on her mental health. She wants to contribute to our bills and feel useful.

TitusMoan · 01/02/2025 15:55

JenniferBooth · 01/02/2025 15:25

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

Show quote history

What? How? You have to explain this melodramatic assertion.

Bignanna · 01/02/2025 15:55

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 15:47

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.

Edited
Show quote history

Wouldn’t they have been over the limit for pension credit, with all that coming in?
I do think that it is wrong for some to be off sick indefinitely, with no requirement to look for work, ( not including long term disabled ) perhaps that will be something they will look into.

EasternStandard · 01/02/2025 15:56

Locutus2000 · 01/02/2025 14:12

I mean benefits specifically, an area where Labour have traditionally been kinder than the Tories.

Show quote history

I doubt that will hold up, by going for the private sector they'll have less to spend and really the main focus is unions

Things like WFA, students or disability are easier to deal with as no strikes or pay deals. And as @Upstartled said they have a large majority. If they want to target benefits they can.

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 15:56

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:54

What no one ever talks about is the large number of children getting DLA. It has been soaring.

Over the last decade, the number of under-16s in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in England and Wales has doubled, reaching 682,000 in 2023, equivalent to one-in-sixteen children.

I believe it's mostly due to the increase in claims for ADHD, Autism etc and no-one has really explores why their has been such an increase unless just down to better and earlier diagnosis.

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:56

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 15:54

many of mine get awarded it. None are paying for carers..

Show quote history

You only get higher rate AA if you need help day and night.

TitusMoan · 01/02/2025 15:56

Benmac · 01/02/2025 15:55

Terrified. My wife gets PIP. She works from home as she has agoraphobia. The PIP added to her salary gives her a living wage. If they take that away I cannot bear to think the effect on her mental health. She wants to contribute to our bills and feel useful.

Can she get treatment for the agoraphobia? It seems no way to live the rest of her life.

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:58

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 15:56

I believe it's mostly due to the increase in claims for ADHD, Autism etc and no-one has really explores why their has been such an increase unless just down to better and earlier diagnosis.

Show quote history

Yes it is a t the root of this. If it is better diagnosis, then maybe eligibility needs to be increased for benefits? Certainly the form is written far more for someone who is neurodiverse than has a physical disability.

Msmoonpie · 01/02/2025 15:58

BananaNirvana · 01/02/2025 15:46

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 😢

Show quote history

It’s almost like something awful happened in the last 5 years that traumatised people and left them with existing MH issues. And physical ones.

I wonder what it could be …

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:59

Msmoonpie · 01/02/2025 15:58

It’s almost like something awful happened in the last 5 years that traumatised people and left them with existing MH issues. And physical ones.

I wonder what it could be …

Show quote history

Far far too much is made of the impact of covid.
And the rise was happening before covid.

Tittat50 · 01/02/2025 16:01

The problem with this is multifold.

Let's say you have a young man suffering significantly with ADHD ( yes the true prevalence of this very real condition is astronomical in my view now). So you have a young man with ADHD and associated mental health struggles. Let's say accessing an assessment for diagnosis then enables that man to try medication.

Let's say accessing mental health support in conjunction with ADHD medications transforms this young man's life enough to pursue some form of work.

The problem is, all of the above are virtually impossible to access. It's another form of collectively gaslighting people again and again.

So many people truly are stuck and need help that is inaccessible.

How about organisations are legislated to pay a decent wage above the current wage which means those who can work are going to fight for work. If that means I have to pay more for the tat from Amazon for example I'm ok with that.

Who can or will target those absolute grifters in the Royal Family and what they suck out of the public purse?

Am I oversimplifying this 🤦

BananaNirvana · 01/02/2025 16:01

Msmoonpie · 01/02/2025 15:58

It’s almost like something awful happened in the last 5 years that traumatised people and left them with existing MH issues. And physical ones.

I wonder what it could be …

Show quote history

You can’t blame everything on Covid 🙄. That is not the issue for a lot of the people I work with. We need to move forward. It’s been 5 years.

BananaNirvana · 01/02/2025 16:02

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:59

Far far too much is made of the impact of covid.
And the rise was happening before covid.

Show quote history

100% this - this would have been happening and was happening without the pandemic.

arrowplant · 01/02/2025 16:02

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:58

Yes it is a t the root of this. If it is better diagnosis, then maybe eligibility needs to be increased for benefits? Certainly the form is written far more for someone who is neurodiverse than has a physical disability.

Show quote history

Perhaps things changed during the pandemic but its very, very hard to qualify for ESA or PIP in my experience from helping others apply. At that time it would be reassessed within about 6 months with the process starting very soon after an initial award.

chrsanthenum · 01/02/2025 16:03

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 15:35

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.

Edited

Agree with pension age increase correlation to increased benefit spending - what did they think would happen if older people are expected to work with declining quality and access to healthcare.

Older bodies can be worn out!

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 16:04

Tittat50 · 01/02/2025 16:01

The problem with this is multifold.

Let's say you have a young man suffering significantly with ADHD ( yes the true prevalence of this very real condition is astronomical in my view now). So you have a young man with ADHD and associated mental health struggles. Let's say accessing an assessment for diagnosis then enables that man to try medication.

Let's say accessing mental health support in conjunction with ADHD medications transforms this young man's life enough to pursue some form of work.

The problem is, all of the above are virtually impossible to access. It's another form of collectively gaslighting people again and again.

So many people truly are stuck and need help that is inaccessible.

How about organisations are legislated to pay a decent wage above the current wage which means those who can work are going to fight for work. If that means I have to pay more for the tat from Amazon for example I'm ok with that.

Who can or will target those absolute grifters in the Royal Family and what they suck out of the public purse?

Am I oversimplifying this 🤦

Yes you are over simplifying. A young person with no work history is going to earn minimum wage.
Lots of people with ADHD and mental health struggles work. ADHD is not a reason to not work.

Msmoonpie · 01/02/2025 16:04

JoyousGreyOrca · 01/02/2025 15:59

Far far too much is made of the impact of covid.
And the rise was happening before covid.

Show quote history

I’m pleased for you that it didn’t have a detrimental impact on you and those around you.

But there are still people it did really impact.

chrsanthenum · 01/02/2025 16:05

Disturbia81 · 01/02/2025 15:42

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.

And a lot don't. Holidays are monitored by the DWP.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In
This thread is not accepting new messages.