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.

You're totally right. The GP has no idea regarding my autistic son as the NHS were so appalling we totally bypassed them - assessment, ongoing struggles, even now requesting medication for ADHD.

I have to tell my GP the situation regards my own complex health issues. I've written emails regards my own illnesses and the GP has copy and pasted my exact words in supporting letters. I really appreciated that and have never told a single lie. But it highlights the fact you can't trust them to hold the information adequately, nor to be decent and not a gaslighting mysogynist man as so many are.

There are clearly no easy solutions here 🤦

Exactly. If they are cut or taken away you will literally have more people homeless, cold etc. I do believe most people's PIP just goes into the household money pot not into some separate fund to pay for equipment or taxis.

Pensions are not benefits - pensioners have paid into these all their working lives. They have earned them

They have paid NI contributions expecting to receive a state pension but there is no pot of money sitting there to pay the pensions of today. They are being paid by the tax of today's workers of which there are not enough ! This is the crisis we are facing apparently !

Not all pensioners. And no one pays into their own state pension... they are paying into the pension of the people claiming it this moment.
My gran gave up work when she got married. A lot of women did decades ago. She did not pay in her full amount (and sadly never got to claim it anyway a she died in her early 60s).

@XenoBitch If people have not paid enough NI, they do not get a full state pension. SAHM had to pay extra NI credits, in the past you did not get it automatically as you do now.

The problem is that we have completely destroyed services for people who have combined mental health and substance misuse issues. When I started in the NHS, there were dual diagnosis services. Then the substance misuse side was farmed out to the third sector. Now there's nothing. If you present with MH problems but are in addiction, no service will touch you - and without working those things in tandem, you will never get anywhere.

I strongly believe those with addictions should not be given PIP money into their bank accounts it’s just money spent fuelling their addictions. My Brother was alcoholic who also used drugs. When he was in a bad state the only person he had to look after his needs was my mum she did so much hands on care but didn’t take a penny from him. She cried out for mental health support and for him to be sectioned. No real support was given and he ended up committing suicide toxicology report showed alcohol and drugs in his body at time of death.

He might have had a different outcome if DWP had paid towards proper mental health treatment instead of paying hundreds into his bank accounts.

Genuine question but surely if you have real daily living needs you would rather have good standard care provided or if mobility a vehicle or to be able to call a registered taxi company and get free taxi ride. I know it’s controversial but so many people receiving PIP and spending it on rubbish that isn’t helpful to a condition or issue they say they have so surely excellant standard of a care package would be money spent more wisely.

I do think people on low incomes with high rents are feeling depressed and turning to PIP as a way out of the pressure. I see claims daily in my work and it can be alarming

I absolutely believe this. We just can't quantify it but behind the scenes many of us know this is happening. It's not out of greed either!

With the drinkers blowing PIP on drink. I honestly don't know how you solve that if you have zero services to help anyone get off it. I remember seeing a young lady in hospital again and again with drink. There was absolutely nowhere suitable to go to get off it. Sent to one well being place which cost a tonne but no one there to actually discuss sobriety and support to enable it. So back in hospital having had a heart attack from alcohol abuse.

As more people get despairing at the state of things the more likely they'll turn to alcohol. Jeez, if my rotten diseased body could tolerate it I'd probably turn to drink myself!

But that is a good argument to increase other benefits and cut eligibility for PIP. Because PIP traps people with mental health problems into not recovering

My place of work which is disability confident 🙄is currently not supporting me to return in a safe way. My GP recommended a 2 month extended phased return and WFH (eminently doable with no detriment to the business) for 3 months. If employers won’t support even temporary reasonable adjustments, what hope do others have who have chronic and / or worsening conditions?

It really does not. It has been crucial for my daughter to start making steps into normal life. She doesn’t want a life in benefits.

Yes i would like to see big reforms in how PIP is awarded. I doubt it will happen though. As someone pointed out earlier there are still many people waiting to be switched over from the old DLA to PIP.

Well, not all of them. Pensioners who were SAHMs have not, for example. Pensioners aren't a homogeneous group any more than anyone else.

They get pension credits if they don’t get the full amount.

I work in benefits for older people. There are an awful lot who have never worked and an awful lot of self employed men who never paid Ni contributions. they all get heavily topped up with pension credit when their state pension are low. I guess this will change as more women work and more people pay into private pensions.

What they have paid is nowhere near enough to fund the amount they get. So no they haven’t necessarily earned them. Pensions are necessary but let’s be honest they are a benefit.

Funny how you have never come across someone who paid into a private pension and then the company went bust. Especially considering it happened to a lot of people.

I came across one the other day ! Not sure what your point is ? I was answering someone in relation to people paying into state pensions?

Some MH problems are lifelong. The women I mentioned in my previous comment are both bipolar. It classed as a severe and enduring mental illness, and they will have it for the rest of their life.
They can't claim other benefits because they spouses earn too much, or have too much in savings. That PIP is their only money.
And before someone pipes up saying they are bipolar and work.... not everyone can. Some cycle through their illness quicker than others, or are on medication that makes them struggle with day to day things.

Also, both the ladies I mentioned use their PIP to pay for private therapy too.

My neighbours cousins dog walkers sister gets £765367544778 a week on bEnEfiTs because she stubbed her toe and then she has thr audacity to go on fOrEiGn hOliDaYs for 59 weeks a year, she also has 754378 sMaRt pHoNeS and 567543577 fLaT sCrEeN tVs, she also gets a ferrari on mOtAbiLiTy, every penny of that is tAxPaYeRs money, disgusting

You forgot the goat.

Several posters have objected to alcoholics getting benefits, but given the current waiting lists for addiction services, what would an alcoholic do if they didn't have money? It's not like they'd cut back on the booze to save rent/bills/food money. Active addicts will feed the addiction first, even if it means resorting to debt or crime to do so. They'd stop eating and heating their homes rather than stop drinking.
They'd cost an awful lot more than the benefits bill in jail or hospital.

A quick squiz at the ONS (literally the government's own statistics) shows that the average % of adults in employment since 1971 hasn't changed. It's roughly 75%. There is no crisis. Instead what we've got is a revenue problem. What the government needs to do is tax the corporations, like they used to, without that causing any crisis either.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/timeseries/lf24/lms