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.

AA will cover less than 10% of the cost of full time care. MILs “almost £1m” will be whittled away quickly enough.

Why doesn't her job pay her a living wage?

Why did she apply for it then?

I'm guessing because she can because it's non means tested.

💤The car is not free, but you know this already. I wonder if you are so forthcoming to your Bil about what you really think of him.

No bunfighting from me. Just pointing out that disabled people have been scapegoated throughout history and highlighting an example.

She's right though. Even though most people hopefully support the truly disabled in spirit. What happens is they become demonised so the public believe genuinely incapacitated people just ' need to try harder'.

Look at how the media demonises the poor and genuinely disabled people. I think the poster is highlighting the fact that lack of awareness and understanding regards what's really going on in these lives makes the public more willing to agree to things - things that will really punish genuinely unwell people.

I think (ironically) the DWP hire people without formal qualifications and you can work from home. If you're doing an Open University degree, you would definitely be qualified. The problem is, if you did get a DWP job, you would almost certainly lose your benefits and end up with LESS money working, than not working. Plus it might well mess up the degree you're doing.
I don't want to see disabled people living in poverty, neither do I believe they're living it up. I do think though that for many disabled benefits claimants, that if they get better and do get a job, then they absolutely will be living in poverty.

Like what the last Labour government did with the NHS. With Sure Start?

As long as the sticks come with treatment and support readily as opposed to loooon waiting lists which keep people on benefits.

Care to say what the carrots are?

The really difficult question is how much as a society do we want to pay in disability benefits, and therefore how many people do we want to support.

It's currently about £65 billion and forecast to rise to nearly £100 billion in the next ten years I think.

To fund that growth will mean either not spending on other things or tax rises.

Everyone agrees that vulnerable disabled people should be supported, but how many? Something like a quarter of working age people over 10 million identify as disabled. How many of them should society support?

And how much should we spend? £20 billion, £30 billion, £100 billion?

One of the key reasons I didn’t vote for Labour was because it was blatant to me that they were coming for disabled people and benefits. I have a child who will never be ‘economically viable’, he will always need adult lead support. At the moment that’s me, and that means I also take from the benefits system. There is no clear support for either his future in terms of this support, and there’s zero pathway for us parent/carers to get back into the workplace. Even if he does get a care package or supported living past 18 I will have both received thousands in UC and have years of an empty CV.

And people will say ‘well obviously they don’t intend to come for your situation’, but we already have to explain ourselves to the nth degree. Those with disabilities have to humiliate themselves and show ultimate gratitude, beg for support in workplaces rather than investing in recognising every possible need to make workplaces accessible to all. The onus is always on those with disabilities to fight every angle only for the government to say ‘well we’re still looking at taking away the little we do give you’. To question disability benefits is an attack on disabled people and their families.

The DWP is the point where I draw the line 🙈 I know of so many people who've been treated horrendously by them - my experience of claiming PIP and LCWRA ESA have been pretty smooth but I'm very much in the minority, and on a principle level I couldn't do it. 🫣

It's been horrible though, I hadn't been out of work since I was 14, had various amazing jobs and then had to leave teaching at 28 after diagnosis which has devastated me. My health isn't predictable enough to even be able to tutor as I'd often have to cancel last minute.

It's motivation to get my degree done though, plenty of at-home opportunities once it's done!

If you read the review of the Dispatches programme linked to on P.1 of this thread you'll see that the guy making the film interviewed people who said they'd got their tips for aceing the online interview from TikTok. There are clearly people in that figure of 1 million new cases that aren't genuine. And giving people this benefit (which isn't reassessed regularly) when they supposedly have anxiety and/or depression is insane when both those conditions can improve with time, medication, therapy, etc. Except in the most chronic cases, neither of those conditions should render the sufferer permanently incapable of work.

It's currently about £65 billion and forecast to rise to nearly £100 billion in the next ten years I think.

That is high

On the pp carrot and stick ie how much Labour will enforce or enable I guess we'll see.

Clearly a number can't be put on it. I think criteria for claiming will just have to be tightened making sure the most severely disabled are supported. I know people say PIP is hard to claim, I don't always see that myself and I do help a lot of people to claim.

Yes, we all know sticks miraculously cure serious disabilities overnight.

I don't believe the massive increase is due to lockdowns, not to the extent some people believe.

Have all the other countries who had lockdowns, many much more severe and strict than ours, had the same issues?

I think the current Labour government looks at the people on ESA and sees a vast potential well of tax payers, it wants as many people working and paying tax as possible so it can fund government spending ostensibly to boost growth. What it really needs to do be honest about the huge inequality we are now seeing that is sapping people of the will to even live. It needs to tax the assets of very wealthy people. People can of course move and wealth can be hidden but the assets wealthy people from all over the world hold in the UK cannot be hidden or spirited away. The fact that they don't do this shows you exactly who they work for.

I think some of the issues may have been indirectly caused by covid and the backog it caused for the NHS. Waiting times are now so much longer, people can't get the treatment they need when they need it.

What?

Also a massive number of people affected by long covid, increase in strokes, heart problems etc linked to covid.

@Simplynotsimple you are so so right. It's terrifying for the genuinely stuffed who need help desperately.

My son is ND. Without that acknowledgement he'd be forced into work and he probably couldn't do that without help and support along the way in school to achieve the best he can academically.

But the NHS said we won't assess him sorry bye. It turns out he has 3 ND conditions. That assessment cost us £2000. We have follow up that adds to this and we're into £4000 2 years later. Looking at ADHD meds, again the cost we will cover which we can.

Imagine those people ( and there are plenty believe me) that can't afford this. They themselves or their kids are not able to compete on a level playing field and need help. With a diagnosis ( needed to get the help), you have a chance of increasing supports and statistical likelihood of being more self sufficient in certain cases. Not all of course. But these people will be seen as not disabled because they couldn't even get assessed in the first place! These people will be significant in numbers.

I know someone with a progressive condition that took their sight because they couldn't be seen during Covid.

And of course many breadwinners were taken too.

If he gets the benefit with which to get a mobility car (please stop spouting that free car shite) then he's got a lot of disabilities

That aside, maybe he could work 10 hours. Would you care to provide a list of employers and locations with jobs of 10 hours on offer because there are a lot of people who would jump at them

Disability isn't a lifestyle choice despite your opinion.