‘Game the system’ disability benefits

[Tomatochocolate]

WTF
just read a bbc article about welfare reforms

Apparently ministers think that it’s an incentive to claim disability benefits as the incentive is no work commitments on UC. That claimants ‘game the system’

It’s a long process and really hard to get awarded dla or pip. It’s not just ticking a box that says ‘I’m too sick to work’.

AIBU to think this is just horrific

@MistressoftheDarkSide I would limit PIP and other disability benefits for milder presentations of neurodiversity and mental illness. I know you will claim only severe presentations receive these benefits, but that simply is not true. I would eliminate reviews for unchanging conditions, also.

Not a popular position, but it's the one I hold.

Also I would change the system so people could not even apply without the application being approved by both their GP and a consultant. That's one additional layer of professional gatekeeping.

And those of us not under a consultant because there's no treatment? I only see a consultant because they're trying (and failing) to diagnose me

I think its time to put our country first, and stop sending a huge amount of money else where, They should put a stop to all the freebies given to ppl arriving on boats, when our ppl are living on the streets.

I think fit young ppl should do a year in the military, and earn money and learn new skills.

We have, hence having virtually no military at a time we urgently need it. This has all been addressed in the thread, read it.

Link it then!

You’re on it.

I think having an application approved by a GP or consultant before you can apply, is a good idea. But it would have to be one or the other. A huge amount of conditions are diagnosed by a consultant, but then managed by a GP.

You have not explained how people would get jobs if employers didn't want to employ them, which is a big part of the issue.

As for the chips falling where they may, well, you've proved a point a few of us have tried to make, but we're accused of hysteria and hyperbole. Every man for himself eh? Until they come for you of course. Unless martyrdom is your bag.....

And the jobs for these people? Where do they come from exactly?

There seems to be a rhetoric emerging from some on this thread of "undeserving" disabled (people with invisible disabilities) and "deserving"(people with physical disabilities).

All I will say is, once the "undeserving" disabled have had their benefits slashed and their lives upended, don't imagine the "deserving" disabled won't become the new "undeserving"...

There have already been threads about alleged scroungers with serious diagnosed conditions who still aren't deserving because they're not wearing sack clothes and ashes. There's an extremely nasty zeitgeist around the whole subject at the moment.

Ultimately it's the already economically disadvantaged being picked on, regardless of cause, environment, or circumstance.

Yup. They've got to be seen as undeserving in order for others to look the other way or even be pleased that the government is going after them.

The only thing that surprises me is that a labour government is proceeding with the tory government's plans. I can only assume the country is in the very deepest of all shits and we are all ultimately fucked. They're just starting with the poorest and the disabled.

@PandoraSox I disagree. I think it is about those with profound disability and less severe disability. So with physical disability, loads of people use a stick and struggle with stairs. You won't get PIP if that is the only physical disability you have. People are questioning whether someone at the less severe end of invisible disabilities like neurodiversity should get PIP. And it has shocked me some of my friends who get PIP who will talk about their difficulties organising their life, but in practice are way more organised than I am.

I won’t be emotionally blackmailed by being told I’m a a bad person for not wanting people to be able to claim 35k in benefits.

@MistressoftheDarkSide Employers do not want to employ people over 60 either, but you do not get benefits on the basis of that.

Ok I will respect that, but I will continue in my quest for one of the posters arguing against me to address those figures. If they can’t, we will have to draw our own conclusions.

But the jobs? The ability for people to support themselves independent of the state? How is asking for your answer to this emotional blackmail?

No, but you do get UC while you are "looking for work" regardless of age until you hit retirement age. It is another cohort at serious risk of financial hardship though.

Working from home has never been as big as it is now. Unless people are severely disabled, they will have to look for suitable work. Like the rest of us do. We can no longer afford for people to be off work due to anxiety. The State isn’t there to solve every single issue for every single person.

You're still not addressing the issue of barriers to employment, ie. Employers picking and choosing who they employ. Also have you missed the recent drive to get people back into offices and reducing WFH? And the narrative that WFH is covering for laziness in itself?

As would someone disabled. Unless you are judged too ill to work and you would get ESA.

Like I said the state cannot solve every last issue for everyone. As adults we all have to stand on our own 2 feet. Saying ‘but what about…’ - it’s just something people will have to figure out as individuals.

@PandoraSox I was not intending to reply to you again, in view of your request not to receive further replies. But when you continue to post in the thread and to direct implicit comments at what I and others are saying, you must surely understand it is unreasonable to expect that what you say won't in turn be commented on.

It is not about an abstracted "deserving" and "undeserving" in some vague, Victorian sense of the terms. That's a wild distortion of what I'm actually saying. But when the overall cost of disability benefits is too high, then yes, I do think that we have to evaluate who needs them most.

The measure of civilisation used to be how we took care of the vulnerable in our society. I wonder what it is now?