To be confused by benefits cuts to the disabled and ill?

[AllyHayHay]

As luck would have it, I have not been in this position, but I do know of one disabled lady who has struggled. She was incredibly fortunate to already own her own home prior to her accident.

I am not what you'd call politically astute, but I have been reading about the proposed spring benefits cuts and wonder why people always discuss this ONLY affecting the sick and disabled.
I am also aware that there are many, many rough areas with families who have never worked, people who are struggling with addiction, prison sentences (their kids, spouse, etc) and these people never seem to be included in the Guardian articles and opinion pieces online.

Why would a system wish to make the life of a disabled person worse, yet ignore the growing issues of illiteracy, generational poverty and other issues which are going on in most urban areas just out of sight of the comfortably off?
Why not address the reasons that great swathes of people are living on benefits across the UK who are NOT disabled? I imagine this would drag up questions of why those issues persist - and no one in government wants to address that.

Since benefits claimants who are not in work of on the pension are a minority, are these cuts more of a populist tendency?

The number of people claiming long-term sickness benefits with no requirement to work has increased by 50% since 2020.

The number of weekly applications from under 40s has gone from 4500 to 11500 over the same period.

1 in 10 adults of working age claims some form of sickness benefits.

The cost of funding this will grow by >50% by 2028.

The numbers of people and cost have accelerated very quickly - and these are more ‘valuable’ benefits ie cost the state a lot.

If you want to live on state benefits, the new ‘wheeze’ seems to be to claim you have mental health problems and then you’re signed off without any requirement to look for work. Apparently.

Its not looking to ‘make disabled people’s lives worse’ - it’s challenging the rapid growth of people claiming these benefits, as the state can’t afford it, and it is a bit strange for such a big increase.

If I were tackling the state’s spending bill I’d be looking at pensions (state and public sector). The latter a black hole no one is discussing.

Because it's easier to take it out on the disabled people who may have mental health issues alongside physical illness than it is to address the lazy parenting of citizens or those who do not wish to integrate to Western societal standards. Can't get called racist or classist by going after those with disabilities.

As someone with physical and mental illness who works full time but gets propped up by LWCRA on UC and PIP to help keep me in work, I'm in agreement more people with disabilities CAN work if they are offered the correct support from employers and that working does improve things in some ways. Unfortunately, work doesn't pay. I can't even get into the £30k bracket of pay as to accommodate my physical needs I need to work from home in a minimum wage admin role. I've tried working in person for a £2-3k pay rise and my sickness record takes me out within a year or so. I've been able to hold this job down since Covid precisely because I can work from home.

There aren't the remote roles now that there were a few years ago. Everyone's pushing to move back to the office if they haven't already to justify the large expense of having the buildings. This government is an absolute sham of a Labour Party.

Massively worried by this.

I do work FT. I am also my disabled son's carer.
I have health issues myself but I haven't bothered applying for anything, I just suffer in silence even though it affects me at work.
My current employer is attempting to get rid of me I believe (that's for another time). I do get UC top up and and my sons gets disability benefits.
In an ideal world I'd be able to work less but I'm so worried about all these cuts. Especially if my work do make me redundant. Hate it.

I agree OP. Amongst other things we need better literacy and numeracy in our young people as many can't even write a cv and apply for jobs competently.More careers advice, work experience and how to be prepared for job seeking at school. We need people with learning needs such as dyslexia to all be tested at a young enough age to actually help them learn. We need more classes for non English speakers. We need more employers for ex prisoners. ..

The thing is, there will be genuine people and people playing the system as well, so how do you tell who is genuine? Work can benefit people with mental health issues, but only if they receive appropriate and effective treatment. I don't know what the answer is to the young people who seem unable to leave their bedrooms due to anxiety. I had crippling anxiety when I was a young adult, but remaining in my bedroom just wasn't an option back then and I had to work. What would happen to them if there was no welfare state? What happens in other countries and cultures?

Medication can be very good now and can get you back on your feet and help people sustain a job. Obviously a bad employer or toxic workplace can create problems. Some people aren't employable either due to drug or alcohol addiction or just being unable to get it together.

Maybe they should address the reason why so many people are too sick to work, and fix the NHS. They could do it by taxing the rich.

A relatively small proportion of people on disability benefits will indeed be exaggerating their symptoms. I do not believe it is possible to stop benefits to these people without also stopping benefits to those in genuine need. So to me this is something we just have to swallow in order to provide for those who need it (like my toddler, who will not ever be able to work - so I admit I have skin in the game).

The apparent increase in young people with mental health problems is a separate issue, to be solved by investing in services.

I am not sure what benefits the generationally unemployed are actually on. My understanding is you can’t really exist long-term on UC as you have to keep proving you’re looking for work. Maybe these ARE the people who are allegedly faking disability?

I don’t think stopping their benefits cold turkey will make them magically capable of working though. I live in an area with a lot of poverty and it’s clear that, whether they have a diagnosable condition or not, many people here would need a great deal of support to be capable of functioning in a workplace.

I believe any kind of long-term solution to these problems requires more money, not less. We might be able to temporarily get the welfare bill down by cutting benefits, but the root issues will remain and grow.

Why does it seem that no one is trying to find out why the disability claim rate has gone up so much rather than just assuming people are making things up and clamping down on it?

I suspect that a large proportion of the additional claims, if not all, are due to COVID and the impacts of the lockdown.

The rest is probably due to long term stripping of funding from social care and the NHS.

Those stats are truly worrying.

And then I also wonder why are so many people doing this?
Can't all be jokers, come on?
Why is our country int his situation? Did austerity have an impact?

I worry because I work, at the same time as running a small business. I also know that both cold go to hell overnight.

I believe in a safety valve so that no one slips into poverty, please tell me I am not alone????

It’s fibromyalgia round here. Rightly or wrongly.

Know any men with fobro? Is it only women?
And why?

What is it even?

We don't have much if any mental health support for young people. There have been so many funding cuts that all services can offer is a sticking plaster.

People are waiting years for vital medical treatment and the NHS seems to only have capacity to deal with people in crisis.

Wage stagnation, housing crisis, debt and spiraling costs mean that many are barely treading water.

I believe we had the most cuts in Western Europe during Tory austerity.

Apparently 1 in 5 new cars is a Motability lease deal. That’s completely bonkers.

I don’t get it. Why even consider cutting support when the need has risen ?

Imagine if there was a similar rise in two week wait referrals for suspected cancer, you would not cut a much needed service and make people’s health suffer ?

It's believed to be a predominantly female problem like autoimmune and dementia. Relatively few resources are dedicated to 'womens problems', so it's anyone's guess.

Perhaps it's because women are completely depleted from working, childcare and running a home.

The biggest problem is the growing number of people claiming disability for mental health conditions. We need to have an honest and courageous conversation about this as a nation in order to understand what's going wrong.

There's very few areas where substantial numbers of people have never worked,

It's much more common that they are in and out of zero hour contract jobs.

Jobseekers is already very low. If they keep cutting it then UC picks up the slack.

A lot of UC is paid out to people who are working but either in low paid jobs or have childcare costs.

Half the nation would be pissed off if they took away the funded childcare.

Yes around 50% of claims involve musculoskeletal issues ie pain. Which is difficult to diagnose beyond what the patients report.

Another interesting data point from the various articles I’ve read, was that less people are coming off the sickness benefits. So - another issue, albeit I’m not sure what the hypothesis there.

Yes we need a general conversation, but we also need to try to work out why it's happening.

And I still believe that the disabled and mental health claimants are LESS than the rough estate, generational claimant issue?

Why deos the gov not attend to that problem?

Because it can't be fixed, so we can harm the disabled instead.

My daughter would love to work, but isn’t well at all. She’s struggled with endometriosis that wasn’t diagnosed for 8 years, not for want of trying. Ended up having a hysterectomy at 28, no children. The obnoxious dick of a gynaecologist psychologically destroyed her. She had an infection after one of her many operations, he wouldn’t accept that she got it in his operating room and actually wrote on her notes that it was more likely an STD!?

He was such a dick, thought he was God. She’s also been diagnosed with CPTSD, due to her treatment from this prick. She also has a colloid cyst, 2mm smaller than the one removed from Davina McCalls brain, the operation can be fraught with danger.

Her body has literally been under attack from endometriosis since she was approximately 13, had a rudimentary horn that constantly bled in her pelvis until removed, this was due to her being born with a unicornuate uterus.

The final diagnosis comes from her Neuro surgeon, FND. Basically she physically and mentally can’t take anymore, computer says no. The best bit is they have a team of psychotherapists, physios, O.Ts etc, but we don’t qualify because we have the wrong postcode, so what the fuck is Miss Reeves going to do about this. My poor daughter is under a psychiatrist, paid for by us because the NHS is fucking useless. Psychotherapy, again paid for by us. She is 29 and has bugger all to look forward to, failed completely by the system.

Her case is so complex, even the guy at our local centre that helps people to fill out the PIP form was gob smacked, someone so young with so many issues. She submitted her application in July last year, they haven’t even actioned it yet. There’s a pile of documentation from all professionals involved.

Some people out there may be swinging the lead, but the forms are a nightmare, you need more than a G.Ps say so. As far as I’m aware PIP is the least abused benefit to claim, it really isn’t easy. I should know, I have M.S and can no longer work, the whole procedure makes you feel like a second class citizen!

Perhaps if the NHS was more efficient my daughter would have had treatment sooner and could maybe work part time at least. This attitude of targeting the disabled and weakest in society stinks, why not euthanase us, just like on Logan’s run, if anyone remembers it.

I am on benefits for MH reasons, and honestly, all this talk about the cuts is scaring me a lot. And what scares me more is seeing the people (on here) rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of it because they see MH as the new bad back, and just assume people like me lie and exaggerate to get money.

Why? Because all governments,be they Tory,Labour or whatever,will ALWAYS pick on the weakest,most vulnerable members of society. That is why they removed the pensioners' winter fuel payment. Because they could be pretty sure that thousands of pensioners weren't going to be barricading roads,climbing up motorway gantries,or defacing works of art in art galleries,by way of protest. The same reason they are now going after disabled people.

I believe in a safety valve so that no one slips into poverty, please tell me I am not alone????

You are not alone.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that I thought the growing number of mental health related claims was a problem, and that we need to have some honest conversations about that as a nation.

I want to be clear that I'm absolutely not saying that individual claimants are the problem, nor am I suggesting that anyone is faking it or that I want individuals' benefits to be slashed. I don't doubt that people are genuinely struggling but we need to get to the bottom of why so many people are struggling and what we can do to help them get better - it isn't right to just leave people to rot on benefits without addressing the underlying problems.

Have any details about these 'cuts' been given yet?

Probably not, just a bunch of hot air instead.