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?

Lets face it They couldnt have made it any clearer that they are not going to sort the NHS waiting lists

My friends adult daughter is profoundly disabled, non verbal, needs carers to go in each day to bath, dress, take out for a few hours. The care is 2:1 and the adult daughter contributes towards it by paying from her benefits. My friend is struggling and her daughter will eventually move into a residential setting (not supported living since too disabled and care needs too great). She will lose out. Her PIP is spent on incontinence care items, washing, bedding etc. Others might receive the highest level.of PIP but not have to spend so much on additional care needs and can use PIP money in other ways. She is poverty level already. Awful.

It seems very unlikely that benefits will be taken away from somebody as disabled as the young lady described below. There is way too much catastrophising on this thread I think.

Another note do disabled people have happy fulfilling lives?

Well those lists will get shorter when the sick and disabled die or commit suicide 😞

They will be freezed for her PIP and she is in the unable to work group (she cannot toilet herself, speak and needs 2 carers to get up and about etc) and the unable to work group where money is planned/rumoured to be reduced. She will sadly never work, have a relationship, live alone, care for herself. Her mum is struggling with poverty on top of huge caring responsibilities.

Some do, some don't perhaps, just like anybody else. We are all people, after all!

@Morph22010 Interesting. I’m not denying that the lack of social interaction was awful, I suppose that I assumed that spending nights in an air raid shelter listening to bombs exploding around you would be worse! My Mum clearly remembered that from her childhood and when their house was reduced to rubble. Anyway, both were horrible experiences in their different ways.

I think they are already doing it on the quiet, I was just chatting to my friend about this thread ,,her situation she said was her,husband and young son.They get universal credit, she got Lcwra as extra,her husband was awarded Lcwra too but they do not get any money for his as she said two people in the same family cannot receive this award only one is entitled to the extra money.

I'm absolutely sickened if that's what they're planning to do. DD is never likely to be able to work. She has learning disabilities and various other health conditions. I care for her and will be doing so until I drop dead. What happens to her then I dread to think.

This country is truly messed up.

What is even worse is the people who are rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect.

All so that they can say look we stopped the benefit cheats.

We really are a selfish nation.

That is because when you are a couple living together, you do not have individual claims to UC... you have a joint claim and only one award of LCWRA can be on it.
However, the person not claiming the LCWRA element can claim the carer's element of UC.

I'm sickened by it. I wish I hadn't voted Labour.

That makes sense to me..thank you for your explanation I will pass it on to my friend.

i feel the same.

Cutting benefits for the sick and disabled rather than dealing with the nhs problems and at the same time smarming up to Trump and offering a second state visit that will cost the UK a huge amount of money.

There is no way benefits will be removed from her.
Not all disabled people who get PIP have extra costs, or have minimal extra costs.

Her PIP will be frozen just like individuals on PIP that don't have actual care costs. I almost wish PIP was replaced with actual care, so more care needs meant more PIP to pay for care. It is true to say that so.w receive PIP but have no actual care costs at all.

PIP doesn't have to go on care to be awarded though. It can go on things like covering the increase in bills because the washing machine has to be used more, or having to use taxis because buses are too overwhelming. Or having a cleaner because the person can not clean the house themselves. Or paying to have clothing altered because they are a wheelchair user.
I know a few people who use it to subscribe to things like Hello Fresh, as it means they can have a nutritious meal without the guess work/shopping etc which was a huge struggle to them.
PIP is there to make life easier for the person with disabilities.

I have worked... until I could not anymore. Believe me, I would rather have a job and money and no MH issues.

There is no real support to get people back into work, especially those like me that have been out of the workforce for well over a decade.
Any changes to benefits are going to be punitive and punish people for not "trying hard enough", when the reality is that no one will give them a chance.

Nowhere on the PIP form does it ask anything about your ability to do cleaning. You are free to spend PIP on a cleaner, but that is not its purpose.

It also does not ask what you spend the money on, and neither does it dictate what you should spend it on either.

@XenoBitch , you do not know what form any changes will take. My understanding is that for those who have had barriers to returning to work there will be help and support if you are able to do so which will hopefully be life enhancing. It may seem counterintuitive but there is excellent evidence that going out to work has a very positive impact on those with mental health struggles.
I have had my own mental health issues though not perhaps as severe as your own and if I may offer you a small piece of advice it would be to to get up and showered and dressed (which you may do but I didn’t often) and get outside, especially in nature. Anywhere with green or water forget the rain and cold and just take a stroll. Do this every day make it your self care ritual. It helped me. I wish you well. X

My MH struggles were made worse with work. I tried and tried... got sacked, managed out etc. I can not cope with a lot of stuff people just take for granted.
I do have a routine... I have a dog so have to get up to sort her out. I go to support groups 4 times each week. I try and have a list of things to do each day, that I can tick off.

@AllyHayHay , my parents grew up in East London during the Blitz. They were piss poor in a way that absolutely no one these days experiences. It was a very different world one in which people had great gratitude for what was given to them and in particular for education. My mother could not have come from a more impoverished background but was able to go to grammar school and go on to take A levels. She should have gone to university and the reasons why she didn’t are for another time. Children could be a bit cheeky but generally there was respect.
The world has changed so much and not for the better, it seems to me that nearly every good meaning thing we’ve done to make things better for those less fortunate has made things worse.
We could learn a great deal from the time when society existed and there was respect for authority and each other.

London was bombed extensively but children were evacuated so there was very few children there. Where she lived as a child, which is same place I live now there was one bomb dropped in the whole of the war (a field outside of the village so no damage to property or life) when the German planes were returning from bombing Coventry. Outside of London and a few other major cities it wasn’t night after night of bombing, I’m sure if you were living in a place that was being bombed it was horrific.

what do they do about employers? Who will employ staff with various disabilities which may need a lot of adjustments?

I am carer to two child with complex additional needs (one is so disabled, they will never be able to work - not mental health so massively worried about this). I also need to find a very flexible job due to some change on circumstances and absolutely getting nowhere despite having a great and specific skill set as I need too much flexibility. I'd imagine those with disabilities will have the same battles.

I think it's great to support people with disabilities into work if they can but there aren't just jobs, and the cuts will also affect the most severely disabled who will never be unable to work. how are those supposed to manage? Not everyone on PIP or so has just a bit of mild anxiety. It's fucking scary.