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?

Gawd it's scary isn't it. Please don't think it's not worth it, I know it feels that way. We have to try and survive. Fuck knows how though! X

@ExIssues Why don't you just send all the disabled off to prison/death camps? Oh dear, I think someone in history did that once before and look how well that went! My dh worked as a teacher for many years before he became ill and I have worked full time from age 17 to 50. We both happily paid into a National Insurance system that promised to support the most vulnerable in society, never thinking one day we, ourselves, would actually be the "most vulnerable". I do apologise but we have a 15 year old car, a tiny house, 2 (yes 2) tvs and a mobile phone that I'm currently typing on, which we bought whilst both still working. Have you ever tried to survive on benefits? I can assure you that it's not a lifestyle I would have willingly chosen over the financial and social perks of a full time job!

You know... if paying for disabled people is such pointless, non efficient burden...

Surely you people who want "people on disability benefits to be poor" like Exissues, shouldn't you also be against transplants, insulin and want NICUs banned all together? It's only logical. They only keep pointless medically fragile people like myself in existence.

And make access to Medical Assistance in Dying (I know its Canadian... but whatever UK equivalent would be) and full term abortions more easily accessible. I'd take it to be quite honest. I've never bothered having children with my health and income btw.

Don't worry your tax paying selves, I would never have a transplant or go on dialysis again. How dare I take any resources at all!? I've not had children. I've not hit any life milestone (no uni, marriage, job etc). I wish there was easier access to euthanasia because what is the point?

I don't smoke, have a TV , or run a fancy car btw.... I have a very limited social network (1 family friend who does care and takes me to appointments) and when my elderly parents go , I'll join them. Sorry for existing. If I could go back in time and not be born, I would.

I know, self induglent pity but it seems so many people want disabled people sad, sick and poor.... here you go. Be grateful you aren't me and are such a better more worthy person that I could ever hope to be cause you can hold employment.

My heart goes out to those who are too disabled, depressed or sick to complete the horrendous PIP process ... For these people the LCWRA extra money is a lifesaver.

This is a massive failure of the system.
The logical thing to do is to remove LCWRA, make UC the same rate for unemployment, sickness and disability, and sort out the PIP and social care so that it does what it is meant to do.

It is a horrific state of affairs when delays, appeals and 'gate keeping' are used by the state as a way of saving money, at the cost of depriving people of their entitlements. The same happens for SEND children in the education system. It is just so dishonest. If the system is there, they should make it work, or replace it with a system that we can afford and just be honest about it.

But that means those who qualify for LCWRA but not pip (the criteria is different) will be expected to live on the same amount as a job seeker

"You know, I feel like not every single 20yo smol bean fragile young woman with fibro and hEDS is really incapable of working..."

"OMG WHY DO YOU WANT TO SEND THE DISABLED TO DEATH CAMPS"

@ExIssues yep, you are right. I should statistically not be dealing with a fourth fucking cancer, should I ????

I'm terrified about what Ms Reeves is going to say about the disability reforms next week.

Going through the PIP forms and ESA forms, as well as the assessment, sends my mental health spiralling outif control as I'm convinced I'll get turned down. Now I'm dreading not having enough help with my care especially as the mental health care for my illnesses in Wales is non existent. I'm just being managed by the GP at the moment, and they are relying on me telling them if my meds don't work.

Am I going to be one of these people that loses my benefit purely because I have severe mental health illnesses, although if you look at me you'd never know. I cook, bake, even go to my sister's once a week as well as to my local supermarket but only on good days..

Asi said I'm terrified...

So they should reform PIP to cover all those in need, or introduce something else.

My objection is to the principle that UC has different rates for different categories of people.
As well as being wrong in principle, it distorts the figures: it encourages people to get into the 'sick' category instead of 'unemployed', for the extra money.

You really think people try to go on the sick for the extra money? Have you ever had an assessment? Or even seen the form you have to fill in?

I am not talking about the PIP assessment, but the LCWRA.

There is form-filling, bureaucracy and assessment for both the unemployed and the sick or disabled on UC - all of it unnecessary. If it was the same rate, it would just be a matter of declaring you don't have a job!

That person is horrible for saying that. Why would someone wish poverty on anyone.
Lots of people who work are still fucking poor, so they still need benefits.
Does one group being poor benefit anyone? No. It has a knock on affect. They can't spend money so it's bad for the economy.
In this day and age in a first world country nobody whatsoever deserves to be poor. In fact no-one across the globe does.

I was talking about LCWRA where you need to fill in a lengthy form and have an assessment which in my case was rescheduled twice.

@TigerRag Exactly, and with no hope of ever getting or keeping employment so they'll eventually be sanctioned and receive no money at all. Makes you think they are being set up to fail from the start!

The proposed changes to UC will be that someone who is job seeking will be on more than someone who can not work. They are going to increase the jobseeker's amount... and cut the sick/disabled so they are on less than jobseekers. This is so people who are too sick/disabled to work will have a financial incentive to move into the job seeking group... where they will struggle find a job but have to jump through all the hoops to keep their money, end up more ill etc etc.

@AllyHayHay what you think??

I am v sorry for your situation.
And I do think this is the agenda behind pushing assisted dying personally. As a parent of a couple of severely disabled children I am shocked by the changing attitude towards people with disabilities recently. No doubt once it is in law they will soon expand the boundaries to allow disabled people with no quality of life to make that choice. And most people seem happy to go down that road. Personally I am horrified by it.

Have a look at calm website.
Campaign against living miserably.

Yes, I think they might go.onto uc, how do they attend the jibcentre, look for work and attend courses though if they unable to leave the house for example.
How will job centres be able to cope with more appointments?

That would be a stupid thing to do. Wrong in principle and counter-productive.

A reversal of the drive decades ago to get all the long-term unemployed onto sickness benefits, to massage the unemployment figures. Now it appears they want to massage the sickness figures??

It will be a job creation scheme for the people who assess and harass the unemployed (as opposed to those who assess and harass the sick).

The correct answer is to make the rates the same, cut the assessment and harassment and bureaucracy for all claimants, and make separate provision for those with health-related costs.

What I said is what the proposals are though. And yes, it is stupid.

Or chase Michelle mone for the money.

Then it could have been.means tested....
Bloody he'll.people thought the conservatives were bad?

From what I can remember reading last year
they were on about linking LWCRA ( extra bit of money you got - to if you got PIP

so if you got pip you automatically got the higher rate of ESA

A small comment about Fibromyalgia. Considering many people who live in shitty mouldy accommodation across the country in a wet and damp country, but according to some mumsnetters it's all about mopping the walls daily and using humidifiers yeah because that would clear it without doubt without tackling the underlying causes of many inhabitable properties in this country , it's no wonder many people suffer with this condition and many other conditions that come along with it.

My aunt ex police officer spent years in a council home fighting against mould issues that has later affected her lungs, mental health and of course along came fibromyalgia with regular flare ups leaving her out of work. I'm in a very fortunate position but think it's totally out of order to target the most vulnerable people in our society who are in a position today that is no fault of their own for simply trying to exist. There are far more important issues that should be tackled first before this. How I see this government is that they would start raiding the dead to squeeze extra tax out whilst turning their eyes away from the fact that they are funding wars, wealthy friends and wealthy tax avoiders. Same tactics before with previous government, divide and conquer. Point fingers at disabled people, dehumanise them same as with immigrants but hide the underlying causes of why there are these issues today. Why do we fall for it each and every time?