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?

I agree with you. There needs to be more help out there. If more people are unable to work or even function due to MH then this needs to be looked into. Cutting money and threats of sanctions is not the way forward though.

I thought they removed the winter fuel benefit because even millionaires were claiming it? There were working age people in much more dire straights not getting any help with fuel bills but all those over 65 were just because of their age. Not really a good use of public funds.

Yes, I can't relate to this.
I am not a claimant, but cant' conceive of blaming that minority of people who are in need for the countries issues.
It's all vey tabloidy, and sadly those upper working class examples are here on MN. Home owners with working class values and discrimination.

I have come to the conclusion that it's the upper working class who read the telegraph and the mail. culturally WC but with some cash.

I am bog standard middle, and most of our friends were lowish paid teachers and creatives. We never even considered the disabled to be mainlining the countries economic state of play.

I think it is a populist tactic to shit on the little guy, when in reality the majority of benefits claimants are actually in sink estates, physically well, and fucking around with dangerous dogs.

It’s triggered by trauma. Often domestic violence, prolonged abuse and stress.

Exactly that.

We need to look at why some very young people are happy to accept/think they can never work, what has gone wrong in society and education, and what needs to be done to support, encourage and facilitate some people leading a fuller, more productive life. A young acquaintance of mine (early 20ies) has never formally worked, but says that she will 'never be able to' due to her fibromyalgia.

I know men with fibromyalgia but far more women with it.

That is true. Isn't there going to be an announcement close to the end of the month?
When this sort of stuff comes up, I try and tell myself that any changes could take years to come in anyway, and it would affect new claimants rather than current ones.

It's not only women. And it's very painful and debilitating. There are some people who pretend to have it. And make people like me who are genuine feel like shit. Women suffer more with it because it seems to flare up with hormones. Mine does anyway. And you don't receive top rate pip for it unless you are in a wheelchair. That's where the liars come in. They rent themselves mobility scooters to make it look worse. I keep myself as fit as possible and am penalised for that and refused pip.

No point speculating wait and see. If it is anything like the winter fuel payment it is going to be swift and sweeping and one demographic will feel it the most.

but where are all these companies and there many jobs ? if there are even more workers available then how are companies going to adjust when they are already trying to pay as little as possible, plus how many companies will help those that need extra help ?

Agreed. My young acquaintance now receives top rated DLA for it, but is far from wheelchair bound!

The WFA is a once off yearly payment of £300 though.
Any changes to disability/sickness benefits is going to be more than this, and affect monthly payments that people use for living.
I don't see how any changes would be instant. It would plunge a lot of people into instant poverty/more poverty.

I read somewhere (I think actually on MN, it was a GP posting) that there are entire families "on the sick". They say they have a bad back, there is no proof either way. When the children reach working age, they also come to the GP and say they have a bad back. I don't know how widespread this is, but as with most things, the people who are lying really fuck over the people who genuinely need it.

It seems from what I hear that claiming these benefits are such a rigmarole (all of them not just disability based); that anyone capable of going through that process without considerable support is quite likely to be capable of some kind of work.

So how do you solve that? I have no idea. But making work pay is probably the first step rather than cutting benefits.

I don't think there are jobs for all these people either.

Goodness knows what will happen.

I do think trying to ignore covid is a bit strange. It must explain some of the increase since 2020? Viruses can trigger a type of arthritis, fibro, affect cognition etc.

Like I said no point speculating but given Labours track record expect swift and sweeping reforms don’t think they’ll touch pensioners again either like you said that was the still before the storm! The etching of the plaster before they rip it off so to speak. Honestly, wait and see no point worrying til you know what’s happening.

This obviously can't be sorted out overnight...
But I have heard people say they get more money on benefits than actually working, so it's not worth it. FGS!
People ARE playing the system (& there are a lot of them - plus immigrants claiming (& getting) left right & centre. We just can't pay for everything & everybody, it's impossible.
The establishment is a complete mess with no easy resolution!

I don't believe that people need mobility scooters and wheelchairs for it. Exercise is one of the treatments. Plus rest and medication.

Policy should be evidence-based. Where is the evidence that this is happening on a major scale? Or even on the scale required to offset the millions in unclaimed benefits each year?

This pathetic government just wants to placate Reform voters.

I'm not sure what jobs are available other than stuff like delivery drivers and retail staff etc. Apparently uni graduates are sending in hundreds of applications and not even receiving replies let alone getting interviews. Other employers are saying they're advertising a job and not even getting any applications. There's so many mixed messages regarding available jobs.

I think modern life is too complicated and pressurised and people aren't coping. Humans aren't supposed to live like this and paid employment is an artificial construct. In centuries past people lived in small communities and mucked in with what the village needed and received what they needed in return. They weren't stuck behind desks or having to deal with nasty customers or HR harassing them because they had a cold and had to stay in bed. Life was tough, but I think the stress levels now are probably worse.

Most of my friends and wider circle are on benefits (I met in them in hospital/therapy/groups), and no one is raking it in. Most of us live alone with no kids.

It is housing costs that puts up a lot of benefit payments. And people with disabled kids get more too. But a single disabled person wont be on more than someone who is working.
Anyway, comparing someone who is disabled to someone who is working is comparing apples and oranges.

Can we start by prosecuting benefit influencers?

This is purely anecdotal but I was diagnosed 5yrs ago with fibro having suffered increasing widespread pain. I eventually saw a chiropractor after the NHS couldn't help and found out I have a curved spine. This was caused by a back injury 10 years previously that the NHS didn't fix. So more women are probably diagnosed because it's a condition that GPs can use to dismiss women without actually taking the time to listen to them and properly diagnose.

"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."

Well this isn't true because you can't bowl up and just claim anything. There's an assessment and you her proof of conditions and how they affect you.

And also....I wonder what happened in 2020 that has caused such a large impact on peope's health 🤔🤔🤔🤔. That along with failing health services especially mental health services, getting worse for years and years and long waiting lists for appts and procedures. Of course that's going to start to have an affect on the health of the nation after a time. But let's just blame and punish the people affected rather than deal with the issues. The letter's much much harder.

Plenty genuinely do need walking aids and scooters with it, especially as they get older. It’s really debilitating. Why people doubt it, I don’t know. A bit like the days when ME was treated as all in the mind I guess.