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?

But it doesn't do anyone any good to start talking about euthanasia and medical treatment being withdrawn from the disabled. This isn't even close or related to what is potentially being proposed.

It's natural for people to be concerned but it's unhelpful and misleading to make the jump from benefit cuts to these other things that are relatively extreme.

My husband has been in receipt of disability benefits since the late 1980s, but always worked until he was retired on ill health grounds in his 50s (his consultant said he had never come across anyone with his condition who continued to work for as long as he did).
I do remember my husband saying that he was astounded by how many people with his condition gave up work the moment they were diagnosed, but I think in many cases that is because of unsupportive employers rather than people not wanting to work at all.
It isn’t a “wheeze” to live on benefits - it’s existing rather than living.

LHA rates have been frozen and there's no sign of them increasing. They do not cover rents - anywhere near rent in many cases. Take my local area; average rent for a 1 bed flat is £700, LHA is £500 so a £200 shortfall. UC is £395 but you have to pay for bills and food out of that. If you're sick long term its likely you're using PIP or UC health element to pay rent, bills and food

And before anyone says food bank, you can't just rock up to one - there's a process to follow.

HB wont be cut, but for many it does not cover their rent.
I don't claim HB, but the amount I would get for a 1 bed place where I live would be short by £200pm which I would have to pay myself. This is the reality for a lot of people.
So yes, they would end up homeless.

Yep, and it is time limited.
Some areas have a community fridge that is available to everyone. But you can only have 5 items each week, and it can be rather random. I don't think anyone can live off a pack of oranges and some bread sticks.

Why do you think we should offer care/financial assistance to anyone but the most able bodied workers in society? Or able bodied children (future tax payers)?

Isn't everyone else who needs assistance just a useless eater and a waste of time and resources?

Seems a very pragmatic solution that could slash the benefits bill tremendously.

That is the logical conclusion. That, and offers of "voluntary" euthanasia. I would personally take it up and I support the government pushing through assisted dying bills. Sweet relief.

We had similar responses when the winter fuel allowance was cut. Those that it didn’t effect weren’t bothered on here
The same with the tax on education…… most didn’t care if kids had to leave their school or even care if the tax raised a penny tbh.

At some point in time given the state the country is in and the projected bills for the future we will all be affected by rising taxes or loss of income, or both in order to keep the country going.

Sounds like a Nazi solution to me.

We are not that

They already do this.....

10% of the population on benefits is horrifying and it's not a system that can continue to snowball in the way that it has. But those in genuine need also need to be protected. I've got no idea where I'd start tbh.... but we do need to weed the shirkers out of the system, stop people having large families unless they're self supporting and we need to care for our elderly better.

Tbh this is what the majority of MN posters think of pensioners.
Its a disgrace hearing it.

I think that’s why the 2 child limit for UC was introduced. You can’t really stop people having large families unless you think they should be forced onto Contraceptives as a condition of being on benefits !

They could keep those with the highest rate of PIP (so classed as having mobility problems and higher care needs) in the LWCRA group and getting the higher amount. Then give others the option which group to go in but make it tiered rather than cutting £400 at once

It is very hard to actually find solutions.
You cannot just start taking away money from people who have become used to a certain amount for years on end.
The introduction of tax credits made half the population reliant on benefits and kept wages low. Any government then seen to be taking it away will be seen as evil.
If there is only a certain amount of money in the pot for benefits and it now has to go between more people then they have to be reduced for all. I have seen it banded about on some news sites that they may make PIP conditional for 16-30's but how on earth would that work, you can't discriminate based on age or on health conditions( eg make it harder for MH conditions), so the only solution seems to tighter up the criteria for everyone and it becomes harder to get and only the severely disabled become eligible.

Not to mention if you have genuine allergies I.e to citrus! I don't think a food bank would cater to those.

But PIP Is for the extra costs due to disability, and LCWRA is for paying bills, food etc.
Why should someone who is not on PIP get less for living costs?
And PIP is not an out of work benefit... some people work full time and claim no benefits beside PIP.

We do need to have a serious discussion about social benefits and why the claims have drastically increased and what we can do to fix this.

NHS wait lists for operations and therapies could possibly help?

both of my parents claim PIP, both were in a serious motorbike crash when I was younger which rendered them both horrendously disabled. Think missing limbs.

I know they’re both worried about loss of money, where my cousin who has BPD thinks it’ll come to nothing. He hasn’t worked for 10 years and receives PIP, he’s not worried at all

The housing element of UC doesn't cover my rent. Add in council tax, utilities etc - I absolutely couldn't continue to afford living costs. My rent is going up, my council tax is going up, my water bill is going up - and I'm going to be £400 a month worse off?

No where have I seen it suggested that the full LCWRA will be taken away, more that it could be reduced. I guess we won't know until next week..

That is true, and the amounts talked about here are purely speculation at this point. But not knowing is awful too.

@Fraudornot Do you know how difficult it is to get awarded the highest rate of PIP? You breathe a sigh of relief if you are only awarded standard rate and if you decide to challenge it and ask to be upgraded to the higher rate, you are threatened with having your original award taken away. My dh has been assessed by social services, social workers who have been to our home and have actually met him face to face, as needing 24 hour care. However, he has only ever been awarded standard rate PIP by a DWP Assessor who has never even met him. We, and a lot of other people I imagine, are too frightened to challenge our standard rate award for fear of having it removed completely.

Do you have any Links to this claim please?
I know people with Fybro and completely deny this claim - that it all started in the mind,

I think there was a psychiatrist who was hounded out of the profession as his approach was talking therapy treatments. A relative of mine was offered CBT therapy to help with managing the condition - it was never taken up. She does work though which she said keeping active is good for her.

The medical profession need greater occupational support to assist people who struggle with mental Health and cannot work.

From the nhs @juggleit

A relatives gp noted stats which show most people have no known reason and symptoms eg pain come on gradually

A bit like how people reacted to a whopping 3 million workers being excluded from covid support. Lots of "shrugs" and even Rishi saying "we can't help everyone".