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?

Any suicide is one too many. But there aren’t millions in the UK, there are thousands. Around 7k in 2023, about 6k of those in England & Wales.

We were in that 70 per cent bracket and left the UK a year ago. I have no issue paying into a system but for us nothing seemed to be working and we could see no long term benefit for us or our DC by staying in the UK. Too many people wanting to take and not enough wanting to put in.

I'm increasingly starting to wonder about long term effects of hormonal contraception. But I don't think there's a cat in hells chance it'll ever be researched.

Edit: Quote didn't work. It was responding to a comment about why fibro is more prevalent in women.

Oh there was no rambling there … just well informed insights.

My son has autism and muscular dystrophy, other than medical appointments and school he does not leave the house.
Being told to shield during Covid screwed him up. The letter literally said “you can open a window but do not step outside” at 11 years old he didn’t step foot out of his house for 4 months even when his class mates returned to school. It took a lot to get him out and even now he wears a face mask all day at school. He was referred for counselling, after 2 years waiting he has 6 sessions, the conclusion was, he tried hard with counselling, his mental health deteriorated during the 6 weeks due to incidents that happened to him in school (beaten up by 3 kids, more than once filmed and circulated on social media) but we have a huge waiting list so 6 sessions is all I can offer.

Although I agree he’s an “extreme” case, this is why some kids are getting worse and becoming inactive. The huge waiting list for mental health services mean by the time they are seen they’re almost too far gone and need long term treatment to pull them back which simply isn’t available. The government need to be asking the questions whether it’s better to support children effectively whilst they’re developing or pay for a lifetime of supporting broken adults.
The broken kids of Covid are in huge numbers but they’re rarely seen, a lot are Homeschooled.

Why is there such an increase in fibromyalgia? What's driven the increase? When did it start increasing?

NRTFT. I think your first problem OP, is that you think genuine disability and mental ill-health only affect naice middle class people.

Presumably, the people on 'rough estates' are happy go-lucky types who are best suited to singing Knees up Mother Brown around the piano and couldn't possibly be depressed.

It’s one of those illnesses with no specific test for so east to blag, so if you can’t be bothered to work and want to hop on benefits, it’s one of the good ones to choose. It’s a bit like the ‘bad back’ of the 1990s.

You have to pity the people who genuinely have this illness. What a nightmare.

I know a fair few people with fibro, and they all have other health conditions too. It is not always to do with MH. My aunt was diagnosed with it after she had treatment for breast cancer.

That the reason why fibro is one of the hardest to get support for. Too many blagging that they’re watering down the value of a diagnosis. Going for PIP with mental heath issues or fibromyalgia will be an uphill battle.

This sounds like something a conservative government would do?

Covid hit young people much harder than I think is recognised.
Because of his dad’s CEV condition, our youngest was alone with just his parents, trying to study with very poor provision, for 16 months, much of his sixth form years. He spent his 18th birthday with his parents, a takeaway and a film on telly. He didn’t see anyone else the whole time.
He got through it but the problems it caused were apparent. He studied at uni (where social limitations were still in place), gained a first class degree in his subject and is working full time, passed his driving test, bought a car and is saving for a home deposit. All great, on the surface.

He is only recently, though, beginning to make up for his lack of learning in respect of social interactions and confidence.

Hell be fine, we think. He’s a good, strong person. Many others of his age didn’t cope so well and really struggle with making their way in the world.

We need more targeted support for those young people so badly affected by Covid in their formative years, programmes to help them into work.

I’ve read comments by people comparing the Covid generation to those who went through WW2 and came out the other side (supposedly) fine.

The young people then had each other and weren’t expected to cope with such unique circumstances alone.

An immunologist told me it's do do with our xx chromosomes and hormones. These carry material that predisposes women to autoimmune conditions. Men are generally more prone to heart attacks and diabetes. Fibro is believed to be neurological and autoimmune and certainly can be triggered by lifestyle, diet, stress or viruses etc like other ai stuff. The pain signals go completely out of whack & are magnified, in some people to the extent that they are wheelchair bound as is Jonathan Ross's daughter. Men do get ai conditions. I have a few male friends and acquaintances with rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, cidp, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis. All quite disabled & worked all their working lives types, sadly now reliant on ESA/pip etc.

I’ve read comments by people comparing the Covid generation to those who went through WW2 and came out the other side (supposedly) fine.

@MrsSkylerWhite I’m sure the people living in Gaza and Ukraine feel that that the Covid lockdowns are comparable to what they’re going through?!

You can’t seriously compare a six-year world war to the Covid experience.

Whats the solution though? It cannot be afforded. DH and are are grateful to be well but are exhausted with working flat out, huge amounts going out in tax for piss poor services. We are looking to move abroad as are many many of our friends. All that will be left in the UK are those that need support and no one who can do the supporting.

Or maybe acutally tackle tax avoidance and loopholes for once that cost the state £50 - £100bn a year? You seem to have forgotten to mention the £15bn in unclaimed benefits a year that the state saved as well. No doubt all innocent mistakes.......

Bruford

I’m sure the people living in Gaza and Ukraine feel that that the Covid lockdowns are comparable to what they’re going through?
**
You can’t seriously compare a six-year world war to the Covid experience

I don’t. I said I’ve read some posters doing so on other threads.

My mum was born in October 1939 in central London. She remembers the war as a time of strong community, close family and lots of freedom for herself and her friends. They weren’t isolated with no-one of their age to talk to face to face. Born into it, it was her normal. It didn’t suddenly change her life and isolate her from her peers for 16 months at 16.

I’ve no idea why you mention Gaza and Ukraine? Not relevant at all, obviously.

My parents’ nostalgia for the war years was something that completely mystified me. I think it was denial.

For some people it was a good time, just as for some lockdown was a good time.
Women stuck at home as housewives suddenly had the chance to work with other women doing more exciting jobs. To enable it the government ran highly subsidised nurseries and canteens serving cheap food.
For children school became part time and they had more time to play.
Some people had a terrible traumatic time, but just like the pandemic, not everyone did.

Adults, possibly. Do young children go into denial or just accept their normal?

A huge chunk of the official "tax gap" is the black economy, i.e. "normal" people doing cash in hand work, buying/selling duty free booze and fags, small businesses evading tax by charging cash and not declaring the income, small business VAT fraud (builders, scaffolders, etc), "pretend" self employment, etc etc. Imagine the howls of protest when friends and neighbours get the knock on the door by HMRC tax inspectors wanted to pore through their personal finances!

Personally, I think we need to do it as far too much is lost through deliberate evasion in these areas, but we also need to tackle "mistakes" in tax returns from "normal" people/small businesses, etc., as well as the deliberate evasion as that's another huge chunk of missing tax revenue.

The tax authorities used to be far more proactive back when I started in accountancy in the 80s, but over the decades, they seem to have given up doing routine inspections/enquiries, and without the risk/threat of random inspections, the number of "normal" people deliberately or accidentally evading tax is increasing year on year, as is the "tax gap".

The number of civil servants detecting tax fraud has been slashed.

@MrsSkylerWhite I mentioned Gaza and Ukraine because they’re contemporary wars that young people living in those regions are unfortunately experiencing. I honestly don’t think that they’d view the Covid lockdowns as comparable to what they’re going through.

No , people aren’t alone, but war is surely far more scary than Covid isolation with the internet to keep in touch with people. My two played online with their friends a lot, for example. It was a horrible experience, but most young people, like your son and my teenagers, will recover from the effects. Your son sounds amazing!

I mentioned Gaza and Ukraine because they’re contemporary wars that young people living in those regions are unfortunately experiencing. I honestly don’t think that they’d view the Covid lockdowns as comparable to what they’re going through

I didn’t suggest that they were?

You mention your two. I think (hope) that would have made a positive difference for them in dealing with the difficult circumstances.

Thank you. I think he is, in his own quiet way..
(We took him to the gp to try to organise some talking therapy for him. 3 years on, nothing. I suppose if disability benefits aren’t priority, talking therapies certainly aren’t.)

@MrsSkylerWhite I hear you, I’m in the US and everything health-related has to be paid for, it sounds as if the UK is going the same way in many areas.