Benefit cuts proposal

[Charliechoosecarefully]

I just wanted it to have a specific thread:-

Kendall says government to consult on merging JSA and ESA benefits.

Kendall says WCA being scrapped, with Pip assessment process being used instead - will be scrapped in 2028.

Kendall says 'right to try' will let people on sickness benefits try work without immediately having benefits cut.

Kendall says UC payments being rebalanced, with standard rate going up, and some health top-ups frozen or cut.

Kendall says reassessments for people on universal credit with health top-ups to be beefed up

Kendall says universal credit claimants with most severe disabilities will not face reassessment

Kendall confirms Pip eligibility rules to be tightened, and assessment process to be reviewed - 4 pointed needed in one descriptor.

Kendall says under-22s could be prevented from claiming health top-up for universal credit

Sourced from the guardian.

Perhaps pip payments could be specifically targeted to need eg recipients get vouchers for physio, those who have difficulty walking could get vouchers for taxis, mobility scooter, those needing special foods, food vouchers. Etc

Rent / home ownership is another topic. We need to solve one problem at a time!

And again, what replaces it because the new state pension is hardly enough to get by on, let alone the old rate that attracts pension credit.

Unfortunately it’s not well understood on this thread that when it comes to benefits solving one problem at a time is impossible, because some benefits qualify you for others. Stop one and you stop them all. Ludicrous.

I think it will filter out to a certain extent for those who became working age after 2018 ie the year employer contribution pensions became compulsory
That would therefore be approx anyone reaching pension age in 2067 ( if the retirement age stayed the same ).

this is all just guesswork though and irrelevant to the current announcements anyway

The current retirees never expected pension credit and are more likely to own homes.

The current system does not make people take personal responsibility.

What happened decades ago? People survived and quite frankly the systems in place were more efficient.

This wasn't the case in my experience for DLA. It was never stopped when my son was in hospital and they knew he was in hospital too.

That’s what the Conservatives were thinking off.
The idea was scrapped

They’ve already ruled out vouchers. And rightly so. Disabled people are not idiots. They’re perfectly capable of spending their money in the best way to suit their own disabilities and the needs they create. Would you like to be told what supermarket you could shop in ? And be issued with a voucher, so that when you presented it at the checkout everyone would know you’re a benefit claimant? Disabled people should be treated with the same dignity and respect that applies to the rest of us, not singled out just because they’re different.

And disability is complex. There is rarely only one need.

That sounds extremely admin heavy? Each claimant would then need differing “payments”. How would it be managed? Taxi vouchers for example, would you hand them to a taxi driver to then claim the refund? Who would process that? Imagine that sort of scenario tenfold (food vouchers, disability aid vouchers, physio vouchers, psychiatrist vouchers etc etc) and you have a huge aim task!
If we want to support the disabled, we should allow the dignity of spending the benefit as they see fit. For some that might be towards standard bills - additional heating for example as home all day, mortgage costs that were set when on a dual income. For others that might be fuel costs or taxi costs. It might be specialists. I think we can allow that autonomy.

Yes. At the moment the problems are snowballing.

Sort disability

Sort pensions

Sort housing

Once one is streamlined it will be easier to tackle the others. The key word is phased.

And quite rightly so, imo.

The current system does not make people take personal responsibility.

What happened decades ago? People survived and quite frankly the systems in place were more efficient.

But decades ago people didn't have such high house prices vs wages, less social housing, wage stagnation, less generous private pension schemes. People are paying a lot of tax now despite the fact they won't getting as much out of it

even if they do own their own homes you can’t eat a brick!

Phased is still cut however you dress it up.

There was a pot of money to help disabled people, as there should be and all ticked along.

Then came an explosion of claims for mental health.
All these claims for cash had to come out of the same pot.
That meant there was a lot less in the pot.

It meant less money for each claimant or it meant that more had to be put in the pot.

There is not a lot more money to be put in, so many will have to be weeded out, so that those who really need the money-have no alternative-can continue to tick along.

Here is a case that I think shows why the government has had to do something.

It was on the BBC website this morning (it is still up) and is a case study about a 41 year old woman who is a Flight Attendant.

This lady says that she is autistic and struggles with time management and organisation. She now receives a PIP payment of £400 a month which she says and I quote, " mostly goes on her regular bills."

It would have been a lot cheaper to buy her a very large alarm clock.

I think her case demonstrates how easily money is being handed out and yes, those taking the piss, need to have their hand taken out of the pot.

It will relieve the tax payer and will be a good thing for those who need the money and no longer have to share the pot with piss takers.

Given how few residential places there are, the chances of her going into one are slim. In some areas it won't matter if you're on the bones of your arse, if you're breathing you'll be expected to soldier on.
It's all such a mess.

SH is an exception! People at work will probably have to move their arms around though! I think some of the activities and point scoring is rather baffling. And confusing, and I know I’m not the only one!

Professionals have been better at identifying it.

19 years ago, I was saying DD1 had SN. I was told I was being neurotic. 2.5 years later, I was vindicated when an MRI scan showed that her global developmental delay was due to a brain malformation.

16 years ago, I said that DD2 was showing signs of ASD. I was told I was being neurotic and that she was copying DD1. She was finally diagnosed at age 11, and now has a special school place because she can't access mainstream education despite being intelligent.

11 years ago, DD3 didn't cope with going into nursery, school, had sensory issues, developed obsessions with germs. I was told she was 'being silly'. She's now diagnosed with ASD, OCD, and ADHD, receiving treatment and has a special school place because she can't access mainstream education despite being intelligent.

None of it is 'new', it has just been recognised as the debilitating condition it is.

The family that I know are all very well versed in knowing exactly what to say in the claim form and have no qualms about visiting the doctor as many times as is necessary to complain that they have ‘pain, weakness, muscle issues’ ie nothing can be found so it’s ‘Fibromyalgia’.

They were all hugely overweight, now most of them have had gastric sleeves in turkey and they’ve not looked back. No work in any of them, spend their days watching daytime TV and TikTok and when it’s sunny drinking outside the local pubs.

Loads of kids between them, some with ADHD or Autism so again the claim goes in. There are generations all doing the same and they never even enter the world of work. It’s a lifestyle.

This is crazy. How must a seriously disabled person feel reading that. The safety net needs to be much tighter. Ironically this will help the seriously disabled and remove the stigma of falsely tarring them with the name tag of scroungers

We are spiralling in the wrong direction.

Respectfully, I disagree. We simply didn’t have this many children struggling prior to the uptick in diagnosis - at least, not to an extent that now they would’ve been in special school.

In my hometown, growing up there was 1 special school. There are now 3, with many schools having autism wings or allocated SEN classrooms.

We can’t keep using better diagnosis to explain this all away.

Sorry, should have clarified that it only applies to those over the age of 18 - if under 18 PIP continues for as long as you’re eligible or 19th birthday. If over 18 both daily living and mobility components stop after 28 days. If you go into a care home at the expense of the LA, PIP daily living will stop after 28 days, but the mobility component, should you be claiming it at the time, will continue.

It’s not mostly funded by charities
Its funded by our Home Office budget which gets money from………..us!

Interesting. Thanks.

My son had a long hospital stay so I'm very glad that it didn't have to be stopped. I didn't realise PIP differed so much in that regard.