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.

Sadly I get 3 points in one of the daily living components and 2 for the rest. I currently get enhanced daily living and standard mobility. Bizarrely I'll now lose my daily living element. I have severe spinal injuries that will never change but I presume come my reassessment most of my PIP will be cut. I'll never be able to work due to the level of pain and discomfort I experience on a daily basis. I'll be one of the genuine losers in this😢

This is controversial but feminism hasn't actually benefitted huge swathes of women.

1 job to buy a house became 2 once women flooded the workplace.

Women wanted to be treated the same as men (rightly) Rather than improve womens options their pension age was raised to match mens.

Disability will go the same way. Instead of improving the standard of living it will result with more claiming and then everyone (claimers and non claimers) will be poorer.

It is not possible for everyone to have a comfortable life. Unfortunately something has to give. Unpalatable but true.

"Disabled " is a very emotive term. Everyone has sympathy for the disabled and to hear that disability benefits are being cut stirs anger in every right thinking person.

However...

When the term is being applied to cases like the one I quoted from today's BBC website ( a 41 year old called Emily who works as a flight attendant but is disabled because her autism means that she has poor time management and for this is given a PIP of £400 a month) then maybe it might be time to look again at the definition of "disabled".

Not everyone understands that being unable to get to work on time renders one "disabled." Many people-myself included are confused and yes, angry, to wonder how the term disabled can be applied to a woman who works as a flight attendant but is disorganised.

When they do understand that this is how the term "disabled" is being used, they feel that someone, somewhere is taking the piss.

So, maybe we need to look again at how we define "disabled". Should it really include naughty children, people who can't get up in time for work and those who say they "have" anxiety.

I don't know. My own opinion is that it shouldn't.

I can move my arms around. But due to a combination of mastectomy and rheumatoid arthritis I can put neither arm behind my back and on the mastectomy side I can’t raise it above shoulder level. I also have problems with fine hand movements affecting buttons and fine closures. So l need help washing upper torso and dressing my upper body. Didn’t stop me from working for thirty five years. SH is an exception I agree. He was a national treasure and deserved the team of people he had behind him to help him work. But despite that he’s frequently still held up as the standard to which disabled people who genuinely can’t work are held. Their disabilities may not be as severe as SH’s but they simply don’t have the support afforded to him.

I think it’s a good thing. PIP has evolved into something it was never meant to be - a friend of mine earns a great income but gets PIP which she uses to pay for weekly massages and sticks the rest in a savings account. It’s crazy.

I'm not sure why you keep quoting rules to me.

The fact is that many school needs to pay for their bus fares/ train fares to school whereas pensioners get a free bus pass and can use their discount cards at any time, unlike school kids. There's a clear difference and not a fair one.

Agreed it's madness yet they have ruled out means testing it.

Could you qualify for one of the 4s though next time? You might need to appeal to get it though. I found the Appeals more likely to give 4s, they gave me three of them when DWP gave me 2s.

My 2 neighbours claim every benefit going!
Apparently she’s got a bad back so not able to work, yet can go to see to her 5 horses and carry bales of hay around!
Hes no better, he claims for this n that yet can crawl around the floor underneath their many vehicles and fix them!!

it’s the likes of these that need their benefits stopped not the genuine physical disabled people

Omg...I am stunned this woman got £2,292.63 in PIP a month 😱😱😱😱😱 🤯is this the normal going rate for benefits? Im probably so naive but didn't think benefits were as much as this. I've worked as a nurse for 20+ years band 5 and never seen more than £2200 a month maximum when I worked ft. It's less now I've dropped my hrs. Plus I've a family/ mortgage etc etc

I definitely needs looking at for those under 22s who have anxiety and sit indoors all day playing computer games doing nothing to improve their futures but collecting their so called 'pay'. Hopefully the right people will still get the enhanced help.

With all the other draconian cuts and restrictions that successive Tory governments introduced to disability and sickness benefits over the years, I’m really surprised that they didn’t think of this one very clever measure. Perhaps they were just not intelligent enough to realise the restrictive consequences. It’s simple but brilliant. Instead of claimants scoring 2 points across the board for daily living and coming away with a standard award for needing simple aids with no real ongoing costs, they now have to prove that they need help from another person for at least one activity, thus demonstrating a higher level of need. It’s going to save a lot of money and hopefully won’t impact those who have significantly higher needs.

Except it won't hit the 'workshy'; they'll find a way to keep playing the system.

No, the ones who'll be affected, are those who are genuinely disabled and/or have genuine mental health issues.
I don't know how anyone can agree with that.

100% agree. Hopefully one of them will be my BIL who must’ve lied on his Pip form. He has the condition but it doesn’t affect his day to day living.. or the cruises he freely admits the payments go on.

I was thinking this earlier. So, so many people score across the board with 2pts in several sections and can hit enhanced rate awards that way. This culls their claim completely. Enhanced to zero. Score as many points as you like, but if there’s not a 4, you’re done.

Some of the activities, it is incredibly rare to use the choice which awards 4pts. Those activities are almost defunct for most now.

The highest rates of PIP a person can receive a month is £737 dont beleive every thing you read.

It will affect all of those under 22 including those who are severely disabled because as far as I can tell, no one under that age will be able to claim PIP and UC.

The £2200 a month for the runner lady = £27.400 a year net. That is about £32,000 a year of income before tax assuming non student loan. The level of these benefits is incredible and is probably why some of us in work claiming nothing have the highest tax burden in 70 years

Then how the fuck will I survive, what are your sources. I am estranged no family, no one to support me other than benefits

The article doesn’t make sense if you read it. These types of publications often spread rumour and inaccuracy when there’s a lack of actual fact. The total amount of benefit paid to this woman was £20k. And that was over ten years. If it had been circa £2,300 a month the total would have been around £276k after ten years. The maximum amount of PIP you can claim per month is £737.

People love to believe that there are no lying claimants but that’s just not true. I’ve had many people who have been caught in a lie when speaking to me. They tell me things like “I don’t leave the house, haven’t done it in 3 years, too anxious, can’t face it.” then later they’ll talk about how they went to a bowling club for their grandson’s christening last month.

Lies about medication dosages, if they can read, if they can drive…people try and pull the wool all the time. It’s just factual. And some of them are successful in doing so. They’ve helped drive up the cost of benefit payments and now everyone pays the price.

People want benefits for everything - hayfever, heartburn, an uncomplicated broken bone in 1982, a planned caesarean section in 2001. It’s relentless, totally unsustainable.

they now have to prove that they need help from another person for at least one activity

@Rosscameasdoody help from another person in one activity or even more than one won’t necessarily lead to an award under the proposed criteria. The example I gave previously was 2 points for assistance to cut up food, 1 point for assistance to be able to manage medication, 3 points for assistance to get in or out of the bath or shower, 2 points for assistance to dress or undress lower body, and 2 points for assistance to manage complex budgeting decisions.

Absolutely agree. I'm a benefits advisor and see it a lot. One woman who lives in my village and I see regularly blatantly lied to a PIP tribunal panel about her mobility. Fortunately they saw through it and she had no medical evidence. i have since found out she also lied to me about. stuff in relation to her dad's benefits which I also helped with. makes me sad when people try to take us for mugs when ultimately we are trying to help.

I don’t think the age 22 rule includes PIP because Kendal is proposing to raise the age of migrating children from child DLA to PIP from 16 to 18. She also said that those with significant disability would be protected. More detail will be released fleshing out the plans when Rachel Reeves presents the spring statement next week. I wouldn’t panic because these changes aren’t being implemented immediately as they require primary legislation which has to be approved by the commons and the lords.

The £2000 + is likely to be not just PIP but UC too.