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.

It's in The Guardian which is what OP has quoted.

It says ''could'' so I'm hoping it doesn't actually go through.

I dint doubt people.try it on., on the DLA facebook groups im on i have seen people putting in claims for the most tenuos of.reasons
And it infuriates me when people want DLA becsuse their child is a bit behind in school etc
But most are not succssful.

Just to add too - you wouldn’t believe the number of young adults (maybe 18-25ish) who, when I ask about things like budgeting, I get a “oh my mum does it” reply. I ask why, and they say they haven’t learned how to do it. Nobody taught them how to pay a bill, set up a direct debit or budget a monthly income.

Same with food prep, Mum or Dad cooks for them. Again, I ask why that is and I’m told that they don’t know any recipes worth making, but can do a Pot Noodle.

There’s a notable culture of younger people who have clearly never had to actually learn very much of anything, and feel disadvantaged by it. Obviously these people don’t get a benefit award because their mum didn’t show them things, but the general lack of resilience, initiative and maturity is stark. It’s all a bit needy.

These are the people holding up real claims, making the response times longer etc. It’s a shambles at the moment and something needs to change.

Where I work we employed a recent graduate, who was caught abusing WFH, he has since quit to live on benefits and use the mental health card to get further benefits. If he stayed in his job, in a few years he would've been on 40% tax band, whilst he won't get that income on benefits he is more interested to sit at home and get free money rather than work for a decent salary.

I didn’t say it would. They would have to prove they need help from another person by scoring at least four points in one daily living activity to qualify at all, and would then have to go on to score at least another four points over the other activities to secure any award.

I've also seen people getting denied for their child too for things you'd think would be so straight forward.

I remember someone posting incredibly upset because their child was born without a foot and mobility was declined when it should be an automatic HRM.

Yep, I don’t doubt any of that.

Meanwhile you could be spending your time helping someone who is actually in genuine need.

I appreciate that people are angry at the government for these changes, but their anger also needs to be directed at the liars who’ve helped trigger the cuts.

Autism is a disabillty but a diagnosis alone wont be enough for a succesful PIP claim ,its how the condtion impacts a person.

No-one has said there aren’t claimants who lie - just that they don’t get very far.

What descriptors do you think hayfever or heartburn or a historic bone break would score?

@Rosscameasdoody Err, yes you did! You said “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.”

Proving ‘that they need help from another person for at least one activity’ won’t be enough.

Yes i have seen similar.

None apply, that’s my point. But they claim anyway while others wait in a queue behind them. They waste our time because they’re still entitled to the same assessment process, and that queue just builds up behind them.

Then they may decide to appeal, again wasting resources.

My overarching point is that some people feel entitled to benefit for almost anything, and that’s not right.

As you have mentioned care work i posted this on another thread recently

Ed Davey was on This Morning recently with a woman whose mum was abused in a care home.
They had a debate about what could be done to stop this kind of abuse.
But the one thing that wasnt brought up is the one thing no Govenment will ever do including the Lib Dems if they ever got in.
And that is to stop care work being advertised through Job Centres or stop ppl being threatened with UC sanctions if they dont take a care position. Stopping Job Centres doing this will stop someone possibly taking their resentment out on the clients (not saying everyone forced by sanction would do this) just saying its a risk. Why is it ok for elderly people to be collateral damage to get unemployment figures down. They would never take the same risks with children by forcing the claimant to be a child minder or be sanctioned.
I realise this is not what you were talking about but it all ties into the fact that the job is not valued.

There is a clear difference I agree. However
Pensioners don’t have parents to get them about and without a free bus pass might struggle to get anywhere .

That’s why they have them ie to avoid isolation and to access basic needs.

We’ll just have to agree to disagree but I don’t begrudge my neighbours a free bus pass when they have nothing else.

Except that it was wrong. The article stated that she was claiming nearly £2,300 a month in PIP, when the highest award is only £737 a month. They quoted the total claim over ten years amounted to £20k, but if the figures were correct the total claim would be over £300k. Doesn’t add up whichever way you look at it.

Pensioners don’t have parents to get them about and without a free bus pass might struggle to get anywhere .

Some will have money though so can just pay for travel. Dc need to go to school & parents tend to work these days.

But surely if it was clear at the application stage that they didn’t meet the criteria the claim wouldn’t get to the face to face assessment stage ? A paper based assessment at best ?

my friends girlfriend can not only see to her three horses but she can also ride them daily . She receives the highest level PIP for a lower spine condition.

It’s ridiculous. I mean at the point at which taxpayers are paying for massages something has to change!

I've already explained that needing aids does actually incur ongoing costs.

Unfortunately that’s not currently done. I wish it was. Paper based assessments are generally for people with verrrry significant issues. I don’t do any back office stuff, but I don’t think they deal with the ones who’ll never score. They all come to us, I believe.

I would like to see a filter of sorts to get those ones diverted.

Probably because they couldn’t get through on the bloody phone! They don’t make it easy for people to inform them

Its clear that benefits are way out of hand so something has to be done. Of course there will be people who need to be supported on benefits, and not being reassessed will be good for them. But there are a lot of people who need to be off benefits, we cannot go on like this.

it doesn’t specify that though. It gives the impression that the monthly payment is entirely PIP, and those unfamiliar with the benefit are quite likely to believe it/. This is the problem in the run up to benefit reforms - the media is full of inaccurate and misleading cases like this. And this particular publication is noted for it - when there is no actual fact, they’re not above making it up.

Most of the charities that help disabled people claim benefits had funding cuts so closed down, especially by councils who had less funding from Tories, so it's going to be an awful situation. I think they're hoping disabled people will unalive themselves from the stress they will be put through. Although no law or policy can be passed if people made an effort to protest against it. That's a basic legal theory, as if most people are against the law or policy, then it will bring an end to that government.
Will they do the same as Tories did by using paramedics to face to face assess people with invisible disabilities, and then make them spend 2 years appealing, which they often won by using the medical notes when they were diagnosed by specialists?