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.

Absolute bollocks.

Omg, because they needed to save a significant amount. Not practically nothing. Read, increase your understanding.

A filter would make sense. Do you think the introduction of the four point rule will make a significant difference ? The plans announced include a green paper on further reform of the actual eligibility criteria. Do you think it will be tightened to make it harder to score four points or more ? My own feeling is that as things stand the change will significantly reduce the number of successful claims and that further reform will ensure that it becomes much harder to qualify across the board. I think it’s likely we’re going to see a lot more PIP claims consisting of mobility component only.

A good start, but more needs to be done in an attempt to tackle the bloated welfare bill.

She probably said she couldn't mobilise more than 25 metres without an aid, ie the horse!

😂

They really need to introduce a blanket cap of around 23k per household. Literally nobody should be getting more in benefits than this.

If employers pay more to staff then prices will go up. Employers are already facing having to pay 15% national insurance on all staff earning over £5,000 a year as well as contributing into their workplace pensions. Many small employers cannot afford this and will cut jobs instead. The government is damaging the job market whilst trying to get more people into work - it doesn't make sense. And then we are all being encouraged to use AI which also replaces humans in jobs.

Mum and Dad should stop doing things for them if this is the case. Nobody taught me how to pay bills or set up DDs, I just had to learn how to do it because there was nobody to do it for me. Nobody taught me how to replace bulbs in my car so I googled how to do it. I was never taught how to change a broken tap and my friend was never taught how to replace a broken bath, but we were strapped for cash so didn't have much of a choice. I want some blackout curtains so I'll need to put up a curtain pole. I've never done it before but it seems straightforward enough, so I'll watch a video. If the curtains are too long then I'll take them up myself, because I taught myself how to sew.

I've had friends in their late 30s and even 40s whose parents still do all sorts for them. One moved flat and her parents packed everything up for her and moved her into the new one. They then stayed with her for several nights to keep her company while she 'settled in'. She told me there were some holes in the wall from where a shelf had been. I directed her to polyfilla and sandpaper but she said 'it's ok, i'll just get my dad to do it next time he visits'. This friend described herself as self-sufficient Another woman I knew constantly had her 85 year old dad round doing jobs for her. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to learn how to do these things for themselves.

Not that this has anything to do with the proposed cuts, which I think are abhorrent, but I agree the lack of resilience is problematic and likely makes people more prone to anxiety.

Influencers who offer online advice on how to claim benefits have boasted that they will avoid the worst of Labour’s cuts to disability payments.

In a sign of the challenge facing the Government as it tries to force claimants back to work, internet personalities have said the reforms will not necessarily change their ability to secure welfare payments.

Madeleine Alexander-Grout, who provides money advice to people with ADHD and has nearly 70,000 followers on TikTok, said she did not claim personal independence payments (PIP), which are to be limited to the most severely disabled people under the reforms proposed by Liz Kendall.

Instead, she claims to have received tens of thousands of pounds in the past two years from a different scheme, called Access to Work, to help run her businesses and has shared guides on how to help others claim the benefits.

Ms Alexander-Grout is one of a group of people, described as “sickfluencers” by critics, who help others – many of them with conditions such as anxiety or ADHD – to claim benefits.

She called the cuts “utterly disgusting”, adding: “As somebody who voted Labour, now I wish I could retract my vote. The people who need it are going to be massively affected by this. Disabled people shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get it.”

DT

That’s my thought too. I think it’ll make a huge difference in terms of spending.

Most people fall under the aids or prompting bracket, depending on if their issue is physical or mental (and if both, we go with the higher descriptor which is usually prompting). Regardless, they’re all now going to be cut off unless they also have a significant other condition such as a learning disability. If you have arthritis/ME/MS/fibromyalgia can reasonably use aids, you’re done for.

With some of the activities, I could genuinely could on my fingers how many times I’ve selected the 4 point award. They’re very rare, so I think that the benefit system will be exclusively for profoundly disabled people only soon.

In terms of if it’ll be harder to score the 4 points, yes I think it will be, otherwise the whole exercise is pointless from the governments POV.

It’ll also have the additional effect where people will hear that everyone's being cut off or refused and it’ll make new claimants decide to not bother to apply, thus cutting down on the application volume.

The government have played a bit of a blunder here, as fast as they’re concerned. And the people who’ll be disadvantaged are just cannon fodder, really.

Omg how many people are going to make this point without reading the thread.

They pay for nothing. I'd say that's a pretty big benefit wouldn't you?

So are disabled people. What's your point?

The voucher/tax free childcare scheme works fine for childcare. Why can’t there be a similar scheme for PIP awards? It would mean that only authorised, regulated suppliers of help could be used (and not a sodding osteopath, as one person on here said they spent their PIP on).

I'm on PIP and got some 4 points, at appeal. I think these were on preparing food, socialising, needing support with therapy and together this was 12. More recently DWP just gave the 4 points for cooking but the others they changed to 2.

I'm currently under review but wondering if I might have to appeal to get the points back. I have a psychotic mental health illness and on a combination of heavy medication, plus a physical illness.

So it should be means tested then!

Why is it bollocks?

From full time work they earn £7k between them monthly.

In addition they both get PIP for autism/adhd.

This doesn’t surprise me - as I said up thread I’ve got a friend on a very good income who gets PIP (not means tested) and spends it on massages and savings. The system is ridiculous.

I get PIP for MH. I did score 4 points in one section. I’m being reassessed currently so maybe that will change.

Can't disagree with you about pensioners usually not having parents. 😂
However, many of them are very well off nowadays (they are the wealthiest group overall) and can afford to pay for transport if needed. Perhaps a free bus pass for those who live rurally might be reasonable. I don't think it's necessary for those in London, for example. Apart from that, school kids need to get to school, it's not optional.

It's similar to the everyone over 60 gets all prescriptions free, whereas 19 year students need to pay. This is an outdated and unfair rule now, especially given the fact that you can buy an annual certificate for a pretty reasonable price.

PIP is supposed to even the playing field. It’s nothing to do with how much you have already.

I agree, should be means tested AND the requirements for receiving it should be much stricter.

She can jump in her car , drive to the stables , have a bit of canter, then have a bit of a gallop , muck out the stables , feed the menagerie of other animals. She has muscles like Jeff Capes and a mane of hair extensions to match the horses .

I think I have seen your posts before, your illness is similar to mine. I hope you can manage to appeal if they take points away.

I did a paper appeal as I couldn't manage it in person. They used the paperwork plus my medication and care plan etc.

The Wealth is usually in bricks and mortar and the bus driver doesn’t take bricks as payment….not yet anyway 😆

Agree about the prescriptions. My ds is on permanent medication and at Uni…I was surprised he wasn’t exempt.

I'm amazed how brainwashed we are in England by types like Farage, who make people think creating animosity with the rest of Europe, to keep our economy closely linked with USA banks encouraging people to live in greed and debt so he can sell his get rich quick schemes based on stock market gambling is about patriotism. While the rest of the UK such as Scotland and Wales have politicians who care about the people, so they can have free prescriptions and university. I think English people won't wake up until Wales & Scotland leave the UK and become like the rest of north Europe and Scandinavia, but at the moment they're benefitting from our politicians letting them have extra perks so they won't leave.