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.

Have you thought that through - 2 different aliases, NHS number allocated to your name and address - 2 different NHS numbers? 2 different addresses? 2 different GPs? 2 different diagnoses? different sets of consultants for each fraudulent health condition? Almost impossible unless you were very wealthy had 2 homes, and could afford private medicine which doesn’t keep track of your NHS appts on centralised database.

Of all the types of PIP fraud that is very least likely.

How much do you think illegal immigrants get in benefits?

No, I am suggesting that maintenance should not be disregarded in PIP calculations. So if a family was entitled to say £2000 a month, but maintenance was paid at £1,000, this would be taken off the UC payment,. Rather like the working taper.
I don't see what's so wildly controversial about that. It used to happen.
The system we have gives a lot of single parents no incentive to work, as their UC topped up by maintenance can add up to a tidy sum in certain circumstances.
But I am guessing by your outraged tone that you won't even consider what I am saying anyway.

So those of us who have life limiting diseases from which we will never ever recover and will not live to see our DC grow up, should just “wean” ourselves off the only support we have, should we?!

Saying something isn’t impossible isn’t evidence of widespread abuse.

Anyway how do you feel about cutting PIP with a 0.1% fraud rate to increase UC which has a 10.9% fraud rate? Does that seem like the actions of a government genuinely trying to reduce fraud in the welfare system?

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2023-to-2024-estimates/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-ending-fye-2024#personal-independence-payment-overpayments-and-underpayments

Of course the severely disabled and those with long term conditions will be affected.

For those of you caring for youngsters with MH issues is there any way at all you can help them work? I have a neighbour with a child with Down syndrome now in his late 20s. They do deliveries together locally. He carries the parcels in, she drives. They also have an online business. I doubt it makes much money, but it gives him a purpose and everyone locally really likes him.
Another person has a sandwich shop and has her DD in the kitchen doing stuff, together with another employee. Appreciate this won’t work for everyone. But try and think outside the box if you can and of things they may be able to do, somehow, with your help. At least to up their confidence.

I haven't calculated anything. I'm not the DWP and don't need to publish data. I just know that their number would be as robust as mine (i.e. Not at all).

I don't know why you don't understand that medical 'evidence' for some conditions is ultimately almost totally reliant on patient testimony relayed to professionals. There are no definitive physical tests that can be run for many of the conditions that are seeing the biggest increase in claims.

I know the system. I never suggested anyone was pitching up falsely claiming to have MND. This absolutely doesn't mean people don't put in fraudulent claims and have so called medical evidence to back them up. It's the nature of the beast and why chancers see certain conditions as an opportunity. They know it's almost impossible to weed them out from genuine claimants who are both telling the doctor the same thing.

Can you provide evidence?

Cutting the carers allowance bill would be financial madness for the country.

We simply cannot afford people doing the caring they are atm to give up on that.

I get £60 odd a week for caring for my DD. The residential school that appears to be the only one that can facilitate her and has been named in her plan (not at my pushing - I don't really want her to go residential but I may have no choice as she deteriorates) will cost many many thousands.

That would literally be shooting themselves in the foot if that was an outcome.

Oh right from this I take it all payments don’t just stop, you just move from one payment to a different one. And UC isn’t time limited in the same way?

PIP doesn't have a 0.1% fraud rate! DWP have no idea about the level of fraud for reasons I've explained a million times over.

@Bumpitybumper and that’s where I think a lot of piss taking is going on - it’s not the kind of people on here talking about autistic non verbal grandchildren or those who have huge physical disability’s to overcome, they are the people that need more help , not less-.it’s ones playing the MH card with anxiety or depression or stress- but seem to be fully able to get past it to do hobbies or holidays etc - these conditions only seem to manifest if it involves ‘paid work’ with a certain kind of claimant -there are people who clearly genuinely have MH issues but it tends to run across their whole life and existence- not just if it involves work. The fact is most people get down at certain points, have stresses, horrible bosses, feel very anxious but get on with the fact that they need to work or look for work , not just expect the state ( which is effectively other people) to pay for them for years. At one time I would have had more sympathy , as I’ve got older and met a fair few who know how to play the system and to be frank are taking the piss and have got away with it- I have far less empathy and want them weeding it-. To be able to concentrate help and effort on those who aren’t using it as a nice little bonus and truly need more help

I wish you well and hope you can find some meaning to your life, I am sure you have much to offer the world. Maybe talking through your experiences would help you. If you have dc it’s especially important you get some support 💐

2 different National insurance numbers as well.

Questions and observing posture
My cousin went through it and I went to support her.

Yes you would just claim UC instead but it is means tested so if you had savings over 16k you couldn't claim or having a working partner may rule you out depending on their earnings.

Yep. That is a massive change which seems to have been missed by a lot of people.

Yes it does. You can’t say they have no idea 🤪
Read the report

It's fucking disgusting.

Of all the ways to claw back money, labour has chosen to go after the sick and the disabled. Labour.

This is the sort of shit I expect from the tories but I am genuinely shocked that Labour is doing it.

They'll never get my vote again. Not that one person's vote matters but I'd sooner use my ballot as loo roll than vote Labour again.

It's worse than when the tories go after the most vulnerable because tories will be tories. You know who they are. But Labour?

it's a fucking joke that starmer got his knighthood as a human rights defence lawyer.

Those who are severely disabled and/or with long-time conditions presumably won't be affected if I read the report right?

Bullshit. They will be the most affected.

I have had a friend on the phone in floods this afternoon. Her severely autistic, barely verbal son will no longer qualify for PIP. She encourages him to do as much as possible, obviously with support, and he was marked as needing 'prompting' for most things.

He should obviously have scored 4 or higher in the communication section, but she was so worn down from the repeated assessments, literal hundreds of pages of forms she had to fill in, the denied mandatory reconsideration, that she couldn't face going to tribunal to challenge it at the time.

She will lose her carers allowance. It will cost the state thousands of pounds a week to provide the round the clock care they paid her £60 a week for when she needs to go get a job.

They’ve published the green paper online. I’ve just had a read and it’s made the position anything but clear. Severely disabled people on PIP won’t be ringfenced at all. The changes will affect all claimants, including those already claiming who will be subject to reassessment under the new criteria when they come up for review - including those with open ended awards, already known to be severely disabled and who would otherwise have had a light touch review.

In principle I think requiring PIP claimants to score at least four points in one of the daily living categories is reasonable - needing help with at least one activity is a good yardstick of the severity of the disability, and it won’t debar anyone from claiming for mobility support if they need it. But PIP eligibility is also going to be reformed, so this is not the end of it - scoring those four points is going to be considerably harder and will render many with significant disability ineligible.

Ah, you observed one appt with one OT and think you’ve seen them all.