To be really cross about the proposed cuts?

[Byjimminy]

And feel really effing sorry for those with genuine anxiety and depression - it is disabling!

Already seeing threads in MH with people despairing in anticipation of cuts. As if mental health services haven't already been decimated beyond recognition already. GP appointments as rare as hen's teeth, CAMHS and access to decent therapy is next to non-existent, the conservatiives slashed all the support workers and sure start centres and we've had the worst pandemic in decades (centuries?) - long covid is thing too! And now people are just self diagnosing/making up mental health issues? How the hell anyone believes anyone manages to claim PIP without a proper diagnosis is insanity itself.

I completely agree with this article: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/wes-streeting-overdiagnosis-mental-health-adhd-b2716618.html

I know there will be umpteen threads on this already, but maybe some others like me just want to let stuff out in frustration and have a fresh place to say it. To think this is a labour government making these decisions BEFORE putting the services in place to actually help and treat people is beyond comprehension.

I don't think this is a bad idea. People with MH conditions need time, supervision and close management of responsibilities. I've been lucky at times to have all of that. Not so lucky at others and funnily enough deteriorated. Picked up again with support and a manageable workload put in place. But employers need to be supported in this and there needs to be a degree of independent assessments, otherwise we'll be hearing about employer/employee scams to spunk the dosh.

Employers too need to better understand the benefits system, how an employee's circumstances are restricted and how decisions that are made about their employment affect change in their benefit entitlement.

@Byjimminy I made no comment on depression or anxiety.

To understand the decision you need to understand the basic motivation for being at the top of government. People don't reach this position because they want to serve the country in a way that improves it for all. People become cabinet ministers because they want to line their own pockets and because of a belief that they are genuinely better people than everyone else and therefore deserve to be in this position.

These cuts are not about getting people off benefits and in to work, they are about cutting the benefit bill so the money can be spent in a way which benefits the politicians themselves, their families and friends.

That's what the game is about: run the country into the ground for a few years, cream off whatever you can, then retire to a comfortable life doing book tours and after-dinner speeches.

Disabled people, working people, "normal" people generally (i.e. the bottom 99%) are seen as an inconvenience or irrelevance at best. Usually they are just viewed as a mixture of slaves and cannon fodder, to be exploited to ensure the few at the top remain there.

Calm down with the conspiracy theories!

who the hell would want to be a politician with the likes of you spouting this nonsense at them. Do you really think Wes Streeting is in it for what he can siphon off for himself? MPs earn way less than I do as a mid range manager in an IT company, for being at the beck and call of the likes of you 24/7. Shite job.

The country has no money. It has to find money to fund extra £50bn a year in disability payment comparing 2019 figs to 2029. It can’t go handing out £400 a money for therapy to someone, only to see that person spend the money on rent. If the person wants therapy, they get in the NHS queue like everyone else. In the meantime they work, or get their parents / family to help them out.

If we had prize giving for writing bollocks on the Internet than you'd be in with a good shout for this post.
And if you really believe what you have written why don't you stand for election yourself and try to change things?

I think this is a really good idea.

Pensions are administered by the DWP and pensions and related benefits account for more than half their expenditure.

The majority of pensioners have worked all their life so contributed and are now claiming pension they paid for so it’s not right blaming them.

Pensions are benefits. There’s not some separate pot people are paying into current tax payers are paying the current pension bill, the number of pensioners is growing faster than the pool of taxpayers. Just like disability benefits state pension is a safety net for people unable to work.

This ^

Also, a Labour government should be addressing the fact that UC for those in work is not subsidising the claimants of that, but the businesses and corporations who don’t pay their staff enough to live on but dole out millions, sometimes billions, in profits to shareholders and huge bonuses to their executives.

And as I’m on my high horse, get after the millions of dads non resident parents who don’t pay for their kids or look after them in any meaningful way, but expect the mother residential parent to do it. Often by having to work part time and/or claim benefits to bridge the gap.
How many millions would that put back in the pot?

Very little because everyone on here argues UC shouldn’t be affected by child maintenance, which it isn’t.

I can't do anything at all and if they try and force me I'll probably end up starving to death.
It's brutal and terrifying. I'm fearing for my life, no joke.

Really disappointed with this government, not what I voted Labour for at all. I keep getting their ads on Facebook and it’s all got such a horrible Daily Mail vibe- “look how many people we’ve kicked out of the country!”

I don’t disagree that PIP needs reforming and some of the changes are actually sensible- stopping reassessments for people that clearly aren’t going to get better, stopping penalising people for trying work. But the entire assessment system needs an overall and the assessors need much better training. A lot of them seem to have no knowledge of health and ability and yet ignore letters from doctors and specialists who do.

@Kendodd Yep. There have been posters on these threads, saying they'll kill themselves if the government take their money away. I've even seen people on TV say it. I've had very similar things said to me as a way of coercion.

But if they can no longer eat, pay their bills or rent after their benefits have been removed it's going to be hard to survive, wouldn't you agree? They might not see the point in living.

Umm have we forgotten the freebies such as football tickets, free clothes, Taylor Swift tickets etc? Of course they are in it for themselves, same as when the Tories were handing out ppe contracts to their mates. How quickly people forget….

Nobody spends 25 years building their career for free Taylor Swift tickets.

I feel very sorry for people who are in genuine need but the problem is as a country we cannot afford to keep people on benefits.

Tens of thousands of millionaires are leaving the UK every year and they pay most of the tax. So we have a big problem and it needs to be sorted.

There are lots of countries that don't have benefits and their people survive.

Please tot up the total value of the contracts, gifts and expenses, and let me know how much they come to. It won’t cover the welfare rise I’m willing to bet - by a long way. I hate backhanders etc, but let’s not pretend they’re the reason our economy has gone down the shitter

What do people do in other countries that don't have benefits?

I doubt that they have much higher suicide rates than we do.

If you need to work to eat then most people will find a way to work.

There is nothing stopping you from being a politician.

It is very easy to complain. Why don't you get off your backside and do something about it?

It's tricky. There is a saying 'necessity is the mother of invention.' I had severe anxiety, panic attacks etc when I left uni but had no family support (or anywhere to live) so had no choice but to find work, however scary and overwhelming it seemed. The alternative was homelessness (I didn't consider benefits as I had no idea they were a thing). I sofa surfed, applied frantically, got work and managed to support myself. My anxiety lessened as I realised I could cope. I had a serious illness a few years ago and worked whenever I could manage to. It was my lifeline and link to normality. Work, if possible is a good thing, and some mental health conditions can be improved by work, money and a sense of a place in society. Of course, it simply isn't possible for many people.

Pensions are benefits. There’s not some separate pot people are paying into current tax payers are paying the current pension bill, the number of pensioners is growing faster than the pool of taxpayers.

Which is why we need anyone who can work to be in work, to fund those at the end of their working life and those who can’t work.

The rise of young people who can’t work is a real cause for concern, there shouldn’t be the option to pass straight from DLA to PIP with the associated other funds also paid for by the tax payer other than for those with life long conditions. It makes for lazy planning in the part of professionals who should be supporting young people to find their niche, not anticipate a life in their bedrooms on the Xbox.

Very little because everyone on here argues UC shouldn’t be affected by child maintenance, which it isn’t.

I absolutely think that CM should be taken into account for UC payments. But then the government should be coming down like a ton of bricks on absent fathers parents. And I don't think that CM should be reduced just because a man parent has decided to create a second family. So shoot me.

Absolutely true. I remember a friend from my 20s who went to the Doctors to get some anti depressants when a boyfriend was messing her about. At the same time I was trying to cope with the suicide of someone very close. Our friendship cracked over this period. She was pathetic.