To wonder if all those gleeful about PIP cuts are going to welcome people with serious mental health conditions as colleagues and employees?

[Somethingthecatdraggedin7]

Given the amount of ableisism I see on MN I think the likelihood of people welcoming people with serious mental health conditions into their workplace is pretty low.
And yes, these people will very likely now be forced to try to work even though their condition makes it impossible. We are not just talking about some lazy twenty year old who expects to sit at home gaming due to his “anxiety” as many people seem to believe is the case. It will be people with significant impairments to social functioning.
Even if they get support to apply for jobs, and even if they then get the position (doubtful) how accommodating will colleagues or customers be if the person seems a bit odd, or gets adjustments workmates deem unfair?
This is going to be a total shit show.

I used to work with someone with schizophrenia. She’d been employed by the local authority for 25 years and took medical retirement in her late fifties. She had a lot of sick leave and had bounced around different admin roles, but nevertheless had had a job (and a pension to retire on) all that time. There is hope!

Speaking for myself, I am not gleeful about anything.

I abhor the idea of cutting benefits without also increasing specialist dedicated support. We know there is a tranche of youngsters with mental health conditions who are currently unable to work, and who believe they cannot cope with work. We also know that appropriate work is good for mental wellbeing. What we need is a proper joined up system where someone is given a period of recovery time and then given specialist support, not sanctions, to begin to engage in small amounts of voluntary work in an area of interest to them, as a confidence builder, and gradually build up to being supported into part time working.

I would be completely up for something like this. ATM the job coaches are not specialist enough they don't give people in burnout enough time, or start small enough. It could be achieved if there was the political will.

Pretty sure the Venn diagram of the groups of people who want disability benefit cuts and thing reasonable adaptations and/or colleagues needing more time off sick on here is nearly a circle.

That is if they can even get a job to start with.

Deemed by whom?

me and then given specialist support, not sanctions, to begin to engage in small amounts of voluntary work in an area of interest to them, as a confidence builder, and gradually build up to being supported into part time working.

voluntary work in an area of interest - seems very unlikely. They could be volunteering in charity shops or litter picking now

I'm against the cuts.
I am currently in a team with 2 people who have significant health issues. They are lovely people BUT picking up their work due to adjustments & increased sick days is having a departmental impact on my own health. I have voted with my feet and will start a new position within my organisation soon. For me, carrying others to that extent is unsuitable. There needs to be a shift, where the wellbeing of ALL employees is considered, not just the ones that come under protected characteristics . Plus, I can see why my employer doesn't employ an extra person to cover for my lovely but frequently to ill to work colleagues.

The work then falls onto the other (healthy) colleagues same as AL and everyone else sick days. We rarely have a week when the full team is actually in.

Perhaps MP’s should take a well overdue pay cut. Perhaps we should stop subsidising their entire lives, on top of their unreasonable pay, and perhaps we should stop having cases of champagne loaded into the House of Lords before we ever, ever start to pinch away the pennies of the most vulnerable in society. Idk just a thought

The people the government themselves have employed to pick apart the lives and medical records of applicants before any decision is made. Obviously?

Nah -hundreds of MPs lords consent touch billions

Their consultants usually

This is my fear. I think a lot of people just think that the disabled and mentally ill should be 'assisted' to die quietly.

Unless it's an illness they have or someone close to them has. At that point every possible resource should be thrown at them.

This, if i lost my current job there is no way anyone would hire me my attendance record alone would put anyone of without the added list of things I'm unable to do

PIP is not an out-of-work benefit, though. I know several people on PIP, and they all work.

I think this is likely - what will essentially happen is the PIP spend will be cut, but employers will be underwriting it along side statutory sick pay. SSP is nonetheless cheaper than what many are receiving in PIP, but given many will also likely be on lower paid jobs (initially at least) and receiving UC, I’m not sure this will fix the cost - which is supposed to be the point of it.

Last time I checked those that earn more pay a higher proportion of tax.

We have a colleague at work who has had an awful year in terms of physical and mental health. She has been sick over 50% of the time. She is not faking, she desperately wants to work and enjoys her job but its impossible. Equally it has put a huge amount of pressure on the rest of the team and simply isnt sustainable as they are field based so means lots of rearranging travel at last minute and personal lives impacted.

However, elsewhere in the company there are lots of jobs that could be done more flexibly. Wfh, project based, data analysis etc. for some people, work will never be an option and I want to live in a society where they are still valued and allowed to live comfortably. However, with complex thought, empathy etc we could make changes in the system to allow more people to work.

I receive PIP for several physical conditions - Rheumatoid Arthritis, severe GERD, Endometriosis and Adenyomosis (sp?) - but under the new proposals I won’t qualify for it anymore because I can wash myself and cook myself a microwave meal so won’t score 4 points in one category alone. They won’t take into consideration that I never know from one day to the next if I’ll be able to get out of bed and function or not, hence why I’ve not been able to reliably hold down a job for the last few years. They really are targeting the most vulnerable people in society and it’s awful.

I don’t even know how this would happen. My friend’s DC has left uni with a good degree and can’t find employment. I also know plenty of other people looking for work who are having no luck. These are people without disabilities.

It will put people out of work too. I'm not sure of the percentage but people on pip can and do work but some are only able to work because their pips helps them with things that make that possible. Take it away, they're fucked.

Yep, there is a thread on here right now about the state of the job market.
If people with good references, experience and qualifications are struggling to find work, what hope is there for someone who has none of those things? Then with a disability on top?

Yep my dd aged 22 is in this position. Graduate, applying for everything from working in Tesco to bar work to graduate jobs (she studied criminology) and can’t get anything other than 2 days a week at a bar (no extra hours to be had). There just aren’t jobs around everywhere for everyone, even those without disabilities. Her best friend who studied English literature is currently working 10 hours a week in Boots.

Of course! I expect the government have a risk assessment somewhere that says X amount of people who die as a direct result and Y amount of people will suffer harm. And they will be seen as collateral damage.

I think it could result in crime too, not just work place issues.

This is very true. Someone who's PIP benefit enables them to purchase an adapted car for example, can work in an environment where WFH is not allowed.
Take that PIP away, the car is unaffordable and the job is impossible to get to.