To be sick of all the newspaper articles saying lies about DLA and PIP

[elliejjtiny]

To get any DLA or PIP you have to be significantly disabled. To get the higher rate of either part you have to be severely disabled.

A motability car is not free, it's rented. To get one you need to either be unable to walk 50 metres or have a severe learning disability, which is very difficult to get.

It's always happened but since the stuff in the news about changes to PIP it's got worse.

Articles in the newspapers claiming you can get a free car for bed wetting, which just doesn't happen. There will be children like my ds who get DLA because they have a number of problems including bedwetting but nobody gets high rate mobility for bed wetting on its own.

There are other articles about people claiming PIP and DLA for various minor sounding conditions and I am so fed up with it. I know from experience that the newspapers will have talked to people claiming PIP/DLA and twist everything they say to make them sound like a scrounger.

All these articles are giving off the message that anyone with any minor disability can claim loads of benefits.

That's why I said the state was part funding a luxury car. That's exactly what you describe.

And regardless of the model it's paid for by PIP, so not exactly free.

It sort of is though isn't it, it's just instead of free money it's a free lease.

Or more realistically the state is part funding the car that meets the needs of the disabled person.

Ahh yes the old 'its not fair' argument.

Is it fair, can I ask, that I can't wipe my own arse? Brush my own hair, shower by myself or put on my own clothing?

Is it fair that my heart will give up at any moment, there is no corrective surgery, I will not get a transplant, I live with the knowledge that for me more than most, every day could absolutely be my last?

Is it fair that I cannot lie down or sit without pain, I certainly cannot stand.

Is it fair that I have to take a cocktail of meds daily that make me feel awful, pile on weight and I am fighting sleep the whole time (and if I sleep then I wake up in even more pain).

I don't think it is.

So tell me how you 'level the playing field' if I have to have all of the above (and much more but I am actually at work and have better things to be doing) and I am also NOT permitted to spend my benefits (the ones MY taxes pay for) on things you arbitrarily decide are luxuries because you can't afford them or more likely, can't justify spending what you have on them.

Blame someone else - blame the employer who pays you a shitty wage that doesn't really cover the cost of living. Blame your education, blame the choices you made or your parents made that meant you aren't earning lots, without much effort.

I really struggle with the jealousy pointed at disabled people - you absolutely would NOT want my (or anyone elses) disabilities but oh you are seething with envy at my 30K car and my PIP payments aren't you.

Where does it end? Will you only be happy when there are no disabled people, or we're all kept in institutions away from your eyes, living on gruel and piecing potato sacks together.

And don't give me that 'I don't mean people like you, you're obviously genuinely disabled'... you do. The people you are jealous of are people like me. The people you will harm with this attitude, are people like me.

Remember - disability is generally permanent. Able bodied is temporary.

There is no onus for anyone to prove that their needs couldn't be met with a cheaper or more basic model.

And why should they? As has been explained numerous times as well as using the mobility element nearly all cars on the motability scheme come with an advance payment. The level of that advance payment varies depending on the car. So someone who has a more “luxurious” car will have paid 1000s in advance payments.

This is a good explainer, though I doubt the PP that most need to read it will bother:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/24/motability-disability-scheme-uk-taxpayers-government

Bottom line: Motability is a successful business that requires no government subsidy and whose customer base is pip claimants. Its business model is based on short term leases of high end cars inter alia because they retain their resale value. Capitalism at its best.

Of course we could force them to undermine their successful business model by switching to the supply of exclusively crappy cars, just to make sure that disabled people can't have nice cars. But why would you want to?

honestly, it is worth appealing, sometimes you just get some ridiculous twat doing their assessment, there's no way your son would genuinely only score 2 points

I don't know how long it's been since you applied or how long you have to appeal or whether you have to start a new claim or what?, But it's definitely worth summoning up the mental energy to appeal or reapply.

Why do you care the cost tio the tax payer is the same ,wether its a basic or more expensive model

I recently had reason to deal with an 18year old in receipt of PIP, on account of ADHD diagnosis. Dad is self made successful businessman, Mum p/t uni lecturer and makes regular appearances on a well known 'craft based' TV show. Said individual in f/t main stream education, and always has been...

Also, because I’m fucking petty, I’ve just done a very quick comparison of my car v a ‘luxury’ car both available on the scheme.
My car actually costs more than the equivalent spec/size vehicle from Lexus, which is considered far more luxurious than Nissan, Vauxhall etc. That’s to buy it brand new, not through Motability, Leasing etc.
So, is my car a luxury vehicle because it costs more, or is the Lexus more luxurious because, you know, Lexus? I know which one I’d feel less worried about being nicked parked outside my house at night.

I get full pip and need a WAV. I looked into the motability scheme several times over the years, it really isn’t good value for money, with massive down payment for new vehicles that you are only leasing.
I have a second hand WAV I paid £6000 for, I own it, much better value for my pip money.

First of all PIP is non means tested and secondly at 18 hes an adult so whstever benefits he,s entitled to both means and non means tested have nothing to do with what his parents earn.

I know! That’s what she told us. I shit you not

I'm regularly suicidal iv attempted suicide multiple times been sectioned the dwp doesn't care. If you express suicidal thoughts to them they call your gp but you don't get pip from it as it doesn't fit into any of the specific descriptors. No matter how many letters you send to them from psychiatrists, care coordinator, cpn. Proof of past section, past suicide attempts, diagnosis and medication still didn't get anything for mental health only for physical conditions. This is why I always roll my eyes when people think you just go to your gp say you have anxiety and then you get pip. It's just not the reality

Well, quite. However, given individual was very much supported by parents, it leads to my my wider point being, it does seem the system is being abused and in the process, leading to demonisation of those who are genuinely in receipt.

So what? If his conditions mean he qualifies, he’s doing nothing wrong. No idea why you’re bringing his family’s perceived lifestyle into it.

So sick of these threads being hijacked. OP I agree with you, there’s so much claptrap being spouted atm by people who seem jealous of those with disabilities over the ‘free money’(!), but who I’m sure wouldn’t want the life of a disabled person.

That sounds awful @Differentstarts, really sorry to hear things are so hard.

Thankyou ❤️

I hate the fact that people seem to think disabled people deserve very little, crappy cars, basic everything. Surely we should be looking after our disabled people, and giving them a quality of life?

Very little people claim PIP fraudulently, because it's incredibly difficult to get in the first place.

Sorry to hear about your attempts. I have had a lot too. People on here say people with mental health issues lack resilience, but here we both still are. I think we have loads.

It annoys me too when people post that you can just go to your GP and self report stuff, then get PIP. It does not work like that at all. Or that loads of people on PIP just have mild anxiety and depression. All the people I know on PIP for mental health have issues at the more severe end.

Hmmm well the individual was, actually, in a criminal sense.
But that aside, my response was to a particular post.
Hyperbolic responses, like yours, aren't helpful - and to a degree, maybe mine isn't?
Fact remains that unfortunately, there are individuals in receipt of PIP who do not meet the threshold - I think from the responses, this is not a controversial statement.
It is clear that the whole system requires an overhaul in order to meet the needs of the vulnerable people it was designed for, many of whom have posted on this thread.
To flippantly protest otherwise, only dilutes sympathy and empathy 🙏🏼

I don't know how there are any other ways to explain this to someone??

The mobility scheme is a charity, not a government department.

They buy cars at a very heavily discounted price, they lease them out to people who qualify for higher mobility element of, when they are returned at the end of three years at which point they are sold and the profit made goes into the charity.

The disabled person does not benefit from this at all, and they do not benefit from ownership.

Their mobility element is fixed benefit irrespective of whether they choose the most expensive car on the scheme or the cheapest car on the scheme.

The difference in cost is funded by the disabled person or their family, not the taxpayer (of which many disabled people are or have been, don't forget)

The Newspapers do stir the pot with certain issues, depending on their political leanings, but it’s not going to affect the review, which will be carried out by professionals, who presumably aren’t going to be swayed by what Newspapers have to say. People who get PIP don’t need to share the fact that they receive it with others. Isn’t it something you wouldn’t go around telling people about, a bit like not discussing your salary? Of course if you’re putting it out there, then be prepared to be judged, just like we’re all judged for certain issues.

Don't forget that if you lose the high rate mobility component for whatever reason, you lose your car. Then an uphill battle to get it back.