Benefit cuts will cost the economy.

[MistressoftheDarkSide]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/29/labours-benefit-cuts-will-cost-uk-economy-billions-charity-says

Interesting article which repeats what some of us have been saying about the likely consequences of the proposed measures, including increased pressure on services.

Honestly, we need more initiatives like remploy back. There are some organisations active along those lines but they are few and far between. Special sschools are doing such a good job teaching job skills and then there is nowhere for those young people to go.

OFC if remploy-style businesses were encouraged then you could employ support worker of a similar age to facilitate. Could be win/win, but there’s no political will there.

https://theconversation.com/the-manipulation-of-the-american-mind-edward-bernays-and-the-birth-of-public-relations-44393

The apparent current lack of critical thinking is much bemoaned on MN. Nobody is completely immune to influence, which is why an understanding of how we got to this point in history is very important.

Completely agree /thread on here recently about a poster complaining that her payment was being assessed because she and her ‘ex’ partner living on the same house were claiming separately fir one child each to maximize their income whilst working g only part time. And apparently this is very common. Shocking how people are milking the system.

I read that thread. Even if it were to be believed (and I had my doubts, but of course that would be troll hunting people who start deliberately provocative threads to promote division and nastiness), there is no evidence that "this is very common". And if I recall wasn't it removed by MNHQ whilst they "had a look at the poster"?

If their claim is being assessed, then what's your problem? The authorities are "on it" are they not? And if it's "shockingly common" presumably the authorities will be very well aware. Funny how "maximising one's income" is OK when it's high earners and tax avoidance, but not so much when it's done to fund the bare essentials.

However the encouragement of Stasi like will no doubt pay dividends in some people's minds, regardless of any suffering it causes.

I have read the article. It talks about how Universal Credit makes it hard for people to get into work and makes people homeless. This is true, especially rates for single childfree people. Affording housing, fares to the job centre and interviews, and suitable interview clothes is very challenging for many single people without family to bankroll them.

You really think disabled people and their carers are "raking it in"? Have you seen the cost of carers, disability equipment, etc?

@Thronglet I’m really sorry you’re struggling. No one can understand until they’ve walked in your shoes x

It is shortsighted. Employers don't keep disabled employees. I am already on a warning at work for my disability related sickness that leaves me bedridden every so often when it flares. Other employers won't consider WFH now, all hybrid and I can't work in an office without adaptions they won't do. Many friends report similar. All very well wanting people to work but providing no provision for them to do so won't work

Sorry but too many people are not working. As a society we cannot cope with so many people not working, the burden on those left to carry it is too great.

There comes a point where if you keep trying to pile more and more and more on an ever smaller group of people, they'll collapse under the weight.

I think the country is undergoing a massive lurch to the right, unfortunately.

It seemed to start with concerns around immigration, but we’ve very rapidly reached a point where the Labour Party is onboard and kicking disabled people is fashionable. Depressing times.

Where are the jobs? People are so quick to suggest shelf stacking and cleaning etc but don't seem to realise that being able to work isn't the same as being able to do any job. I worked in a supermarket one Christmas as a student; it was an incredibly physically demanding job. Ditto cleaning.

I'm on LCWRA, I desperately want to work but could only work from home, but those jobs are like hens teeth. I just had feedback from a recruitment second stage that I couldn't have done anything different; they just had a very limited number they could take through to interview.

The government needs to accompany their benefit cuts with requirements for employers to allow wfh unless there's a very good reason not to, and incentives for taking on disabled workers. Trying to find a job as a disabled person is hell.

Listen to yourself and be ashamed.

Those aren't meals, are they? Or should someone just scoff 30 apples a day and stop complaining?

Ok, so taking this at face (ish) value:

how do we get people who can work to work?

first, let’s think about what we mean by people who can work.

university students can work. We don’t make them stop studying and get full time jobs because as a whole for the economy we want people with high skill levels and so as a country we’ve made the decision they don’t have to work and the government will at least partially fund their studies.

back in the 60s and 70s it was generally accepted that women with small children didn’t need to be made to work. Since then many more women work and fewer men work.

see https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06838/#:~:text=The%20female%20employment%20rate%20was,compared%20with%2014%25%20of%20men.

lots of people who are retired can work. Most of them don’t want to and either have enough money coming in from private pensions and investments or state pensions etc that they don’t have to. Strictly speaking if you consider the state pension a benefit (which strictly speaking it is) this is by far the largest group of people on benefits who could be working but aren’t.

most of them don’t want to, and you’d have to really cut the state pension brutally to force some to go back because they need the money which would lose whichever government did it the next election.

then you are left with people of working age (18-67) who have not retired already and aren’t studying.

most of them have a job. The UK has a higher percentage of it’s population in work than any of the other European countries.
latest is 75.1%
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9366/CBP-9366.pdf

(remember most of that other 25% is students and early retired people).

the current focus on cutting benefits is not about getting people into work. The government have a financial problem in that benefits spending (which is about half state pension and a lot of the rest is benefits for people in work) is going up and tax take is going down because we are on the edge of a recession (Covid, Ukraine, etc).

pip is an in work benefit. People get it who work full time. UC is an in work benefit. People get it who work full time.

none of this has got anything to do with getting people into work, it’s just about cutting benefits. Cutting pip actually makes people less likely to work because it’ll pay for wheelchair adapted cars, taxis to work, etc.

I could not disagree more.

Well I don't know where you live, but it is not normal, where I reside.

Yes but the evidence suggests most recipients aren't using it to facilitate work given that 80+% of PIP recipients are not in work.
So most are not using it to facilitate work.

They already have. Why is Reform on the rise.

If you read the article the actual alleged loss to the economy according to the study (headline is misleading) is that millions are not contributing what they could to society because they are not working. So it’s not actually benefit cuts that are causing this (and indeed they may help)

Yes! WFH should be a major factor in allowing more disabled people to work. Unfortunately WFH is something else the right are inexplicably opposed to.

I’m quite interested in this. My heart says disabled people should absolutely be supported financially and in other ways by society.

The reality I see in my business is so many people who don’t want to work. The number of people with anxiety or depression that do a few days and then disappear or don’t turn up for interviews is unreal. I’ve been employing people for 20 years and it’s a problem that’s growing and growing and growing. Far more so amongst the younger generations. I really worry for the future of our society when I see the day to day lack of work in the young.

Before I’m slated for being an awful employer we work closely with the local college so see a lot of students. We employ a small number of people and a couple of those have diagnoses that are covered by the equality act. We have school hour shifts, weekend shifts, term time shifts. If you want to work and can smile we will try very hard to fit you in. It’s an unskilled job so can be taught to pretty much anyone.

Most people claiming disability benefits (or having it claimed on their behalf) do not need specialist equipment. Many don’t require carers either

It’s probably advisable not to comment when you haven’t read the article.
I’d also suggest you avoid using the word “hindsight” if you don’t know what it means.

I’m a lefty but I wouldn’t put it like that. I think we are getting increasingly fed up as a society of people taking out and not contributing. That has impacted our attitudes to people on benefits and asylum seekers

My husband who is in work, minimum wage job, is struggling to change his job at the minute, that's with a good CV and work history. My employer gets around 100 applicants for each advertised job, most vacancies go to those who are moving from one job to another, or leaving education.
It's not easy, and unless jobs are ring fenced for the long term disabled they won't stand a chance.
HR filter out those with unexplained gaps on cv's and those without the desired criteria.