Ok who wants to swap £2500 a month in benefits for my husbands MS and my epilepsy, narcolepsy and fibromyalgia.

[bluebirdblackbird]

Well according to a lot of people on here we are on a good thing.

the 20 seizures I have in a week, chronic pain and night terrors, losing my memory after a seizure, pissing myself, hallucinations. They are all great fun. Not to mention the amount of times I have been accused of being drunk after a seizure.

or there is my husband. Diagnosed with progressive MS. Cronic Pain, shaking, cronic pins and needles, weakness in limbs plus losing mobility. Had to give up his teaching job 4 months ago after gradually reducing hours.

Not to mention the judgement when we use a blue badge because we look ok in that moment. And apparently labour are going to find us both work. Yippee cant wait to meet the employer who is going to take us both on. I am sure pissing my chair on a reg basis won’t matter to them or the losing counciouness at least a couple of times a day.

i am just fed up of yet another they are on benefits and get money and it’s not fair stamp stamp stamp. The bastards have saved up for a holiday- it’s not fair. The bastards have a mobility car but they look fine, OMG- they have got new carpets or a new sofa.

since I am guessing they none of the moaners would actually swap places with us if they could then STFU.

oh and that pip that is easy to get- my husband gets lower rate for both and that is despite providing all the evidence and appealing so we are off to tribunal. He can’t even dress himself most days and he can’t hold a pan safely or manage his medication plus many other things. If he stays on the points he is on he will lose his pip completely under these new labour proposals.

but most people know someone who’s friends, aunts, nephews, stepdaughters, cousin twice removed who lied and got it. I was taking to a lady in a wheelchair who does not get any mobility component of pip at all.

Why would anyone, in any situation or any walk of life be Entitled to a holiday? Where does this entitlement stem from?

edited to add the definition of entitled

‘believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.’

Sending you and DH my warmest wishes
I ask on every thread if any posters would care to swap my moderate Cerebral Palsy and bipolar disorder for my enhanced rates of PIP and ESA
No takers!!

Exactly. We all have our own 'necessities'. Some people think holidays are a priority and will go without things to fund them. Others will prioritise different things.

Nobody is entitled to a holiday.

I know you said on average but the point you were making is that the benefits need to be set at a certain level to cover the additional costs of disability. That's why you reference the £500 figure. The obvious reality though is that you can clearly claim more in benefits than your disability costs you as this is how people are affording holidays etc. So the poster you were referring to could well be right in their assessment that some people are recieving more in benefits than working people and can therefore afford more luxuries than them if isn't all being swallowed up on the cost of disability.

I know PIP isn't means tested but again there is an argument that very wealthy people shouldn't receive state benefits. Child Benefit isn't offered to the highest earners for this reason so it isn't hugely controversial to suggest that someone that is hugely wealthy shouldn't be using state money to part fund holidays when they can fund them themselves.

This is ludicrous. If they are a necessity then the state should be funding them for everyone that can't afford them or are you suggesting that they are only a necessity for disabled people?

Sorry to hear of your struggles OP. It’s so difficult for so many people and yet they get targeted by those lucky enough to be ignorant of what it’s like.

It's good to see Rose Ayling-Ellis in TV dramas of late. It makes more people realise the struggles deaf people encounter on a daily basis.

That could be including extended family though, not necessarily all from the same household.

I have been buying yellow ticket stuff and batch cooking dull meals so I can have some spare cash to go on holiday.
I don't feel I am "entitled" to a holiday... what does that even mean? But if I save up enough and can go on one, then what is wrong with that?
I need to get away for a bit. I am under the crisis team at the moment and they said it is a great idea.

Well said OP. Sorry to hear that you are going through all this. People can be so vile towards people on disability benefits. Oh,just one thing you've got wrong though. Labour aren't going to find you work,YOU are going to find yourself work! This government,with all their fantastic ideas about 'getting disabled people back into work' won't actually help one single disabled person find work. Oh no, they'll slash their benefits to the point where they either work or starve,but they will be on their own. I can guarantee no help whatsoever will be forthcoming from this evil government.

Disabled people get money, and can spend it how they choose. They might well cut back on other things to save up for a holiday (which I have said I do).

Do you want to live in a world where people on welfare are told what they can and can't spend their money on?

I certainly know/knew of two families where 50% of the household were claiming DLA/PIP. One is where the two children are ND. The other where DF was receiving palliative care for cancer (he battled it for a long time) and adult DS had learning difficulties and major emotional difficulties/ND.

I also have a friend who is in receipt of PIP due to quite a few physical problems, and her DH has relapsing remitting MS, but chooses not to claim PIP even though he definitely would be eligible.

In certain circumstances, you can still have a care package provided by the local authority free of charge, even if you are in receipt of PIP. It depends on the level of the award.

Apologies if you think I have worded that incorrectly. My point is that anyone in receipt of PIP can spend that money how they see fit. They might desperately need a new bed, for example, but choose instead to use the money on a holiday instead. That holiday may well improve their mental health and quality of life.

It's the same with Motability vehicles. Some people desperately need/want a car, whereas others prefer to use the money on something else.

This gives disabled people more control over their life and gives them some independence. We are all different and have different needs/wants.

No, I am not saying that at all! I am just saying that we all have our own priorities and deem certain things to be of importance. Some people would prefer to go without things in order to have a holiday. This applies to everyone, not only disabled people.

Disabled people in receipt of PIP can choose to spend that money as they wish. By being able to do this, it gives them some independence.

Perhaps 'entitled' isn't the right word, but certainly disabled people in receipt of PIP can choose how they spend their money, even if that means cutting back, or going without, other things.

Means-testing PIP is hugely controversial. Even the previous Conservative government decided not to go down that route. Where on earth would you put the cut-off point? Child Benefit isn't quite so controversial as people usually 'choose' to have children. Nobody chooses a disability.

Just for clarity, the absolute maximum 4 weekly payment of PIP to an individual is ~£750 , and that would highest mobility element and highest living (daily care) element, which is hard to qualify for.

I think the £2.5k of the thread must be a combination of PIP & UC. Maybe some Carers allowance or ESA in there, too.

I don't know why anyone would be annoyed at a two adult household getting £2.5k a month to live on anyway.

Two adults on NMW would be on about £3400 a month.

We deliberately top up those too impaired to work to a slightly better income level than the unemployed. Unemployment payments in this country are incredibly punitive. Benefit packages to disabled claimants are fractionally better.

If people want to scrimp and save from their own legally-acquired income, to pay for a modest holiday, they are completely within their rights to. Ditto if they want to get into debt to fund it.

Well quite, what do we expect people who aren’t able to work to do? It’s not a choice they’re making. Would we be in anyway a better country if we put our long term disabled into absolute poverty?

I agree with you. I am one of those people not able to work. I get £800pm. I am fed up with being told I am somehow better off than people in work.
On what fucking planet?

Well said.

When I became disabled 20 years ago, the local authority decided to give me a care package to help myself as an individual, and also to support my role as a mother of two young children. Unfortunately, it was totally unworkable and didn't meet our needs at all! Thankfully, the rules soon changed to Direct Payments, then replaced again by Personal Budgets. That meant I could employ my own PA to help care for me and do the housework etc. Obviously, there are certain parameters that need to be adhered to, but it's so nice to have the same person looking after me all the time (with another one to cover holidays and sickness etc), instead of having random carers in each day. It's also cheaper for the local authority as the agency rates are much higher.

I would be furious too. Not to be crass, but all it would take is a divorce and deterioration of my disability and I’d be in a similar spot, and it scares me.

Scares me too, how un-empathetic we seem to be now. Lots of people have a limited personal safety net. There but for the grace of God go any of us.

Too many people think they are immune to disability. It can happen in a heart beat. It is just a stroke or accident away. Or being a martyr and overworking to to the point of a breakdown.

I'll swap, please. I have severe disabilities and get £400 a month. If I can't find a fully remote, flexible job by the end of May, that I can do from bed in between loss of consciousness, I'll not be staying on Earth.