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.

It's not a choice for the children is it though? They will be the ones going without the holiday too.

My comments about people being unable to afford the cheapest holidays simply prove that accessibility is not all about disability. There are lots of barriers that exist when it comes to holidays and it's crazy to say that just because someone is disabled they are more entitled to a holiday than someone that isn't disabled.

@Bumpitybumper
So a one off 11% swing is a big deal, but a persistent gap of around 50% is not? Ok...

I'll leave this graph here and let people make up their own minds. As can clearly be seen, swings of around 10% happen all the time and are often reversed fairly quickly. They are often due to sampling variation or recent media events etc. What has remained the same, and consistent for decades in fact, is that the public appetite to reduce tax and spend is very low indeed. People don't support your position.

If I wanted to cherry pick, I'd point out that that yougov poll shows a 4% increase in support for disability benefits over the last few months. But I wouldn't do that, because it would be cheap.

They are varied! Basically unless you need help washing eating and dressing you won’t get 4 points. I thought it was self explanatory

I am sorry to hear about people's attitudes to you both. I believe it's the media pushing out this discrimination, like they do about single mothers on benefits and immigrants. Thickos get sucked into this Daily Mail explanation of the good lives 'supposed' disabled folks live.
It doesn't help that the criteria for pip is all over the place and not consistent. My friend had terminal cancer and couldn't even walk from one side of the room to the other, plus lots of other terrible problems, he has passed away now, after finally getting lower rate pip after an appeal.

Factually I did have the money in my account. I don't pay tax through PAYE so almost all the tax I pay has at one point been in my account. VAT, stamp duty and income tax etc. All money that I have paid directly to the HMRC for a large chunk of it to be spent on welfare. So your money indeed once was mine or someone else's money. It hasn't come from nowhere.

I don't think anyone claimed that disabled people shouldn't be able to save a nest egg in case of emergencies such an appliance repair. The controversy is about affording luxuries. Luxuries that other people aren't given state assistance to afford. They too are struggling and would certainly enjoy a holiday and treats too to take the edge off things. We simply don't have enough money though to fund this for everyone. It's about fairness ultimately otherwise there will be a clear incentive to fall into the masses of those claiming disability benefits and being able to afford a few treats versus being the working poor who are expected to fund everything and get very little assistance from the state in comparison.

All I can is that a huge chunk of us on standard care are likely to lose our entitlement when the changes come in

I also pay VAT on things. I am not exempt from that.

If I use my nest egg for emergencies on treats for myself, then that is up to me. People like you do not get to dictate how I spend my money. I will not be made to feel bad or guilty for treating myself.

and a lot of working poor are also on benefits. Are they allowed to buy something nice for themselves too?

Those are the changes in how many points make an award though. That poster said there are changes that will make it easier to score 4 points yet won’t say what they are and I can’t find a single thing relating to it.

Well said. It did used to be the case that, for example, housing benefit went directly to Landlords/council, but one of the reasons changes were made in favour of people having the money instead to pay rent out of was in order to give that financial autonomy.

It's important to have that. It's about dignity. Because being disabled, or simply poor, doesn't mean you can't be responsible for your own money. You aren't a child.

@CentralLimit
What gap is consistently at 50%?

Your graph is irrelevant because it encompasses all elements of tax and spend. So people that think that taxation should increase to fund military spending, education or the NHS would all be lumped together. This is why there is such variance as there are so many issues at play. The data around disability benefits and public support is clear and absolutely doesn't show this level of variance.

There is indeed a 4% increase in support over the last few months I imagine as a result of the proposed PIP changes. The figures is still drastically down from 2021 though which in itself represented a big drop.

"The controversy is about affording luxuries. Luxuries that other people aren't given state assistance to afford."

Are you applying this to everyone who gets state assistance or just people with disabilities.

Are holidays banned for everyone who gets benefits?

Oh and also just realised this data starts at 2019. So your claim that support declined further since 2021 is not even true - since Jan 2021 it actually increased by 1%.

Although to reiterate, these kind of short term swings are trivial in comparison to the large and persistent support for increases to disability benefits that have obtained over a much longer period.

The support for increases to disability benefits is decreasing over time. You can see this across all graphs. 1998 it stood at over 70% and it is now less than 50%. This isn't some short term swing. The trend has persisted with a few blips for over 25 years. What will happen over the next 25 years?

Jan 2021 was a low monthly versus the rest of the year. Generally that graph shows a downward trend. I will be absolutely shocked if we ever see 55% support again for increasing benefits let alone 70% plus. Public opinion is fundamentally shifting. The data points in only one direction.

I'll swap with you or your husband 😉 I've got MS, epilepsy, Strokes (had 3 in two years) and ColA41.

I gave up work a year ago, luckily with a good pension.

It could happen to anyone.

Unfortunately, the ones that I got through the incontinence nurse made the whole of my genital area blister. one of the conditions I have is lichen sclerosis which flares up frequently using their pads

Life isn't always fair which I think you've said yourself or does that only apply to disabled children?

My son misses out on so many things because he's disabled. He can't go on the school residential, he can't play the sport he loves, he can't walk, he can't run etc I'm not going to feel bad for using some of his DLA to do things that he will enjoy and otherwise miss out on due how expensive it is now because of his disability.

The graph mirrors the data in the table on disability payments. You know, the one that you drew attention to.

Since 1998, every survey shows far more people think disability benefits should increase than decrease. The gap was over 50% in all years except 2011, when it was 48%.

So your claim that the "data around disability benefits and public support is clear and absolutely doesn't show this level of variance" is just plain wrong I'm afraid. (As is your statement that the figures are "drastically down" from 2021 - they aren't down at all, as I pointed out upthread.)

The bottom line is that support for disability cuts is absolutely tiny - between 2% and 10% depending on the survey - and has remained this way for decades. This isn't the kind of support that is going to influence government policy, that's just absurd.

The British public are actually pretty reasonable and compassionate when it comes to disabilities, despite the impression given by some of the very vocal people that crop up on these threads.

No it doesn't! It's a graph showing data on a completely different question that extends many more decades. Page 12 itself shows that attitudes towards different groups receiving benefits has changed differently over time. It simply isn't true to suggest that attitudes to disability benefits follow some general curve or trend as they evidently don't.

Yougov shows the gap is currently significantly below 50%. You chose to use Jan 2021 but they are down compared to all other months in 2021 and this follows a bounce back after PIP cuts were announced. The long term trend is clear. It is bonkers to suggest otherwise.

General support for cuts is creeping up and data shows that a lot of people believe the qualifying criteria for benefits is too lax. Again, the nuance is in the question. Most people don't want to cut benefits for the severely disabled but do they feel the same about those with less severe conditions? This is why we see apparent contradictions in the data. I would absolutely love to see a poll run on whether they think state money should fund holidays. If the overwhelming majority vote no then they may in defacto be in favour of cuts in some scenarios. Like I said, it's complex but general trends are evident and support is dropping.

I do genuinely feel for you OP. The problem isn't you, but the entire Countries financial circumstances.

The biggest issue is the large amount of the population who are living in poverty while working. When they see someone albeit with medical issues affording holidays or driving new cars, there is the jealousy element. Even more so among those who also suffer with chronic constant pain, sleepless nights, extreme tiredness. But have no hope whatsoever of being able to get respite from it through the welfare system compared to paying their monthly bills.

@TigerRagYes, and the knock on effect is claimants will lose LCWRA plus carer allowance I don’t think the government have considered this aspect at all

screenshot of self assessment which shows the new descriptors

The ‘new’ part of this is the online test. The descriptors haven’t changed.

If you compare the differences The points have changed

Lots of information online about this, not just the above

Oh OP, i agree with you 100%. Health is wealth and all those sharing the same rhetoric need to remember their own circumstances can change in an instant.

I get PIP (both components) and work full time and have since the day i turned 16. I can't help how my health has deteriorated over time but my outgoings are severely impacted by my conditions.

Do these people seriously not understand how EXPENSIVE it is to be disabled?

extra washing? extra electricity? extra gas? extra water? and obviously everything else.