To feel the Disenfranchised have been Scapegoated.

[Gilead]

Just fed up with a society that has become so incredibly selfish. The vilification of disabled people and the drubbing of benefit claimants whilst managing to forget that most of the people on universal credit are working families. Forgetting that most pensioners have worked and saved all their lives, some still paying tax. And let’s not forget those lazy bastards who are putting on an act in order to get a ‘free’ car.
I predicted this was the way we were headed on mumsnet in 2010. Got called all sorts of names, but, at that point in time people were a lot more understanding of the issues encountered by the disenfranchised.
If you want to come on here and tell me you don’t want to pay extra for someone else to have kids you can’t afford, research it first, look at the (myriad) reasons for this, the figures, the number of women who had extra children during the period. Then think how it would be if you suddenly became disabled, or more severely disabled.
Im off with my carer in a bit. In my Citroen C3 that actually cost me a wee bit more because I had to pay for the wheelchair hoist as well as the (approx) 350 quid every four weeks to cover the lease, and the insurance.

I understand full well. She was given the money to help with the costs of her disability, and was suffering no costs due to her disability. Shamelessly pocketing the cash. Total scum.

Read the studies…the rise in retirement age so sicker people who would have retired must now claim, thousands with long Covid …you’d dump all those healthcare workers claiming? Sick babies and children surviving birth injuries / serious illness but disabled ..you’d deny them? Mental health conditions, permanent learning disabilities ….who is unworthy in your world view? This budget is peanuts compared to corporations and billionaires avoiding tax . Oh and immigrants cannot claim benefits

PIP has a 32 page form to claim with evidence there is no way she wouldn’t have had to explain her needs..not scum

I’m also not sure what the PIP is supposed to be spent on if you receive it for something like anxiety. In what sense is life more expensive for someone with anxiety vs someone without? What are the additional costs?

The welfare bill is now £47 billion more than it was pre-Covid. This is not remotely sustainable.

With regards to the two child benefit cap being lifted, I’m not sure why the focus is on child poverty and not just poverty? Surely the parents are also living in poverty if the children are? I was also raised on a council estate during the Blair years so forgive me for being cynical that this money will go towards anything for the children.

How old are her DC? Surely once all DC are school age there should be an expectation to work more hours? Maybe not 40 but 24-30 is doable as single parent.

@Anyahyacinth yes I use the roads and pay 2 x sets of road tax. I have private healthcare, but do use the GP and would call an ambulance if I ever needed to. I also rely on the council to collect the bins. I think you need to earn over £50k to be a net contributor? On that basis, I’m paying for about 4 people. DH is also a net contributor in his own right, and as I said, DC are in private school (and I had private midwives), so I’m pretty confident as a family, we cover our costs, plus a bit more. And on that basis, it’s not immoral that I get to keep a bit of what’s leftover, to myself. Or indeed put towards my pension.

The highest amount you can get with right to save bank account is 25£ and you can only have the bank account for 4 years. People on this thread should really stop lying about things that you can google in 3 seconds

£25 a month I mean

@kornwall I’m autistic, it’s difficult to explain how I manage, but I do. It’s almost as though the person trying to help others isn’t me, or is another me. I can tell you about being sick for two days beforehand, Crying, overwhelming panic. Afterwards I am in considerable pain, I can only sit in my wheelchair for a limited time.
And sorry for some people, filling in PiP forms can be traumatic. Before I retired, I had more than one parent call and say that filling them in was the first time they realised quite how much their child was so different to others.

But if Jenny doesn't take the extra hours or the promotion someone else will. There's far fewer jobs available than there are people looking for work, if Jenny takes the hours perhaps someone else has no job at all...

Point being really that Jenny acting differently doesn't fix the underlying problems - problems that are only going to get worse as workers being replaced by AI really takes off.

What job pays her £2000 pm for 16 hrs pw? So I can apply for it? Is that before tax?

Yes they can.
PIP is not a means tested benefit so someone can be earning a decent wage and getting PIP as well (perfectly fair) but it doesn't sit well if they are using the PIP to subsidise a luxury car.

You have misunderstood todays pension changes. Contributing up to £60,000 tax free still stands. However if you are in a salary sacrifice scheme rather than net pay scheme your employer will now pay NI contributions on amounts over £2000 pa.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd9zx8z5d1no

I hope you absolutely report this people cheating the benefits system. You must.

As an autistic woman I'm well aware of the misinformation about asd and the unhelpful comments from people towards myself who like you doesn't appear autistic and my ds who I've been told atleast he looks autistic (whatever that means) and I've also battled anxiety for as long as I can remember. Now as I also have dyslexia and hypermobility filling out all the forms for my ds really is the stuff of nightmares, but on no way shape or form is it traumatic and that woman was clearly taking the piss. I suggest you watch the episode and her facial expression she clearly swings between smugness and outrage and back again, its quite informative and is exactly why people are getting fed up with it
Do you know what really pisses me off about people like her its that she wont suffer when they do away with the system completely no it'll be my ds and the other severely disabled kids in his special school who wont have the help they need to survive, and with the assisted dieing bill going through parliament right now we are 1 step away from Canada where when you cant get the financial support you need to live the shuttle you off to a dr who literally kills you. Look up MAID laws in Canada and the numbers of poor disabled people who are killing themselves because they cant afford to live

Good post. Why does everyone need to be jumping and down with joy at funding others? It’s something that just happens, it doesn’t need joyous affirmation.

I dunno. DH has had a brain tumour, a mini stroke, has PTSD and still works full time. I’ve had cancer, and a lifetime of MH issues including ED, depression and anxiety and I have also always worked full time. We have one DD, I can’t have any more because of the cancer but even if we could we wouldn’t because we don’t feel we could afford it despite both of us being higher rate tax payers and what MN would probably consider as well off. I have seen people not working on what seems to be less significant trauma than we have been through (my cancer and his stroke happened in my maternity leave) and I KNOW it’s wrong but I can’t help myself sometimes thinking “I’m working so hard, I’ve been ill, I’m still suffering the after effects of it, yet x’s mum from nursery does fuck all because of her “mental health” and gets free childcare yet here’s me struggling into
work and paying for my childcare and hers as well”. I know it’s not right to think this way and I couldn’t possibly know what’s going on in other people’s lives but when I’m tired, and I feel guilty that I’ve missed DD’s bedtime because I’m in a meeting, I can’t help it. I can’t be the only one. I await flaming, maybe I deserve it, I just don’t know anymore.

Which will cost the employee in the end, @JHound is right, it’s disinincentivising ordinary people from saving into a pension via salary sacrifice. Many people use salary sacrifice,

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. People cough up, they don’t have to be happy about it when their own standard of living is dropping like a stone.

Exactly. Not only do we have the daily slog, we now need to be mindful of everyone else's feelings as well.

I think that the UK is stuck in an austerity mindset. There is just constant talk about what to take away and from who and very little talk about what and who to invest in. The UK isn't going to become prosperous again by taking from the poorest and most vulnerable.

All this austerity mindset has done is lead to chronic under funding of education, healthcare, infrastructure which hurts longterm productivity and competitiveness. It's has worsened poverty, weakened social mobility, and created health and educational disadvantages. Created political instability, allowing populist movements to rise. It leads to 'brain drain' and weakens universities and innovation downgrading future economic prospects.

Imo people are looking at the wrong issues entirely by constantly looking at who to take from next instead of looking and who to invest in.

Some people can apply for PIP online but it is currently restricted according to postcode. Our area was doing this but seems to have stopped. After making the initial enquiry to start a claim, the claimant would be sent a link to use to make the online claim. The paper version is over 40 pages long

Employers AND employees will have to pay NI over 2k.

There'll be extra National Insurance costs for employers, lower take-home salaries potentially and then there's the administration costs of any change in pension policy.
"Employers may just think the administration costs of changing this isn't worth it and scrap the whole thing," she added.
"Overall, I'd say this is a net-negative in terms of getting the UK saving more."
Others in the pensions industry suggested the removal of the tax break could lead to companies reducing planned pay rises and contributing less to pensions overall.
"Expect to see employers reining in their contributions," said Alex Foster, a Partner at Blick Rothenberg.

That is moronic and disincentivises people from putting more into their pensions.

If people cannot do salary sacrifice then they are going to change their behaviour. One method is reduce their hours and therefore the amount that goes tinto tax. They will look at how many hours they need to work in order to meet their financial obligations. In many cases swapping from 5 to 4 days a week will leave them little worse off because they will pay less tax. Ive seen the calculations done here on MN. They can then spend more time with their family rather than work for the tax man. Or use the extra time to find some cash in hand work.

I'd love to see the figures on that.