Welfare spending to rise by £73.2bn to £406.2bn

[topicalaffair]

Over the next five years, the OBR is forecasting that UK welfare spending will rise by £73.2bn to £406.2bn.

How does everyone feel about this? I’m livid because I pay lots of tax. I don’t mind paying tax to maintain a civilised society - but this? This is surely taking the piss and will result in weaker and weaker services as the amount of £ available reduces day by day.

YANBU - it’s totally deranged. The every growing uk population can’t function effectively on such a benefits for all basis.

YABU - this welfare spending bill is truly representative of need.

This. PIP and child DLA are directly linked to disability and both comprise a mobility allowance. Those people who were not disabled before reaching state pension age are more likely to have disability linked to aging. Which is not what working age disability benefits are for. AA doesn’t comprise a mobility component because it’s specifically for those with age linked conditions.

No. Disability benefits which include a mobility component are there for people who are disabled through disability, not age. That’s why you can’t make a fresh claim for PIP past retirement age. Attendance allowance is there for age related conditions and it doesn’t include a mobility component because it’s not appropriate.

'Crazy money' oh my.

I’ve seen some threads on MN regarding benefits but this one takes the cake. So many people commenting without knowing the first thing of what they’re talking about. The full criteria and rules for claiming disability benefits are all easily available online. Why don’t people familiarise themselves with the actual facts before commenting from ignorance ?

And who are you to question whether she should be getting that benefit ? Given that she will have been assessed by a qualified medic and every aspect of her condition will have been considered. I’m assuming you mean type 2 diabetes ? Which very rarely qualifies for PIP unless there is substantial disability. Or are you another who thinks they know everything there is to know about someone else’s’ condition, despite not having the opportunity, skills or medical knowledge to make that decision ?

Good question, maybe they are the type of person who reads a headline in some paper, or something, and believes everything that they read. They can be spotted a mile off, spreading the usual ignorance. It is tedious to say the least.

I used some of my son's DLA to pay for adapted holiday accommodation which is more expensive than regular accommodation that we are unable to use due to my son's disability.

It's a perfect example of why a disability can be more expensive.

It’s the scrounges who have never worked but know how to work the system and all the people allowed into this country and given benefits !!!!

Logically some of these will also be pensioners 🙄

Please excuse my ignorance, but why do carers need to give up their jobs and claim carers’ allowance; why can’t they continue to work and use the money from that to pay for carers for the person in need?

Because there are quite a few people around who need 24/7 care and cannot be left alone - and paying carers for that would cost considerably more than a normal or even a good wage would bring in. Then add on all the normal costs of living on top: housing, energy, food, insurance, council tax, utilities.

Ignorance - yes, that's a good description.

Would carers take a child to multiple hospital appointments, and possibly stay with them if they were admitted to hospital for weeks on end?

This is an understandable misunderstanding, given the way Govt & the media have misrepresented the situation.

Most people on ill health benefits are frequently reassessed. Those who aren't are those who have no realistic prospect of recovery. Ill health benefits aren't easy to get, the assessment process is horrendous. I speak from experience & it's made my health worse.

I think there are ways that some people currently on ill health benefits could get back to work, but that's through better health services & support, not punitive measures.

The real "benefits trap" is where people are getting or would get very low incomes, and thus have to apply to have these supplemented. IDK what the solution is, but suspect it is more around

1. Minimum wage regulations
2. Making the triple lock a double lock
3. Accepting that inequality and large income discrepancies may mean more taxes for some to supplement the incomes of others

Because it would cost a lot of money many people don't have.

I'm also the one with parental responsibility and I don't think his consultants, physios etc would be impressed if a carer who isn't legally able to make any decisions or give consent showed up to his appointments.

At the end of the day, economic reality has to set in and people will have to fend for themselves instead of relying on "the government" (ie working people) to fund their lives.

Oh so you’re one of those people who think we just take everyone’s word that what they are saying is true.. I see! Not such a thing as sickfluencers then. Must have dreamt it!

Presumably because he's living in America! An American living and working the UK has to pay UK tax (and maybe US tax if higher). The UK can't tax people who aren't living in the UK and aren't resident for tax in the UK.

oh and it’s a he but thanks for thinking you know best 😜. Friends for 20 years so yes, I think I know him pretty well.

And what does that look like to you?

Because if you take away the support network of people who have it toughest, and those people then watch the very wealthy get more money than they could spend in a lifetime even if they bought new diamond jewellery every day, what you get is civil unrest, increased crime, violence and societal breakdown.

Far better to take a long term approach and transform the society we live in so that everyone has what they need, rich people continue to exist, but nobody ends up in a situation where money is merely a matter of keeping score in a game most people don't get to play.

I am sure some people do.

But in some cases a person needing care needs care all the time. So you could do an ordinary job and from your pay, pay another person to do the care whilst you work (which might be not far off what you earn anyway) Then come home from your day at work, and pick up the caring role as you arent earning now to pay someone else, but the care needs to happen, perhaps getting up multiple times a night. Its exhausting. Its really hard to do paid work on top of long term proper caring duties, especially if you spend 80% of your earning to pay a carer. Some people might want to for thier mental health needing a break and not everyone has such extensive care needs or the job was amazing so it paid for 24 hour care and some

Plus some peoole find the quality of paid care very low or struggle to find anyone willing to do it. We advertised for ages and offered more than average and noone wanted the job.( We both work around each other and dont get carers but I can see why this happens)

Agree. The recent Scottish budget gave real terms increases to the welfare budget and the NHS (which was entirely consumed and more by recent pay deals). Every other area was cut to pay for this. Less money for education, transport, local government (8% real terms cuts for councils), justice etc. We’re getting less of all of these public services to pay for welfare. I get zero benefit from welfare whatsoever, and yet am expected to pay seemingly endless tax increases to pay for shrinking public services provided to me. It’s getting less and less of a fair social contract by the day.

Except benefits assessors don't just take people's word for it.

If anything they are more likely to disbelieve people and downplay their disability.

Did you know that the majority of disability benefit appeals succeed? What this means is that a court of law is more generous than many benefits assessors.

Yes, there is advice online as to how to get benefits. That's because it's HARD.

Perhaps there are instances where people misuse the information. There are many more where people don't get what they're entitled to. Please educate yourself as to what the application process is like, then ask yourself why anyone would do this. Or take my word for it: most people wouldn't if they had a viable alternative.

I don't need carers all the time, but I do need my husband to be able to leave work at a moments notice if DD or I contact him because I'm having / had a seizure. His job now is very flexible and understanding; it's also part time and NMW. He can get to our house when needed far quicker than paid carers would.

He doesn't claim carers allowance but we do claim a number of other benefits, because he can't work more hours or a better paid job for an inflexible employer who wouldn't understand him needing to drop everything and go.

YANBU OP. It’s completely unaffordable and will bankrupt the country if not reigned in.

Because carers allowance is £83.30 a week and the recipient has to provide care for a minimum of 35 hours a week. Who do you know that’s prepared to work for less than £3 an hour ? Carers don’t have to give up a job, but they're not allowed to earn more than £190 a week after allowances. Would you want to care for a disabled person for the equivalent of full time hours as well as holding down a job ?/

What about reducing the support network to the bare minimum. People wouldn't be destitute so no excuse for crime.