Benefits explosion- where will it end?

[TheBlueKoala]

"PIP benefits explosion: Anxiety and depression handouts have nearly TRIPLED to £4.3bn since Covid - with autism and ADHD bill hitting £2.2bn and 'back pain' £1.6bn"

Something is not right here. When I have written before on here telling about people I know who claim for anxiety although they have rich social lives (funded by 440£ extra per month from PIP) I've had many people telling me that it's not possible etc. It sure is. How many 16 year olds are claiming PIP for anxiety?

Instead of benefits why not pay for therapy- invest massively in the NHS mental health support so that people with anxiety, adhd and autism can see a therapist regularly to help them. This would make a difference for tje individual and the society. Throwing out money won't.

AINBU- I agree with about
AIBU- No, extra money is always useful

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15510221/PIP-benefits-anxiety-depression-austism-ADHD-pain-Covid-Labour.html

This. Stop lumping Autism in with anxiety, people can have both but Autism is a lifelong disability

Forgive me if this is a stupid question but why do people get PIP for having ADHD?

CBT does not help everyone

When I had my assessment for adult disability payment the assessor told me that it helps a lot of people with disabilities stay in work.

This thread isn't aimed at you don't let it get to you. You genuinely need it or else you would struggle to live your life.

I think the issue is people who are claiming choose to do very little when they could do more. I don't blame them for claiming if it's there and they are happy to pay it why not take it. The issue is the benefit system needs updating to continue only helping those in genuine need.

PIP is not allocated according to your clinial condition. It depends on what you can (or cant ) do. Many people with anxiety get PIP for other conditions , the anxiety is just part of their health conditions. Having one leg will probably make you depressed, and you will now be added to the number of people with depression who get PIP

I agree. My DH has incurable cancer, first diagnosed 8 years ago, and slowly deteriorating. He still works, has only had the odd day off work for chemotherapy, hospital appointments and the very odd day after the end of a chemotherapy cycle where he couldn't physically get out of bad due to the side effects of multiple infusions over a couple of weeks. He has very bad bone and muscle pain every single day. Can't walk far anymore, can't do anything physical anymore like cycling, golf, skiing, etc. He's constantly either sick, diarrhoea or bunged up due to the cocktail of drugs he has to take daily. When we tell people of his condition and they look at him, hobbling along, they can't believe he's still working. His oncologist and the cancer nurses can't believe it either and are constantly "reminding" him that he should be on disability benefits and be giving up work. He just doesn't want to give it up as it gives him a purpose in life, a reason to get up in the morning, etc.

Haven’t read it yet but it’s sitting on my NTR pile… The Anxious Generation, I’ve heard it goes a long way to explaining why Gen Z’s are so anxious. As I say, haven’t read yet but my own armchair psychiatry would link it to screen usage. I’m part of the last generation to remember a life without everyone staring at a phone 24/7, they’ve never known any different. Plus Covid lockdowns amplified lots of MH issues.

Exactly. Those of us with genuine profound disabilities ought to be angry at others who are clearly exploiting the system

Loads of people get signed off work for anxiety and stress it doesnt mean they will be eligible for disability benefits.

He never attended meetings, never spoke to clients or other staff in any way, and basically never left his own office (which was at the back of the building at the end of a quiet corridor!).

This is kind've what I mean though. Do you reckon he'd still be allowed to do that today? Just be allowed to get on with what he's good at with no distractions?

I'm not saying that all autistic people need a quiet life. DPs best friend is autistic and thrives on being the most social person in the world. But she's not the one struggling.

It's not even just about neurodiversity, or anxiety or whatever, there's plenty of neurotypical people out there who struggle with big crowds or distractions who'd much rather have a quiet life, and a job that facilitates that.

The problem is that those jobs exist less and less these days, and an entire subset of people are struggling as a result.

It will be due to severity of the disability and the impact on function.

I don't claim, I work in a full time job and don't need it. People don't realise that autism and ADHD have a lot of overlap, lots of very similar traits. Differences also but it is a spectrum.

So when ADHD affects function, it's a spectrum of needs and help. I don't like to use the term high functioning but I guess I'd be described as that, even though it kicks my arse sometimes but I can hold down a full time job Etc.

So other people with more severe ADHD than me, might not be able to function like I do due to having additional needs.

I genuinely think people think it's just ooh look a squirrel type shit. There is so much more to it than people realise. I have to organise myself to the hilt or my life goes to shit.

Well at least they’d have had the opportunity to try an evidence based intervention. If having given it a good try and it was not enough to make them well enough for any kind of work then at that point they should be granted that LCWRA long term or indefinite. Or if at initial assessment the health professional deemed there were already no interventions to offer the straight to the LCWRA.

Chronic symptoms of pain and depression are sometimes things that cannot be cured and have to be managed. Some people can manage well enough to be able to work with them however.

So then you try something else until you find something that does work.

Ask me how I know.

Nail on the head. Genuine claimants should be angry and campaigning to stop the abuse as it does reflect badly on everyone when so many chancers are claiming.

Time and time again, women on here are complaining that the "good men" don't call out the "bad" men and make out it's their responsibility to "police" other men who abuse women.

Funny how that doesn't seem to work with benefit claimants! Double standards in play again!

There's a fab post a few pages back I think it was by @scottishgirl forgive me if its another poster.

Explaining just some of the things ADHD can do, meaning you need a lot of prompting, reminding and supervision and how executive dysfunction is catastrophically disabling in ADHD.

Please don't be fooled though, it's extremely hard to claim PIP for ADHD without any other comorbidities. It isn't very well understood as a disability due to the extensive vilification in the media, and it stereotypically being the "naughty boy" condition and people forming their own uneducated decisions about it.

Because she has next to no additional costs for her disability. I know why she got DLA to begin with. She had to go private for her diagnosis and treatment and it cost a fortune. I filled out the forms. At 10, prior to being medicated, she was quite expensive, she broke and lost things regularly, she had to be practically man-handled into the bath, she was on a constant mission to get sugar hits and if there was anything sweet in the house she would hunt it down but take about 2 hours to eat a meal. Absolutely lovely kid but she required constant supervision + the costs of treatment. I was still shocked to be told that she was entitled to £350 a month, that was way over the cost of the additional expenses.

However, the medication has been a huge success for her, she gets some adjustments at school, she has developed strategies to help her and outgrown some of her behaviours. Yet she still gets it, and seems confident she will get PIP.

I'm not saying her life isn't a bit harder than an NT child but none of the things which are hard are helped by money.

If it's still the same amount she gets £4200 a year which is a very good chunk of a family holiday to Disney, which they do every year now.

Is there? Much less anxiety than wondering if you were going to be bombed during the war or if you’d ever see family members and loved ones again.

Some of the most negative comments from people on here are from people who haven't been through the process of trying to get lwrca

I personally won't put myself through the process of trying to get it for mental health ever again. It's a pretty gruelling process even if the assessors are nice which some people arent. You are asked questions such as are you suicidal and do you have a suicide plan (and I understand the reasons why they need to ask).

As I said earlier the first time I went through the process it I was very unwell - but my GP was overruled twice

And then you are put in the position of being told you are fit for work - when you know you aren't - which makes your mental health deteriorate further

Of course in an ideal world everyone would be supported to get into and stay in work - but sometimes life changing things happen to people that mean they need extra support - most of the criticism on here is coming from people who haven't been through the process themselves - it's not easy.

When I was first awarded LCWRA I had already done CBT and also other therapies multiple times.
If you go to your GP with depression or anxiety it is the first thing they suggest anyway and then you have to wait 6 months to access it anyway.

Not terrifically effectively well though as only 10% of them actually are in work but I do not begrudge in the slightest Everlore or many other people in a similar position. I have said a lot on this thread and others that it really really isn’t PIP that is the issue

I think there are plenty of "jobs" that can be done like that today, especially with the internet. I am ND and run my own small accountancy practice. I can go, literally, weeks without speaking on the phone or face to face with a single client. In fact, I can't remember the last time - probably November! Everything I do is online via email or software/portals. The only clients I talk to in person or on the phone are more elderly clients. As I've said upthread, there needs to be more support for self employment for the people for whom a "typical" workplace doesn't suit them, but they can still "work" if they have more control, i.e. self employment where they can choose clients, working hours, location, type of work, etc. Likewise, if not self employment, employers could be more amenable to disabilities other than physical disabilities and make themselves and other staff aware of the issues around ADHD, Autism, Aspergers and being ND generally, i.e. to avoid the "one size fits all" crap of modern workplaces (and schools!).

Exactly and we see and hear it in the advice given by advisors. I was told to base my condition (which is hugely fluctuating) on my "very worst day". I was told to embellish and exaggerate.

If that kind of advice is being multiplied up and down the country it's no wonder some people actually take it up and weave a benefits claim out of a fiction

Indeed, my son gets the highest rates of DLA only had one holiday in 8 years and that was a week in a caravan.

Did that stop you from going to work??