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

I understand this, but it’s not what PIP is designed to be. PIP is meant to cover additional costs associated with a condition or disability, not basic outgoings. I’m not criticising you for it - in your position, I’d no doubt do the same, but it isn’t how the benefit is meant to be used and is part of the issue here.

You have gotten replies from an Economist.

But you seem trapped inside a victim type of mentality that projects anger all the time.

Too many people in this thread are relying on fantasy level economics, where they think those PIP claims will keep growing (and being paid) while they conveniently ignore the other side of the equation (the taxpayers funding this and the state of the UK economy).

If the system is not made more sustainable over the next few years, then Reform is going to come in and burn the entire thing to the ground in 2029.

Do you think people currently on PIP will prefer that?

The boomers get showered with benefits. Why shoudn't the working age population get the same!

It’s also worth pointing out that anxiety and depression cannot always be fixed however much therapy and mediation you have. There is such a thing as treatment resistant depression.

It is absolutely not for people who cannot work. It's always been the case that people with certain disabilities could claim benefits that could help them stay in work - long before Pip.

As I said earlier - I had an 8 month wait for therapy. Some people wait years unless they can afford to go private.

Benefits are a safety net.

Money should be invested to help those that can off of benefits not paying for acrylic nails. What could possibly be wrong with barber shops and nail salons...

I don't think you need to convince me of that - Im quite aware of that fact

I am in the mental health and "back pain" categories unfortunately.

I worked from when I was 18 until during the second lockdown for Covid, both my back issues-osteoporosis and severe MH became so awful that my GP immediately signed me off permanently.

It's crap, I developed agoraphobia and rarely leave my house now.

You can work and be on benefits. Why should someone on benefits but also earns their own money not be allowed to get their nails done?

But they ARE additional costs of a disability quite often as bills may be higher due to needing to run equipment, or someone may not be able to work as many hours as they used to - making it more expensive to live…

Money ends up being spent on taxis to hospitals if people aren’t able to use public transport, special diets, buying aids, all manner of things which means PIP ends up on bills.

But that’s what it is doing. I have additional costs associated with the disability as I cannot work.

Well meeting a 2nd care threshold is a marker of severity. I think that seems legitimate to use it as a marker to award benefits.

Severe for a GP to see is not the same as severe for a psychiatrist. In the CMHT I would not see anyone who had not already exhausted all the first and indeed 2nd line treatments from their GP.

Also depression (even if severe) is a treatable illness for 70% of people so the person who claimed benefits after a severe episode is fine to do so but the aim should be for a full recovery and not to need them any more. This is achievable for many people even if they have been in hospital. And even if they have a psychotic illness in fact.

My adult DS had his PIP removed because he seemed presentable at the appointment and can use Google maps and a microwave. They deemed him completely capable of independent living. No thought for how much planning and effort had gone into getting ready, how much support he needs to travel, where the food to put in the microwave would come from etc. Now I just have to partly support him from my own universal credit top up as his needs have not miraculously gone away.

Why do you have agoraphobia now compared when you didn't have it before? What changed?

Yes but your daughter doesn't represent everyone surely? I'm sure there are those who therapy will help.

It is not the role of the state to pay you if you work less because of a MH disability.

Seriously, some of you folks need a serious economic reality check.

The UK is not Norway with a massive Sovereign Wealth fund of $1.8T

The country is not wealthy enough to fund that type of largesse.

Why are you asking people personal questions about their conditions?

There is but it is a small proportion. Same as for any other diagnosis there will always be some people who don’t respond to treatment. Even some of them can work if they have appropriate adjustments.

Would it be possible to force employers to hire/make the reasonable adjustments?

As in force employers to hire disabled people and give them the adjustments they need. Like the remote jobs?

I was about to post the same. Very rude of them.

It's an emotive subject but it's just a fact that people don't want to pay for others to have their nails done when they are not working but could work, if only they had a bit more resilience, intelligence, self-discipline and determination. (I am autistic, as are two other people in my family - we've all had some horrendous times but not missed a day of work or relied on anyone else to pay for anything). There's a priority list for who gets the financial support and who doesn't and at the moment there are more people saying they should be on that priority list than there are funds to pay for them. The list is just too long - we can't afford to provide that level of support.

You are only one car crash/one fall down the stairs/one mental health crisis/one life limiting diagnosis away from claiming disability benefits. Except that even if you are severely limited in what you can do, according to your previous post you’re not disabled because that only applies to those who are completely and utterly unable to function.

Yes, sure, but the poster didn’t say that - they described it going into the household budget to cover things like their mortgage, when that’s not really what the benefit is designed to cover.

In my work related experience of this, most PIP claimants I talk to use it as an additional source of income, not a specific payment to cover health related costs. I’ve lost track of the number of people getting PIP for a mental health condition who complain about NHS waiting lists for therapy but have never considered using their PIP to pay for private care.

I’m not saying that’s everyone, but it is an issue that it’s seen as a benefit for disabled people, not a benefit to cover the costs of a disability.

People don't just get PIP or lcwra for mental health issues. They get it for physical disabilities too - like the person who posted earlier who said that they get PIP and work full time and have physical disabilities too - it helps them stay in work

I think there really needs to be a reckoning about work in this country, especially low paid work. I find myself shouting at the radio a lot when people who are doing fun jobs hence being interviewed on the radio trot out the ill-informed idea that people are 'better off in work' and will have less anxiety. Have they tried doing a min wage job recently for a longish period of time?

A series of governments have allowed large employers to treat employees like shit. In theory there are protections but in practice not so much, not if you don't have money for a long winded employment tribunals. We see the Darlington nurses where they were basically told 'strip in front of a man if you want to keep your job, tough shit, we don't care if you have PTSD or were raped as a child'. And these are nurses, so educated women. Those women were put through hell for years for daring to ask for their basic workplace rights in law. Many people don't bother.

If the workplace was less stressful and better rewarded (a real living wage) more people I think would choose work over benefits. I can say with some certainty I'd be much better off with better health if I had the equivalent payment per month in benefits rather than doing my shitty, soul destroying job with a crappy employer (which I only do to fit around the kids and my other caring responsibilities - the one thing it has is flexibility but for that we're treated like absolute dirt). And my job is making my mental health worse to the point my husband has suggested I just quit outright, but then we couldn't pay our mortgage. I have been signed off sick once already.

Funnily enough, when I'm on holiday I don't suffer from anxiety and depression. I do at work.