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

From experience on these thread the people who ask questions follow on asking why someone cant work
They are not asking in good faith

When I tried to claim lcwra for the second time - I went to a welfare rights centre to get help to fill the form in. That's allowed. It made no difference to the decision. I cried all the way through the chat with the advisor. The reason I have ptsd is because I was stalked and threatened over a long period of time (police were useless).

I was told I was fit for work when I was really unwell and I knew that I would not be able to hold down a job. Then I got a job offer despite still struggling with my mental health and couldn't take it due to the leg fracture. I have spent less than two years on disability benefits - and my lcwra award is about to end

I don't think people should be shamed or written off as benefit cheats because I can assure you I would give anything to have my old life back

I also haven't been sitting on my arse doing nothing - I just finished an online degree last summer - part time - you can study part time and stay on Uc

Oh and if people think anxiety is like back pain - they don't suffer from it.

I have very unsupportive GPs as well - so if I were going to scam the system I can assure you they would take no part in it

'Good news, since you apparently missed this the first few hundred times it was mentioned:'

Does it mean I have ADHD?

Can I text them? I'm in a bar in the West End and running low on funds. I can send them my Monzo account...

Sorry, if my post offended anyone. Probably too much gin.

But you’re speaking from your own personal experience,which sounds to be completely valid. No-one is having a go at the genuine claims. But you’d have to be extremely naive to think that the huge increase in claims is down to a sudden decline in health in the UK that means so many people suddenly can no longer work.

This is really interesting and helpful, thank you. I did say to her that I didn't think someone who is predicted a 6 in GCSE English (and 7-9s in all other subjects) could reasonably claim they needed help to read. Or that someone working towards their Silver D of E with the intention to go on to Gold, and regularly goes on survival style camps for fun, could claim they can't dress themselves.

I was born in 83 I watched a programme about the 50's and 60's benefit money was very low back then. When we joined Europe people started prospering and now people are fighting for survival.

It's the you get benefits that I pay for view. I never had that view when I worked full time - which I did for decades.

Yep.

My son was in hospital when I filled out his forms so it was already an incredibly stressful time and I used a facebook group and two hospital social workers for advice as to how to word things to the questions. As long as you aren't lying, there's nothing wrong with receiving advice and help to fill out long, complicated forms.

My 19 year old daughter looked at her salary today and couldn't believe the amount of tax taken from it.

Well, I absolutely agree and yes my employer is very understanding. I've been fortunate to find a job with a former boss, so i might not have been so lucky with a new one who didn't know me already.

But there are days when I genuinely feel very strange and ill, and my poor brain has some relapse in my concussion symptoms that make me lose my ability to read or understand, or even comprehend what the object in front of me is. Not the best thing when my job is editing, but needs must. I'd not qualify for PIP or benefits, even with my movement disorder symptoms too. I'm not eligible as my symptoms dont affect me that severely to impair my daily living, although they certainly feel like it sometimes 😑😞

It can be so much harder for parents filling in the forms for their kids. You spend time telling your child how amazing they are and then you have to do the opposite on the forms.

When i was mental health nurse, you look at all kinds of things ,how the patients presents ,are they wearing clean clothes ,eye contact ,body language are they relaxed ,tense , is their speech clear etc or is rapid, disjointed, low ,are they tearful, are they agitated ,nervous, do they appear under the influence of drugs / alcohol

I agree with you I think they should use the money to help their son and his behavioural issues. I just think it's a nice break for the family

My dd got level 8at GCSE English. Totally lost the ability to read 6 months later due to burnout.

She got full pip. We had a lot of evidence though.

Aren't most people? Though some people have no personal experience and yet believe it is all just so easy.

I'd bloody love to be back at work.

Yes, it’s horrendous. I’ve had 20 years of it and I’m still doing them because DS can’t do them himself.

Really sorry to hear that. Many employers just won't give time for any caring. It's why I do a highly underpaid job that at least has flexibility. I used to work in the public sector. It's been eye opening doing a working class job in the private sector.

Lots of people commenting about 'mental health' and work really have no clue what the world of work is like. They seem to think we're all doing careers we love on 40k+ with employers that show basic respect, understanding and humanity. Or indeed even follow the law. My employer expects people to work extra hours for free. It's an expectation and not doing it is severely frowned upon with discussion about not meeting objectives etc. Even though the objectives are unachievable in normal working hours. Some people are probably, in reality, earning less than min wage for hours worked. Illegal but who's going to rock the boat on that? You'd need money to do so. Where's the enforcement? Nowhere. There's no consequence to the company to doing this and a huge upside for them financially.

And unpaid carers who are saving the state a fortune get very little in the way or support or help, even though often they are often limiting their own employment opportunities.

DH earns 5x my salary (good wage, management job) and is treated like a human being. I used to have a much more highly paid job, have had to limit my earnings due to various caring responsibilities. In my experience the better you're paid the better you're treated.

It is absolute bollocks that working in a low paid job improves your mental health! Has done the absolute opposite for me.

Who is saying anxiety is like back pain? Obviously genuine back pain and genuine deep seated anxiety is awful. But both conditions can be manipulated to look worse than what they are, because only the person who has the condition knows how they genuinely feel. No GP is going to be able to prove otherwise.

Definitely one of the hardest things I've had to do. I'm just glad I only had to do it once because he was awarded until his 16th birthday.

The funny thing is that, since I both work full time and claim PIP I am, according to many posters on here, simultaneously a saintly hard-working tax payer and a lazy, feckless disabled benefits scrounger. I guess I should be at perpetual ideological war with myself! I can only imagine how the ignorant posters on here who can't wrap their head around the fact that one can work and claim PIP must feel about my shocking revelation!

This is a worry, as the poster said all those measures can be mimicked or greatly exaggerated by those who may really want to swing the lead, as well as them being indicators of note in genuine cases. In contrast someone might go to great and superhuman efforts to mask, may on these measures present well but feel much worse underneath, be more greatly impacted in reality or be crippled by a MH condition. Fact it’s hard to quantify is where skepticism comes in. Not everyone who claims is undeserving but equally not everyone who claims is bone fide. It is depressing as a worker seeing how much is deducted each month when few of us are wealthy to be gifted to some who use the system defiantly as a hammock.

No, because the situation you describe is very different to walking into a GP one day saying you are severely anxious. As said, it’s MH issues which are now showing the biggest increase in claims.

I think there’s so much stigma still around mental health in the workplace. I would have and have had no issues saying I’m off sick / reducing hours due to physical health but I would never tell them if it was mental health related.

But isn’t that the problem.

People on this thread are making assumptions about PIP claimants and their families when they know nothing about their lives. Suggesting people with hidden disabilities are scammers because they have a social life. Suggesting young people who claim are wrapped in cotton wool by their parents.

People who are disabled shouldn’t have go into detail to justify their need for support to be independent, which often comes out of their own, or their family’s, NI and tax contributions.

Some rich people avoid or evade tax. We shouldn’t therefore assume that all rich people do it. Or argue they should all be penalised just because some take advantage.

PIP aren't interested in professional evidence from a GP though. For MH issues, it would have to be at least a psychiatrist and it isn't as easy as wandering into the local GP and getting an instant referral.