Labour increase benefits bill. AIBU To think what’s the point in working?

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15520831/Labours-push-lift-two-child-benefits-cap-hand-25-000-windfalls-thousands-Britains-biggest-jobless-families.html#

‘Official estimates suggest the cost of scrapping the cap will total £13.6 billion over the next five years.

The Tories said families currently affected by the cap are in line to receive windfalls worth an average £25,000 each over that period.

But the biggest families will gain far more. Thousands of families with five children will receive around £10,900 a year while those with six children will get an extra £16,600 a year.
Almost half of the families involved have no one in work.‘

Vouchers wouldn't stop someone determined not to spend money on their children. They would just sell their vouchers for cash instead.

Just to point out that I have been and still am a tax payer...

I really have no opinion either way tbh. However, I live in a village and there are 6 families that I know of who have 6 plus children and another handful with 4-5 children. The majority of these families are single parents and not working. So its not that uncommon.

Me: "So reducing the 'lots of money' you earned for some who can't be arsed to earn anything at all and contribute."

You: "Why are you saying that all benefits claimants 'cant be arsed to earn anything"

Wild extrapolation or...

Also,

Most UC claimants work.

Factually incorrect.

That's because all of us who work, who have never claimed benefits, whose whole family have always worked and paid their taxes and national insurance, whose children in their 20s who have worked hard to get a job and who now hand over 42% of their salary to pay for the benefits of people who can't be bothered working and who claim to have anxiety/depression/fybro etc etc so that they get the very generous ADP disability benefits that are up for grabs and there are many many people doing this, I personally know many many as I volunteer at a mental health hub and they boast about how they fake/exaggerate symptoms and play the system in order to get disability benefits and not have to work or even pretend to look for a job, ever. It's because all of us who work are sick to death of paying for people who can't be bothered working to have a life of leisure. It's not benefit bashing of people who are genuinely in need of benefits, who are genuinely disabled. We all support them and hand over are salaries happily for these people. Sadly, contrary to what mumsnet posters want to pretend is the reality, there are more people faking it than there are deserving it.

Coalition with the Tories? Along with benefits cuts, that would be a double whammy for Reform supporters.

Statutory maternity pay is taxed

pats head

Yes I am sure you are a very special expert who knows more than everyone.

I know what I see with my own eyes, all around me, I know what my friends see, and my family sees, it is reality.

That's the system that should be dismantled and rebuilt. But it isn’t an issue of actual disabilities being more/less deserving or not. It should be based on functionality.

The govt is messing up.

Thank you. I don't know who these people are that CBA to work so choose solely live on UC. I've never known anyone like that. It wouldn't be a very glamorous existence.

If they exist then clearly they do with trying to contribute more to society. But some people contribute positively to society without doing paid work. And some people are not well enough to work.

And yeah, some people just have shit life syndrome. They come from generations of trauma, lack of education, poverty, lack of opportunity. It doesn't mean they should starve on the streets.

@Nanalovesnature I worked full-time for 25 years, 10 of those in my own business, and now work part-time since my stroke 3 years ago which came on top of other long-term/life-long conditions, so I feel like I've done and continue to do my bit to the best of my ability!

What a slap in the face to those of us who were unselfish enough to be childfree! We already subsidise families through council tax because parents pay nothing towards the facilities their children use.

I live in one of the most deprived towns in the country, and I don't see any of what is posted on here with my own eyes.

I can think of one person I know who has never worked. She has 2 severely disabled children, and her husband does work. Even the local crackheads have done their stints on the fishing boats or collecting coal.

I don't know anyone at all who brags about claiming PIP for ADHD/anxiety/depression/a bad back. Nor do I know any single parents whose partners live with them without declaring it.

I have zero clues what benefits my neighbours claim, and I cannot fathom how people know all of this about their neighbours.

Yabu because there is a benefit cap, and a savings cap, and other benefits to working so if you can work and earn enough to get by and save and live etc, you are better off working

You cant just also.to be disabled and be given disability benefits no question asked you need evidence snd by that I dont just mean popping off to your GP type evidence .

Were you excluded from the school system when you were in education?

You can just get a google AI summary. Its self-evident that disability benefits are being abused.

Disability benefit claims (PIP) in the UK are highest in the North West of England, with areas like Blackpool (24.7%) and Liverpool (23.8%) showing the highest proportions of disabled residents as of 2021.

other high-claim areas include Hartlepool, Sunderland, and parts of Wales, with national claimants reaching 6.9 million by May 2025.

Key Regional Trends and Data
Highest Prevalence: The North West has the highest concentration of claimants across England and Wales.

Local Authority Hotspots (2021 Census):

Blackpool: 24.7%
Liverpool: 23.8%
Hartlepool: 187 per 1,000 residents
Sunderland & Rhondda Cynon Taf: 173 per 1,000 residents

Lowest Prevalence:

The City of London (11.8%) and Elmbridge (12.2%) reported the lowest proportions.

Rising Claims: The East of England experienced the fastest growth in PIP claimants (118% increase between 2019 and 2025).

Regional Variation: While London and the South East have lower overall proportions of disabled residents, specific areas like the Isle of Wight (21.3%) and Eastbourne (20.3%) have seen significant increases.

What about able bodied (never worked) long term benefit claimants. We are basically rewarding feckless, undesirables who have never given and will never give anything of value to the country. Why???

I do think the PIP system needs looking at however. And the general expectation to work if you have *mild anxiety depression ADHD autism for example

They are not my neighbours, they are members of a mental health hub that I volunteer at, they advise each other on how to milk the system, openly, it is no secret there, they have a very nice life on benefits, they tell each other how to word the answers to the questions on the ADP application form, what to say to the GP, to keep going back to the GP/physio/mental health nurse to get more "evidence". Lucky you for not being aware of it or for living in a place where it doesn't go on, where I live it is rife.

I think that given the choice of 'starve and be cold in the UK' or 'be tortured and murdered if I stay put' is still a no brainer.

Have you attempted a bit of empathy and looked at why people are actually seeking asylum. You have to have a reason, they do check that.

You've listed my town on there. I never said I don't know anyone claiming PIP, I do. I also know the waiting list for MH services is 12+ months, people cannot afford to access healthy food, education is failing, job prospects are beyond shite unless you drive, which no one can afford to do, and housing conditions are poor. Addiction is, unsurprisingly, a massive problem.

What I said was, I don't know anyone claiming it fraudulently. My BIL gets it for chronic depression and anxiety; he has attempted to take his own life twice this year alone. My Dad gets it for COPD. He is on oxygen 24/7.

I attend several MH peer support groups, and we very rarely talk about benefits at all, let alone brag about how we are supposedly faking them to get money. If benefits are mentioned, it is because they have been stopped or someone is due a re-assessment, and they are very worried.

Time again, people on here keep claiming they overhear whole swathes of people bragging about the money they get whilst chugging pints at 10am in Wetherspoons, overhearing their neighbours talking about it, or now... someone claiming that all their service users sit there bragging and sharing notes.

Has anyone suggested workhouses yet?