Don't like Farage but..

[TheBlueKoala]

I do agree with him that foreign nationals shouldn't be able to claim benefits and to scrap PIP for mild mental health issues. And that the money saved should go into mental health care so that everyone with mild mental health problems can access NHS care rapidly.

The problem is the amount of migrants crossing the channel in one day. Last Saturday it was over 600. That's an awful lot of people to have to suddenly find accommodation for.

I know somebody whose parents were Somalian refugees when the civil war happened and ended up in Norway. He was born in Norway and then they all moved to the UK when he was about 5. He has been to school, university and now works as an accountant for the public sector in the UK. He can not speak Somalian or Norwegian and has never visited either country. He has indefinite leave to remain so would be considered a foreign national. He hasn’t ever had a spare 10k or so to get round to doing the citizenship paperwork and hasn’t really ever felt the need to until recently. I don’t get why anyone would think if he lost his job he shouldn’t be entitled to benefits. What would happen if he became ill - he’d just default on his mortgage and end up homeless?

Well, it won't be as expensive as giving someone PIP for the rest of their lives.

Very few people get life awards of Pip. Mine was 2 years

pip don’t tend to give lifetime awards.

you clearly know jack shit.

Does that happen in other countries?

I know a lot about PIP as my husband is on it.

It just encourages people to get worse and worse so they don't lose the cash.

Mine was 3 and I have a progressive condition and im in multiple organ failure

That's nonsense. You do know some people get Pip to help them stay employed

Im one of them people

Therapy isn't a magic wand that cures all mental health issues. If only

Just another benefits bashing discussion

What you mean them 8 sessions of cbt you get on the nhs didn't magically fix everyone. Shock

To be fair we haven't had one for the last 20 minutes so it was due

Is UE a typo for EU?

I think too many EU nationals were allowed in (as Blair now admits).

There are people in all parties with this view particularly if they are devout catholics. Two immediately spring to mind being Jacob Rees Mogg and Tim Farron who both held senior posts but stressed that they regarded abortion as a settled issue. There are many others in every party who believe the same but are reticent to share their views. I think this is such a sad and complex issue with many societal impacts that it is unhelpful to make it political to bash Reform particularly. No party including Reform wish to ban abortions outright but all have members with varying views of when it’s acceptable and when it’s not.

Do you not think people do the same with physical ones?

Er... Dubai?

Exactly. Stigma against mental illness never really goes away.

How about whiplash, back pain, tiredness etc. long COVID & ME, POTS, PAN/PANDAS can all be very serious & debilitating but can't actually be properly medically evidenced, also pain in general can't actually be tested for medically - these conditions can be severely disabling (like anxiety & autism) but could be potentially exaggerated or 'faked'

Why do you call for a blanket stop for mild mental illness but not physical - there is an equivalent potential for misuse in both but you only want one tackled?

Frankly it sounds to me like the beginning of a slippery slope towards getting rid of PIP altogether

I'm not keen on his ideas about cutting off the ECHR either. Workers and human rights in general for the chop there I suspect

Seems Farage would have to agree to the Falklands being given to Argentina on the say so of his US BFF.

Mind you it's another chance for him to not be in Clacton. Heaven forfend !

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde51y0zgjyo

I agree it is "a sad and complex issue" so just to emphasise: Farage's UK Head of Policy, James Orr, opposes it at every stage and under all circumstances. This, of course, includes rape and incest.

To bring it back to a lot of the discussion on here, James Orr has also described asylum seeker as "invaders". Very provocative and he has been promoted from adviser to Head of Policy since then.

I got zero points for lwcra after a triple leg fracture and only got the benefit when I went to tribunal. Potentially it could be argued that it's easier now as the assessments are done by phone - but an assessor found me fit to work when I was bed bound. I got a copy of her report. It was full of lies from start to end. Saying that I was up making breakfasts and taking cereals from high cupboards when I literally couldn't stand

I have to say that I think it's pretty unfair that whenever people mention disability benefits the focus always goes on people who exaggerate their conditions and not the people who actually have to battle to get them. I got lcwra on the third attempt and when it runs out I'm not putting myself through that again.

Yes of course there are people who will exaggerate their symptoms to get benefits - but as other people have said the bar for Pip is high and it is for lcwra as well. People don't just get sending in a fit note these days and get sickness benefit. They have to be assessed. If they lose that they need to go to MR and then tribunal

I personally believe there are far more people who qualify for sickness benefits who don't get them than people who get them who aren't entitled.

Benefits didn’t exist back then. Everyone had to work or scrape a living, or starve, go to the workhouse etc. That was not a better time.

It is so worrying that people are prepared to believe these soundbites.

The statement upthread that we are becoming a "nation of snowflakes" is inflammatory and unsubstantiated and certainly does not apply to anyone I know know. I find people resourceful, helpful and determined to make their own way.

It is a MINORITY of people with a different mindset .

I am a retired social worker and I have to say that most sick/disabled people I visited were in fact underapplying for their entitlements, which had so many complex hoops to jump through that they gave up and lived in penury.

There were a few scroungers but they were very much in the minority and it makes me so cross that the likes of Farage and his crew exaggerate the reality for their own political ends and make genuine claimants feel bad about applying.