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.

It's just a race to the bottom as far as I'm concerned. The most vulnerable in society are demonised. Unfortunately these views are getting a lot of traction - despite Reform not campaigning in certain areas. Scotland goes to the polls next month. The reform candidate hasn't campaigned at all - he won't win in my area but he'll pick up a decent amount of votes I'm sure. I saw a poll here saying that Reform are going to pick up votes from ex Labour voters and ex Snp voters. I suspect though that much of their vote will come from ex Tory voters and their party will take a huge hit

Some of their candidates by all accounts are paper candidates - but they'll still win seats. The projection is 21 at the moment

Can you confirm the safe, legal route for someone wanting to seek Asylum from, say, Iran?

PIP should be means tested and it should be for the original intended purpose, additional costs caused by having a severe disability.

It's become some kind of compensation scheme from the government for meeting the criteria for PIP where the money is used for whatever the person wants, whether they need it or not.

Most Reform voters are not against immigrants who come and contribute to society, who work hard and abide by the law - you don't know that is true and neither do I.

Do people actually know what asylum seekers get from the Government when they come to the Uk? 49.18 a week and this falls to around ten pounds a week if they are in accommodation where food is provided. If they have a baby or young kids it goes up by 15 pounds a week

This is simplistic. 'Additional costs' can be anything, including things people consider basics rather than extra. Some health conditions mean a person needs their heating at a higher temperature, for example. Some people need a store of ready meals for the days when cooking is not possible for them. Some people use more electricity because of the aids they use.

Tell me you do not understand disabilities without saying you don't understand disabilities.

I personally would rather not have become disabled and had to claim Pip in the first place. I get 603 pounds a month in ADP which is the Scottish equivalent. In the beginning after my injury I used the money I got to get taxis to and from hospital because I needed 6 months of follow up appointments and in the beginning I literally couldn't walk to the bus stop to get a bus

Patient transport has a huge waiting list so there wasn't much option other than get a taxi. I actually don't overspend or spend money on stuff I don't need - a hangover from living on a pittance for a long time

Tell me you don't understand how people have become able to take the piss out of the PIP system without telling me...

This could be easily solved by the Tories previous proposals where additional costs should be evidenced for a PIP claim.

Extra heating? Fine. Extra laundry? Fine. Adaptations to the home? Fine. Ready meals? Fine.

Except PIP claimants and some parts of society kicked off and said it would be degrading to have to prove what they were spending their PIP on.

Because so much of it is spent on holidays, luxuries, general bills, beauty appts, pets including pet insurance and so on.

If someone's spending it on genuine additional costs then it should be fine for them to provide the receipts for that.

I don't see why that should be a problem.

That's why people have a problem with PIap and think it should be means tested and also should be proven to be spent on additional costs. Because that's what it's supposed to be for!

Farage as head of UKiP and then the Brexit party was dead against all immigrants, working or not, these is his widely held belief.

He wants to revisit all asylum successful claims made in the last 5 years, inc those with the right to remain.... he makes no mention of people in work being excluded from his deportation plans, covering 600k people over 5 years.

So i assume the vast majority of people who support him/Reform, also support this.

You are misunderstanding me. I'm not disputing the need for disability benefits at all. In fact the opposite. I know how hard it is to qualify even with a significant disability.

I was responding to a PP who wanted all benefits stopped for 'mild' mental health & when I queried why mental & not physical they thought mental illness was easier to fake or exaggerate which actually isn't the case at all.

One of the roles my DD does is supporting people in their housing, heating and PIP claims, her patients are neuro - so stroke, head injury etc

Many PiP claims, even with HCP back up fail, the rise in PiP is much to do with transfer from legacy to PiP.

These people don't get "free stuff" without a HCP backing it up, sometimes they say they need things but my DD says no & looks for cheaper ways around the issues, usually involving them doing things for themselves eg a patient says "i need a ramp" but if the patient is given therapy/physio or perhaps a hand rail, the expense of a ramp can be avoided.

She has been in her current position across 3 NHS trusts, so pls don't say she is in a minority.

You've been reading too many 'Express/Mail articles.

Sorry but let's not go down the "beauty appointment" route. It gets rolled out all the time with IPhones. Netflix. Lashes.

I personally last went to a hairdressers about ten years ago. The reason that people weren't asked to provide receipts had nothing to do with people on Pip "kicking off". It's because there are not enough dwp staff to be able to go through claimants bank accounts. There aren't enough work coaches as it is. They are under staffed and you get a ten minute appointment with your work coach. The one I had today was a four minute phone call

If the Tories wanted to go down that route - fine. Employ enough staff to be able to spare the time to go through people's bank accounts

The money I get has allowed me to put my heating on more in the winter. It certainly hasn't been used on holidays and luxuries.

I still live below the line even though I get disability benefits - so I don't know how people think I'm going on holidays and getting beauty appointments and the like. I'm absolutely not

Perhaps if Universal credit wasn't such a pittance for single people then no one would have to use Pip money to put their heating on or pay for bills

There should be no 'but' in that sentence.

Is your only focus to correct my grammar?

No I was not correcting your grammar. My point was that the sentence should read I don't like Farage. Full stop. The man is a bigoted chancer.

No worries. I don't disagree there but obviously the Op posted about taking Pip from people with mild mental health issues - when my mental health was really poor around 20 months ago I got ADP which is the Scottish equivalent. I didn't get the highest rate for Pip for my mental health. I got the middle rate. I suffer from ptsd depression and anxiety - so I don't know how people think it's easy to get Pip with mild mental health issues and stay on it. My award will be reviewed in August - I have no idea whether it will be continued or not

You either fit the descriptors or you don't

Nope.

Work in mental health and have done for years.

Used to be the case that we just told someone to claim PIP, did the form for them and backed it up with our own support. Because it's not our money right? They're ENTITLED. I was called a UKIP supporter for challenging that so that tells you how long ago it was.

Which caused many of these problems Because who wants to be the worker telling someone you won't back up their PIP claim? Especially if you know they have financial problems. Same reason GPs sign sick notes but are saying they don't want to do it anymore but don't want to be the 'bad guy' telling someone no.

And for years PIP haven't even seen and assessed the majority of claimants, they don't have the capacity so they just don't bother and do a paper assessment.

I actually got to the stage where I refused to help someone do a PIP claim for adult ADHD so he got another worker to. He got full care and mobility, is a full-time scaffolder and spends his PIP on trainers and cannabis.

It's really not hard to get PIP when someone knows how to fill in the form, especially if they've ended getting it in the past.

Even new claims, they'll initially say no. Take it to mandatory reconsideration and they'll usually say yes but if not take it to appeal and you'll go from 0 or a few points to full PIP

I've seen it time and again.

The it's so hard to get PIP doesn't apply to most MH conditions because the assessors aren't expert enough and just go on what they're told, including by professionals.

Throw in the old 'tell them about how you are on your worse day' and you can easily get full PIP based on a terrible weekend when you spend the rest of the time being fine.

As has been demonstrated by the recent exposure of the woman claiming PIP for anxiety so bad she couldn't leave the house while attending multiple beauty appts and going on holiday to Mexico and THEN trying to get her PIP increased.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4vmw27x13o

And here's another:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crk7j8lg8yzo

Another.

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2025-05-28/couple-jailed-for-270000-benefits-fraud-scheme

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/benefit-cheat-mum-repay-22k-31766731

I'm just glad the authorities are starting to prosecute as the 'PIP has a fraud rate of 0%' myth was irritatingly untrue but constantly brought up on threads.

Because of the 'claim about your worse day but you only have to have worse days 50% of the time' is why it's been challenging to prosecute before as people were saying 'yeah usually I can't get out of bed on my own but on that day I was able to run a marathon' but they're cracking down now thankfully.

Your bold statements about what people use PIP for require substantiation. Hitchens' Razor, you know.

And how much do you think a claims approval system would cost the taxpayer?

There's no.proof that PIP fraud is rife, there's just a boatload of wishful anecdotal from the same folk who claim it's so easy to get. My DS had to submit all his medical evidence, a stack that took him 4 hours to scan and upload.

No one can claim PIP for mild mental health conditions and foreign nationals can only claim benefits if they have citizenship. If on working visas etc they have no recourse to public funds and pay for NHS services in their visa application.

I've got mild mental health issues. I have been diagnosed with moderate depression and anxiety by a psychiatrist in the past. I'm not and never would have been eligible for PIP. I could/can meet my own care needs. It's based on need, not diagnosis. A politician making a comment that it shouldn't be for people with mild mental health issues makes them sound like an ill informed idiot. Surely someone in his position should know how PIP actually works.

PIP should be proven to be spent on additional costs.

Clearly this is not practical .... the cost of checking this would be more than the benefit!

I'd support that if it was gander goosey.

I know a few people whose spend on additional costs is many many times their PIP.

I was suicidal when I first tried to get lcwra. I scored no points and was told that I was fit to work. I was suffering from severe trauma at that time. Trauma that I still suffer from.

I was ill the second time I applied. Zero points. Fit to work. The third time I applied I had just been in hospital after a huge operation. Bed bound. Fit to work and only put in the lcw group as I had been in hospital - zero points yet again - over turned at tribunal

For every person who spends their Pip on trainers and cannabis there are plenty who don't

Even going through the process of getting ADP affected my mental health - even though the process wasn't as horrible as lcwra - because I had to talk and write about the trauma that affected my mental health before I could be awarded it

I won't put myself through trying to get lcwra for mental health again. It's not worth the effect on my mental health just to be told once more that there's nothing wrong with me and I'm fit to work

Both your post and mine are true. We need to invest in the NHS but people need to take more responsibility for their health - that would need to happen if we took away PIP from some conditions. We just can’t afford our welfare bill and it’s due to rise significantly. Also don’t get me started on how PIP has propped up the car industry. 1 in 5 new cars in the UK last year were purchased through the motability scheme. It makes no sense to me.