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.

I agree. I listened to a Rest is Politics podcast recently with Alastair Campbell and Liam Byrne who I think was a treasury minister under New Labour. Byrne was pontificating about wage stagnation and how Labour missed the first few years where it happened (they started checking around 2007/2008 and noticed it had started in 2004).

Byrne and Campbell were thoroughly disingenuous about the causes - clearly mass migration from the EU had already started to put downward pressure on wages.

I'm going to say this to you. Go away. You have been making nasty snide digs at me and other people on this thread re mental health. Nasty. No matter what anyone posts. You know better don't you.

Your posts don't even make sense. They are just odd rants. I don't care about kids at your school. I don't care what you think about them. I care that other people on here have told you that they have family with serious conditions and you clap back with "should we all claim Pip because everyone doesn't cope". Someone on here posted that their brother ended their life after they were told they were fit to work and you have persisted calling people with mental health issues and disabilities liars and scroungers. You have a sensitivity chip missing. Don't try and use mental health to score points with me and don't call me a scrounger either - because that's the last thing I am and ever have been - you should be nowhere near vulnerable people in any capacity. That's clear because all you do is slag them off because you think you are better than them

I was suicidal 6 years ago. My mum thought she was going to lose me and I come on here to your idiotic rage baiting ill informed crud. And I'm not going to put up with it for one minute longer

And I'm cringing for you to boot. My mum was a teacher for almost 50 years.She would have dropped dead rather than go on the Internet and slag off kids in her class

Consider yourself on ignore

You really don't. Not unless they have the supporting evidence to uphold their claims.
I do and I am STILL having to fight them. Currently awaiting tribunal.

We had low wages following the GFC, then Austerity, public sector pay freezes, low interest rates and inflation.
Private sector pay isn't going to increase much at all with all of that...

Note though that Director pay trebled over this period.

I live an Cornwall, as area not affected by EU or any other form of immigration, Cornwall voted overwhelmingly for Brexit, despite its EU Objective 1 funding, which has never been replaced, we get about 1/3rd of what we used to get.

I totally understand why someone living in areas which saw high levels of immigration would vote for Brexit but it should also be remembered that the Tories removed the funding given to offset high immigration levels.

People always want someone to blame, even better if a foreigner but the reality is Austerity gave us Brexit, coupled with a remarkably weak PM.

Austerity is at the root cause of almost everything wrong with the UK.

Without the frauds you read about in the media most of us personally know someone who's frauding. On the other hand I also know someone who suffered a stroke and got her application rejected so I suppose it goes both ways🤷‍♀️ She is extremely honest and tends to be positive which was not a good thing when applying.

No, everybody doesn't know someone who's defrauding the system (I don't, for a start). And if you know someone who needs help who isn't getting it, or have to go through hoops to get it (like I did), why isn't that your main takeaway, rather than "everyone's playing the system"?

What happened when you reported that person? I'm assuming you did as you're so against benefit fraud.

I don't know anyone who is scamming the system. And if people are so bothered they can report them for benefit fraud

I didn't get full pip (adp) even with a triple leg fracture. Ptsd, anxiety and depression and a lot of supporting evidently. I got it but I did not get the enhanced rate for both components and I did not expect to

There is no such thing as "full pip" anyway. There are different components (mobility and daily living) and different rates within them as I'm sure you know

We have had wage stagnation since before the financial crash.

You seem to be suggesting that people who successfully get Pip are not honest and not positive. Part of the reason some people don't get Pip has nothing to do with "positivity"
It's to do with how long you will have the condition recovery wise (if it's something that you will recover from)

You have to have had the condition for at least three months when you apply. And you have to have it for at least nine months after that - or you don't qualify

Assessors can also make an award of 1-2 years if the recovery time is going to be 18 months

Regarding the videos on YouTube. I've never seen them. I did the application for adp myself and handed in the supporting evidence

And as has been said on this thread previously. Most Pip applicants get turned down at the first stage and lose the mandatory reconsideration and only get the award at tribunal.

It's a difficult process to go through but obviously because "everyone" knows someone milking the system people think it's an easy process to go through

Pip fraud runs at less than three percent and most of the claims that are fraudulent is when someone hasn't reported a change of circumstances. That really doesn't equate to "most of us know someone who is frauding".

Lots of people get their application rejected at the first stage. It doesn't mean that they aren't entitled to the benefit. There's an appeal process people can go through - it doesn't cost anything - and if people win in most cases they'll get their award backdated to the date of their original application

The people on this thread who are being critical of people who get Pip are suggesting that it's so easy to get and that loads of people are fraudsters - have you been through the process yourself? As I said previously I was turned down for lcwra three times. Including when I was just out of hospital with a triple leg fracture. I had to go to tribunal to get the decision over turned

But people who probably haven't been through the process think disability benefits are easy to get

I didn't exaggerate any of my symptoms in order to get benefits. I was completely honest. And I had the evidence to back up my claim

Tbf there is so little checking of PIP claims once awarded that I'm not sure that's a figure you can trust. Round here it's not uncommon for people to be unable to work because of "bad backs" yet still be entirely able to lead a full and fulfilling life on PIP. These are not necessarily claims that started out as fraud but they can certainly become so.

I agree up to a point, but that is addressed by working smarter. There needs to be a list of conditions that are never going to improve where the review regime needs to be light touch in the extreme. Genetic and degenerative conditions like my DS has should be included - he has a 10 year award. Also things like Parkinson's, Ehlers-Danlos - there must be many. That would free up staff to assess people who are likely to recover.

Sorry but that's not the case. They are reviewed. You don't know why people get Pip. Lifetime awards of Pip don't get handed out for "bad backs"

Many disabilities are invisible. I might as well nail jelly to a ceiling because it seems that other peoples anecdotal evidence trumps people like me who got adult disability payment because they were entitled to it

I do know because they talk to me about it quite openly. Its not an unusual thing round here once men who work manually get to a certain age and can't manage their previous jobs. Starts w a real injury but then they're kind of stuck - too old for their old manually jobs and can't support the family on a minimum wage coffee shop type job (and consider that womens work anyway).

So you are talking about people who do have health conditions? Your previous post suggested that they were making fraudulent claims
As I said previously claims are reviewed and if someone doesn't have the evidence to support their application - their claim wont be renewed

Apologies, I thought my post was more nuanced than that.

I'm talking about people who generally have manual jobs, for whom PIP is basically a way of taking early retirement. So Bob who works in construction injures his back age 50, is put on PIP, then recovers (maybe not enough to do his original job but certainly enough to do his allotment and do a less manual job) and keeps claiming because he's not got the skills/experience for well paid alternative employment doesnt fancy the sort of minimum wage job he may be able to get.

I don't know which part of the country you're in but it's most definitely a thing round here. Bad backs are ideal for this because they can be very bad indeed with no definitive medical test that shows how much pain youre in and because there's no medical focus on assessing and treating them properly (ie to recovery) on the NHS.

yes I do think a fair bit of that goes on and hence why I think some Farage voters should be very careful what they wish for - same applies to some classified as disabled and not working - this really depends on the full situation - a lot of disabled people can and do work and don’t be so sure that he doesn’t mean ‘you’ in all fairness though I think all parties will be far more tough on this going forward -

I'm in the West of Scotland. I find that odd because part of the test for Pip adp is certain factors like mobility. I didn't initially get disability benefits (lcwra not Pip) even when I was completely immobile and couldn't walk two steps. If you look at the 12 pip questions I personally find it hard to see how someone would qualify for Pip with a generic bad back diagnosis

I have just googled Reform UK policies and followed the prompts - saw all the policies, never had to pay anything!

So no excuses for getting who you vote for this time then.