PIP for Anxiety

[IntelligenceIsFree]

AIBU to clear things up?

The current nasty rhetoric around disabled people at the moment is astounding. Society needs to be reminded that we are ALL one illness or accident away from disability.

Everyone knows someone who is gaming the system, yet the PIP fraud rate is extremely low. The public demonising, does not match the reality.

The hot topic is “anxiety” and how people with “anxiety” are gaming the system, getting “free” cars and robbing tax payers; this is being constantly fed through media, news articles and so on.

This is simply not true. The people spouting this nonsense clearly have no idea how PIP works. Nobody gets PIP without strong medical evidence. Nobody.

Before anyone posts “my neighbour got PIP just by telling lies”. No, they did not. That’s not how it works.

People need to be educated properly on how benefits work, how they are awarded and what the criteria for mobility cars actually is; the cars are not in fact free.

People need to be educated on the fact that there is anxiety, which every human suffers from at some point, and then there are anxiety DISORDERS which are entirely different and can be life changing and debilitating. Hence, the need and entitlement for PIP.

Brenda down the road who feels too anxious to go to Bingo on a Friday night is NOT getting PIP ❌

Mary up the lane who has such severe OCD that she cannot leave her own home for fear that she will die, IS getting PIP .✅

There’s a huge difference.

The current turning on disabled people is shameful and we are living in a country full of hate because Bob (and his Uncle) are annoyed that they are paying tax to “support all of these scroungers”.

Bob (and his Uncle), needs to hope that they never get cancer, or suffer life changing trauma or have an unfortunate accident to avoid being served a huge scrounged humble pie.

I do not suffer from anxiety but as a human, I am pleased we have a system in society to support the most vulnerable people who need it. Life can happen to anyone.

Well done for starting the millionth thread like this, where people WILL now of course come to post their ableist attitudes.

I have taken medication for my severe anxiety for 20 years; at one point it rendered me agoraphobic. I do understand the horror of it but I also wonder if people aren’t being properly treated. And I don’t consider myself disabled.

@YabbaDabbaDooooo Thank you 😊

@Overtheatlantic Yes, I agree. Mental health treatments in this country are abysmal. If support and intervention were offered earlier, maybe things would be different for a lot of people.

I completely agree.

Meanwhile, nobody is talking about 10% of the UK's population owning 50% of the nation's wealth - because that's the real story here. And while we're all busy blaming the poor, the disabled, immigrants, each other, we're basically keeping ourselves in the established order for our puppet masters.

PIP fraud is very high. In fact, all my friends who get PIP don't need the support and are perfectly capable of doing everything for themselves. I was so astounded by how easily they got it that I decided to apply for it myself lol. I pay too much tax anyway.

Couldn’t agree more, I have a child who has profound autism, and I feel exactly the same about this absolute nonsense being pushed in the media especially. Over the last few weeks I have read a few really horrible articles on very mainstream platforms about how parents of disabled children are trying to get them ‘labelled’ in order to claim benefits. They make it seem like diagnoses, support and money are handed out freely when in reality it’s a gruelling battle to access what they need. I had to fight my local authority tooth and nail for my child to get the support to safely attend school. My child is non verbal and needs complete assistance with all self care tasks, they present as unmistakably disabled and have no ability to mask this. We even had to get private assessments for ‘evidence’ to get them an appropriate EHCP as there was a 3 year waiting list to see a paediatrician through the NHS. The daily mail in particular seems to tap into an audience of bigoted people and is happy to irresponsibly feed them complete lies and create hostility towards vulnerable groups, it’s absolutely shameful 😔

All your friends that get PIP? How many is that? How did you end up with multiple friends fraudulently claiming benefits? I don't have any friends claiming it, you must have poor choice in friends if your surrounded by ones who lie about being disabled.

Hope you got your hard hat on op, this just attracts those type of people who don’t have a single brain cell between them but yes you’re correct.

Ok, I'll bite...
Everyone knows someone who is gaming the system, yet the PIP fraud rate is extremely low
Fraud rate is low because investigations levels are almost non existent. They are almost non existent because the investment required to prove fraud is more than the cost of the benefit, so it's not worth it.

It does not in any way mean that people don't play the system. They do and get away with it.

Mmmm, PIP fraud is high.

For example, I am on the lowest amount of PIP available for severe cardiac disease. Some days, I can’t cook a simple meal without having dangerous and tbh scary symptoms.

A friend who applied at the same time as I did just because she heard me talking about it as an option, who claimed she has ‘anxiety’ so bad she can’t even go to her local coop on her own but is actually able to attend hair/nail/lash appointments alone, travel abroad 3-4 times a year, was awarded the highest rate of both elements of PIP possible.

Am I angry? Yes. Will I lie to get more? No.

I get pip and work and I’m a high rate tax payer.

am I a scrounger paying for myself to get pip? Should I be angry with myself?

Looking at your OP I am the Mary in your example. My neighbour is the Brenda.I am not the one that gets PIP.

Even if they do investigate, sentences are suspended and repayments are set at £20 a month.. so they don’t recover the money owed quickly enough to care. It’s utterly ridiculous.

Some people genuinely need this benefit.

I have no problem with people who need PIP getting PIP.

There are two people in my immediate family who are screwing the system for every penny that they can. They freely admit it and are doing very well on the taxpayers dollar. Neither are unwell but both are bone idle. I feel really sorry for their children. They get the highest rate PIP.

Its very frustrating.

This

Official statistics for the financial year ending (FYE) 2024 show the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) fraud rate is exceptionally low, with some reports citing 0% to 0.4%.

As PP says, those stats don’t mean much because the funding is not there to be investigating the claims properly because the cost of that would be more than just paying the benefit itself. It is not a reliable indicator of anything.

But PIP is meant to cover the additional costs of a disability. What extra costs are there with having severe anxiety? A family member I live with has severe anxiety, they don't require PIP because there aren't additional costs to the condition (other than a gym membership to help them manage it and frankly paying for the gym is not the state's job!)

So what makes the UK population so different to the rest of the world or at least to comparable countries, considering the UK is a global outlier with regards to the proportion of the population on disability benefits?
The rise in claims post Covid is something like 30% which has not happened in other countries.

Is this a trick question? Lots of things

Paying for taxis if anxiety is too bad to use public transport, having someone go places with you to reduce anxiety- for some people this is needed for them to even leave the house, online shopping delivery fee if unable to go to a busy supermarket to do a shop, private counselling because the NHS is severely underfunded… could go on.

When I’m really anxious (and suicidal), I eat ready made meals because I can’t think straight to cook, I am incapable of following the steps to cook and quite frankly I’d slit my wrists with a knife. So I reheat ready meals (which cost more than buying ingredients). I also wet myself due to my anxiety, which generates additional laundry, which costs, and I decompress in a long bath, which is also more expensive than a shower.

Do you pay more in taxes or do you claim more across your combined benefits?
many people are tax payers, less than half of them are net contributors.

Sorry im not clear what you mean?

im paying my taxes through PAYE ?

Thank you OP. I completely agree with everything you say.