To think benefits need to be cut to fund increased spending on defence

[Viviennemary]

This is absolutely necessary. Keir Starmer shouldnt have backed down the last time. But now with the current situation with Russia drastic steps need to be taken. We simply can't afford to sustain the current benefits bill with the armed forces so depleted. The money is needed to increase defence.

Uc doesn't work like that there is nothing you can claim not working that you can't claim working

You are less disabled than some other people. That isn't a bad thing, it's just factual.

Well, sure start centres largely no longer exist. Certainly not to the extent they used to and with the support they used to offer as they were closed to save money funnily enough.

This is shown to benefit children who would otherwise start school largely behind their peers and close the gaps. It's about the children.

When you discover maybe that you son might have a lifetime of need and work out thst you need to preserve as many pennies as possible to ensure he is provided for ( above and beyond State benefits) then you would be thankful for his qualifying for DLA or PIP.

I used my son’s DLA to pay for 1:1 swimming lessons ( he could not manage group lessons) SALT and Ed psych reports etc. Otherwise this would have come form our funds and reduced them.

So many middle class parents are sacrificing their retirement income to fund deposits so that they have a say where their disabled kids live.Moreover, claiming DLA when the kids are younger ultimately means more in the pot for your disabled adult kid when you die.

I refused to claim DLA for my disabled son until he was aged about 7. His NHS OT advised me to do so as we have a long financially draining road ahead of us. In essence, I put my pride away when I squared up to his lifetime of need.

Perhaps you have not had the 2 am sweat ‘what happens to him when I die? ‘ as yet.

However it’s does wind me up that what appears to be that those with more minor issues of disability can claim. For my son, he won’t be able to work without PA support etc.

So i should be expect to work full time or lose all financial help. How realisticly do you think that would work when I have 7 consultants across 4 trusts that I have to regularly travel to. Im regularly hospitalised I usually have on average 2/3 surgeries a year. Im currently doing a drug trial which is 4 1/2 hours from where I live. So how am I supposed to fit a full time job around that? Also take into account i will die significantly younger then the average person so will never get to retire, never get a pension. But you want to take away my £800 a month pip that pays for my travel to these hospitals bearing in mind prior to getting pip i use to use hospital transport which probably cost the government and NHS more as its incredibly unreliable so I missed half my appointments that had to be rescheduled. Now I get pip im no longer eligible for hospital transport so can you see how taking benefits away from people doesn't actually financially benefit the country

PIP can help some disabled people work. Some disabled people may not be able to work without it.

What an absolute pile of pish.

Ok. Just think that one through.

Suppose wages are increased.

Employers then pass that extra cost of employing staff through in the prices they charge customers. Prices go up. That drives the overall rate of inflation and cost of living.

Some business can raise prices in response to their costs without too much difficulty because what they do is so essential that everyone needs it.

Some businesses can't. Their customers start importing from China instead. That business closed down. Jobs are lost and the economy suffers.

Or it's a pub or cafe. Wages go up. They try to raise the price of tea and cake. But customers decide to have tea and cake at home instead. The cafe closes. Jobs are lost and the local economy suffers. Another empty shop.

This isn't fiction - it's exactly what the consequences were of the last round of forced increases to the cost of employing people forced through by this incompetent government.

Why do you say that?

Oh wonderful, yet another benefit bashing thread on MN. Love it.

let’s go the whole hog and get the work houses back up and running, old style asylums, that used to charge people to come and gawp and laugh at the patients and I dunno, maybe slavery while we’re at it. Really bring back those old fashioned values Great Britain was built on.

Ive already conceded that I’m on limited time anyway because I’m disabled, female and bisexual, with MH illnesses to boot, I just wonder where I’ll be put….

All those on here rubbing their hands with glee at cutting the welfare budget, just remember that not everyone sets out to end up disabled or unable to work for some reason and needing state help. Careful what you wish for.

Because most of it is outdated, incorrect, judgemental assumptions.

I was born without eyes and with multiple joint deformities. I work full time. I was lucky enough to benefit from graduate employment schemes aimed at disabled people. I need a great deal of specialist equipment, adaptive technology and personal assistance to allow me to get to work and actually do my job while there. Fortunately, I have an employer who is willing and able to accommodate my complex needs and my job is one I can do with the right sort of, very intensive and expensive, support. I know how lucky I am. The sort of roles I could undertake with all the support possible are already very limited, the number of employers equipped to meet my accessibility needs in the workplace is still smaller.
I always thought I was severely disabled but, thanks to your very well-reasoned and articulated opinion, which you have definitely not extracted from your fundamental orifice with absolutely no thought, I have apparently been quite wrong all my life. Thanks for putting me right on the true definition of disability..

I suggested removing the lower rates of pip not the higher or are you not entutled to the higher?

Removing or reducing benefits will always impact on a group of people who were once entitled but then due to the change wouldn't be. Removing lower rates would ensure those with the most need will still get it and are supported. I believe as a society we should support those who cannot support themselves due to the severity of their disability. You can clearly argue online so there is some argument that you could if pushed wfh in an admin or customer service based position for example. You are not completely unable of devoid of useful skills that you could not be employed. You may not like that idea but many people have to take jobs that they don't like to support themselves.

Yes, i believe pip and dla should be looked at and changed. I won't apologise for that. I think other areas of benefits should be also changed as I posted earlier.

Benefits won’t be any good if we get invaded and conquered by the Russians 🙄

Why go after poorer people? Don't believe all you read.

I bet you're glad you have strangers on the Internet re-assigning your level of disability based on their small minded personal beliefs rather than any sort of medical evidence or knowledge. Whatever shall you do with your new found freedom??

Babies not bombs. Any nation that is thinking of making poor people poorer in order to buy weapons to kill poor people overseas, needs to think again.

We need to improve our defences, but taking money from poor and vulnerable people isn’t the way to do it.

I have a job please learn to read. Why would I quit my very flexible job that I'm lucky to have to get a wfh job that makes no sense

Why do you find it insulting that somebody may be in a worse position than you are and not able to work at all? Ofcourse there are people who are more disabled than you are, that isn't an insult, it's factual.

Well it’s got to be about the children because their own parents are lazy and negligent who prioritise themselves and what they want above their children. So as long as people know many kids=many money..,

Conquered by the Russians 🤣🤣 they can't even beat Ukraine how do you think they are going to beat all of nato

Erm… because the Tories closed the Sure Start centres as soon as they came back to government after Labour. God forbid the plebs get anything that could help them…

Do you realise the number of Forces families who are receiving Universal Credit top-ups?

Before writing stuff like this why don’t you educate yourself? Did you receive furlough payments during Covid? If so, perhaps explain why it was ok for you to receive support in your time of need?

If you’re talking about disability benefits then they are very hard to receive and claims have to be backed up with medical evidence. PIP is also not an out of work benefit and it is not means tested.

If claims have increased then that is for several reasons like schools having their budgets cut to the bone since 2010, resulting in children who became damaged by inadequate schooling in massive class sizes which were never a thing. And poor mental health caused by the decline in living standards in the UK and the aftermath of Covid.

Claiming disability benefits is harder to do now, not easier.

Maybe you should have read my first post that you responded to beforegetting on your soapbox?