10 year olds more likely to be on disability benefits than 50 year olds

[AgeingMillennial]

AIBU to think this is absolutely baffling? And at some point we really have to investigate why so many young children are non verbal, have severe emotional regulation problems etc?

But why must it always be disabled people who always face cuts? Why can't we just scrap child benefit?

It isn’t. Right now it’s pensioners, local council services and the military.

If you would be happy to scrap child benefit and put thousands of children into further poverty to benefit your own family, that’s your right. However you cannot then be up in arms and call other people selfish for wanting to cut things that matter to you because it benefits their family.

I disagree with that figure.

Firstly, ADHD according to your logic has never been properly treated, so we don’t know what the saving would be. We have nothing to compare it to.

Secondly if you’re just talking about the savings that would be made through preventing emergency admissions and similar, why was this not the case in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s? They didn’t have a million children on the CAMHS books back then, and suicide rates were actually lower from the 80s until fairly recently.

It's less than £30 a week? Disabled people have faced so many cuts - many of us are worse off under universal credit, LCWRA has been cut by 50% and frozen until 2030, LCW was abolished for new claims in 2017. Need I go on?

Well you can disagree all you like but the independent NHS taskforce lead by experts in the field thinks otherwise.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/PRN02031-interim-report-of-the-independent-adhd-taskforce-part-1.pdf

And re your second point maybe educate yourself and read around before starting inflammatory threads.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqzrz0z4plk1o

So? It’s the difference between poverty and not poverty for many. LCWRA and out of work benefits are spiralling in a way that cannot continue. Spending money on other things isn’t somehow proof there is yet more money to spend on out of work or disability benefits.

That report basically confirms what I said.

No it doesn’t, it cites £17billion and explains why, perfectly easy to calculate. The £17 billion figure represents avoidable costs across society, including lost tax contributions, higher welfare and benefit dependency, increased demands on health and social care, and costs linked to the criminal justice system, educational failure, and long-term unemployment

Cutting disability benefits would also force people into poverty, many of whom are unable to work or enhance their income.

Or does that not matter because it doesn’t directly affect you?

I mean you seem very unconcerned by anything that doesn’t affect you?

That’s not true.

I don’t think we should stop CB, or any other benefit that affects vulnerable people. I include the elderly, disabled and children in that.

I think we have a worklessness issue with people who can work not doing so, we need to get a far better grip of business tax evasion, and that the vulnerable people I mention above be supported by fixing those issues and those who pay more tax.

And before we start on the “higher rate tax payers already pay enough.” I’m one of them, that won’t work with me.

So now we’re not deflecting - is it that you’ll happily force disabled people into poverty because that won’t land at your own personal doorstep.

Agree. The problem is, and always has been that each successive government puts the cart before the horse. The focus is always on cutting benefits and it never seems to dawn on ministers that of course changes are going to meet opposition because cutting the benefit doesn’t eliminate the need. If you cut PIP you also cut access to care for those who have moderate care needs funded by PIP and carers allowance. It doesn’t save any money because those needs are then shifted to the much more expensive social care system which often doesn’t meet the complex needs of disabled people.

Instead of singling out one benefit which supports so many vulnerable people, the whole system needs to come under proper scrutiny. There very many people fit and able to work claiming out of work benefits (which, just for clarity PIP is not) who simply won’t engage properly with the system and know how to play it. There are also many UC claimants who are allowed to engage with minimum work for maximum benefit. Out of work sickness benefits like ESA park people on benefits for up to three years with no compulsion to look for work, and leaving it up to the claimant to report changes in condition for the better.

Another area which urgently needs examination is the appeals system. The fact that nearly 70% of DWP PIP decisions are overturned in favour of the claimant is an indication that something is seriously and fundamentally wrong with the assessment and decision making process, and yet despite the fact that appeals tribunals are of enormous cost to the tax payer, no one want to actually investigate.

And let’s not forget that government itself was responsible for the rise in the cost of PIP. With very few exceptions such as severe and enduring diagnosed MH conditions, Disability Living Allowance was not open to mental health claims. Like PIP it was a cost related benefit and it was deemed that with few exceptions there was very little extra disability related cost to MH. Once PIP replaced DLA and MH claims were allowed, inevitably the cost skyrocketed. Which I find ironic because the decision that led to PIP replacing DLA, was that the cost of DLA was rising and the intention was to make disability benefits less accessible for those with little or no real cost.

There are many areas where a lot of money could be saved. Unfortunately they seemingly involve a level of difficulty that no one in government is prepared to take on. And while disabled people remain the low hanging fruit why should they ?

False equivalence. Do you vote Refrom perchance?

Me, me, me.