PIP "Vouchers to replace money"

[QueenAnn]

Just read the latest crazy idea from Rishi in his quest to persecute the mentally ill and disabled and am horrified to learn he wants to replace PIP money with vouchers for therapy or home improvements. This idea hasn't been given the go ahead yet but is going to be discussed in July apparently. My dh has severe mental health issues, psychosis, GAD, depression etc and he's under the care of the local CMHT. He's also been assessed by the council Social Care Assessment team as needing assistance and respite care, however I've been told there isn't the funding locally to cover everything he's been assessed as needing. It's a good thing he has me as his full time carer but I wonder how carers are going to be affected if this voucher scheme goes ahead as I, and many others, rely on carers allowance to compensate for the hours we can't work due to caring for someone. It honestly feels as if there is some terrible news for the disabled and vulnerable coming from Rishi every day now.

I don't think ( even if the bill is passed ) that it will affect people with severe mental illness. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Yes it sounds like it will affect those with milder mental health issues that currently claim pip and use it as income. Something does need to be done about pip, it does need a reform. I quite like the voucher idea.

It won't happen. The whole point of pip is to enable you to help you live with your disability and that will look different for every single person so unless Rishi is calling pound sterling a 'voucher', it's not a feasible plan

Or alternatively to feel better, just remember his 'stop the boats' promise and now there's more crossings than ever as a collective.... So maybe pip will just double too 😂 tongue firmly in cheek there

What do you like about the voucher idea? How do you see them implemented for, say, a young man who wets the bed every night with the mountains of associated laundry, picks holes in clothes and socks (and will only wear particular ones of those from a particular store) cannot leave the house alone and so on and so on.

Would you envisage a system where clothing vouchers to an adequate value to continually replace like for like in terms of clothing or worn or irredeemably smelly bedding or one where it's rationed and limited in selection and often suitability like incontinence pads?

And would you support a big - very big - uplift in social care budget so that adults aren't almost completely dependent on their, often aging, parents for every aspect of getting out of the house and their personal care?

Thanks for the replies, I really don't intend to scare anyone with this info, it honestly feels like one drastic idea after another at the moment coming from Rishi.

@PickAChew I'd be interested to know if the poster who likes the idea of vouchers is actually in receipt of PIP at the moment or is the carer for someone in receipt of PIP.

Rishi will not be in power after the next election, so none of this silliness will continue. Don't worry, OP.

You know disabled people are individuals and every disability is different? The headspace to claim stuff back is too much.
Mu friends money goes on expensive food for allergies and a shit tonne of supplements let alone anything else like wheelchair wheels etc

I wonder how much this would cost to discuss, debate, and action.

Far more than it would save I imagine.

My guess is that the vouchers would be closely linked to businesses the tories have mates making a profit from too

What annoys me is that people who claim PIP can also be employed.

So you have people who use the extra 100/200 a month to pay for incontinence pads or taxis because they're not allowed to drive but who work. If these changes and cuts happen, they may be forced to leave their jobs. How does that reduce the benefits bill?!

Wow. What a horrible comment.

If we have a system where Drs aren't signing fit notes, who do you think gets to decide who deserves what type of voucher?

What works for one person, won't work for another.

My brother is a double amputee. He is reassessed every 5 years to see whether his mobility has improved. Cutting down on that type of nonsense may help reduce the benefits bill, moving to an admin heavy expenses type process will not.

But this isn’t what the proposal is op. It is for those with very minor issues. I think if you really are worried it is better to take time to educate yourself rather than start false scare mongering threads.

We have vouchers - cash.

The costs of administering a system like that would be huge, @plumcake2924 . They're not even dealing with claims and renewals in a timely fashion, at the moment. (DS1's renewal form was supposedly sent out on Christmas Eve, giving us a month from the date of the letter to complete it. I received it on Jan 14th, so it had sat in an outbox for goodness knows how long. They had issued a reminder letter before it even got to me and that reached me after the original deadline. After 3 attempts to get through then an hour on hold, I managed to get a 2 week extension. I haven't heard back from them, yet. Ds2's social worker tells me that her family member's renewal took a year.)

I actually think an expense system that paid for what you NEED would be good.

For a lot of people PIP doesn't cover the costs of their disability or anywhere near it.

Maybe the expense system could cover wheelchairs (NHS wheelchairs are few and far between these days and lots of people I know have had to set up Gofundme's for their wheelchairs).

It could also cover such essentials as adapting cars so physically disabled people can drive them, adapting bathrooms to be wet rooms suitable for wheelchairs etc etc.

And that's before getting on to apparently the new expense system could be used to pay for treatment which anyone who is disabled is aware is extremely hard to get on the NHS.

So if it paid for weekly physio (60 pounds a time) and hydro (100 pounds a time) to help treat for example functional neurological disorder or arthritis then that would be amazing,

I bet it won't though.

Th4 op though has not read what it is, just panicked, it is being discussed for those who have mild mental health issues that should not prevent them working, not th4 seriously mentally Ill like her partner who need a full time carer. Thats now what it is at all/. Neither his pip 0r her carers allowance is in jeopardy

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/benefit-crackdown-mental-health-sunak-dwp-b2536178.html

I can only presume those saying it will never happen , it's only if you have "mild" depression have never had to attempt to claim and have never experienced "mild" depression either.

This government hates the disabled, poor, elderly (unless wealthy), non-Caucasian (unless wealthy). If they could get away with it they'd take us all round the back and shoot us.

Ridiculous nonsense is what that plan is.

The home improvements is what the council pays for after an occupational therapist assessment. Not paid for with PIP money. Therapy is provided by the NHS (that's the theory anyway!). Not paid privately out of the patients pocket with PIP (or it shouldn't have to be, if the NHS functioned properly).

He has zero idea what PIP is actually for. Or the difficulties in life faced by disabled people, whether it's physical or mental disability. He doesn't understand what services are currently (or supposed to be) available to people. And has no understanding that not all mental health issues can be cured by therapy anyway.

I expect he also doesn't realise how difficult it is to get PIP and how unwell or unable to do things a person has to be. People with more minor issues that have a quicker fix and no lasting impact on their lives aren't the ones getting PIP!

I do agree that there are people on PIP that would not require PIP if the NHS was able to serve them adequately. Those that need therapy/medications/physio/surgery. The wait times for these are years and care received substandard. Mental health particularly bad but physical ailments too.

But I don't see how vouchers can work. My DH gets it, he has severe deafness alongside a couple other conditions. It allows him to buy and maintain some rather expensive private hearing aids that are much better than the NHS ones, and he had to wait 6 months for an appointment last time his NHS hearing aids broke before he got PIP. 6 months without hearing aids, for a severely deaf person. It affected his ability to do his job! It was during covid and he was expected to be in online meetings unable to hear anything. People wore masks, he couldn't lip read.

Would he be able to get the better hearing aids on PIP or would it be seen as superfluous? Would he be able to have them maintained as needed or refuse? Would he have to justify as reasonable? It also pays for other things such as adaptions to the fire alarm system in our house, his inability to take public transport etc.

Removal of PIP for him would leave him vunerable.

I think they are just hoping it will put a lot of people off claiming.

He’ll be gone soon and I can’t see Labour wanting a system like this. Vouchers are so dehumanising.

Heaven forbid a severely disabled person decided to treat themselves to a basic meal out occasionally, they should know their place in society and be rooting around in the gutter for scraps.

Have you heard yourself! You do know you could have a life changing illness or accident tomorrow that will put needing support for your disability?

Those with minor mental health issues almost certainly aren’t claiming PIP.