One in six PIP claimants have no extra costs linked to their disability

[Allseeingallknowing]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/40693771/pip-claimants-disability-benefit/
So, can money be saved here?

She didn't have a wheelchair at that point. Have you missed that I use a wheelchair?

How will they make taxi companies sign up? How will they decide how much £££ you need on your voucher? What if you have additional appts one month and the voucher doesn't cover the additional travel? How much will it cost to have staff to admin all this?

Well, perhaps you qualify for PIP?

Besides it shouldn’t be a race to the bottom. I spend more on food because of needing gluten-free alternatives, up until recently I had an eating disorder and was cold ALL the time - heating practically on year-round. Just because I absorbed these costs, it doesn’t mean everyone else can absorb their incremental costs as easily.

PIP isnt awarded on the basis of costs at all. It awarded around how your disability affects your ability to do certain everyday tasks. So things like eating, cooking, dressing, washing or walking or talking.

You score points deoending how challenging these thing are and you have to meet the threshokd to get an award. so many disabled people dont get enough points as they are quite stringent.

There's then an assumption applied that if you find those things challenging enough to get enough points you will have some additional disability related costs and the assumption is you are the best person to decide what support you need so they dont ask at all.

If you asked anyone else if I have extra costs because of my disability they'd probably say no. But its simply not true. I use my pip money to help me get out and about, which in turn helps my mental wellbeing and makes it take longer for the psychosis to kick in. Preventing psychotic episodes is more work than you realise. Its a delicate balance and the few hundred pounds a month I get really helps me have the flexibility I need to meet my needs.

Nope. If your only issue is mobility you have to be very disabled to get pip.

they spent it on a 3-D printer

what all of it in a giant lump sum?

I assume you mean backdated payment?

spent it implies 'All their DLA has been used up ' - as in, they never started getting regular 4-weekly payments? A highly irregular scenario

did they have a separate account for DLA to amass the cash for a 3D printer?

What are they 3D printing? Pork Pies and the Daily Mail ?

Isn't it fascinating we have this informal benefit cheats surveillance network that all these boundary-less chatterboxes are freely admitting their personal financial circumstances to. One would have hoped they would be a better judge of character than entrusting this to someone who is happily sniping behind their back on one of most popular UK chat forums, no?? 😁

Absolutely. I was just responding to a poster who said she would give up all their PIP for a wheelchair, so I assumed she wasn't using a portion for motability

So how would you decide how much I should get for taxis? At the moment, I'll only usually go out if I'm having a good day as I find driving very tiring, plus even using disabled parking there will inevitably be a walk. I would currently only use a taxi if there was an appointment I really, really needed to keep, and I was not feeling well enough to drive. But if I had access to unlimited taxis, I'd just give up the car and have a chauffeur service taking me doorstep to doorstep whenever I fancied. Is that what you're suggesting? Or would someone decide how many taxis were reasonable for someone with MS and I could never have another one, no matter how much I might need it? If I didn't need as many as you thought I might, could I just use them whenever I fancy a night out? How would you check?

How much energy can I claim as extra energy? Does someone decide what a 'normal' person would need, then how much more I might need due to my condition, and only pay that? Will they come and check the efficiency rating etc for my house? After all, if I live in a lovely efficient house, I might only need an extra fiver a month. But if I'm in a very inefficient house, it might be much more than that. Will you keep coming and checking regularly, just to make sure I've not sneakily added insulation and am now wasting my allotted extra energy turning my heating up to 25?

Should vouchers be available for things like physio, personal trainers, massages? How will you check whether the person really needs physio, personal trainers and massages, or whether they just fancy a weekly pamper sesh? Will the disabled person need to provide medical evidence for every single need that ever crops up? Will all these individual requests need to be then forwarded and thoroughly analysed to make sure they're legitimate? How long will it take from request to voucher? What if it's an emergency; will there be a 24 hour team that can send out emergency vouchers at the drop of a hat?

How much do you think it will cost to do all these extra checks and run all these teams? Do you think more or less than just handing out a set amount every month and accepting that some people will get more than they need, and many will get less?

Why do you feel you are screwing over Labour? They are the party most likely to want you to claim money you and your children are entitled to. They also don't get to personally pocket the money you would save by not claiming, it would stay in the pot and get spent on behalf of the country.
If you're upsetting anyone, surely it's the people who share your own views, the ones who want to cut welfare?

I am open to hearing sensible solutions, talk of vouchers, is not one of them, hth.

Vouchers would be a sure fire way of hiking costs.

Look at the cost of childcare shortly after tax credits were introduced.

Businesses will be the sole winners of a voucher style policy.

There’s also a lot of misunderstanding about PIP.

In order to be eligible for the standard rate of the mobility component of PIP you need 8 points. 12 points for enhanced.

There are 2 mobility activities. The moving around activity points are as follows:
a. Can stand and then move more than 200 metres, either aided or unaided. 0 points.
b. Can stand and then move more than 50 metres but no more than 200 metres, either aided or unaided. 4 points.
c. Can stand and then move unaided more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres. 8 points.
d. Can stand and then move using an aid or appliance more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres. 10 points.
e. Can stand and then move more than 1 metre but no more than 20 metres, either aided or unaided. 12 points.
f. Cannot, either aided or unaided, –
i) stand; or
ii) move more than 1 metre. 12 points.

However, lots of people don’t realise this isn’t as simple as it reads. They think because they can walk very, very slowly 200m they don’t score or that they don’t score because they can walk 200m but are in significant pain doing so. In order to be able to do something in relation to PIP, you have to be able to do it reliably. That is safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in reasonable time. If you can’t walk 200m without being in significant pain, for PIP purposes, you can’t do it. If it takes you 3 times as long as normal to walk 200m, for PIP purposes, you can’t do it.

Absolutely! In our family we have 2 coeliacs. I claim PIP due to having arthritis. On a day to day basis them being coeliac costs us much more than me having arthritis. My medications are all covered on the nhs. Their 'medication' is gluten free food, which is crazy expensive - gf bread in an equivalent amount to a standard loaf of bread costing £1, is at least £9 (loaves are £3-4 but are about a third of the size). Pizza's, chicken nuggets, cereals etc are crazy expensive also. We try to use naturally gf options where possible, but this comes with potential for cross contamination.
In Wales I think they get a supermarket voucher for gf foods, we get nothing. Our shopping bill has nearly doubled since they were diagnosed, and there is the constant mental load of making sure DD doesn't eat something she shouldn't, reading every packet, doing hours of research before we go on any holiday to make sure there are suitable places to eat out, which often requires travelling further and more petrol. She couldn't access free school meals as the provider couldn't guarantee safety. Having to host all the play dates (and feed them) as other parents dont feel confident to feed her.

We can absorb these costs but cutting back elsewhere. Some families may not, and they have no choice but to not give gf foods as they can't afford it, harming their child in the process

There were ideally be some correlation between PIP and costs incurred, but that would be too challenging to work out

Well no, people are saying "I deserve PIP because it makes my life more expensive". But conveniently forgetting the many many people who don't quite hit that bar yet face huge additional costs. It's just not a binary and that needs to be recognised in the debate.

Utter bollocks

Similar for my children with allergies (including a wheat allergy). Huge additional costs and stresses. Even when they go to a birthday party, as well as buying the gift etc I have to make /buy cake and party food so they can join in. So many people have additional costs in life.

Just a quick reminder that we are currently £3 trillion in debt.

And?
Blame the government. They are the ones in charge. Don't blame the disabled.

If DD is eligible for FSM but can’t access them for medical reasons, have you requested an alternative (vouchers, monetary payment, etc.) instead? If you haven’t, on their website, Contact has model letters people can use.

DS1 has multiple severe allergies, but for us, the costs associated with his allergies are minor compared to the cost of his other disabilities.

We all need to cut back and lower our expectations of life.

Some people have nothing more to cut back on.

O think the talk of costs misses the point really, the aim of the benefit is to support independence. The criteria are things that impact your independence.

(PIP is for over 16s when a bit more indepence is expected)

So my 17 year has some food related restrictions which include an allergy. That means he has to have a different meal, which is effort and cost, but restricted diet isnt stopping him from independently eating it, cooking it, getting to the shop to buy it.

Yes prole talk about costs because the award is to help you with extra living costs relating to independence specifically.

Im not sayingbits a perfect benefit or the criteria are right but its not as simple as people have costs.

Living with a disability tends to be expensive, especially if you want to take part in activities not set up to accommodate it. And working full time may not be possible.

I get the standard rate of Mobility PIP, I don't qualify for the enhanced as I can walk a few metres unaided though on a bad day even walking up the stairs in my house to the loo causes me a lot of pain. So a little over £100 a month.

My additional costs include having to drive everywhere (nearest bus stop is about 8-10 x my walking distance without needing to sit for 5 mins) and that needs to be an automatic car which are a) more expensive to buy and insure and b) tend to be thirstier with fuel.

I can't really go many places because longer than about 35-40 minutes on a good day in the car and I not only struggle to get out but can't move for ages and will be in serious pain for hours afterwards. That drops to 30 minutes on a bad day.

The majority of my shopping has to be done on-line, as a walk round the supermarket even with the trolley to lean on can only be done on a good day - supermarket deliveries cost money. As do some other items you get delivered to the home.

I no longer cook properly, as I would have to do it in such short chunks that it would take me hours to prepare a meal e.g. get everything out, rest. Do any prep, rest. Start the cooking, having to be very careful I time things so I'm not standing for more than a few minutes at a time, rest between each stage. Get the crockery etc out, serve and carry it into the other room, rest. So I tend to eat quite a few ready meals - more expensive.

I need a decent desk and very good proper PC chair to tolerate much time at the PC - luckily my employer is very good about disability & got me a good chair for the office tailored for me which cost them well over a grand. Added advantage that I was lucky enough to get a job within the travel distance above that lets me work mostly flexi hours, so if I have a bad morning or the traffic is very bad I can go in late most days & make up the time later. Downside is that the pay is pants.

I also have ADHD which in my case means I can't concentrate working at home so need to drive in every day which costs me a lot more than if I could WFH, but that in itself won't get me any more PIP points