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?

There will never be an actual consensus though. Some people dont think there should be any benefits at all and some think they should be more and some in the middle or reduced a little. The best we have is voting for a party most aligned to our beliefs and they set the criteria.

On the face of it is easy to say that a healthcare assistant on minimum wage would resent paying for taxis for anxious people and shouldn't have to. But they contribute about £68 a year towards the entire pip bill v £400ish for pensions. They may well equally think they'd rather pay £68 a year and then if they develop a disability they will get support like insurance, or that there relative has carers each day and that costs way more that £68 a year so they are glad they are sharing that cost with many others. (Very rough figures)

Again it's not a binary though. I have to pay for air con all summer or I end up in hospital because my diaphragm stops working

I don't want to get rid of PIP but I do want the debate to recognise that many people who don't get PIP also can have huge additional expenses due to their medical conditions

That's a fair point admittedly.

But it's still hugely relevant that lots of people work and struggle with horrible conditions that come with all sorts of extra costs but don't get help.

I don't know what the answer is but I know that we have to start having an honest debate about where the line should be.

People will just have to learn to get on with it as best they can.

They can apply for PIP.

How?

If my pip goes, I can’t get to work because I couldn’t afford my adapted car. I also wouldn’t be able to get the physio that helps me maintain what function I have because I’d have one session every 6 weeks in working hours.

I use the pip as it is intended - I pay for my car and I pay for physio and I pay for deliveries. That alone is more than I receive in pip.

that’s not even counting the additional heating costs, the extra washing, the dog trainer for my assistance dog, the extra shoes and orthotics, the god knows how many other things.

I am not coming out ahead by getting pip as against someone on my salary who isn’t as disabled as I am.

And not be able to work, and end up fully on benefits at a greater cost to the taxpayer than PIP. Yep, that's good thinking.

As a pp said - how? The tiny amount of PIP I get is just enough to help with some of my extra costs for an incurable back condition. I come home every night exhausted, I spend every weekend sleeping more than I'm awake because I'm so tired. If my quality of life gets much worse, it won't be worth bothering any more for me and it's only really my cats who keep me going.

I'd love to see some of these people saying "just get on with it" to have something like my issues, or the people with MS, or missing a limb, or severe mental health issues, or a chronic & painful internal disorder. Not for life, I'm not that cruel, but maybe for a year or so, so they can understand the cumulative effects of some of these disabilities. Pain is exhausting, and though most people have had short term acute pain like a broken bone they can't recognise just how debilitating it gets after a few months, or a few years, or in some cases decades of constant pain.

People like you are just massive takers and I hope PIP gets means-tested very soon.

Many disabled people would be caught up in means testing too. Not because they have money, but because their partner does.

It puts people in touch with support groups and activities to improve mental health. For example social groups that support people with downs syndrome and thus support their social life.
No one is saying it cures people although it can help a lot with mental health issues.

So support group for my chronic pain clinic is 4 hours every week almost an hour away. How do I go to that without my adapted car and how do I do that every week on a Thursday from 10-2 with a full time job?

Teams?

Exactly. I have no other income apart from PIP but DH does. He served this country for 35yrs so has a pension and when he left the RAF he got a job in aviation. He pays 40% tax. We have a mortgage to pay and all the bills to cover. If I lost my PIP we wouldn’t be able to afford any of my therapies or my car which are essential to me.

Physio is only get once every I think it’s 6 weeks but it might be once a month on the nhs. I can’t predict what day it will be - you have to book it online and it runs 10-4 for appointments. How do I do that and keep functioning and more to the point, how do I do that and keep my job?

id be off work every week for the guts of 1.5 or 2 days if I didn’t pay for things myself.

or is it better that I’m not working or paying tax and the state has to fund it all?

For my job that wouldn’t be appropriate.

the clinic is not offered via teams. It is in person only.

It doesn’t matter what they were printing - they clearly didn’t need the money but claimed it anyway. I’m not blaming them - most people would claim free money if they could. It’s the system which is broken.

What happens at the group?

Yep, and time and time again on here... women are told not to be financially reliant on their DP/DH.
For disabled women, PIP will be the only money they can get. Means test it, and they could lose it and be wholly reliant on their DP/DH. Not a great position to be in.

I think the PIP claimers here are caught in the usual web of assuming nobody else ever incurs extra expenses that are out of their control, or encounters unforeseen bills

The ‘how would I pay for X’ won’t really work because having to find solutions is an every day thing for working people

It’s mental health support for people with chronic pain.

Yeah but not up to the state to solve every last problem is it. If you choose to share your life with someone then you’re their problem, not everyone else’s.

How do you know they were spending the DLA on a 3D printer?
Our DLA/PIP just goes into the general pot of our own bank account