Discrimination on Mumsnet

[PIPinghell]

Dear MNHQ

I would like to ask you about the benefits bashing threads that pop up on Mumsnet on a regular basis. Obviously, I believe in free speech etc., but I feel these threads are discriminatory and stereotype a certain group of people.

Comb through any of these threads and you will find the same themes. Accusations of benefits claimants being feckless scroungers who spend their money on booze, fags, big TVs, Sky etc. Accusations that disabled people “fake it” so that they can nab a “free car” and so on.

Threads which stereotype, marginalise and “other” people should not be tolerated (and usually aren’t, as far as I can tell) and IMHO this should include the benefits bashing threads.

I would be grateful for your thoughts.

Peace and love.

PIPinghell

I think you would be advised to link to the relevant threads or quote some actual comments to support your assertion. It’s all a bit vague.

My child is disabled and I've never come across accusations such as those you describe OP. Think I would have noticed.

I have never seen anyone claim all people on benefits are scroungers.

Maybe link the thread where it says this.

Growingboys my husband is disabled and I have seen plenty of threads about people faking their disability etc. Plenty. Mumsnet will be aware of some of the threads as they have deleted a number over the years.

There are a couple of threads that are stealth benefits bashing running at the moment, but I am not going to link to them as that may end up with this thread being deleted because a TAAT is not allowed.

Well people do fake their disabilities - they get convicted of benefit fraud quite regularly. It diverts crucial finding away from people with genuine disabilities and surely is something that should be identified and stamped out?

See last poster backs up op
Disabled benefit fraud is very low.
I do see where you are coming from op.

There was a recent spate of very obviously goady threads inviting benefits bashing and MNHQ zapped them when they were reported, so I would recommend reporting any threads which are clearly set up to goad.

1.6 % of PIP claims are fraudulant. That's tiny. More money is underpaid to PIP claimants than overpaid. In 2018/19 £400 million was UNDER paid compared to £170 million overpaid though fraud.

That was in response to Divebar.

MNHQ Have always been pretty good at deleting such threads in the past, often on the grounds of 'not in the spirit' and/or not supporting parents. Has that changed?

I didn’t say there were lots - but you do see them in newspapers. I have no idea how anyone would put a figure on how many fraudulent claims there are... either figures are estimated or they’re using conviction rates.

Growingboys my husband is disabled and I have seen plenty of threads about people faking their disability etc. Plenty. Mumsnet will be aware of some of the threads as they have deleted a number over the years.

So they do delete them then?

Is the problem that you think they're not deleting enough of them when you report?

The biggest perpetrators of disabled benefit fraud are the government whose dishonesty deprives disabled people of the benefits they're entitled to every single day.

I don’t have a problem with people claiming benefits - my attitude is “ there but for the grace of god”. I don’t presume everyone is claiming fraudulently and I’m not generalising about benefit claimants as a group.

To be fair, there have been a number of programmes on TV that have shown people scamming the system, which probably impacts on people's perceptions. Anything unsuitable gets deleted though, so I think YABU.

Is the problem that you think they're not deleting enough of them when you report?

They don't always get deleted and obviously I don’t see every single one! I suppose part of the reason I posted this is because I think this kind of discrimination isn’t taken as seriously as other forms, on Mumsnet and in the wider world.

To be fair, HQ can't read every thread, so they obviously rely on members to report.

Are you reporting the posts you see? IME MNHQ are pretty responsive in deleting things that are discriminatory apart from age discrimination which sometimes they seem blind to

The problem might be that people leap to decry disabled people making fraudulent claims , ignoring different types of benefits*. OP you have a point.

*This makes sense in my head but it has been a Bit of a Week and I'm awfully tired.

BIWI I report those that I see when I can. You are right about age discrimination.

Possibly I was mistaken in starting this thread, but I am so very tired of it all. I am going to bow out now and wait and see what MNHQ say.

And yes BIWI you make a good point too.

I’m sure MNHQ will say they rely on users to report and always delete when they see discrimination.

Not sure they can do much else really

I'm a single Mother and I'm sick of the stereotyping and someone who knows someones cousin up the road who's getting thousands and all the other acusatory nonsense blah blah!

So I suggest a link to the government rules be posted to the top of every benefits bashing thread so we can all sort out the bullshit from the actual
As per

www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-you/universal-credit-and-you-a

Hi OP,

Thanks for sharing your concerns with us - we're really sorry to hear that you feel there's discrimination on the site.

As ever, we do rely on user reports to alert us to concerns on the boards - we likely haven't seen something if it hasn't been reported.

Please do report anything that's concerning you - we are always more than happy to take a look.

Thanks Lily, I have just now reported a post on one of the current benefit bashing threads. I have lost count though of the number of these threads that pop up though.