Panaroma - the rising cost of health

[Decisionsdecisions1]

I’m guessing it’s trying to be balanced but there are some interviewees that they appear to be deliberately showing in an unsympathetic light.

This feels like a bit like it was written by Kemi. Could have been so much more informative.

Yes top rates of PIP and UC with LCWRA and getting more than another young person working full time on NMW. Just shocking.

I really admired the ex-Army guy and all that he was doing.

I think all physical pip disability payments should continue. All non physical pip payments should stop, and have an in person assessment before being reawarded. Examples on this programme tell us exactly why. People won’t like it but I’m afraid it’s necessary.

I wonder if the ones clearly taking the piss worry at all about putting themselves on a TV programme on national TV. I mean seriously are they not worried that DWP may want to re-assess? I think I would lay low.

I think partly why the rise has happened is because UC for single individuals is impossible to live on - £316 a month for Under 25s.

That's for transport, food, heating, water, clothing, laundry and may even need to top up insufficient housing benefit towards rent (in a shared house).

So if you are someone who has few qualifications, poor soft skills and live in somewhere with high unemployment you are going to be in a poor situation after 6months to 1 year on this - especially if you don't have family support.

No wonder then that people look around at others and think - why not

Yes not to mention the array of social media helping you to word your PIP form and what to say to your GP.

It doesn’t matter about all the social media accounts telling people what to write on the form.. they will be assessed by a medical professional who will probe into their restrictions- a great deal of medical evidence is also required. It’s really not about what’s written on the form, that’s a small part of it.

ok so the ex veteran had diagnosed PTSD, yet he was able to work and volunteer, presumably he was motivated to get dressed and wash each morning for work, he wasn’t eligible for PIP. A diagnosis of something doesn’t immediately get you an award.

I think the main difference between him and the others was he admitted he had a supportive family and friends, and a place to live (and a job!) all of which probably contributed to his stable mental health

one of the younger girls admitted she’d like to work on the bakery counter at Lidl, but she was homeless, which makes things difficult for a number of reasons.. plus I don’t think a job at Lidl will pay enough for her to rent a flat. What she needed was support for her ADHD and a stable living environment, like a council flat. I doubt the need for PIP would be there if those things were in place.

by the way LCWRA is being halved from April to £217 per month which was mentioned in the documentary .. surely this will save the government some money. Might put people in poverty, but it’s a saving at least.

I'm in a similar situation with my child and dyspraxia. It also hadn't even occurred to me to try and make a PIP claim but it sure as hell has now.

I don't criticise those that are claiming PIP either legitimately or not, there's money on the table so of course they will take it.

Besides after a year or so of not working and socialising your mental health is going to be diminished anyway so what started out as a non legitimate claim for PIP on mental health grounds will self fulfil and become a legitimate claim in time.

Honestly the real mugs are the rest of us (myself included) for also not putting in a PIP claim.

It is an interesting discussion

If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD and possibly autism then why would you not put in a PIP claim?

You are paying through your taxes for others to claim it so why not claim it for yourself.

Even if you don't need the money for yourself, you could at least put it in an ISA for your child.

£400 a month at an average isa return of 9.6% after 10 years would give them a lumpsum of £80,000 which is enough for a decent deposit on a house or all their student debts plus some.

Honestly I'm really surprised why more people don't claim it.

This is one of the sickest posts I've read on MN. So people pay tax so that a kid with a mild mental illness can have a huge nest egg while those paying for it can't afford that for themselves? If everyone had that attitude, the whole system would collapse. Although it's on the brink of that anyway

Agree. Absolutely disgusting. And the system will likely collapse and the genuine people will suffer enormously.
I absolutely agree that these people may need extra support, support in finding work, with housing etc. But giving them an additional £750 a month ( in some cases) above basic money for rent and living is doing them no favours in the long run. make them show what the additional costs are. I see people day in day out with cancer diagnoses with huge extra costs with travelling to regional centres, needing heating on more, loss of earnings etc and many don't even qualify for PIP.

Well, it's probably the view of some people who claim benefits....

💯

The question is WHEN will it collapse. Then what will they do after being accustomed to these benefits?

In reality the bar for getting DLA / PIP / a EHCP is well over the cut off bar set in law. My son is 13 and had higher rate DLA care and mobility since 3 and 5 but just lost his higher rate mobility. I asked why and the DWP said that he hasn't got "complete and utter Arrested Development" but the bar-in-law is "Arrested Development".

The DWP said that he could follow simple Cues, when he could follow simple cue to put his shoes on when he was three years old. the legal bar of case law is not that you can't even follow a simple cue, you can not make any progress. Yet here I am.

He has a learning DISABILITY. So he ticks all of the boxes nothing has changed but they have had it added this arbitrary "complete and utter" which kind of suggests to get mobility part of DLA you almost need to be in a vegetative state but that isn't the legal bar.

How can you "fake" a learning disability? You can't. Yet WE are now having the "your faking this" finger pointed at us now. It's so much harder right now. It's easy to say "oh make up some BS and you get all this help". I have solid NHS, school and socail worker evidence and I'm still being refused.

I would cut my arm off and use it to beat myself into a coma with it not to have a disabled child and need to appeal for DLA. But that's not a option or I'd be at B&Q within the hour for a saw.

Being told your lieing about having a 13 year old toddler really stings. It all so easy. Until it's real, you and your doing the application.

@1dayatatime So you assume your child can live independently in their own house and go to university - but still needs PIP?

Yes I agree it is sickening but you have to accept that humans are intrinsically selfish on a societal level. So whilst most mothers would willingly go hungry so that their child could eat and might even go a bit peckish so that their local community could eat they sure as hell wouldn't do the same for an unknown person living 200 miles away.

Take my example, you have
Mother A - plays the PIP system for their child, invests the money so that the child can have a deposit to buy their own house and have the security of their own home.
Mother B - refuses to play the PIP system because she felt it was morally wrong whilst knowing that others are playing it and knowing that she is paying taxes to fund it.

Do you think that in future years the child of Mother B who is now an adult and is now sitting in their insecure substandard rented accommodation looking at black mould on the wall paper will think great I'm glad my mum took the moral high ground or do you think that they will wish she did the same as Mother A.

Yes and I agree that with this logic the entire system will fail but this is exactly why socialism has never worked - fantastic and admirable idea, just the wrong species.

Thanks @ChillingWithMySnowmies (and sorry for wandering off)

It’s a complex mix of physical and psychological so often I guess. It sounds like he’s lucky to have you :)

Then you are admitting that your child doesn’t need it and you are happy for the cash strapped tax payer to fund a deposit for your child. Where are the morals in this? Why would anyone do this? It’s hardly surprising our benefit system is crippling the country when you are making these suggestions. I don’t need benefits thank goodness. I work 6 days a week. If someone is genuinely in need, take my money. But if it’s for your child’s house deposit, shame on you.

I must admit I’ve never fully “got” PIP or its predecessor DLA. In that, if you have care needs, the local authority has a duty to meet those needs and you have a separate financial assessment to see how much you contribute to your care (and Pip/DLA is taken into account). So it’s not strictly speaking to pay for care.
I get that it’s for the extra general costs associated with disability, but that varies so much and is not always in proportion to level of need. Then there’s no requirement to account for how it’s spent so it often just gets absorbed into general household income.

I claim for my child with ASD but I was shocked at how much we got awarded. I’m pleased there’s something to cover the cost of her destroying items, soiling clothes, chewing through clothes, chew toys/fidgets and the expensive pull ups/pyjama pants in almost an adult size. But that doesn’t come to £400 per month!

Are you serious.....

I work full time plus 2/3 evenings a week , I have never been able to build a deposit to buy a house. I have rented for 30 years.

This really is not how PIP should be used and leaves a bad taste when I have never begrudged paying into the system for people who need it.

Yep exactly it's weird

Obviously for some people it's obvious how the money could be used

Less for others...

My best mate's kid is 14
She's claimed DLA for him since he was little
He's got autism. High functioning or however you want to put it. I heard her hubbie years ago saying to her we don't need it do we do why do we get it. And her saying well he's entitled to it. (I mean she meant he was awarded it so he's entitled to it.) If she had to fill in the form now I know she'd put things like you have to nudge him to do things. But there's no extra costs for him.

The question over awarding PIP is a difficult one, one that i cannot comment on as I am not an expert or walking in their shoes
But I do worry about more and more young people starting "a life on benefits". Obviously PIP does support many people to work as it should. But for many and more importantly would rather pay more money but direct it to supporting people to be able to meet their mental health challenges and be able to work. Not write them off so young