Benefit busters: Episode 3

[5inthebed]

So tonight is the sick.

What do you think of this young bloke? He seemed fine at the start of it, but that was just a quick glimpse of him putting his keys down on the table.

Only just switched over but I'm not sure he'd get best actor oscar for that display!

Just watching this now. The thing is that even if he does have a bad back, does that mean that he expects not to work for the rest of his life? I just don't understand that. There are plenty of people in wheelchairs who work. I used to work in an office with someone who had very bad back problems - sitting down made it worse - so he used to do lots of work standing up.

He isn't the best at acting is he.

My uncle had a very serious back complaint, in and out of hospital with operations, pain medication etc and he still managed to work. This young lad is really annoying me

he was just mopping up, doing a better job than me

Is he claiming that he had rods put in his back in Turkey but won't let anyone check it out over here .

doctors in Turkey told him no-one in the UK can touch it?

so he's never been to a doctor in UK?!

FFS what a pile of crap.

I think he could work definitely. He just has a defeatist attitude which doesn't help him.

Meglet, that appears to be what he's saying....

I can't understand this though, my expereince of incapacity benefit etc was that you have to be examined by a UK doctor who confirms there is actually something wrong with you!

Blimey she's on £2000 pcm with a possible £300 bonus every month!

I didn't quite understand that stuff about doctors in Turkey... Surely if someone has back problems which are so bad that they can't work, should be under the care of a specialist in the UK, to see what can be done to make their condition better?? It's all mad.

Well he can clearly work, unless of course he allows the doctors in the Uk to examine him and they say he isn't fit to.

For a 20 year old he certainly doesn't have may hopes and expectations for his life.

he's 20!?

my very good friend is an immigrant. now a British national. she came here 21 years ago on a work permit.

she is a nurse.

she fucked her shoulder working and had surgery.

she's now still working, off the wards but in the community, in her late-40s.

our old pal in the flats where we living, same thing, sort of.

a nurse.

worked from when she finished training at 20.

till she was 58 she retired she has BIG arthritis.

her husband died and her two sons, one's serving the country in Afghanistan.

6 grandchildren she has.

she really can't work anymore, her health is so bad.

On the other hand I really feel sorry for the woman who has depression. I am sure she does want to work, but she probably needs some help and support.

I felt quite sorry for her. The agency woman thought she would be ready for work in 12 months time!

I think he needs to brush his teeth.
parents are not helping him really they are coludding

I feel sorry for the girl who has emotional issues too.

me, too, feeling!

i have really bad depression.

it's a hard road at times.

I feel for people like Norman.

Careers like that, they have a limited lifespan.

He loves it!

I'd love to win the Lotto and help people like Norman.

Where do people like him go?

They've always grafted, but it was never enough to have a big pension.

He paid and paid into the system, he was never without his work.

This is what it's about, people like this.

He always paid his stamp.

I hope Norman gets a job at the end of it.

I know what you mean expat. The last few years have been very difficult for me, and if it wasn't for my background, and for the support I have had, I could easily see myself becoming that woman.

And yes, that young guy has the teeth of an 80 year old !!!! I know it should not matter, but it does.

You know, I'm sure I've read something somewhere about that 20 year old and his accident. Just can't remember where.

he's TWENTY! FGS, he can retrain even. i met sooo many folks in their 20s, paralyzed, spines fused, in wheelchairs, blind. either working or retraining for a different career.

when i was 25 i had a bad accident.

had 4 knee surgeries in a row and loads of physio.

went to university again, to take sciences the type for doctors, just to see if i could.

met a man aged 23 who'd been 3 years in a chair, incomplete severence of the spinal cord.

he used to work in a bike shop.

now, 14 years later, he's a neurosurgeon.

i'm not saying everyone can do that.

but to never work again, when you're 20?

only in the most extreme cases, IMO.

Why were his parents disappointed about him losing his sickness money though? His dad was saying he should be allowed it so he could have more time to sort out what he wants to do?! Clearly the agency thought he was capable of working, he has loads of oppertunites out there, loads of different places he could train up, he could do anything he wanted, including going back to school. I doubt though that he will do anything.

Just caught the last half hour of this.

I felt sorry for the painter and decorater. He wanted to work but we live in an ageist society.

The lady with depression (and drink problems?) seemed unemployable to me. She needs to get better first.

And lastly, the twenty year old. Lazy chancer and I am glad that he was taken off the sick. To have the mind set of never working at that age, is shocking and depressing. Is that all he wants from his life? Pathetic.

I think the lady with depression - provided she gets the right help - will be able to work at some point in the future, however I suspect she will remain very vulnerable; I'm not sure whether she would be able to sustain a long term return - possibly she will have breaks in employment in future if her problems worsen again.

The 20 year old doesn't surprise me - there are a siginifcant number of people trying to play the incapacity system, I used to have to deal with them every day at work. It used to infuriate me that those with relatively minor back problems would tell anyone who would listen how ill and unable to work they were (notwithstanding medical evidence to the contrary....) yet those with very serious injuries & ongoing symptoms couldn't wait to get back to some form of employment.

There is a scary mindset among a lot of people that 'I have had a bad injury. I am unable to work ever again full stop'

I found it sad that the only jobs the 20 year old could envisage doing were warehouse work or labouring - they showed him filling out that form and asking whether he should put in that he left his last job because he got pissed all the time, and the next shot was suggesting more training in literacy and numeracy. He seemed to be thinking it was totally unreasonable that he should be expected to do that.

I felt really sorry for the decorator - I hope he is able to get some work - I would definitely use him if I lived anywhere near Oldham! and the same for the woman with depression, at least she was making an effort.