This statistic is verging on the unbelievable....but it is not.

One thing Liz Kendall announced which I was very pleased to hear was that ‘she wants to ensure that those on universal credit with the “most severe disabilities and health conditions that will never improve” won’t be reassessed “to give them the confidence and dignity they deserve’. That is really good news, I have never agreed with hounding them.

Sky News just reported that there are 1000 new claims for PIP each day. Surely not?

Who’s laughing?
I’m certainly not. Neither is LizKendall.

Does it make people feel all warm and cosy inside this sort of stuff? Laughing at fat people, ill people, depressed people, brown people.

I just don't get it. Why?

Cossy you seem fixated on the PIP aspect. I’m talking ‘benefits’ generally. I do not doubt the veracity of your posts.

Oh come on Cossy. You know full well I agree that GENUINE people ought to get everything they are entitled to. Goes without saying really.

But be honest at least.

There ARE people gaming the system! We all know this is happening. However, nobody in their right mind is going to set their alarm clock to 7am and get up every day to do a job they regard as a chore for much the same money as they can get on benefits. Why don’t the politicians understand basic human psychology ?

Liz Kendall seemed quite impassioned. She’s seen the figures!

Btw, realms of medical evidence from both GPs and specialists has to be submitted to PIP confirming diagnosis before an assessment is even booked after claim completed!

Desdemona

There is info now on Tik Tok telling people how they can get a new car every 3 years by getting a PIP grant and swapping it for a car - plus tips on how to cheat the system.

Well they are wrong! It’s not a “PIP grant” PIP is split into two components, care and mobility, you’d have to score full points on the mobility section when assessed and then you are given the option of having the car in lieu of the cash.

Since when has Tik Tok been a serious source of factual info??

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I’ve been reading up on the figures. I’ve been astonished by what conditions benefits are handed out. Cut the benefits and people will find Work Pays More (which is how it should be).

How can people be awarded a brand new Motabilty car every 3 years? Many working people have to run their cars for much much longer!

It’s three years so MOT not needed and based on the same sort of criteria as a company car. They are exempt from car tax and don’t pay for petrol.

One of my ex colleagues had a motability car and she used it on a daily basis to get to work, she was in a wheelchair.

You keep ranting on about disability benefits, and the conditions that allow a claim, with little or no understanding that PIP is extremely difficult to get into payment and many who are awarded actually use it to allow them to work!

In one job centre in which I worked had the woman mentioned above working there, one totally blind woman (she brought her guide dog into work), one partially sighted woman, another in a wheelchair who had a serious spine condition and a man with Bipolar Disorder. I daresay all of them claimed PIP, and all of them worked full time.

Make all the disparaging comments you like, but do try and be factual!

There is info now on Tik Tok telling people how they can get a new car every 3 years by getting a PIP grant and swapping it for a car - plus tips on how to cheat the system.

I’ve been reading up on the figures. I’ve been astonished by what conditions benefits are handed out. Cut the benefits and people will find Work Pays More (which is how it should be).

How can people be awarded a brand new Motabilty car every 3 years? Many working people have to run their cars for much much longer!

The Tories must have thought it was Monopoly Money.
I hope Keir Starmer tackles this spiralling nonsense in hand and looks at the Motability largesse that has no competition as far as I know.

Oh such judgement!

Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes!

By the way, in 14 years at the DWP I never once had a claimant in receipt of benefits for acne !

rosie1959
FGT

I too think it’s unlikely PIP would be awarded just on the basis of alcohol dependency, however alcoholics and drug users tend to have other medical issues as a result of their misuse/abuse.

Of course I daresay some on here might state they feel those with “self inflicted” medical conditions shouldn’t have any help at the “tax payers” expense, but I don’t agree and where would you draw the line?

No help for smokers, those choosing to partake in “rough” sports or dangerous activities, none for the fat, greedy lazy people (like myself) ??

FriedGreenTomatoes2

And benefits for obesity! Are they having a laugh (at our expense?). Obesity is not a disability, it is a self-inflicted wound. Following the guidance - eat less and move more cures obesity. Providing obese people with blue badges and taxpayer funded cars is just madness.

I totally agree with your past three comments FGT 👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

And severe acne too! I know it can be ‘depressing’ our eldest daughter had it late teens and was called “pizza face’. On her Saturday job on the tills at Tesco several customers used to pass comment. But classing it as a ‘disability’? Oh come on.

Too many people expecting a hand out instead of a hand up.

It goes without saying that genuine disability should be recognised and assisted.

But this mess?
Someone’s having a laugh -and it’s not the taxpayer.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Only in the UK can an alcoholic claim £9,500 cash p.a. ‘disability’ and have their habit subsidised.. what has our country come to? … money given out like smarties..

Disability or medical condition.

Addiction is a serious medical issue.

Drug or alcohol addiction needs serious help.

I’d prefer to see residential rehab more available, with mandatory attendance for at least 6 months, then help to reintegrate into work and society.

Please don’t come back here and say addiction is self inflicted, I worked in an addiction unit twice a week for two years whilst undertaking DWP outreach work, many of the paid staff are ex-addicts, nowhere near enough funding is available and needs to be, it’s so much more cost effective long term.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Only in the UK can an alcoholic claim £9,500 cash p.a. ‘disability’ and have their habit subsidised.. what has our country come to? … money given out like smarties..

I don’t think you can claim PIP just for being an alcoholic although there maybe claims that as a result of alcoholism they have a physical disability. Alcoholism itself is not classed as a disability but then again it’s not a habit either much more complex than that.

Doodledog

*Two statistics that are missing is the number of low status jobs to match the number of people out of work who are fit for low status jobs.*
We know there are not enough higher status jobs to match the numbers of university graduates.
I don't think we should look at 'high' and 'low' status jobs. If someone is claiming benefits they should take any job they can do, regardless of whether they think it is beneath them. They can always leave when they get something they think is more suitable.

Graduates can't cream off all the good jobs just because they have degrees - those days are gone. Having a degree will give them the edge when it comes to applications, which is fair enough, but it is not ok to refuse to do work that others have to do just because they have qualifications.

Benefits are for people who can't work, not for people who don't fancy doing what is available, or who could work if the perfect job came to their doorstep.

I completely agree!

Hopefully as well getting rid of zero hour contracts will help.

Barleyfields

I agree with you FGT. People should not receive benefits simply because they are too fat to move and work.

Unless of course they have other disabilities and conditions.

I agree with you FGT. People should not receive benefits simply because they are too fat to move and work.

And benefits for obesity! Are they having a laugh (at our expense?). Obesity is not a disability, it is a self-inflicted wound. Following the guidance - eat less and move more cures obesity. Providing obese people with blue badges and taxpayer funded cars is just madness.

And I see 'long covid' is up there in the shirkers' charter. When the furlough ran out long covid stepped in.

Only in the UK can an alcoholic claim £9,500 cash p.a. ‘disability’ and have their habit subsidised.. what has our country come to? … money given out like smarties..

Dig deeper Freya5. 2.4 million people are paid universal credit whilst working because their pay is insufficient for them to live on. How many of the people filling those essential roles were born outside the UK?