incapacity benefit-what am i missing ?

starving

ive had enough of hearing recently about incapicity benefit in the news, especially how the problem with the system is that the longer you are on it, the better off you are, as that is not my experience.

1) AFTER 6 MONTHS your money rises by about £11, yes we all have all heard that in the news, but why was it not mentioned that we have 85% of this rise taken back off us through housing benefit reductions ?

not to mention that in this time, we are no longer entitled to free presciptions, dental treatment, opticians etc, etc

why wasnt this mentioned at all ? what am i missing ? alone on the presciption charges the goverment is saving money, i.e. of the £11 we recieve only £1.65 increase in our money, yet our charges are more than this

2) after a year our money rises by about £20 and at this point we can claim a housing premiun to stop our housing benefit being reduced drastically, however we still have to pay our medical costs.

remember people on incapcity benefit are on it because we are ill! therefore the majority are reciving constant long term medical treatment.

already i have ended up in hospital due dental treatment being left undone as i cant afford it,have had 5 teeth drop out, ended up with temporary deafness and paralysis aswell, my eyesight has now been reduced to a visual range of 20 cm unaided.

yet if i was on income support i would have the same money and get all these vital treatments free, so why is the goverment not targetting those on income support ? afterall those on income support are on it because they have little or no NI contributions, whereas those on IB have and consquently have worked most of their lives and are most likely to be a genuine claiminant than those who have never worked.

i know people who are on income support who have never ever worked a single day in their lives and are better off than me because of the situation outlined above.

so why are people who have worked punished when it comes to IB compared to those who havn't ?

krisskross

I don't have any answers for you but do check that your illness is not one of those like diabetes for which you get free prescriptions. And that is free everything on prescription not just the item relating to the diabetes for instance.

Ted_Hutchinson

The rest of the initial rise from short-term lower rates to [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Short-term (higher) and Long-term rates also means that the whole benefit becomes taxable. So in actual fact some people will be worse off than previously.

[/font]starving is quite right to point out that people on IB can be worse off than people on IS, this is why they stopped people with long term illnesses claiming Severe Disability Allowance, which was paid at a lower rate than IB but entitled them to claim IS. Moving them onto the IB statistics created more IB claimants, who can be vilified and who can't claim IS and but also have to pay tax.

Disabled People who have never worked and will never work because of the nature of their disability should never be on the statistics in the first place. but it was this administration who bumped up the figures by doing just that.
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nogginthenog

starving wrote:

ive had enough of hearing recently about incapicity benefit in the news, especially how the problem with the system is that the longer you are on it, the better off you are, as that is not my experience.

1) AFTER 6 MONTHS your money rises by about £11, yes we all have all heard that in the news, but why was it not mentioned that we have 85% of this rise taken back off us through housing benefit reductions ?

not to mention that in this time, we are no longer entitled to free presciptions, dental treatment, opticians etc, etc

why wasnt this mentioned at all ? what am i missing ? alone on the presciption charges the goverment is saving money, i.e. of the £11 we recieve only £1.65 increase in our money, yet our charges are more than this

2) after a year our money rises by about £20 and at this point we can claim a housing premiun to stop our housing benefit being reduced drastically, however we still have to pay our medical costs.

remember people on incapcity benefit are on it because we are ill! therefore the majority are reciving constant long term medical treatment.

already i have ended up in hospital due dental treatment being left undone as i cant afford it,have had 5 teeth drop out, ended up with temporary deafness and paralysis aswell, my eyesight has now been reduced to a visual range of 20 cm unaided.

yet if i was on income support i would have the same money and get all these vital treatments free, so why is the goverment not targetting those on income support ? afterall those on income support are on it because they have little or no NI contributions, whereas those on IB have and consquently have worked most of their lives and are most likely to be a genuine claiminant than those who have never worked.

i know people who are on income support who have never ever worked a single day in their lives and are better off than me because of the situation outlined above.

so why are people who have worked punished when it comes to IB compared to those who havn't ?

I would advise you to double check if you are entitled to free prescriptions,
i have been on IB for 5 years and my wife works, and we are entitled to free prescriptions etc.
By the way some good points we too lost our coucil tax benifit when my wife recieved WTC'S,what a con.
ps may be because i am on DLS though, do double check anyway

best of luck

noggin

noggin

cattie

If you are on a low income have savings under the limit, you may qualify for help with prescriptions, dental & optical charges. You need form HC1 to apply. Have a look here to see if you qualify.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/MedicinesPharmacyAndIndustry/Prescriptions/NHSCosts/NHSCostsArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4049391&chk=qoqspx

andrew71

I am on IB. and I recieve free perscriptions so I am confused as to why yours is no more. My illness is not as severe as diabetes (cfs) so I would double check to find out why you are not entitled to free perscriptions.

Poppycat

I also get free perscriptions. I am on IB higher rate and we get WFTC and CTC.

jsmith_3

I am also on IB and did apply to the prescription authority regarding free dental, eye tests etc and although at first they refused me, even though i have to have 6 different prescriptions each month, i appealed and filled out another form and i did actually win my appeal, i am now in receipt of full help for health costs, as for the shortfall all of us on IB have regarding Housing benefit what your local housing benefit office won't tell you is that you can apply for a 'Discretionary Housing Payment' it is means tested so you must put all your income and outgoings on it if you are succesful it is paid for 6 months then you would need to re-apply, hope this helps at least one person and saves them from the fight i had.

upferret

My boyfriend is on incapacity benefit and will probably be on it for a while. We are both under 25 and I work 31 hours a week at £5.21 per hour. He is still paying for prescriptions (one to two a month)and we pay full rent of £46.27 a week and full council tax. Is there any other benefits We are entitled to? and if so how do we claim?
Thanks
Nicola

exil

Working Tax Credit (see the HMRC), possibly Housing and Council Tax benefit as well,
see Local Council.

upferret

thanks, according to the website I went on, you have to be over 25 to get WTC?