MSE News: 'I'm on benefits but I'm no scrounger'

rednca

The point of this story was, I think to show that not everyone on benefits chooses this as a way of life. There will be work this man can do, but, it appears that employers won't give him a chance.
I am a carer, and working part time but it is not easy. I am working out of choice and hope to increase my hours as my situation allows. many employers, particularly smaller businesses can't afford to employ people who are unreliable, regardless of the fact that this is through no fault of their own.
Is the moral of the story here...not everyone chooses to live on benefits and those who should be targeted are benefit cheats? Stop judging and listen/read!
I wish this man and his family better health, lots of luck and continued strength to improve their lives.

Isper

What you were trying to write about is a very valid subject, i.e. discrimination against those on benefits before even understnading the facts/at all.

However, I feel from reading your article that it just leaves the reader with lots of questions, such as:

How have you been rendered unemployed? Surely not dismissed as the disability act would have prevented it?

What help do you give the residents in your spare time? There are obviously things you are very good at, like you point out, can these talents not be tranferred into a job?

Is your wife also unemployed?

What treatment can you have/are you having? Is the tumour operable and cureable?

Good attempt but more information needed if you are to convince the general population of your aim.

Isper.

p.s. I am an employer and no-one in my business would turn someone away from a job interview just from seeing a growth on a wrist.

Disabledmumof4

I have four children am chronically ill and disabled and in receipt of benefits. My story:
I have always worked for the past 25 years, I have been an unpaid carer (saving the government thousands) and have been made redundant 4 times. I did not claim benefit when made redundant and immediately came home on each occasion and fired off several hundred emails/CVs. I had not been in any position long enough to qualify for redundancy pay, just to clarify.
I have suffered with severe back pain and sciatica for about 14 years but never claimed disability even though sometimes I literally could not move as my back seized in spasm.
I became ill over 3 yrs ago with strange neurological symptoms. I continued to work. Things gradually got worse until 2 yrs ago I ended up in hospital and they suspected MS. This was later diagnosed as severe neuro ME instead (believed by many to be a fakers illness I must add). I lost balance, suffered myoclonus jerks, tremors, paras thesias, seizures, migraine, orthostatic intolerance, light intolerance, swallowing difficulties, overwhelming fatigue, widespread severe pain of muscles and joints, unable to walk more than couple of metres without crutches otherwise in wheelchair, double incontinence due to extreme fecal impact ion, IBS, IC and now depression with attempted suicide. I can no longer work, look after my family or take care of my house or study with open university.
I am in receipt of contribution based ESA (so no help with mortgage, council tax etc); I got placed straight into support group so get 99.65 a week. I also get higher rate care and mobility DLA 500 a month.
I do not receive any form of physical help and have to rely on family and friends. I am 99% bed bound and rarely escape the house on an outing which always results in serious payback health wise but try to do so for sanity sake. Now here's the one that seems to stick in people's throats. I have a 3 storey mortgaged house (I am stuck downstairs in open plan area) which has TVs in every room, including 2 large flatscreen TVs. Now this is a point everyone is quick to judge on; all my items were bought PRIOR to my health deteriorating from the proceeds of a previous house sale or have been gifts. Anything I buy now has to be out of a catalogue and paid up. I incur a lot of expense through being ill; had to buy bed settee initially to sleep on then adjustable electric single bed; special feeding cups; lots bed linen and nightwear due to incontinence; incontinence bed pads as nurse only supplies for pants and this is insufficient. I can only swallow my 18 prescriptions (35 pills a day) with fizzy drinks as gas helps them not stick in my dry throat. I also have no voice, cognitive difficulties, recurrent infections and viruses and have to get morphine patches on top of all my other painkillers and meds.
I am in debt now which I struggle to pay on top of all my health costs ( I do get free prescriptions as I live in Scotland) but I refuse to sell my house or any of my lively belongings as I have worked hard for them all. I also have full sky TV just to top it off to all you benefit haters; my teenage kids pay for this out of their wages.
What I am trying to say us please do not judge anyone; you do not know all the facts. Just because someone has sky, flat screens, mobiles iPads etc does not mean it is you who is paying for it through their benefits. I am entitled to mine I paid my NI contributions. I also pray to god I get better so I can get back to work and LIVE a life. I would like to save some money so if I am able enough I can get away for a couple of days on holiday to try and get some quality of life; does anyone grudge me that?!

pompeyfaith

For all you benefit bashers out there that are in my opinion very narrow minded here is my story.

I can relate to this gentleman's issues as they are very similar to my own, I was struck down with an anurism of my Middle Cerebral Artery (MCA) this was in 1990 at the age of just 27 it needed a 12 hr operation plus 2 mths in induced coma and left me virtually paralysed down my right side which was my natural side for writing shaking hands etc.

Despite this I got back to relative fitness so I could return to my job why? because I did not want to be wheelchair bound for the rest of my life and how so many people put it SPONGING of the state.

I did not chose this lifestyle but was given it whether i liked it or not but you know I am kind of glad for it WHY? because it has made me a better person that relishes the smaller things in life and bends over backwards to help those in need.

I worked with my condition from 1992 until 2007 until I got made redundant due to the recession it was a bad time to be looking for work and more so with my health condition because I was at the back of any queue for interview people say this would not happen but in the real world it does because the employer looks to productivity, do I blame those employers? no because I would be the same if in there shoes no doubt.

Whilst in work I claimed no DLA why? because I had morals and was financially stable with my earning. I heard Cameron say in 2010 that no one should claim benefits unless there was real need did he forget the many disabled like myself who had an entitlement but still did not claim because of there moral duty whether that was right or wrong.

Since my operation this spaticity down my right-side has now got the better of me and I walk in constant pain due to my left-side over the years taking the weight of my right-side the muscle has wasted away on my right leg and have drop foot, my hand is dysfunctional and the fingers have hypo-extension.

One employer I went to for interview even refused to interview me saying that he had 30 able bodied people also waiting to be interviewed and he just did not have the time to cater for me.

That really p***ed me off specially as it cost me nearly £20 in travel costs.

I do not get the right level of DLA only LRC but I will not challenge it as the bricks are stacked against me and could lose the little help I get.

So for all you benefit bashers out there giving the disabled a hard time shame on you all because their lives are not a bed of roses as you all so much think they face an uphill struggle made worse by those that really should know and thee Government and media who constantly vilify them.

I am not bitter and is one of the kindest people you could meet I just wish you would all jump off our backs and let us live.

zigzigzag

I absolutely feel for Ross, he and his family have been given a really tough lot in life with their health problems, and I applaud him for continuing to try to get a job in the face of such adversity.

However from a purely fact-based analysis, I feel I need a bit more information in order fully to feel like I'm getting 'the other side of the story', ie a benefit recipient's side.

The proposed cap of £26k includes housing benefit - so the article needs to say whether the £11k this family receives includes housing benefit. If it does, it's a surprisingly low figure; if it doesn't, then that needs to be added to the £11k figure. As someone who has never been on benefits, when I hear £11k a year, I imagine having to pay for rent/mortgage out of that, but that may not be the case here. If we added in housing benefit, the figure may be closer to £15-20k (depending on the property).

This 11k-20k income is certainly not luxurious. But it needs to be looked at in context. A family with one worker earning the minimum wage (the other parent staying home to look after the children) would only bring home around £12k gross plus £1750 child benefit (2 children), so £13,750 out of which rent, council tax and income tax need to be paid along with everything else. There are lots of families like this, and I'm sure it's not easy, but they do it. So it's easy to see why many people feel that people on benefits get a good income from the state, while many working people need to work extremely hard and end up with less. (My husband and I both grew up in very poor working families, and whilst it was not easy to miss out on all the nice things I saw other kids do and have, that's life and neither of us would change it, it's helped make us who we are and prevented us from taking anything for granted.)

And just a point about the £26k proposed cap - this cap is also net, so it is the equivalent of £35k of actual earnings - is anyone seriously suggesting that a family could not live on a gross income of £35k?

After reading the article, what I am left feeling is very sorry for Ross and his family for their health problems, and full of admiration for Ross's resilience. But if the housing benefit is on top of the £11k, what I am also left feeling is that the state is doing a very good job of taking care of them and people like them, who for reasons beyond their control cannot work - whilst many other people who work hard jobs live financially similar or worse lives.

crociato

Going back to the original post of this thread.

All guesses about what he can or can not get on DLA are irrelevamt as by the sound of his condition as he explains it briefly, he will be lucky to get low rate care , if he can get middle rate he has done well.

But these are not benefits for supporting a family, they are to offset the costs caused by the particular disability in trying to maintain a normal life.

I get DLA and just because you receive it, that does not mean you will have the full and productive life intended, but it can help ease some of the daily burdens that can pull people down , depression being a common one that many of the disabled people I know suffer with.

I get DLA for life, and the once "concern free" situation over that particular benefit is now in doubt, but that is another discussion thread, and I will add that getting DLA is incredibly difficult unless genuine need is displayed. DLA is not based on a disability name or a condition terminology. It is based, as an award at the level given, on the effect of symptoms affecting you personally and backed by medical evidence. As a pevious poster pointed out getting DLA does not preclude working, so if you have a disability or health condition that merits an award of DLA then you have every right to claim it.

The fact that the OP can not get a job in the experiences he mentioned doesn't tell us how many jobs he has applied for but he sounds like he would rather work if he can, I believe that much is clear from the post he has written.

Unless he were to disclose his entire personal finances and benefit levels etc, we will have to either take his word for it that he gets the amount of money he says or not.

Benfits can all be worked out in whatever way as calculation of ones receipt or entitlement to fit the way it is being put across.

This £11000 p/a may be what is left after utilities housing costs and council tax. This is believable enough, and the point is then whther two adults can clothe feed and maintain a decent standard of living above the poverty line on that amount.

Is it do-able? Yes.
Is it a bed of roses, I doubt it.

a great many posters have talked of amounts he should get, but he has stated what he gets so believe it or don't that is your choice.

The point is being lost in the "numbers".

The labelling issue is what he is bothered by along with the low amount of benefits he believes is hard to live on.

The labelling issue as a scrounger when you can not work is something I can relate o. i am not about to discuss my multiple lists of disability issues to satisfy any doubters, I have gone through that process of satisfying doubters with the DWP many times to ensure I receive my correct benefits.

I did not lose my mortgaged home whilst on benefits, nor did I accrue further debts when I lost my job from the problems caused by my illnesses after a gas poisoning accident left me disabled. In fact if you are incurably long term disabled there are schemes to assist you buy a home yourself supported by the government, you just need to find someone who knows what is available and how to go about claiming.

I would say that he ought to ask his energy provider for a:

ONE OFF HARDSHIP PAYMENT TO CLEAR HIS ARREARS AS ENERGY PROVIDERS HAVE FUNDS SET ASIDE FOR THIS. ALSO, ANGLIAN WATER HAVE A CHARITABLE FOUNDATION FUND FOR THIS PUPOSE TOO, NOT JUST WATER RATES ARREARS, ALL UTILITIES.

There may be more help available for the OP than he realises, and this could improve his financial position.

The other family members may also qualify for DLA and this become important for the benefit claim as a whole as these can affect the levels of additional premiums that can be awarded for both weekly income and rantal rates for LHA and so forth.

The benefits system, on the whole, is a complex minefield and reading about proposed changes, that will not change. Only the rules of engagement may alter but the truly entitled CAN get their benefits with the right help.

No-one labels me a scrounger to my face, and nearly all of my friends work. They and I know there are scroungers in the system, but they are in the majority low-level scroungers not disabled persons getting benefits they are not entitled to.

Here lies the valid point of taking the OPs message and story as a whole.

I, like he does, want to work, but simply cannot get and/or keep a job once my health conditions are discussed. I could present a danger to myself, and others. I am at least sensible enough to understand that that precludes me from almost every job I can think of and have applied for, but you only have my word for that as I am not going to discuss my medical history here in it's entirety. Suffice to say, I would be earning in excess of £100k p/a if I had not become disabled from a chemical accident, I think we can ALL make a damn good guess at which I'd prefer. Able bodies and on £100k a year or incurably disabled on benefits.

I expect no sympathy for my position at all, also however, I expect no attacks on my position either. The way I see it, the rubbish thrown around in the media about who gets what and how much is paid for this family, or that person, or this group of claimants and so on, is media hyperbole.

Anyone who has a fair amount of intelligence can see that statistics can be twisted and contorted to support either side of the argument. That saga has run for years, and after imminent changes will no doubt continue apace for many more.

The OP bravely put himself out there as proof of a man who WANTS to work but isn't having any luck due to the medical issues. (Don't even get me started on employers legal responsibility to make workplace adjustments for him to take that job he has gone for, at no further risk to him or any other employee and the employer can get sizeable assistance from the government to do this, and legally are obliged to if he would get the job, but for his disability).

Only from what he has disclosed can I guess that there are jobs he would and could do if able to/given the chance.

EVERY case is individual and that is what matters, and not all claimants are scroungers. In fact with latest government estimates at around 10 million disabled persons living in the UK it would indeed seem clear that as there are not 10 million claimants of DLA that a huge number of disabled people take the route into work where available.

I wish it were possible for me, however it isn't. I know my situation and that no matter what political and media bandwagon rolls by each time, I know I am entitled to claim what I claim and do so without complaint about needing more, wanting more or any other such griping.

I buy my clothing second hand if needed, so as to enable a treat for my son. I watch my money carefully and I know my rights and entitlements and made damn sure I got them after paying very high taxes in my working life and never haven been out of work prior to disability forcing this position.

Most of us disabled people get on with life as best we can without complaint unless like the OP we feel there is an absolute moral need to offload and show "the other side" of the argument.

That is what he is trying to convey and that message has gotten lost.

I am medically retired.

That is a good way to cover the awkward questions, and then let people make their own minds up as to your personal situation.

I doubt you would ask your friend his annual pay and bonus structure so that statement should suffice. In fact any neighbours who don't know me that well, have no knowledge of my benefits position because I am "medically retired" and they happily gripe away about benefit scroungers to me....! This makes for some "lively" conversation, and I hasten to add these are neighbours, not friends....... neccessarily. Some of my neighbours do happen to be friends, some very close, but only then would they have an inkling of my full health issues and benefits position, if I choose to discuss it.

Yes, life can be hard on benefits as a disabled person with a future of bleak prospects with incurable conditions, but that doesn't mean we are "entitled" to more than we receive unless you have benefits to claim that you don't yet get or are fighting for.

Life as a disabled person in and of itself can be really hard irrespective of benefits or work position.

For the OP I strongly recommend a benefits check, free and confidential as detailed on this site to at least ally the possibility that the family should be receiving more, which in my opinion only, sounds like it should.

For the world at large, try really understanding a life of constant unbearable pain 24/7 - 365, and taking more than 300 pills a week to get four hours a day of functionality (restricted) is you are lucky enough to be able to get upright from bed. Think of going through that living alone before judging whether disability claimants are scroungers. You may come close to my view of my personal position in the grand scheme and my disdain and lack of interest in the current en vogue attacks on disabled people when we are the minority of benefit claimants.

To the OP: Please get that free check and advice on your benefits, look up help from your utility suppliers and use every tools available to find grants that can make your home a better place to live for all your family and for you as a disabled person.

To the world at large: Always be mindful that we are all different, some of us would like to work, and like me by no choice or fault of your own you could end up in "the system" yourself one day, though I would never wish that on anyone - believe me! The view from "inside" the world of disabled people is a very, very different view, both of benefits and of the world too.

To the media and Goverment: Get your facts right and show the/publish them fairly without agenda and you many find a much more engaging dialogue takes place that can assist more people to live better productive, and even working, lives.

I wish the OP well for the future and his family too, in their daily life with disability and for future improvement of work and fulfilling productive living prospects.

Like the OP, I rarely post, but this one need dragging back to the original point being conveyed.

I hope this has. If not, at least I have done what I believed to be morally the right thing to do and speak out.

Regards

Cro'

simon_the_saver

not enough time to read all the thread, but dtsazza makes the best point; as a society we need to debate what level entitlement should be set at.

Should living on benefit be an option or a safety net? If it's a safety net, should it be like a featherbed, a bungee-cord, or a crash-mat? And should it be freely and voluntarily available, or grudgingly given only to those who know exactly what to ask for?

IMO the second point is possibly even more important than the first... Even in the first few posts it seems Ross may not be getting everything he's entitled to; if we make it simple we will reduce a lot of the apparent inequity in claimants' lifestyles, which may result in more social acceptance.

DJFearRoss

'I'm on benefits but I'm no scrounger'

Then your not a benefit scrounger...

I've never met anyone in my whole life who has called someone with a disability a 'benefit scrounger', epecially a person with such a visible obvious disability. The title of this discussion implies that more than anyone else.

Disabledmumof4

Forgot to add I have now got osteoarthritis of spine and cannot sit for more than few minutes with overwhelming pressure and pain on coccyx. I cannot work at all as nobody would be able to offer me a job as barely anything works now and to top it off my vision which has always been perfect is now deteriorating. I get episodes of blindness. There are many other symptoms that I suffer which I have not listed and plenty others suffered by others with ME that I have not got. I never judge anyone without first thinking about it from different points of view. Would anyone really want to be ill and stuck at home with no life unable to function without help? I have struggled with this transition and it has torn my family apart. Nobody knows what it's like unless it happens. Don't be quick to judge, it happened to me and it could happen to you. Would you want to be called a cheat and a scrounger on top of everything else you were suffering? Plus has anyone taken the time to read what you have to go through and the chances of being awarded ESA or DLA? It is far from easy and down right degrading. I have always worked in care and would never treat anyone like that. We should all behave as human beings, respect each other and stop this negative blaming culture the government has encouraged. Anyone wonder why? To take the spotlight off what's really going on. Millions of pounds of 'expenses' several homes as of course one cannot commute. The billions and billions of pounds unpaid by giant companies not by the old woman down the road running Avon amongst her friends to top up the pension she's struggling to live on! And where do you people shop that can find decent food so cheaply? Do you have different gas and elec suppliers too? Costs have increased far more than the rate of benefits or income come to that. I would gladly swap with any one of you, any takers??

pompeyfaith

ZIGZIGZAG

I have a mortgage and do not get mortgage relief as the DWP said Em not entitled so I get DLA LRC and IB my wife works part-time due to being her mothers carer so only gets the maximum £155.55 earnings a week.