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

anonymousx3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owI7DOeO_yg

terributtons

I have always been a career woman until I was bullied out of a job I loved where I had worked for 14 years, had a stress breakdown and was then sacked for being off sick for too long. Had this not of occurred I have no doubt I would of worked there until I retired.

Now both my partner and I am not able to work due to both of us having several physical and mental disabilities. There are too many to mention but despite this I have not been able to get DLA. (I gave up two years ago and am now trying for PIP). I am entitled as (amongst other things) I cannot walk very far due and cannot cook and prepare a main meal which are two of the stipulations. I have put this onto each and every one of my DLA claims, my last one included a supporting letter from my GP, I have a blue badge and I won an employment tribunal case for disability discrimination. I would really love to work but am no longer able to. Benefits are hard to get and made even harder by the few who do take advantage, though we should not be all tarred with by the same brush.

My partner suffers from psychosis and schizophrenia and mental conditions are often harder to live with as there are no physical signs of the disability, so people assume that there is nothing wrong with you.

I would like to know who is it that gets £26,000 in benefits a year as when we get our benefits assessment there is a figure given for how much the government says you need to live on, It is currently something like £112 per week for a couple and £89 a week for a single person. We do not have children as this was our choice. However, to be able to exist on what amount to less than £6,000 per year for two of us we had to sell our home and move counties away from all of our friends and family. This was so we could buy a cheaper property and be mortgage free and also buy a bungalow as I can no longer manage stairs.

Dropping from around £40,000 per year (which was our approx joint salary when we both worked) to less than £6,000 is not easy to live on and no one in their right mind (no pun against me partner intended) would take this option. It is not any easy option and no one has the right to judge until they have walked a mile in that person's shoes.

meher

memma2312 wrote: »

There are many of us who need the system, no matter how,flawed it is!!!

yes, there are people who should be taken care of by the state but that doesn't mean that the flaw in the system shouldn't be rectified - the integrity should be restored by making sure that the fiddlers don't abuse the system

i for one am quite happy that we have managed to get atos to work in partnership with nhs and make sure the resources are put to good use - it will remove the stigma created by the frauds pervasive amongst the claimants

PhiltheBear

meher wrote: »

i for one am quite happy that we have managed to get atos to work in partnership with nhs and make sure the resources are put to good use - it will remove the stigma created by the frauds pervasive amongst the claimants

ATOS don't work in partnership with the NHS. They are a private company tasked with removing people from disability claims. They are rewarded for each person they stop claiming - just like the companies that are supposed to help the long term unemployed back to work. They'll use any means to do so. When someone who can't get out of bed due to physical incapability is passed 'fit for work' by ATOS (as has happened many times) then it's time to ask if they are fit for purpose. And the answer, on balance of evidence is no. ATOS is simply there to enforce the coalition's view of "all claimants are scroungers". They have no place in a civilised society.

meher

PhiltheBear wrote: »

ATOS don't work in partnership with the NHS.

They have teamed up. You need to update yourself from authoritative journals, instead of trotting out what you find on sites written up by several wannabes.

PhiltheBear wrote: »

And the answer, on balance of evidence is no.

Evidence by who exactly. I do not consider the claimants's version of their tales of woe authoritative specially the kind without respect for the wealthchurners who make their chosn lifetsyles possible.

PhiltheBear wrote: »

They have no place in a civilised society.

Injustice to wealth churners and tax payers and the claimants monopolising state resources has no place in a civilised society. Only if we apply justice for all, will it be a civilised society.

more power to atos and the team who are doing their best to do justice to the resources dished out to meet with the neverending demands of the claimant, many a time, callously as several reports would demonstrate

john539

meher wrote: »

yes, there are people who should be taken care of by the state but that doesn't mean that the flaw in the system shouldn't be rectified - the integrity should be restored by making sure that the fiddlers don't abuse the system

i for one am quite happy that we have managed to get atos to work in partnership with nhs and make sure the resources are put to good use - it will remove the stigma created by the frauds pervasive amongst the claimants

Do you have any facts to backup what you say ?

Would you spout the same misguided nonsense if you were in position of those people claiming benefits ?

meher

john539 wrote: »

Do you have any facts to backup what you say ?

Would you spout the same misguided nonsense if you were in position of those people claiming benefits ?

The ownership of misguided nonsense rests wholly with the claimants - frauds and otherwise, which is why we needed the atos to reign them in. i'm only interested in the topic of justice for all. Even if i were to be in that position, that's exactly what i would continue to want - justice for all.

PhiltheBear

meher wrote: »

They have teamed up. You need to update yourself from authoritative journals, instead of trotting out what you find on sites written up by several wannabes.

What 'authoritative journals'? The Sun? The Daily Mail?

Evidence by who exactly. I do not consider the claimants's version of their tales of woe authoritative specially the kind without respect for the wealthchurners who make their chosn lifetsyles possible. Injustice to wealth churners and tax payers and the claimants monopolising state resources has no place in a civilised society. Only if we apply justice for all, will it be a civilised society.

Now I see where you are coming from. Everybody who claims must be a fraud. I can't wait for the day YOU have to rely on benefits - like the millions who have had to through no fault of their own.

more power to atos and the team who are doing their best to do justice to the resources dished out to meet with the neverending demands of the claimant, many a time, callously as several reports would demonstrate

That would be the same ATOS that's now under investigation for practices that don't come anywhere near reasonable or fair, then? Just like the company run by Cameron's mate which was given huge contracts for 'workfare'. Until they found out that they were lying and ripping off the government by doing nothing?

There are well documented cases, often by well respected charities, of ATOS deeming people 'fit to work' when they aren't. One ATOS test - can you turn the pages of a book? Yes? You are fit to work. The fact that you are bedridden with cancer and undergoing chemotherapy is, as has been seen time and again, totally irrelevant. But, let's not let facts get in the way of your prejudices shall we?

Let me correct your statement about ATOS 'working in partnership with the NHS'. It isn't. It has subcontracted some of its interviews to NHS personnel in a few parts of the country where it is unable to raise qualified staff of its own. Which begs the question, why is ATOS there at all if it needs NHS staff to do its work? Why not simply hand the work to the NHS? (Nothing at all to do with the fact that ATOS is an IT company which has £3bn worth of contracts with the UK government I'm sure). And you won't see any Con/Lib ministers going to work for them when they leave politics, obviously. Or hold any shares in them either.

PhiltheBear

To further the argument - today 56 charities are launching a campaign about benefits. See http://www.whobenefits.org.uk/page/content/front

Look at some of the names of charities at the bottom of the page. Whose arguments would I believe - those who are directly involved when people are suffering through the actions of huge profit making companies like ATOS or people who appear here and vent their prejudices?

Not a contest in my opinion.

meher

PhiltheBear wrote: »

What 'authoritative journals'? The Sun? The Daily Mail?

You should perhaps stop measuring others by your standards. I have read about the teaming up of atos and NHS on BMJ/BMA and other medical journals (that is if you have ever heard of them). I cannot give you links because they are paid for and password protected. You might want to pay, find them and read it that is if the medical journals permit laypersons to access.

PhiltheBear wrote: »

I can't wait for the day YOU have to rely on benefits

This ^ ugly mentality will contribute and be reflective in their own lives - the mind is powerful, it leaves an imprint in people that will make them successful or a loser or utterly miserable. Only the individual themselves can help themselves at the end of the day - very little point channelising hate and illwill on others. Becasue at the end of the day, the ownership of misery and success would depend on what you give others.

On this note, i shall not be responding to you because i've never been keen on any posts or thoughts or views that have a serious inability of intellectualising a crisis. i don't make an allowance for that, not anymore than i have.

Anyway i'm interested in any system that would restore integrity to the social security system, do justice to the wealth churner's contributions. i'm not a fan of a class of people monopolising wealth, i don't care if it is the benefit class or the obscenely wealthy - there should be a system in place to put them under scrutiny qand i think the atos is doing a grand job.