MSE News: Half a million could lose disability benefits

Weary_soul

Tell that to the ones who went to jail; or are trying to keep out of jail.

Ha! A very small amount get done lets face it. Partially aggravating considering these are people paid to serve the public and not themselves. Never stops them though does it?

Look at our current PM for an example of that. Cameron, maybe our first 'pay as you go' PM.

Benefit fraud is rife; it's not just one or two benefit claimants commiting fraud. If we brought in a 'caught commiting benefit fraud and you can never claim benefits again'; we would only have to show a few hundred losing their benefits forever before the other fruadsters got honest.

No whats 'rife' is tax evasion/fraud. Look at the above chart.

smashedsanny

Hey I get dla and at the moment I am being followed by the fraud department,:eek: they have a car parked not far from my house filming me, they have been doing this since feb 28th, the first interview april 11th I was to attend they had to cancel because there equipment failed, the next interview last 2 and a half hours then there equipment failed, I have now employed a lawyer because the interview was more of an interrogation,and i was so scared and to get shouted at 5 times where was my walking stick.:mad: in all they have A video of me entering and leaving my house and car,which lasts 2 mins and thye have cctv footage which I have yet to see of me walking around a shopping centre.they said I dont stop for rests, then said I went for a kfc???( which was a rest) my next meeting was ment to be 2 may, which I had to cancel becouse I was in hospital with internal bleeding caused by the meds I have been on to help with my back, I now have an ulcer
I have a degenerative condition of my spine had both hips replaced, arthrites and last year damaged my tendons in my foot, I am in a catch 22 as I have to walk to work my foot , walking is sore on my spine,if I dont walk my foort tightens up and then I cant walk.
I was given dla in 2002 and then re filled a form in 2004, at one of these times they sent out there dla DR, my conditon is true and all it would have taken was a letter to my surgen or GP, which they did at the time of me being awarded dla, but now they have decided to follow me ( and not very well might ) I do understand that people might just tell a few untruths, but I am also aware there are other groups of people who make ££££ coning the system. but there must be a better way of sorting out the benifit system than kicking people who are all ready down,

krisskross

smashedsanny wrote: »

Hey I get dla and at the moment I am being followed by the fraud department,:eek: they have a car parked not far from my house filming me, they have been doing this since feb 28th, the first interview april 11th I was to attend they had to cancel because there equipment failed, the next interview last 2 and a half hours then there equipment failed, I have now employed a lawyer because the interview was more of an interrogation,and i was so scared and to get shouted at 5 times where was my walking stick.:mad: in all they have A video of me entering and leaving my house and car,which lasts 2 mins and thye have cctv footage which I have yet to see of me walking around a shopping centre.they said I dont stop for rests, then said I went for a kfc???( which was a rest) my next meeting was ment to be 2 may, which I had to cancel becouse I was in hospital with internal bleeding caused by the meds I have been on to help with my back, I now have an ulcer
I have a degenerative condition of my spine had both hips replaced, arthrites and last year damaged my tendons in my foot, I am in a catch 22 as I have to walk to work my foot , walking is sore on my spine,if I dont walk my foort tightens up and then I cant walk.
I was given dla in 2002 and then re filled a form in 2004, at one of these times they sent out there dla DR, my conditon is true and all it would have taken was a letter to my surgen or GP, which they did at the time of me being awarded dla, but now they have decided to follow me ( and not very well might ) I do understand that people might just tell a few untruths, but I am also aware there are other groups of people who make ££££ coning the system. but there must be a better way of sorting out the benifit system than kicking people who are all ready down,

Are you claiming High rate mobility?

laptop80

The facts of the DLA/PIP situation, as several people have already posted in response to the anecdotal 'everyone is at it' evidence, prove that this attack on the disabled is a politically-motivated move rather than a moral or genuine austerity measure. The disabled and the unemployed have become easy scapegoats to deflect attention from the bigger issues our economy is facing, with politicians using the media to turn everyone against each other, with every benefit claimant who isn't a wheelchair-bound paraplegic labelled a 'scrounger'. Forget the banks, forget tax-dodging corporations and billionaires, what about that woman with MS? Couldn't she be doing more to help the economy? The recent rise in verbal and physical attacks on the disabled is almost certainly attributable to this shameful policy.

Thankfully I am not disabled and have always been fit and able to work, but I have seen how these 'assessments' are carried out and the effect they have on disabled people. They are designed to be humiliating and prove that the claimant is a liar / can do more than they admit; they seize on anything (e.g. old man puts a brave face on his condition and says he can do more than he realistically can / person with crippling rheumatoid arthritis admits that on a good day they can use the oven) to force them off benefits and make the figures look better. It seems to be irrelevant that lives are being ruined and people genuinely in need are sent home distraught, confused, scared and without the money they need to live a dignified existence.

They say a society can be judged by how it treats its weakest members. If this is the case we are sinking very far indeed by actively and repeatedly picking on the section of society that can defend itself least. That such a high amount of decisions by the company running the asssessment are overturned on appeal should raise alarm bells - what about those people who are too vulnerable to appeal or have no-one to stick up for them? There are certainly disabled people who have had their benefits wrongly removed but cannot face or understand the appeal process so they suffer in silence.

This is with the current system of assessment - after the last crackdown they now want to take benefits off a further 500,000 claimants and reduce spending by 20%. How on earth can you determine care of human beings by the same kind of arbitrary targets you would use to cut the use of stationery in an office? They are essentially saying this *is* how many we will kick off DLA (many less and it would cost more than £1billion being paid to the private company that does the dirty work on their behalf). Doctors should decide who needs what care, not politicians trying to be seen as tough on benefit cheats. To say you can cut claimants by this many *before* the assessments have taken place is disgusting beyond words, particularly as their own evidence suggests fraudulent DLA claims are so low.

Sorry for the rant but it is something I wanted to get off my chest. It appalls me that my tax money is funding the coalition government and a private company to terrorise disabled and elderly people on my behalf. The prospect of falling sick or ill under this government is terrifying and where it will all end I don't know.

As Neil Kinnock said before the election of the last Tory goverment, "I warn you not to be ordinary, I warn you not to be young, I warn you not to fall ill, I warn you not to get old."

Penny-Pincher!!

smashedsanny wrote: »

Hey I get dla and at the moment I am being followed by the fraud department,:eek: they have a car parked not far from my house filming me, they have been doing this since feb 28th, the first interview april 11th I was to attend they had to cancel because there equipment failed, the next interview last 2 and a half hours then there equipment failed, I have now employed a lawyer because the interview was more of an interrogation,and i was so scared and to get shouted at 5 times where was my walking stick.:mad: in all they have A video of me entering and leaving my house and car,which lasts 2 mins and thye have cctv footage which I have yet to see of me walking around a shopping centre.they said I dont stop for rests, then said I went for a kfc???( which was a rest) my next meeting was ment to be 2 may, which I had to cancel becouse I was in hospital with internal bleeding caused by the meds I have been on to help with my back, I now have an ulcer
I have a degenerative condition of my spine had both hips replaced, arthrites and last year damaged my tendons in my foot, I am in a catch 22 as I have to walk to work my foot , walking is sore on my spine,if I dont walk my foort tightens up and then I cant walk.
I was given dla in 2002 and then re filled a form in 2004, at one of these times they sent out there dla DR, my conditon is true and all it would have taken was a letter to my surgen or GP, which they did at the time of me being awarded dla, but now they have decided to follow me ( and not very well might ) I do understand that people might just tell a few untruths, but I am also aware there are other groups of people who make ££££ coning the system. but there must be a better way of sorting out the benifit system than kicking people who are all ready down,

If you're doing nothing wrong, don't worry about it.

Weary_soul

Exactly. Well said laptop80.

clouty

The strangling off of disability benefits is only the beginning. We are on a journey back to a feudal past. As outlined by Francis Maude last month:

"A leading Cabinet minister has admitted that the Conservatives aim to eradicate the state provision of public services in this country. Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister and a former banker, in an extraordinary gung-ho speech to Policy Exchange to mark 10 years of the centre-right think tank, said the Government wants to end the state provision of any public service – even if it means they end up being run by private equity companies from tax havens."

http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2012/03/tories-plan-to-wipe-out-state-services/

First they dismantle the support for the chronic sick and disabled, who are least likely to fight back - oh, sorry, they've started on the NHS too, haven't they.

Leaving people without the means to feed their children will lead to more crime. So, you better buy that home behind a security wall, because the police are being cut too.

For a very few, the new aristocracy, this will mean even more power and money. For the vast majority, it will be back to poverty in a divided society. with education and health care out of reach. Yup, you too. Even more so, your children. Be careful.

ETA - Laptop, that's a very true picture of the situation you've given. Thank you. Oh, and whoops my quote was incomplete.

Penny-Pincher!!

Laptop80-Thank you for defending me as a genuine disabled person.

I can honestly say that I hate being disabled and some days I wish I weren't here as Im such a burden to others. Life is cruel sometimes. I always worked up till I got ill and even worked after i became ill and tried my hardest. We then had to go onto benefits, but now my OH is working from home and looks after me too as it was going to be too expensive to buy full time care for me.

We were actually better off on benefits which is ridiculous, but we have always had good work ethics and OH was going insane.

Being disabled for me is not a choice.

PP
xx

laptop80

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Laptop80-Thank you for defending me as a genuine disabled person.

I can honestly say that I hate being disabled and some days I wish I weren't here as Im such a burden to others. Life is cruel sometimes. I always worked up till I got ill and even worked after i became ill and tried my hardest. We then had to go onto benefits, but now my OH is working from home and looks after me too as it was going to be too expensive to buy full time care for me.

We were actually better off on benefits which is ridiculous, but we have always had good work ethics and OH was going insane.

Being disabled for me is not a choice.

PP
xx

Life is hard enough without being kicked when you need help the most. That one of the government's - *our* government's - biggest successes is turning people against the disabled and unemployed is enough to make you scream/cry.

Chin up and hang in there x

Dunroamin

Broke_n_Broken wrote: »

Any idea what someone in that situation may be fed up with? Constant arguing, put downs, being treated like a child....
Moving out could = happy, health worker
Staying could = depression, a never ending spiral & a life long ESA claimant.
Good use of public money?

So the state should pay someone hundreds of pounds a month because their parents treat them like children? Perhaps we should all get it then?