MSE News: Government considers tougher benefit sanctions

RuthMarianna

Dunroamin wrote: »

I think that the idea that people with disabilities can't fight back is incredibly patronising. Everyone has a vote and everyone can be politically active in some way if they so choose. Encouraging people to see themselves as helpless victims really isn't helping them.

How much fighting against the system would you be able to do if you had to cope with constant high levels of pain which is made worse by stress? Or can people with mental health problems, learning difficulties or hours a week on dialysis fight? Or how about people who are teminally ill- should they spend their last years fighting the system and not their illness? Do we have no compassion in this country anymore? Why is everyone else not fighting for those who are weakest?

Perhaps in the past when there were more jobs available people who were no longer able to do the job they had been doing could have received help and support to find and train for some other kind of work. Instead there was no other option than to sign onto sickness benefits. Some people would then have been able to maintain fulfilling lives. But in the current climate it is just a case of pushing people off disability benefits onto an over crowded job market where an employer is not going to accept the extra costs in employing a disabled person nor the days sick his condition may necessitate, nor time of for hospital appointments. What is happening now is not about help and support but about punishing those who have been acknowledged by the system as sick or disabled.

All this hatred of disabled people, as a result of a belief that they are getting so much more than everyone else, all boils down to jealousy. If disabled people got all the help they needed to work and assistance to find work then people would start complaining that they were stealing all the jobs. Some people will not be happy until disabled and sick people had to resort to begging at the side of the road as is the case in many other countries. But no, people would complain then that they made the streets look untidy.

PippaGirl_2

The problem here is not whether or not the country needs to cut its budget and who should bear the brunt of that; it is about claimants who have been assessed as being too unwell to work hence being approved for employment support allowance (wrag) being forced to attend placements and work experience. The questions really are, how can we be sure these claimants are well enough to attend these things when they are not well enough to work, and what happens if they aren't?

pickpocketlocket

Has anyone (other than the Guardian) actually seen this "leaked document"? I do not agree with much of the welfare reforms, but stories like this do nothing for any side of the argument unless they are based on fact.

MissMoneypenny

DannyboyMidlands wrote: »

Erm yes, either that or they're cackhandedly trying to save taxpayers a few quid.

Or stop those free loaders who could work?

EDIT. I had to split the word free loaders as MSE saw that word as a swear
word.e.g. !!!!!!!!!!s Oh the irony of it:D

RuthMarianna

PippaGirl wrote: »

The problem here is not whether or not the country needs to cut its budget and who should bear the brunt of that; it is about claimants who have been assessed as being too unwell to work hence being approved for employment support allowance (wrag) being forced to attend placements and work experience. The questions really are, how can we be sure these claimants are well enough to attend these things when they are not well enough to work, and what happens if they aren't?

Yes and how many people who have been put in this group as fit for work have died within weeks of this assessment? I have already seen reports of a considerable number. Also how once the sanctions are applied would anyone be able to look for work on the income they were left with. After all looking for and applying for jobs costs money. Take £71 a week away would leave only about £28 to live on. You could barely feed yourself on this never mind pay for internet connection, printing, postage, bus fares, newspapers etc etc to actively look for work.

MissMoneypenny

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

They wont get in next time thats for sure. Did anyone see George Osbourne getting booed at the para olympics?

I did. And just before that, Cameron got cheered. Did you miss that bit?

RuthMarianna

pickpocketlocket wrote: »

Has anyone (other than the Guardian) actually seen this "leaked document"? I do not agree with much of the welfare reforms, but stories like this do nothing for any side of the argument unless they are based on fact.

This is the time to protest as once it becomes fact it will be too late to protest. If the government think it will lead to too much uproar they will forget the idea before it goes any further.

pickpocketlocket

RuthMarianna wrote: »

This is the time to protest as once it becomes fact it will be too late to protest. If the government think it will lead to too much uproar they will forget the idea before it goes any further.

Protest about something that might not be true? Think about how ridiculous that sounds.

MissMoneypenny

BigAunty wrote: »

The fact that Labour led us into a situation where more was paid out in benefits than received in income tax receipts was of no concern to anyone receiving benefits who are now paying the price of Labour's spree and negligent banking system -

That same banking system that was brought down by the sub-prime market....aka those that didn't work hard at school.

Plus the lax banking controls on lending, from Labour: who are voted in by these same type of people.

RuthMarianna

No one should forget that to be on ESA in the work related group you have to pass a very stringent assessment which many people with genuine disability or sickness have failed to pass. Therefore the people who may be penalised for failing to comply are not malingerers who are cheating the system and as some people say actually fit as a fiddle.