MSE News: George Osborne to make £10bn welfare cuts

clemmatis

krisskross wrote: »

To get back on topic it is time that cuts are made to some of the extremely generous welfare payments, not so much for the single jobless but for those receiving sickness/disability payments.

Why when someone is claiming sickness payments and also DLA do they receive a large extra amount as a premium on the ESA? Various premiums can take the baseline ESA figure to quite a large amount.

Muttley tells us he cannot spend all the money he is given, although he must have claimed it. Other posters say they have to keep a careful eye on their savings to ensure they don't breech the limit for means tested benefits. Wonder how many hard pressed taxpayers on average salaries have anything approaching £6000 in savings?

Looking at some of the very high amounts being bandied around it would appear that many claimants enjoy an income far in excess of anything they could earn.

Time to stop pretending that those too sick to work are on the absolute breadline. Most of them aren't.

Whereas you and your husband do manage to spend the AA care money you don't need, spend it on mobility needs and expensive specialist headphones.

I am raising this only because of the manner of your attacks on your fellow benefit claimants.

Muttley, please don't feel you have to justify yourself.

krisskross

Janep wrote: »

I work for JCP Access to Work, we provide grants for practical support to overcome work related barriers due to disability and I can confirm only 4% of people with disabilities actually receive SDA.

Isn't SDA a different benefit to the severe disability premium on ESA?

I understood SDA was being replaced which could perhaps explain why there are not many people still claiming it.

I may have this all wrong so apologies if I have and ignore.

krisskross

clemmatis wrote: »

Whereas you and your husband do manage to spend the AA care money you don't need, spend it on mobility needs and expensive specialist headphones.

I am raising this only because of the manner of your attacks on your fellow benefit claimants.

Muttley, please don't feel you have to justify yourself.

His 'specialist ' headphone are wireless Sony ones because he is profoundly deaf in 1 ear and severely deaf in the other. Affliction sustained during his Army service.

Mobilty needs, yes we do spend quite a bit on taxis as he can barely walk and how else is he to access the doctor, dentist or even occasionally get out of the house. We are only able to spend his AA on this because his extensive care needs are completely met by me, his wife and qualified nurse.

I still fail to understand how a need that exists solely on paper and apparently needs no intervention as Muttley himself has said warrants extra money. However the introduction of PIP will hopefully address this.

You continue to stalk me in a picky, spiteful manner because MY HUSBAND claims a benefit that I make absolutely no secret of......it is in my signature. Perhaps all posters should state how much they claim in their signatures. I bet there would be a few surprises.

My personal sole state generated income is SRP of £65 a week less £40 a week income tax paid on other pensions.

I asked for no information of a personal nature, so please don't suggest that anyone had to justify themselves to me. I think the amount of benefit paid would simply reinforce the view that some benefits are too high.

Muttleythefrog

krisskross wrote: »

I still fail to understand how a need that exists solely on paper and apparently needs no intervention as Muttley himself has said warrants extra money. However the introduction of PIP will hopefully address this.

PIP won't address this.. PIP will still pay out money for level of disability ascertained in two general areas.. the only change will be methodology (shift of emphasis to face to face medicals and regular assessment) and descriptors used (more in line with the sort of setup used for the WCA of ESA). All PIP will achieve is increasing the level of the benchmarks (and reduce their number by 1) and potentially adding greater error to the process. DLA and PIP both are effectively monetary gesture to the idea that disabled people will generally have higher day to day costs to achieve the things many take for granted... so for example if someone can't cook a meal.. then to enjoy a cooked meal like others do they would need to get help from someone else or pay for the end product which costs more. If such a need is found then that simply indicates for DLA purposes that there is low level of disability and therefore some monetary award is given in acknowledgement.

The need doesn't exist solely on paper (although for DLA (and soon PIP) purposes addressing the need is not what the system is designed to do anyway). The need exists in reality to the outsider... the need would never be satisfied by using my money... so I have to take a different approach... especially since conventional is likely to make me worse rather than better.. reduce my ability to function as directed rather than facilitate it... for example.. a carer would simply increase my anxiety.. place huge demands on me to be presentable to them and deal with them in my environment. Rather than make me safer it'd probably put me at risk of offending. The system isn't geared to looking at that sort of complexity of situation or how money can be best spent. The system works on the basis of low cost evaluation and generic payments... sufficient to address the legal demands while costing little (in relation to what it could cost if more investigation and direct payments were involved).

On your last point regarding 'money too high'. It's worth pointing out I had to fight to get what I do... and I fall into the bracket.. according to award... of someone who does have significant disability. My income would drop quite notably with something as apparently small as change from MRC to LRC of DLA (drop by about a third to about £750p/m)... something perfectly possible (if reasssessed for DLA) given that for the majority of my time of claiming (or attempting to claim) DLA I got no care award at all. I'll be towards the upper end of possiblities of income for single person on benefits.. particularly if we ignore housing costs where my help with mortgage is significantly lower than would be claimed typically in HB.

princessdon

Look at thread currently just above this one!

Takes min wage (just the right amount) - owns a £16,000 BMW, has a 4 bed house (because he/she needs 2 rooms for business) and gets full benefits.

They want more money - ergo other half to work, but only if they get more benefits. Oh and more children for us to support, and his wife can't get an evening job because they are tired.

Seriously - how can anyone say the benefit system isn't screwed after reading that, when families like myself (and many others) work all day then need to do housework, get no help and pay for the likes of that one?

mazza111

I think what I'm getting at is, not all disabled people get this, but everyone seems to assume they do. Not all sick people get DLA/AA. Again if my dd had to pay someone to give the amount of care I'm giving. The care allowance part would be eaten up rather quickly. Who knows, maybe we should have fought to get her the MRC or HRC. But it was so nice just to have the DWP believe her after the fiasco for ESA. I mean £20.55 wouldn't really pay for a lot of care would it?

5miles 3 times a week for showering

Helping to wash and dress 4 times a week.

Helping to get her undressed for bed.

cooking meals 7 days a week.

The night time falls, which are less now if she has her braces on in bed.

I won't even look at the mileage she puts on my car.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to do this for her. I don't get carers allowance, she doesn't get the right care rate to do that. Don't think I would even go down that road even if she was getting MRC in all honesty, simply because she's my daughter, but should my health get worse, this is something she'll need to pay for. What's worrying me more is the fact that as her hands get worse, she can't pull the braces on properly and the falls are going to start again. But hopefully that will be addressed when she's assessed for new braces next week, fingers crossed.

Now, if someone is receiving DLA and using it for what it's intended. To cover care and mobility needs, should that really be counted as income? Would it not leave a shortage if they were paying for care?

PD a link would be helpful, but from what you say, that is all wrong.

princessdon

Oh and the thread is now gone! Guess this means that it can never be referred to as to why benefit systems are now out of control (for some).

Morlock

princessdon wrote: »

Oh and the thread is now gone! Guess this means that it can never be referred to as to why benefit systems are now out of control (for some).

If you consider that a thread on a public forum from an anonymous entity is a credible reference on which to instigate national benefit reform, I doubt your integrity.

princessdon

Morlock wrote: »

If you consider that a thread on a public forum from an anonymous entity is a credible reference on which to instigate national benefit reform, I doubt your integrity.

It is perfectly viable though!

They run their own business and take the minimum wage and therefore get full tax credits.

System

princessdon wrote: »

It is perfectly viable though!

They run their own business and take the minimum wage and therefore get full tax credits.

Is that loophole being stopped wit Universal credit?