Rees Mogg has a "conversation&q uot; with unemployed youth worker

NotSpaghetti than you for drawing my attention to this video. It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch. It is also true that despite being born with a disability people are asked to prove time after time they have it in order to get their benefits.

I do hope that in the light of the interview he has received some useful support now.

Ress Mogg and the tories have no idea what disbility is and what it means in our culture. I once attended a Tory London Think Tank in the 90's when they were brining in Community Care and they had no idea at all that people once they needed help needed someone, who knew the ropes, to help them get help. They just believed that any vulnerable or disabled person could, with a small amount of cash, look after themselves and the market would provide!!

They have no idea how important public services are in keeping citizens of the UK together healthy, educated, skilled etc.

It would seem from recent events they haven't even accepted their role in emergency planning which includes pandemics. the central library and resource was at Easingwold Yorkshire and this it seems has now been privatized!!

College history
Since 1989, it has been the British Government's centre for running short seminars, workshops and courses on an inter–agency basis in the field of crisis management and emergency planning.[1] The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation disbanded in 1992. By 2000 the college was costing around £3 million per year to run, and was increasingly accommodating delegates from businesses.[2] By 2003 there were 6,500 delegates attending courses, 10% of whom were from the private sector.[3]

In 2010 the Home Office awarded the contract for running the college to Serco, with the contract valued at being worth around £55 million over 15 years.[4][5]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Planning_College

my kids are autistic adults. You have to prove every few years you haven't been cured! And get asked when you caught autism. The system doesn't work, and surely constant reassessments must cost more than excepting some conditions are life long. The only aim can be you can't cope and give up, thus saving them money.

JaneJudge, I have attended some of these PIP interviews with my adult daughter over the years, the people who do the assessments really do look down their noses at you", we have only ever had one person who has shown any empathy for the situation my daughter now finds herself in. One one occasion we had to travel over an hour (each way) on public transport (neither of us drive), the office we went to was run down, it did have a small lift to get to the floor the assessments were being held on. It was a boiling hot day, the room was crammed, no windows open, and when someone went to ask the receptionist could a window be opened, it was done with much "rolling of eyes, a look that said do you really need me to" attitude. It is shocking the way disabled people are treated by the government in these situations. I know some people can and occasionally do mistreat the PIP DWP payments, but the amount of people I have seen in these waiting rooms are genuine and need the financial help they are entitled to!

It appears that if you are not a perfect specimen of good health, mental health, or wealth, this government doesn't wish to know, help or listen.

There IS such a thing as society isn' t there?

I worked for a while for an voluntary organisation that helps people with disabilities and their carers. One of the ways they help is to fill out PIP forms ( pages and pages that many people find daunting and even impossible) and support them at tribunals when their claims have been refused. They have a 97% success rate at tribunals! There is a well paid judge at each tribunal so what a waste of public money!

I know of one young woman in her 20s , who from birth has been blind, has no speech, is doubly incontinent and is unable to walk was called for a ‘fit to work’ assessment. The doctor who had to do the assessment was horrified but still got paid a large fee!

The system is cruel and causes huge distress for people who already have a poor quality of life and many obstacles to overcome. I realise we have to monitor the benefits system but there must be a kinder way to do it.

JRM is not his MP, JRM advised him to contact his MP numerous times.

It was a staged, sympathy gathering and let's slag the government exercise. I thought JRM handled it well.

My OH - a doctor - towards the end of his GP career he did some work assessing people for benefits. The venue was indeed upstairs in an office block with no lift. He regarded the whole thing as a farce. All the claimants were genuine - he was just being asked to affirm the bleeding obvious!

this gov't is disgusting, as an ex child protection social worker many of the cuts have resulted in extra costs. sure start centres were brilliant, as a social worker you could refer someone there and the caring staff would help people through a rough patch for a few months then they'd be back on their feet again. Now the children are much more likely to be taken into care, not only that they will be placed in foster care or residential care. the companies who run these services are highly likely to be owned by companies charging huge amounts and based off shore. Shareholders are making a fortune this article is a few years old but nothing has changed

www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2016/jan/11/why-let-fostering-agencies-profit-caring-children

All to sad to read this but seems the present government can’t get so many issues sorted but I don’t understand how us as the public can’t fix it
Heard today about so many job vacancies but no one wants to fill them because they can get more money staying on benefits Why go to work ???
There has to be a change but how As someone who’s always worked but now retired and pleased to have my OAP pension because I feel I have paid into the system I am not happy to read how many are playing the system What do others think ??
Same on them closing youth clubs and youth services I despise the councils that do this and OAP clubs that aren’t funded anymore Shameful

My DIL managed a council run Sure Start centre and indeed they were a god send for parents in difficulty and children in need of protection and support. It was a real and very valuable resource. She worked closely with social workers.

The council sold it to the highest bidder. My DIL was retained, but gradually grew more and more disillusioned at the changes and direction she was being asked to take.

She has since left and started a whole new career.

mumstheword who on Earth told you that people were better off on benefits than working!!?. Whoever it was tell them that it is absolute lies and ignorant nonsense.

Are people really still peddling the myth that lots of people prefer to live a cushy life on benefits!

I remember going to our sure start centre with my youngest. Every toilet door had a domestic abuse/violence poster on the back encouraging women to ask for help if they were in that situation. So much good has been undone.

eazybee

I watched the video but could not access the sound so I cannot comment on what was said. What I saw was Jacob Rees-Mogg listening intently, as was the lady I assume is his wife.

Silly comments about 'meeting real people,' 'viewing the populace from their windows' 'people are just numbers to him' are just childish.

Ha haaaaa! Typical Tory comment! Giving that waste of oxygen mogg the benefit of all doubts! What's childish? Pretending you don't know how to turn the sound on. Shame on you , I suggest you learn QUICK!

I have a daughter who has to claim PIP and I am also a taxpayer and I find Jennifer Eccles post on page 2 deeply offensive. My daughter is one of the lucky ones, if you can call it that, I filled the form out for her and and also managed to get a home visit and to come at a time when she is at her worse. I must admit I did laugh to myself when he asked her what the time was and she said there is a clock on the wall over there. She can’t tell the time or understand time and he was trying to catch her out. She has managed to get the full payment but how did it help her mental health having all her disabilities brought up again and again . As a taxpayer I am quite happy to see a less distressing way of obtaining benefits and it’s the money wasted on government glory projects and expenses that should be looked at.

Deedaa

God forbid that someone like the hideous Rees Mogg should have to meet a real live member of the public. Why won't people just stay in their little boxes so he can carry on pretending they don't exist? People really are just numbers to him.

Well said.

It's not just the young with disabilities that get left out. My husbands on going disability got progressive worse from his late 50s until he was 65 but it was never severe enough to claim DLA or PIP. We applied when he was 64 and he still didn't fit the criteria. His disabilities were NOT age related but because he was then over 65 he was not eligible again.

I can confirm I am better off working than on benefits, although I claim child tax credits.
I say this as someone who has also always worked, mumstheword.
Currently off work as I'm not well, and if you think £82 a week is cushy, then there is no hope.

^ I despise the councils that do this and OAP clubs that aren’t funded anymore Shameful^

Do you know why councils have cut services mumstheword86?

It's because, in addition to the money raised from council tax, councils get a grant from central government. The tories not only put a limit on increases in council tax, but they have, over the past decade that they have been in power, cut the amount of central grant, either by freezing it (so it's no longer worth as much as it was worth 10 years ago) or by actually cutting it.

Councils can no longer afford to provide anything beyond basic services. That's why they have cut back anything that isn't basic.

And before anyone leaps in with stories about the profligacy of their local council, don't bother. Individual cases don't amount to much in the face of government cuts.

Interesting how some people foam at the mouth at the mention of benefit fraud but are quite comfortable with billionaire Tory donors who pay no tax and hide their assets in shell companies.

Does JRM live in the real world? I wonder!

Snap Luckygirl. Exactly what happened to my caring GP late husband. Upstairs, old office block no lift (people with disabilities remember) and the way it was all handled nearly broke him. Thanks for reminding me that it wasn't imagined.

I unmuted my tablet- but no, i had no sound either- maybe because ive not got twitter? But yes, thats exactly how it is- my sons have CP and other problems, and its always been as though we have had to 'prove' they have a disability.At one point my youngest got no DLA either from age 9 to 16 as he 'only' had some medical problems that they expected him to 'manage' by himself, even though he was born very premature, with lung disease, had been on oxygen first two years and still taking up to 122 tablets a week, and 3 inhalers- i gave up re-applying and waited till age 16 for PIP- by then he had been diagnosed with CP & aspergers as well.He still wasn't awarded mobility though.Its atrocious, why should people BORN with certain health problems and disabilities have to 'prove' that they have them? And no. PIP is not paid to 'help them into work' its to help with costs their condition might incur.

40 years ago my cousin was made to crawl up some stairs to prove that her MS meant she couldn't walk up them. It's so depressing to think that in 2021 things are no better.

When DH was assessed for DLA when he had cancer he saw a very nice Romanian doctor who was nearly in tears because he was so ill. In spite of her report he was turned down. I phoned the DWP and reiterated everything the doctor had said and after a consultation with a "manager" I got the DLA approved and an apology! But why isn't the word of a doctor who has actually seen the applicant enough?