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

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!

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.

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

JaneJudge I am so sorry to hear that. It is not only cruel but a stupid waste of time. Your dd and you should not have to go through this.

I forgot how angry it makes me feel. My daughter has to attend fit for work assessments at the job centre. She requires 24/7 1:1 care off trained professional support staff. It is CRUEL.

He actually said, sorry if I am shouting, I just feel very passionate about this. iirc. I have slept since watching it.

Why would Drs that are contacted during the assessment make up people's health problems and disabilities? I reiterate the fraud rate for DLA was 0.05% The rate is slow low that they are taking tax payers money to pay for the assessments. They pay a private firm called Capita to carry out the assessments.

You know they can ask you to take your clothes off during an assessment. The people doing the assessments don't have to be medically trained. I don't even think it is ethical.

JRM was polite - he could not afford to be otherwise as the press were on his shoulder. He also could afford to be - his life is affluent and settled - there is no reason why he should allow this person to ruffle his feathers. Being polite does not mean he gives a damn.

Politeness does not stop him being just plain wrong.

The government DID lose this poor man his job - they did this by failing to fund local authorities sufficiently for them to be able to meet their legal obligations.

Youth services have been closing down around the country for many years, and what a short-sighted policy that has been - young adults loose on the streets with nowhere to go and no guidance. I worked in conjunction with a youth service on an arts outreach project. The service was wonderful - the staff were a listening ear for YP in danger of going off the rails. They provided purposeful activities and careers advice. These same youngsters are obvious prey for drug dealers and crooks in the absence of the support they need.

This government has never grasped the concept of prevention - it is present in the closing down of Sure Start centres too.

As to PIP and DLA - the government was not interested in the figures showing that benefit fraud is vanishingly small - they simply used the small number of fraudulent claimants to peddle a political doctrine and stir up indignation that gave them their excuse to reduce the benefits budget.

I think a country can be judged on its level of civilization by how it treats those at the bottom of the heap. We are failing dismally.

MPs are frequently accosted by members of the public with some grievance or other and the only thing they can do is to try to suggest where the person might get help, in this case by contacting his MP.

I am sure all the endless form filling is incredibly frustrating for disabled people but the authorities have a duty to us, the taxpayer to ascertain that claimants are entitled to the hand-outs.

It’s surely in all our interests that these checks are vigorous enough to ensure that only those entitled to the benefits receive them.

We have no idea what other advice was given to this man once the cameras had stopped rolling.

JaneJudge it was a statement of fact not a value judgment. I listened to the video and I heard angry shouting. That is what I heard and that is what I reported. The next part of my post was the salient part in which you will find I agreed that obtaining pps should be easier for certain conditions in particular.

Well, Mr Hutchins said that Mr Rees-Mogg listened very politely.
and came out with a bunch of platitudes.

I’m a bit shocked by Bodach’s comment to be honest.

I know those people with disabilities they really should know their place. Oh and being an activist with regards to disability rights, how awful.

JenniferEccles

Obviously the man was very upset and agitated but I was surprised that he didn’t seem remotely interested in what JRM had to say about his case.

JRM was his usual calm, polite self but the other man wasn’t interested in what he had to say.
I did hear the advice was to contact his MP for help, but I’m not sure the chap even heard that.

Absolutely right JenniferEccles. Mr Hutchins was demonstrably not in the least bit interested in anything JRM might have had to say to him, but only in repeatedly shouting that he had a degree, and that the Tories had taken his job away. Mr Hutchins is an activist for a campaign group, so his audience was really the surrounding journalists, and not JRM at all. He will be very pleased with the extent of media coverage his confrontational performance gained.

I'm not sure she is real

Obviously the man was very upset and agitated but I was surprised that he didn’t seem remotely interested in what JRM had to say about his case.

JRM was his usual calm, polite self but the other man wasn’t interested in what he had to say.
I did hear the advice was to contact his MP for help, but I’m not sure the chap even heard that.

I suggest you read this Chestnut, it will assist your understanding of the funding given to Councils for the services they provide, which includes youth services.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/local-government-funding-england
Central Government is not responsible for funding youth services, your local council would have decided in 2006 not to invest in that service, not the Government.
The salient point is that funding to local authorities has fallen by 18% since 2010, and they are all forced to reduce service provision now and concentrate on their statutory duties.

'angry shouting going on'

Avalon, please just google and look up speech and language difficulties with people who have cerebral palsy or brain injuries <polite> I'm sorry about your son. My friends son has MD too

Very true Avalon my DD had to fill in the paperwork for her son and said it takes ages to do.He did get the PIPS though.

Forms to fill in

There was a lot of angry shouting going on and Rees Mogg did try to be polite.

Before you all jump on me let me say I do think that people who are born with or have a degenerative condition should not have to constantly fill in forms and get dr’s signatures etc. The fact of their condition should be enough, and that goes for blue disability badges as well. I feel very strongly about this from personal experience with my son who had muscular dystrophy. I was advised to exaggerate everything to make sure we got the allowances he was entitled to. It is bad enough having a disability without complicated for son top.

JaneJudge

some information here

here

here

here too

I don't even work in youth services

Thanks Jane for the links.
Yes, big cuts.

Interesting reading.
I know (personally) of projects local to me that were funded centrally and cut by the Conservatives - but this now is mainly the effect of cutting funds locally it seems to me. We are now barely on "bare bone" services.

Rather than blaming others why don’t this government fund youth services, children’s centres, mental health services etc ? - they are the one who have the power to do it.

Chestnut

I absolutely agree that youth work should be an absolute priority, but before whinging about the Tories please take note of this:
The county council youth services in our county were completely shut down in 2006 under a Labour government.
So all the youth workers here lost their jobs in 2006 under Labour.
People have short memories and they blame whoever is around.

What difference does that make to this young man Chestnut.

When Mogg started to reply he got out a few lines of the standard speech but then he had the grace to realise this was neither the time or the place. Perhaps his followers could learn that lesson.

I worked in social care for 27+ years before I retired. When PIP was introduced, it meant hours of paperwork, etc. relating to service users who were living in 24 hour supported accommodation, receiving “Care at Home” and “Housing Support”.
More than once, our service users had to attend assessments, this is people who were born with Down’s, Fragile X and other syndromes. Some had associated physical difficulties, needed walking aids or w’chairs. Others were on the Autistic Spectrum. Most had little to no language, certainly did not understand nor could comply with what was asked of them.
More than once, staff were asked “when will her/his condition improve?” I kind of lost it one day, muttered in reply, “ when surgeons learn how to do brain transplants”. And still the assessment continued!

A friend's daughter has just started a youth work qualification, her mum who is very experienced in a related field tried quite hard to talk her out of it due to the lack of work opportunities now let alone what will be available after years of study.