Another Tired Kicking For The Sick And Disabled By Rishi

Is expecting those who can do so to work for a living nasty?

Probably, I will vote Conservative.

Totally agree with you. He and his cronies are such low lifes !
MPs should be called out for their gravy train system ! The do nothing and take everything

When I was a full-time teacher, I suffered from debilitating migraines quite regularly. It is a very stressful job but you don't take time off if you can help it. Most teachers are dedicated to the profession, and frequently struggle on until the weekend, which is also a common time for migraines to strike - after the stress has ended. Then there's fibromyalgia. It doesn't help that you have to spend so much time standing, bending over desks, or on your knees in front of little children. The job itself can make one ill, not to mention catching sniffles from the children.

They already consider the state pension a benefit!
Anyone getting carers allowance (all of £81 per week) once they reach state pension age get their carers allowance stopped!
It has been since October 2023 my pension credit has been being processed! I call DWP every 10days and every time get a different response! Horrible, useless not fit for purpose system

The reason carer’s allowance stops when you get your state pension is because it is meant to be compensation for being unable to work.

Cossy

doodledog

I think this idea of young people not wanting to work is a bit of a fallacy.

Having had our last three children quite late we have, between us, 5 children aged from 40 to 21. All are working full time and the majority of their friends are working full time too.

Yes, we do have third generation benefit families now, but they really are very much in the minority.

I think the type of jobs and their locations could prove a bit more of an issue.

Oh, I agree. Mine are late 20s/30, and they and their friends all work. I was referring to the idea that Gen Z don't want to work, and suggesting possible remedies. I don't believe in generalising about whole generations. I do think that the MH of that generation is troubled, but that is another thread, really. Most of my children's friends have anxiety-related problems. Whether that is because they have the vocabulary to discuss them more than we did, because they live in more anxiety-inducing times or what I don't know.

My post wasn't really about 3rd generations of the same family, but about different generations across the piece.

Germanshepherdsmum

The reason carer’s allowance stops when you get your state pension is because it is meant to be compensation for being unable to work.

How many people are compensated by £81 a week? It's an insult to suggest that most carers were earning that before giving up work to care for a loved one.

Not all illnesses are genuine. I know of two people who are work shy. The first has “anxiety” and gets booked off during the summer months (every year) so they can get a nice tan and sit around enjoying the good weather whilst knocking back the wine. When they are off “sick” they still go out drinking with friends or go away for weekends. The other just can’t be bothered to work anymore so after being booked off sick they have exaggerated their condition and they now get PIP whilst refurbishing cars, vans and whatever else they fancy doing. It’s time something was done about the liars. I genuinely feel sorry for those who really are sick yet still go into work.

Doodledog

Germanshepherdsmum

The reason carer’s allowance stops when you get your state pension is because it is meant to be compensation for being unable to work.

How many people are compensated by £81 a week? It's an insult to suggest that most carers were earning that before giving up work to care for a loved one.

Don’t shoot the messenger! I don’t make the rules. Other benefits can be paid on top of carers allowance and of course some carers do work.

MeowWow

Not all illnesses are genuine. I know of two people who are work shy. The first has “anxiety” and gets booked off during the summer months (every year) so they can get a nice tan and sit around enjoying the good weather whilst knocking back the wine. When they are off “sick” they still go out drinking with friends or go away for weekends. The other just can’t be bothered to work anymore so after being booked off sick they have exaggerated their condition and they now get PIP whilst refurbishing cars, vans and whatever else they fancy doing. It’s time something was done about the liars. I genuinely feel sorry for those who really are sick yet still go into work.

Why don’t you report them anonymously - then something might be done about them.

He was never getting my vote but I'm SO glad my disability benefits are now overseen by the Scottish government !!

I vote, I feel strongly about it, women died to get the vote.
But I prefer to vote for someone like the Monster Raving Loony party, that way I can express my dislike of the major parties but show that I still prefer to vote

Well said. I am disillusioned by the current gvt who has been in power 14 years. Never seen the country in such a mess. What has their austerity savings done for the country since 2010, nothing. Don't blame covid either. Look at the money they have wasted on HS2, paying the French and Rwandan gvts, migrant hotels, etc. This money could have been spent on building social housing or paying the junior doctors and nurses a better wage. About time these unqualified ministers are punished for wasting tax payers money.

I’m certainly not going to vote for a multi-millionaire who attended public school - what does he know about working class families, state schools, being female, being from the North, waiting for NHS appointments and being unemployed?! I’ve experienced all of these - I admire Angela Rayner for her achievements against the odds, although I’m not sure I’d vote Labour either. 🤔 I think it’ll have to be Reform UK this time - I’ve a feeling they’ll get plenty of support.
I believe all women should use their vote - our ancestors fought for the right.

i agree with everything said on here, but it makes my blood boil when i see people faking sick notes and i know loads of people working and claiming everything they can get pretending to be seperated so they can get seperate housing and live there and rent there original house out etc i own a business and pay taxes and think thats my money going to you doctors just give out sick notes without even checking they just do phone appointment and send fit note by text i does need to be sorted out as not fair on the genuine people who really need the help

My son has an extremely rare and, needless to say, complex mental illness. I have had to fight the powers that be every few years to prove that he is unfit for work and produced all the relevant reports from the various consultants he's seen over 20+ years. The last face to face 'interview' he had was with an unqualified person who when asked if she understood the diagnosis replied 'I know everything about mental illness' to which my son, quite reasonably said, 'That's interesting because my consultant psychologist says no one really comprehends these conditions'. Dear reader at this stage the woman had hysterics, shouted at me and stormed our demanding a security guard remove us from the building. My son left and had a full blown breakdown in the car park with a friend looking after him. I refused to leave demanding to see the manager of the center. After a year long inquiry my son received an apology and a pathetic excuse about the monster who put his therapy back years (she was having a bad day) and he was offered £50 by way of 'compensation', needless to say he refused this. So now we have an unelected prime minister threatening people such as my son whilst he accepts millions from a racist who is given NHS business to further line various pockets but hey folks at least he's not claiming PIP! What has this country sunk to, bring on the election, oh for PR..Thanks for letting me rant.

Oh. Freya.......

You really MUST vote. So much happened to enable you to have that privilege. If you don't vote then you would have absolutely NO right to criticise or comment on any future Government actions, even in private conversations.

I don't know at the moment how I'll vote. It's a real quandary.
Certainly NOT the Union financed Labour Party.
And any disgust I now have for the so-called Conservative Party couldn't be measured.
Lib-Debs - who are they?
The Greens? Madness.

I like a few in the Reform Party. They seem to have, or have had, 'real' jobs. I particularly like Dr David Bull. I might consider them but at present my area doesn't have a representative.

What to do? Like another suggestion I might well go to to voting station and write NONE OF THE ABOVE on the form, if only to make it clear that I was willing and able to vote but the choices let me down.

.

Germanshepherdsmum

Doodledog

Germanshepherdsmum

The reason carer’s allowance stops when you get your state pension is because it is meant to be compensation for being unable to work.

How many people are compensated by £81 a week? It's an insult to suggest that most carers were earning that before giving up work to care for a loved one.

Don’t shoot the messenger! I don’t make the rules. Other benefits can be paid on top of carers allowance and of course some carers do work.

I wasn't . I meant that the government was insulting carers, not you.

I know! 😁

From the other side... I was disabled with 'ME' in the 90's. Truly unable to function. Was signed off and then sacked, on sickness benefit (as it then was). Because I was on long term sick - Doctors simply left me to rot. There was no treatment, no testing. Over 20 years and much trial and error, I have found some things that help, some to avoid etc. IF doctors had to continue to see the people they have signed for - maybe some incentive for them to bother trying to help get them functionning again. There were at that time doctors working for the benefit agency doing reviews to weed out the fraudulent - in actual fact they were the only ones I ever met who showed any interest!

Can anybody add any evidence to the assertion that a whole generation doen't want to work?

I totally abhor the rhetoric from Sunak about longterm sickness and how to reduce it.
Yes, some people will take advantage of the benefit system, that has always been the case (though is considerably less costly than tax evasion/avoidance).
The government should be addressing why there has been such an increase in longterm sickness and employing preventative and support strategies, instead of demonising genuine sufferers.
We can all cherry pick from personal experience to support our arguments, but the hard facts remain that our NHS and social care systems are under resourced (deliberate, or not, is a different argument). Where would these assessors come from? I would be horrified to think that a person with no medical qualifications could assess anyone's capacity to work.

I have worked at schools and colleges. Each seemed to have one or two malingerers. Unfortunately they are not the ones bothered by pressure to work reasonably. An example..one art teacher in a comprehensive who had very frequent sick days. One day when off sick he phoned another teacher during the teaching day to ask could he skip out of teaching to go and play badminton with him. At the same time my friend, an English subject teacher, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. ILEA decided to clamp down on absenteeism in London. Both were summoned for a special medical review. My friend was worried sick and attended the interview. The other teacher called in the union and somehow ducked the issue. So there are genuinely sick people and also skyvers.

Torricella4

My son has an extremely rare and, needless to say, complex mental illness. I have had to fight the powers that be every few years to prove that he is unfit for work and produced all the relevant reports from the various consultants he's seen over 20+ years. The last face to face 'interview' he had was with an unqualified person who when asked if she understood the diagnosis replied 'I know everything about mental illness' to which my son, quite reasonably said, 'That's interesting because my consultant psychologist says no one really comprehends these conditions'. Dear reader at this stage the woman had hysterics, shouted at me and stormed our demanding a security guard remove us from the building. My son left and had a full blown breakdown in the car park with a friend looking after him. I refused to leave demanding to see the manager of the center. After a year long inquiry my son received an apology and a pathetic excuse about the monster who put his therapy back years (she was having a bad day) and he was offered £50 by way of 'compensation', needless to say he refused this. So now we have an unelected prime minister threatening people such as my son whilst he accepts millions from a racist who is given NHS business to further line various pockets but hey folks at least he's not claiming PIP! What has this country sunk to, bring on the election, oh for PR..Thanks for letting me rant.

This is terrible. PIP is incredibly difficult to get. This rhetoric about scroungers and a whole generation who don't want to work is absolutely awful.

As I said, sometimes if a person is unwell mentally ( depression)
sometimes they can muster the sheer bloody mindedness to keep working. Its like wearing a mask. Other people are crawling about on their hand and knees wondering if they will be able to brush their hair that day. Through no fault of their own.