This statistic is verging on the unbelievable....but it is not.

One thing Liz Kendall announced which I was very pleased to hear was that ‘she wants to ensure that those on universal credit with the “most severe disabilities and health conditions that will never improve” won’t be reassessed “to give them the confidence and dignity they deserve’. That is really good news, I have never agreed with hounding them.

Furret In my personal experience and those of people I know personally a brief period of isolation did help with mental health issues. The research I've read on mental health and isolation all refers to prolonged isolation. I've seen several friends and family members return to work (in a managed, staggered way) after a short period away from the rigours of daily life.

As for me mansplaining - well I'm a woman.

I think social media has a lot to do with MH conditions in young people...they think what's on there is the real world and we all know it's not. Some young people haven't spent time socialising with too much time spent on SM. I think it's affected their social development myself. Almost like they cant engage in society.

*can't

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Who’s laughing?
I’m certainly not. Neither is LizKendall.

Mocking? is that better? What motivates this dislike of people and some sort of warped belief that they are getting one over on us?

Sadly I do know of 2 people who appear to be playing the system. It galling when we have contributed and continue to contribute. But this animosity towards whole swathes of the population is bewildering.

Refugees, fat people, ill people,Mexican people it just never stops.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

And severe acne too! I know it can be ‘depressing’ our eldest daughter had it late teens and was called “pizza face’. On her Saturday job on the tills at Tesco several customers used to pass comment. But classing it as a ‘disability’? Oh come on.

Too many people expecting a hand out instead of a hand up.

It goes without saying that genuine disability should be recognised and assisted.

But this mess?
Someone’s having a laugh -and it’s not the taxpayer.

So what did you do to help your daughter?

Dorisdodar

I think social media has a lot to do with MH conditions in young people...they think what's on there is the real world and we all know it's not. Some young people haven't spent time socialising with too much time spent on SM. I think it's affected their social development myself. Almost like they cant engage in society.

Perhaps some people, we have four twenty somethings (22-28) all of whom use SM a lot, but whom also work and can very easily engage in face to face social interaction with friends and family.

The couple who I couldn't understand had worked abroad, mainly Africa and Middle East, saved nothing, contributed nothing and got a council flat and pension credit when they hit retirement age and came home. They moaned about how awful the system was and they were British so entitled.

Ive got my two eldest GC at sixth form and first year at uni. Their mother's complaint is they are too good at socialising.

A friend's GC was a school refuser at the start of lockdown due to anxiety. At the end of lockdown she was skipping happily into school. The family felt months with no pressure to go to school let her recover. It is hard to predict how these things will work out

I am the child of foreigners - an Irish father and a Belgian mother. I cannot for the life of me understand why there is always a voice raised in sharp, self-righteous retort whenever anyone complains about the amount of money we give to foreigners. We are not talking here of poor refugee families, but illegal immigrants who are single males, housed in considerable comfort, given mobile phones and other benefits, while our own poor sleep on the streets. Wake up grandmothers of England. Nurture your own before it is gone.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Oh come on Cossy. You know full well I agree that GENUINE people ought to get everything they are entitled to. Goes without saying really.

But be honest at least.

There ARE people gaming the system! We all know this is happening. However, nobody in their right mind is going to set their alarm clock to 7am and get up every day to do a job they regard as a chore for much the same money as they can get on benefits. Why don’t the politicians understand basic human psychology ?

Liz Kendall seemed quite impassioned. She’s seen the figures!

There are a very small proportion of people “playing the system” and that’s wrong and should stopped.

There are also many others, especially youngsters, who could be given far more help to get into paid work.

The issue is a “blanket approach to all” simply doesn’t work.

I have no issue with most of Liz Kendall’s announcements, but one leaps out, the component additional premium for those not well enough to work will not be paid to those under 22.

You may have heard of “care leavers”? The singularly most vulnerable cohort of young people, most likely to have what you may call “genuine” mental health issues.

These youngsters already receive less benefit as under 25, and at 18 are virtually cut loose without additional support.
Some of them have had the worst childhoods, things that are truly shocking. I worked with care leavers for 5 years, many many very sad and emotionally damaged young people.

your own A nasty phrase. Surprised you didn't manage to shoe horn ex service men in there too.

Barleyfields, how about what would have happened to them, if they had been called up to fight in our wars?

A few years ago I had 3 middle-aged male'cousins ' by 2nd marriages none of whom worked and all claimed benefits.

One had been in prison and couldn't be bothered to get a
job, another should have been in jail and the 3rd thought
he did,'t need a job.

I also worked in Unemployment benefit years ago and the
Fraud Officer then had a long list awaiting judgement which
never came.

If you can get as much money from benefits as you can get from a pow paid job, why bother setting the alarm fro 7am each morning.

Reasons to do so:
* to get into the habit of going out to work before you are too neurotic to do so.

*social conscience

*Any paid work looks better on your CV than no work record.

*Experience the fairly pitiless real world

* Get yourself psychologically ready for such time as your benefits won't be available to you.

Some would say:

CBA

What’s that?

Why do I need a cv when I can get benefits?

Rather stay at home.

They won’t let me starve.

Cynical, me?

STFU.

Barleyfields, those who believe others will always be there to look after them must be very unimaginative. And unrealistic.

The Welfare State should be taught alongside reasons to take responsibility for oneself.

LovesBach

The Times today states that one in ten adults between 16 and 64 is claiming incapacity or sickness benefits. It's hard to see how the economy can sustain this level of payments. Does anyone else find this alarming?

Oh dear! Unless I have completely misunderstood you, you are more concerned with the economy than with the fact that a tenth of the working population is so seriously ill that they are claiming benefits.

You may also, be infering that these claimants are not actually ill, or incapacitated. I trust I am being unfair to you here, because only their doctors can know whether they are ill or not.

These days it is so hard to qualify for invalidity or sickness benefits that I am willing to bet that most of those claiming such benefits are too ill to work.

Cossy, I agree that care leavers are extra vulnerable. The state should be in loco parentis for years longer than age eighteen.

Personality problem is a reason some are claiming who perhaps should not. Personality problems are incurable, however unusual personalities can be fitted for the job market if they get appropriate training and advice.

Having previously worked supporting people who claim benefits and I must add that not everyone is the same, but some know how to play the system. They will lie. They will take 'props' to the assessments, and unbelievably get away with it. Then there are those who really need the benefit help and don't get it as they are honest and try to make the most of a bad situation.. Yes it is unsustainable but there are alot of people who believe they are 'entitled'.

Caleo

Personality problem is a reason some are claiming who perhaps should not. Personality problems are incurable, however unusual personalities can be fitted for the job market if they get appropriate training and advice.

My youngest daughter has Borderline Personality Disorder, it’s far from borderline and it affects her quite radically, however she’s still working, has very strong anti pyschotic meds (which have made her gain 3 stone) and weekly therapy (courtesy of bank of mum and dad)

She is doing all she can to manage her condition, but it’s far from easy.

Cossy

Oh such judgement!

Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes!

By the way, in 14 years at the DWP I never once had a claimant in receipt of benefits for acne !

Good to have some insight here Cossy!
No government has been daft over awarding benefits.
If I would point the finger at anyone it would be GPs & the sickness certificates. I've managed several people who have had to take sickness leave for stress, depression or reactive depression due to personal tragedy. We paid full pay for 6 months. In every case the GPs kept on signing sickness certificates, it seemed like till the person stated they wanted to go back to work. Some even discouraged them saying "what if you relapse?"
I used to say the longer you're off now, the harder it will be to come back. & if you don't come back then you've got the purgatory of looking for other jobs & explaining your sickness record.I also used to say that we'd love them back, I'm prepared to be very flexible if they're late one morning cos they need to walk round the block to get their head together, or take 30 minutes to get themselves together if they have a setback during the day - but get off that sickness & see how you feel once you're back!
It's not something that GPs felt a vocation for, & with the % of MH reasons for sickness certificates going up, it's belt & braces just to sign people off until they say they're back to normal - but a lot of people won't feel back to normal until they're back to work.

I heard of a scheme whereby people can work and still have their housing benefits. Many people are terrified to actually become poorer if they work.

This doesn't match with the rhetoric of feckless scroungers who can become highly paid professionals if they are just willing to set their alarms.