General Chat

altough i understeand what mr blair is trying to do but what about people like my mother who have a mental illness does that mean she will have to go to work for her money she would never cope in the "real" world she has been in a mental hospital for over 30 years now lov bumpy

A close relative has Downs Syndrome with a mental age of maybe five and gets Disability Living Allowance, totally jusified, as are many others. However, there are too many benefits from an administrative point of view: why have Invalidity Benefit; Disability Living Allowance; Income Support; Housing Benefit; Mobility Allowance; ad infinitum, each with their own criteria and army of officials, some contribution related, some not; some taxable, some not. Anathema as it may be to Tony, Gordon and their mates, a clean sweep simplification would reduce the chance of fraudulent claims and decimate the cost of running the scheme.

granny longlegs i can see what you were getting at ,and i fully understand. i too disagree with the people who claim,who are quite capable of working. i had a year off work,due to depression but i didnt claim anything.i got full pay from my work,which was great. without this support i would also had to have claimed,as hubbys wages wouldnt have been enough to pay the monthly out goings. i still get severe panic attacks and palpitations but medication helps,lol. i love my job and intend to carry on working.deep down though i would love to stay at home,but hubbys wages wont allow it lol love susie

God what a can of worms!!! The thing that worries me with forcing people back into the workplace when we are not actually fit is that the sickness / absence figures will go through the roof. What can I say, I was in a car accident 2 years ago, apart from the usual soreness and some persistant aching eased by ibuprofen, I was ok for about 3 months. After returning from my honeymoon at the end of May 2003, I returned to work as usual. A couple of weeks later I had a terrible nights sleep with pain in my neck and come morning my neck had gone into spasm and I was in agony with excrutiating pain. I was rushed to the doctor who saw me immediately and was prescribed major prescription pain killers (morphine) and anti inflamatories followed by a series of tests, x-rays, scans, including an MRI scan. The scan showed that I have a condition called errosion of the vertebrate, the bones in my neck have worn away, the discs have prolapsed and the nerves and blood vessels are being trapped between them causing constant pain and dizziness which can occurr at anytime. The dizziness can cause me to almost faint and can last for a few seconds or a few minutes. The pain although eased by permanant use of pain killers (morphine) and anti inflamatories never goes away it covers my neck, shoulders, chest, back, arms and some days even causes me to have problems walking. I applied for disability allowance but because the origin of my disability is in my neck I am not entitled to full allowance... you need to have a problem with your legs for that I was told. I receive the grand total of £60 every 4 weeks. After being off work initially for 7 months on SSP, our financial situation was critical and so, armed with pain killers, collar, wheat pack (heat pack) and tens machine I went back to work. I really enjoyed my job but the pain and dizziness has just become too unbearable (let alone dangerous in the work place) and I am off sick again with instructions from my doctor not to drive. I have now been off sick (on SSP again) a second time for 6 months. I have spoken with my employers to try to get me back into the work place on a part time contract but they will only take me back for a "settling in" period part time then want me back full time which doesn't help as they have now changed te working day from 8 hours a day for 5 days to 10 hours a day for 4 days. So now I am trying to find a part time job but am coming up against the obsticle of being off sick at the moment. I have an interview on 8th Feb next week so fingers crossed. Sorry for going on so much but I wish I could get back to work and get my life together. I am only 43 but still feel 17 in my head (like the advert). I hate being in so much pain and apart from this thread, only the people closest to me know what is wrong. I have seen a nuerosurgeon and am waiting for an operation to correct all this but even that is risky and there is a 1% chance I could be paralysed because of operating on the spine. The only "up" to it all is that I have to lose 4½ stone to have the operation and the doctor is putting me on slimming tablets to make sure I lose it.... a new slim me... <wolf whistles>. Anyway, I really could do with a decent benefit to help us through this difficult time but I am not entitled to any more than my £60 every 4 weeks. Well, I have had my say, so I'll go now Gaynor

I do know the other side of the equation. My hubbie was made redundant three times in his work life, the third time he was in his early fifties and couldn't even get an interview, if he admitted his age. He had ten years of only the odd short term contract, then three years at a school assisting the caretaker, before retiring at 65 last year. He hated his last job but persevered rather than go onto benefits. We never got income support all those years because I was working. It IS hard to get a job if disadvantaged by either age or ill health, but all you can do is keep trying (and lower sights, if necessary). I can recommend working, not just for the money, I would still be there now, if my back would allow me to sit for hours at a desk! Over and out.........Dilys

you may think harshly of this but all workshy spongers who fiddle the state should be put against a wall and shot ........................parasites

Thats a bit harsh Sean - how about putting them down the salt mines instead? :-)

I agree with so many of you,i have had chronic chest diseasefor thirty years ,[ashma],kidney problems,,i have been diabetic for three years and have arthritis to boot.I managed to stay at work ,and did,'nt go on the sick until my angina got so bad i had to give in.my worry is wether on not these other problems ,along with a diseased heart[three arteries are still clogged]is going to stop me returning to work,where i wan't to be. genuine skivers should be put to work ,or there benefits stopped.Fred.Ptfg&a&g&w.

no i do not think that they should be allowed to.we all have to work but there are some people that are allergic to it.i know a few who bum off the state.the ones that are truly unable to work should get the supportxxxxx(:

Another thing I think is wrong, people getting so many different benefits, that added together comes to more than they could possibly earn in full time employment. There should be a ceiling. Val

I agree, Joan.... I don't know how people manage to get so many benefits, the authorities don't exactly make it easy to claim anything at all. I have spoken to people in my job who are claiming about £300 per week and yet they seem to get around quite easily - why WOULD they WANT to go out to work? (Please remember I am only referring to those who really should be working) Then you have the genuine cases who desparately need assistance who just don't seem to be able to claim anything at all. Gaynor :-(

I've got one next door to me, it makes my life an absolute misery and gets handouts too. Hasn't worked a legitimate day since it moved here over 5 years ago. Gets away with all sorts. And we struggle all the time just to survive, not live fuming................

This System was set up for the people who genuinely need help,unfortunately there are a lot of Greedy Idle"Bar-Stewards" who milk the system and make it difficult for others. One I know,having reported him( I told him I was going to) he was interviewed,his reason was,Quote,He felt too Depleted and tired to work.So they let him stay on claiming.but within two weeks of the interview a miraculous thing happened,and he started to do Painting,Gardening etc.again.when he was reported again,they said,he,s already been interviewed, the matter is closed. it is beyond belief.roll on the Revolution. Hal.

Her excuse is she has some sort of depression. What a laugh all the grief she causes, also she does jobs on the side quite happily and can afford the run a car. She must go down the doctors and really lay it on. We tried to get DLA for our special needs 17 year old daughter and got turned down. We get nothing and that thing gets it all. Enough to make you cry..

Any of those who've been working today got a view? If it's printable, that is!

The conclusion we can draw from the stories in this thread is that there are many genuine claimants out there and they, even more than the rest of us taxpayers, are furious about the work-shy bogus claimants. I, like many others, have rarely been out of work in over 40 years but my wife, after 20 years as a nursery nurse in a Special care Baby Unit, was retired on medical grounds and draws IB. She has fibromyalgia which is a debilitating condition which comes and goes. She has good days and bad so holding down a regular job is out of the question. She can, however do voluntary work because she can do that when she feels well so an outsider may well not understand her problem. Bob

What a loss, Bob, your wife's skills must be to the unit.

I agree with the others on this thread who say that the Benefits System should be simplified. In fact, I would go further and say, give everyone in the Country (legally in the Country, that is) their TaX Allowance, in cash, no questions asked about whether you are working or not, and drop all other benefits. The workshy scroungers would then have the choice of either living on that or getting some sort of job, but no official time would be wasted on them. The genuine claimants could then be interviewed to assess their needs and a small (or large) top up given. And those who would really like to give up work, but cant afford to, might be able to manage on their weekly Tax Allowance, thus freeing up a job for someone who wants it. I am almost retirement age, have worked at various menial jobs all my life and am sick of it. I do not claim anything because I know from bitter experience that I will immediately be found a part-time job, cleaning toilets or some such, and earning just a pound too much to gain any other benefits. I am not work-shy, just fed up of doing jobs that no-one else wants, because I am too proud (and too stupid) to claim benefits. So next time Mr Blair proudly tells you he has cut the unemployment figures to blah!, remember to add one for me! I am unemployed but I dont appear on anyone's list.

I honestly don't understand how it is so easy for some to claim benefits, and yet so difficult for others. I have friends who came to this country from Kenya in the 1960's. Their children grew up here and one found employment with Social Services in London. She told her mother how to get benefits as many of their female compatriots in London were doing it. My friends eventually bought a post office as the husband had had a heart by-pass and had been pensioned off from his employment. Naturally with standing all day on a concrete floor, ankles are inclined to swell, so with the knowledge gleaned from her daughter, the mother put in for DLA on the grounds that she suffered from swollen ankles and had to have a push from her husband to get onto a bus. they didn't mention that they went everywhere in their car. So DVL was granted. A couple of years later, the mother had a pain in her shoulder through carrying a watering can of water. This time she applied for Carer's Allowance, which again was granted because she was unable to fasten her bra at the back. I do wonder if it was because both the doctors who came to their house to examine my friend were both of the same ethnic minority as my friends. Norah

I have quoted this case on here before, apologies for repeating myself. There is a man living in this area who is claiming Incapacity Benefit, Disabled Living Allowance, and gets his rent and council tax paid. He also has a Motobility vehicle supplied to him (which my disabled husband is not entitled to!) and it is a pick-up truck!!! This man also has a blue disabled parking badge. So what you may say. This man, whilst claiming that he is too disabled to work, is actually working as a roofer!!!!!! He has been reported on numerous occasions to my knowledge - so how is he still claiming? Sue xx