UK incapacity benefits to be cut.

Yes that's what the BBC website says. They say those with genuine need will not be affected. So that'l be another trip to a testing centre miles away then!!

I wish they would just make clear descisions about how they are going to do these things instead of worrying people that they say they want to help unecessarily.

Di

I'm filling in my questionaire for Employment and Support Allowance (which replaced Incapacity Benefit) at the moment. Everyone including my GP is saying that I'll struggle to get it under the current tests even though he states there is no way I can undertake any form of work at the moment.

This new governments' attitude doesn't fill me with any confidence, referring to benefit claiments as "scroungers". I remember how uncaring the last Conservative government was and the Liberals don't seem to be having much influence for the good on this lot. They seem just happy to be in power.

I havent even tried, seems damn near impossible.
A badge for the car would really help so my husband can park closer if ever I do get out.

How on earth can you be unfit for work and fail the tests for the benefit? I'm sorry but It sounds like you doctor doesn't know how to fill in the form properly. Emphasise the barriers you would face in work, the unpredictability. Don't let them underestemate the invasiveness or the health and safety implications if you were in work and not sucessfully treated yet.

This is exactly why I put this post in. Where are the people who don't need this benefit? I know more people who need it and don't get it than those who get it, and all of those on it would jump at the chance of not needing it.

As someone who is despereate to get back to work I have been looking closely at where the difficulties lie as things are for me. As it is even if they don't make things awkward I am struggling. There is no allowance made for those who have to repair things like a roof for example so I am desperate to get well enough to work and at the same time have to feel guilty as a scrounger.

Why should I feel guilty as a burden on society when it has taken 5 years to establish even what is wrong with me, during which time I have done everything possible to get well and lost my job purely because it took them so long to get me to a relevant specialist?

They say they are going to help people find apropriate work. It'd better not be done by these companies that put untrained people in a chair to muddle through with complex issues. How can they find apropriate work?that requires understanding. They don't even have toilets in Jobcentres. What kind of dissibility acess is that?

Di

ps hope the application does go OK

I don't think that anybody who is on incapacity benefit and is suffering from a serious disability has anything to worry about.

Apparently people have claimed incapacity benefit for being too fat, morning sickness, broken bones, haemorrhoids, warts and blisters with no plans ever to return to work. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

In the current economic climate I think it is high time to sort out the benefits system. Benefit cheats are taking valuable resources away from genuinely disabled people and living at the expense of others, who are working all hours and struggle to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. Many are doing their best to scrape a living, while there are people out there fit and healthy to work who stay at home on lifelong benefit. Where is the fairness in that?

I agree that it is an inconvenience to go to medical assesments, but it gives the opportuniy to explain the seriousness of your condition and how it impacts your life face to face. It is a fairly small price for to pay for continued benefits.

P.

When we have people on this site who struggle despite genuine need?

I think back to a review that I had to go to and the seemingly impossible barrage of questions that in all honesty my doctor could have and probably did answer on the inital form. I don't get why a qualified doctor's word isn't good enough and they have to pay someone else more money to get tough. Surely the doctors should tell who should and shouldn't be able to work. It just seems like they are doing the assesment job twice. It isn't as if the centres people have to go to are exactly acessible.

I don't understand how we have got into the situation in the first place where the system can be seemingly so slack in some instances that totally irrelevant ailements are keeping people on the benefits when my experience of it has been that it wasn't easy even though i spend hours on end every day affected by the Migraines so I can barely function, and worse as a result of their lax testing have to face shame by association because I was weak enough to get sick. ( I mean weak in other peoples eyes)

Surely if the rules that are already in place were applied properly this wouldn't be an issue in the first place, and we could just be concerned with getting better.

Perhaps this is another example of something said by government that has given certain British papers an excuse to bash vulnerable groups of society thinking they can get away with it because those who are their readers fortunately never have to find out the realities of what it is like to be in situatiions like ours, blowing what is actually intended totally out of proportion.

this concerns me. I read online and on the TV that a conservative backlash of this nature is due in the USA. Yall had Ms Thatcher before we had President Reagan, for example.

I have never met a "scrounger" on social Security disability benefits. One of my friends is considered by some to be able to work and still gets disability benefits ... but I agree with his doctor that disability is appropriate.

I miss working. July 27, 2010 - mere weeks away - the tenth anniversary of the start of my constant migraines, loss of work, loss of income, and general retirement. Oh how I miss the give and take with other people. How I miss having real problems to solve. How I miss the energy, the drive, the reason to get up and get at it each day. I miss it ia great deal. Through two years of intense counseling, I have come to grips with my new life, but I would take back my old job in a heartbeat if I could.

Good luck my cousins across the Atlantic - I hoep the impact is minimal on all of you!

I have to say, my cousin who is a Polio survivor and now has post polio syndrome has been claiming benefits for 20+ years.
Right now at 61 and after so long, he would probably struggle to get work anyway, but he could do it.

He was an independent man. Yes he has mobility problems, since the polio when he was 5 (caught in hospital).
Very strong and determined. Then when his children were 6 and 8 ,his wife walked out.
She left him the kids, but working full time and caring for them soon became complicated.
He was a good dad, did a good job and we all helped where we could. We were so proud of him.
But his company sacked him because he kept taking time out when the kids were sick etc.

This was the start of his downfall. He was put on benefits.
It was to be temporary until the kids were a bit older and could get themselves home on their own etc
(we dont have school buses like in the US).
Well his kids are now 30 and 28 and he is still on benefits.

He could have worked, he is a talented technical artist and could have gotten work that allowed him to sit down.
He can walk. He has a stick now, but as he ages his mobility is worse.
But for something like 14 years he has been receiving benefits he didn't need to have.
He could have and should have worked. It would have been better for him and his family.

He is a different person. He is opinionated and boastful and spouts crap.
This is from hanging around with long term claimers. They sit about doing nothing all day.
They have no ambition, and get themselves into the benefits trap, where if they stopped they would need to work long hours to get the same standard of living. They have no hope for themselves and many encourage their children to just sign on and perpetuate the lifestyle. Which of course we all pay for.

I hate what this has done to my cousin. We have been close all our lives. Still are.
He was going to buy his house. But he is in council housing.
His parents and sister were disappointed in him, and I know he is in himself now.
My husband and another cousin even found him jobs, but he stuck to the benefits.

It becomes a mental attitude and it is not a good one.
He doesn't quite scrounge, but he pleads poverty and takes all that is going.
Yet last Christmas he went to Canada. Who paid for that....

I welcome a clamp down on the benefits system.
It is long overdue. It has allowed an underclass in this country which is no good for any of us.

Of course i don't want to see any genuine claimants loosing out, but I don't think that will happen..
But I just hope they catch the right people. They know how to work the system and seem to always slip through.

I don't think enough is done for the likes of me who cant work, and cant even get a parking badge for the car.
But maybe if they get rid of some of the fakers and malingerers, the likes of us might get a look in.

I hope it works out, we shall have to wait and see. But if it gets rid of our enormous bill for benefit fraud, it is well worth a try. And it will be good for the country. Too many people expect hand outs and those that genuinely need it cant get it.
And if it means my cousin has to take a part time job, I think it will do him the world of good.

Just my opinion.

Perhaps the problem I have is that I play down my health issues to myself and worry that when it counts someone isn't going to see how impossible things would be if I went back to work too early.

I myself have a plan that relies on things working enough (I am only 2 weeks into recent positive treatment regimin). I will make it if they leave me alone, only just. If they reduce income so I can't pay for required training, they will trap me too. I can't get any help with the training needed to go back to my job because they don't help people at that level. I can see how it produces generations of people who say "Why bother?"

They could save a lot of money by making things a little more flexible and giving more support just at the right time. For example when someone comef off incapacity for depression they currently go onto JSA. For the first 6 months of JSA they leave you alone and don't assign someone to help / cajole in some cases you in job search. People go from having an advisor, feeling positive, a can do "I'm getting better" attitude, then someone says, "you'r getting better now, go to work" they then take away the support and leave you on your own, instead of building on the existing relationship, putting them on a little CBT course or a back to work positive thinking course, helping them get volunteer work etc. The result? It gives them such a shock, with message recieved load and clear "Well actually I'm just a number" and it is only after the 6 month period that they recover. I have watched this happen to a perfectly intelligent, previously positive person. If they were to change the sense of doom that eminates around job centres I think it would be very different.

I goto a good support company, they give you hope and treat you like a person, but I know people who potentially in the future might fall into the trap if the way they are treated doesn't change. Without investment into the pshychological barriers to work I don't see how it can change.

Di

The reason my GP and others say that I'll probably fail the benefits assessment is because it is aimed at a whole different level of disability.

My GP is clear that I'm unable to work as I cannot attend any job as I can't work regular hours due to the out-of-control nature of my migraines, am unable to concentrate or think clearly, etc.

The benefits questionaire is at the level of "can you sit in a chair without arms?", "can you stand without support from someone else?", "can you walk 200 yards?" and "can you pick up and move 2 litre carton of milk with only one hand?". I've added extra comments wherever I can on the questionaire as it doesn't fit my circumstances.

I'm sure that my GP will be contacted for information as well but I expect his response will be formed by the nature of the questions asked.

After all this I'll be summoned for a medical assessment. When that time comes I will stress how my symptoms compromise my ability to work.

The government is now saying that they are not going to change the criteria and make it harder to get benefit. Instead they are going to increase the rate that existing benefit claiments are re-examined in order to weed out those who have been on incapacity benefit long term and should have returned to work.

I have never understood why all of us with chronic migraine cant just claim. I have never tried. We live on my husband's pension.
I also have Fibro which doesn't potentially fluctuate so should be approved, but I feel so lousy I cant be bothered to even try.

A blue badge would make a big difference, but I wouldn't know where to start.

If they are going to clean it up and get rid of the malingerers, and I know some....THAT is what I would hope.
Not my cousin, he has been sucked into the system and is a genuine case. My point is he should have been encouraged to work even part time, not just kept on long term benefits. He cant be the only one...
And I know he gets all sorts of extras which frankly he doesn't need. I don't begrudge him a holiday in Canada, but he went alone. No helper.....see what I mean, he can cope...

I cant. I cant travel, I cant even get out of this bloody house, or off the couch right now.
My migraine has been constant for months. He has a better quality of life and is more capable.

So...I was hopeful they would get the undeserving people off. And I know the idea is to restructure society and save money, but I would hope that if we are acceptable we still will be. I dont know, we shall have to wait and see, but it has to be done.

Hope everyone who is trying to claim gets approved...

I am convinced there is a section on fits or similar and my assesor put it in there.

Hope this is of use.

I agree with Pen 100%. I also know of people who are collecting benefits that are perfectly capable of working. And what she said about this man working and trying to get kids to school???? Duh - what do you think thousands of women everyday do? It isn't easy but either is life. The whole system has to be redone so that people who do need the benefits can get them and without having to go to such extremes to do so.

There are many disabilities where you may not be able to do what you once could or what you want to do, but there are plenty of jobs you could do. Now, migraine is a whole different story. I can't imagine working with migraines. If you are, you are just going through the motions and are probably worthless, on pain meds or have a low level one. It is about time migraines are given a lot more consideration. And, maybe they would if the thousands of people collecting benefits who are capable of working got back to work.

As you can tell, this is a sore subject for me. I live in what is branded the "socialistic state of the US".
With the economy being so bad, maybe this is what it will take to do away with "programs". Once this is done, maybe some focus can be put on the really needy.

I agree. There are so many people that abuse the system. There is nothing wrong with them other than the fact that they don't want to work.

While I was with the crazy neuro, I thought about filing for disability. Things were just so out of control and if I ever lost my current job, there'd be no way I could work. Lately things have been like that too, but I blame it on stress and some wacky weather. I work with a migraine most of the time as I work from home when things are bad and there are rare days that I can't work from home. But I work with a HA at least most days and it usually blows up into a full M. Just a matter of when (I'd rather it was 10 pm when I'm about to go to bed).

It's more my vision that is affected. If my vision is strange I don't want to drive. I feel that I need to see clearly to drive. That and if I'm nauseated I usually don't go in. While I have yet to vomit, I don't want to start that at work. That's the last thing I need.

I think I made a pretty good job of the questionaire. I'm a bit worried about the medical assessment. Don't know when that will be yet. I've heard that the assessors aren't very helpful or friendly.

I worked while having chronic daily migraine for about 5 years until last December but by then things had taken a turn for the worse and the more severe attacks which kept me from going into work had become much more frequent. I have morning migraines which don't respond to meds and then last 2 or 3 days. I never got to work a full week and was stressed out trying to catch up when I was there. Some days I just filled the chair but then would work weekends and evenings to get as much as I could done.

I had always had the support of the staff group I worked with but the pressure on the team was becoming too much. Life in social work is pressured and stressful enough without your senior cracking up. In the end management said I should stay away until something was sorted rather than coming and going as I was. At the same time I was struggling to cope with everything so that's what I did. Unfortunately things have continued to get worse and there's no way I could return at the moment.

I am actually still employed and no moves have been taken to get rid of me yet. I'm on half pay and this runs out in a few weeks. The situation still is that I go back when I'm better. Well, I've not been told anything different! I enjoyed my job (most of the time) and would go back if I could. I've worked there 19 years.

At the moment I'm only entitled to a very small amount of benefit as I'm being paid but when my sick pay runs out I'll need to rely on benefit unless something else happens like I get permanent ill health retirement. That would involve quite a fight by the way and take some time. Anyway, it wouldn't be my first choice. I'd much rather have the option to go back.

I don't see living on benefits as attractive in any way. At 52 I'm too young to stop work and am bored most of the time. I think I'm already seen as a malingerer by a lot of people even though I know I'm not. We all know the level of understanding of migraine that's out there. I get out of the house maybe once a week at the moment and find it difficult to drive as often I can't look left-right-left without making my head really thump and making myself feel sick and then there are the blind spots. Definitely no motorbikes at the moment.

That's enough before I get too sorry for myself. Pull yerself together old boy!

I have been on incapacity benefit a couple of years ago right after I stopped working.
To apply for it was ridiculously easy. All I had to do was to fill out a questionnaire and that was that. I never had to see any doctor or had any kind of assessment. Coming from bureaucratic and over regulated Austria I was flabbergasted. This form arrived on a yearly basis and I continued to qualify for benefits.

A couple of years in I had to go to an assessment. The doctor was friendly and asked me a list of questions. All easy stuff. He also asked me casually if I drink or smoke. I burst out laughing and told him that just looking at anything remotely alcoholic knocks me out for 3 days. He responded that he knew that, but he needed to find out if I knew this too. It was clearly a trick question. I passed the assessment with flying colors.

Soon after this assessment my circumstances changed and I did not need the incapacity benefit anymore and decided to give them a ring and cancel the payments. To my astonishment I was passed from one person to the next until I ended up with a lady who was clearly taken aback by the fact that I wanted to stop my benefit payments. I was under the distinct impression that this was a highly unusual request. She probably never came across anybody who actually wanted to cancel their benefits. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Petzi - That is the craziest system I have ever heard of. 1) there has to be plenty of abusers and 2) the doctor seems like a nut case. For one thing, there shouldn't be any "trick" questions. If you are genuinely disabled there should be documentation of many office visits, tests, etc. And you are lucky you do not drink or smoke. Just because you do, does not mean it has anything to do with your disability. I'm lucky that I have abortives that work so I am fully functional but drinking has nothing to do with my migraines. All migraineurs are different. That doctor should do his research.

I'm glad you are doing better and have no need for disability and that you were able to get it when you needed it.

Rampant abuse is exactly what is going on. I have said so much in a previous post. That's why I think the new government is right to shake up the system.

You can't blame the doc for wanting to find out if somebody is fibbing. He was only doing his job.

P.

I found my assesment horrible. It took ages to get there and I felt like I was going to fall over. I couldn't stand the smell of the others in the waiting room who seemed to think that washing was optional and the chairs were stained and smelled of nicotine which when suffering from nausea isn't good.

I have found it difficult though to do anything other than be just on benefit. I wanted to help in the council offices like they used to have a scheme for people with dissabilities to in the 1990's, just for a few hours a week, but they were not interested. I keep been told to wait till the medication or treatment starts to work, but I wonder when that will be.

I don't understand how people can get this benefit for seemingly simple things though, when my friend who has awfull Lupus and is really ill with it struggles regularly at assesment time and her doctor has to fill in the appeal forms regularly. She has fits, can barely walk at times, and when she has a good period, has tried to get jobs in the past but nobody will take on the liability.

Perhaps if they sift out those who shouldn't be on it, they will be able to at least make genuine cases feel more secure and see the needs of those people. She went for years without a downstairs toilet when she had difficulty climbing the stairs. Perhaps if there weren't so many claimants, this would have been spotted and she wouldn't have had this indignity at 25!!

I agree with Dizzyflower - I've only known a few people that have been on disability and I could see no reason for it. That does not mean they didn't have some disability but I could see no reason they could not work at least part time. It is the abusers that ruin it for people that should be getting it.

wether this is going to put us under scrutiny in an unfair way. Lets's face it, we've heard the newsreaders real out the lists of people that will be, Migraines was on it. Bearing in mind the number of idiots we meet that havn't a clue what a migraine is, thinking it is just some kind of excuse anyway, what chance have we got?

I am really scarred that they will try to force me back to work before anyone has sucessfully treated me. if they do this, I will be in capability tracking and ousted from my profession before you can blink, then when I am able to return I'll have nothing to return to. It won't matter that I was really good at my job before I got sick, if I start slurring my words and looking like I'm on drugs, I'll be OUT!! There are no second chances or risks taken where children are concerned, nor should there be.

So far on trips out on good days, someone notices I'm not quite right and says "What's the matter are you ill?" at some point. At some point I will go dizzy when out and drop something, or collide into something. I am doing everything I can to get better but have no assurance that I will either have the luxury of a gradual return or the chance to even do a trial for a few days to see how it goes. As someone actively trying to return the system isn't flexible or supportive in any way at the moment.

And I am very aware as pepole ask in the village wether I am back at work yet, that they are thinking, "She looks good, why isn't she working?" when just half an hour before I was in a darkenned room with the world spinning, and I've just dragged myself out. If they talked to me , the would soon realise. You cannot beat an invisible disease for social embarrasement.

because of it, I have no children, so the mothers stare at me, like some kind of lepper, then deliberately turn away and continue with their conversations. The hairdesser in the village told me how lucky I was last year to have benefits for migraines - well she did ask quite probing questions and taken aback I answered. She told me that she had to work no mater what or she would have to sell up. didn't seem to sink in that I'd already done that, lost the home I loved. In her book I was a scrounger, not a hard working hard studying person that had given everything up to help others, who just got injured at work then got kicked out.

So there are aparently people that shouldn't be on benefits, one of whom was taken to court recently in my home town as he was runing a business and claiming since 1973 I think, my mum sent me a clipping. Contrast this, with our situations where the migraines have tipped beyond manageable, and look at how the public veiw us.

I now make every effort when out to educate, not pushing it down people's throats, but just enough, a little difficult if in a spin mind, but then they can see for themselves. And if anyone tries to make me feel little again because I can't work, I clearly put the blame if there is any to be set in the direction of the system that can't agree either how to treat me or what it is that is wrong.