Fair. It’s not my world. I have worked hard. I do not need benefits. If I did I might not claim them. Just my belief system.
But I will stop posting. If you do not see people gaming the system. Living off benefits. Not lifting a finger. Then ok. Welfare.
You can’t false or self diagnose to claim benefits, which was your point.
I’m just going by your own words. And I’ll keep posting if I want, you don’t decide that. Arrogance indeed.
Pal. I sort of see your point. They system is broken. There was a grant available for carers in my area, It was quite sizeable and each unpaid carer could apply for £300, I suggested my missus apply, as she is my carer. No joy - No funds left. A population of around 67,000.
When i was diagnosed with neurological optic atrophy h47.2 and bilateral b12 deficiency peripheral neuropathy in 2020, i didn’t want to apply for benefits, I was ill not disabled, Disability benefits would not fix me. It took several professional people to get through to me.
I was accosted at my loclal bus stop by a lady in her 50s, she questioned why i had a concessionary bus pass, was i getting PIP and why was i getting it, saying also that " so many people are on PIP claiming for this that the other, i ll have to take what you say as the truth" I was well aware that her tone meant she didn’t believe me.
I know the system is abused and it is broken. I understand a working persons frustrations. My friend reported his own brother for falsely claiming PIP. Some do use the system as a lifestyle. What becomes hard though, is differentiating between genuine and non genuine.
I don’t blame you, I blame the system and the ones falsely claiming. If you say something in a forum where people are in the system then some are going to see it as an attack on them. You just need to articulate it a bit better.
oh mate. you can. PIP is a system not based on medical proof but on how the condition affects you.
My bad, it’s different here. You can get it with no evidence or assessments?
A telephone call in which they ask you questions, they score you points based on your answers. For something like depression, you can go to the doctors, get it marked on your medical record. Depression or anxiety is an invisible condition.
To add a bit of context…i grabbed a bit of my Universal credit statement whilst not disclosing too much personal information. It doesn’t show PIP but i am not aware of a pip account system.
That amount btw is for a family of 5 and includes Housing cost.
We need to do better as people. We need more understanding and more conversation.
People have different viewpoints based upon their own experiences, that experience maybe something one has read, seen, heard or endured.
Shouting them down or dismissing them without a proper educational conversation achieves nothing good.
In life as in politics we rarely take the time to listen.
What?
Amen.
Again. Benefits are a safety net. For those in trouble. That’s fair and right.
But it’s abused. That’s all. Chancers. Work shy. Say it’s not so.
Again, fraudulently claimed benefits account for a tiny proportion of the budget, to the point it would cost more to deal with than it would save. People keep telling you this.
If we want to stop people seeing benefits as the best option, then make work pay. I don’t mean make life on benefits so horrific that it forces people into work. I mean make work worth people’s while. Most people want to work. But far too many low tier jobs still leave people reliant on benefits. Nobody in full time work should be in need of the taxpayer to top up their income. Nobody working at Asda should be taking home less money than is survivable. People get angry about benefits, but what is this, other than a tax payer subsidy to multinational corporations.
I feel it is far more than the government and system says. They don’t know how many cases are fraudulent because the system is not based upon medical diagnosis. It is a terrible flawed system which was made worse by the pandemic.
In the short term it would cost a lot to fix but in the long term billions would be saved. People who are not currently getting what they should be. because the assessment is flawed, would benefit.
Get rid of the crappy paper based MR/ APPEAL based system. Get rid of telephone assessments for all and make it a more case by case basis.
I am in the system. I see the abuse of it in my local community.
Universal credit is great for people on a low income who can only get part time or infrequent work, It means they don’t go hungry.
Banks are struggling with the same ID fraud that the dwp system is.
Ive been on pip since 2020 or 2021. I’ve had 1 review. No one has ever checked to see if what i reported to them is real or not.
EDIT: I’ve got assessment reports from the initial claim and from the review. There is no mention of them ever having contacted any medical professional or looked at my medical record.
Would they not have used your employment record, tax and ni paid as an indicator for weather or not you are entitled to certain benefits?
No PIp is not means tested. Universal cred it is though. you can get PIP without UC. DLA is used for cases involving children ( which i don’t believe we are discussing here in terms of fraud)
When it comes to PIP it is all about how your condition affects you. They make a decision based on what the claimant tells them unless they have to go to the GP. Going to the GP or Medical experts costs the DWP money.
They are known to refuse Face 2 Face assessments. Time consuming. The default is telephone.
edit: I am not saying one poster is right or one is wrong. I am offering my viewpoint, whilst understanding what both mascot and londonrich are saying. @Mascot for instance makes an excellent point about wages. Higher wages, better hours , would reduce the cost of UC.
This seems to be a signifiant domestic security issue in the UK.
MI5 having made more than 50 arrests is absolutely bonkers, since it shows massive Iranian activity inside the UK, and makes one very skeptical that the UK government has control of foreign hostile intelligence operations.
https://x.com/FaytuksNetwork/status/2109988500342821059
It clearly also then, shows a big cultural problem where it is adamant that police makes greater effort in combating propaganda in British Mosques. Someone has been lax, that seems clear.
Very serious
It assumes that ideology is the primary motive for people carrying out attacks. It’s actually much cheaper and effective for overseas players simply to pay some local ne’erdowells to carry out attacks on their behalf. At least vandalism and arson.
As it is, most Mosques are already on the lookout for extremists, because they don’t want them anywhere near them. However, the online risk is more of an issue, and that is as likely to affect “Christian” extremists as much as anyone else.
But it is how they often operate, mate. By infiltrating a mosque, then finding those there that are vulnerable to their message . I am hardly speaking of the Imams here. And ideology is known to be the main motivator for angry Muslims. Then you have the criminals who wants to cleanse themselves for a worthy cause (see ISIS). It is also well known that Iran uses non-ideological criminals enmasse, such as the swedish criminal group Foxtrott and more (it’s run by Kurds) but I don’t understand why it’s important to discard the idea that not only a lot of shia, but also a lot of sunni, are very angry and susceptible for recruitment (they may not even know who they are working for, they may think it is for “Palestine”; and you might have read the litle drummer girl ).
As for “Christian” extremists, I have no time for them, but they are not a very big security risk when it comes to working for hostile states in the same way; so I find you mentioning them a bit irrelevant to be frank. Sure, you have some who would willingly work for Russia due to pathriarcal 1950 ultra macho culture and the restoration of Rome blah blah, but they are very few.
Note: I am not discarding your point, apart from the Christian extremist thing, which I find irrelevant. Because you are right, often it is not ideologically motivated, but usually when it comes to jihadi culture, it at least plays a role. The profile of someone acting for Iran is not necesarilly the same as someone acting for Russia (like payed Ukrainian refugees, and i.e. criminals and traitors).
I lived in Scotland long enough to know that “Christian” extremists are most likely to cause you trouble!
It definitely is a problem, though. It’s not coming from the Church of England, Catholics, or even the Wee Frees as far as I know. Again, it seems to be driven online and coming from US Evangelicals.
It’s been a problem for a while, but there does seem to be a growing threat. It’s worth noting that those participating are likely NOT to be churchgoers, but are hanging their violence on a Christian identity.
I never claimed they were not trouble. You may have misunderstood me. But I want to remind you that I posted about Iranian attempts to attack military and civilian installations through (possibly proxies, or recruited people). I am specifically talking about spy work, not general unpleasant racist rabble (who can certainly kill or commit terror).
I claimed that they are not a main security threat when it comes to running errands for a foreign state, such as sabotage of civilian or military installations and etc.
But notably, if the US becomes an enemy (not impossible in the future), then I too would worry a lot about the christian right wing. But when it comes to operating for foreign states, they are not my main worry at this point in time. They are a terror threat, but that is not what I was talking about or wanted to highlight.
In any case, this conversation is useful, I think. But once again, I am not discarding “terror threats” from “Christian” extremists. They have are along with islamists, the biggest terror threat. But in this case, I am only talking about working for hostile states. And then Russia, Iran and China are the main worries, as any public intelligence report would tell you. Again, states and spy work specifically.
