Quote:
Originally Posted by MissKittyFantastico
Unfortunately yes I think they are, however the way they are talking about tackling the welfare budget is all wrong. Granted something needs to be done to fix this problem of people being better off on benefits than they are in work, and catching out the cheats but people with genuine problems are going to suffer terribly.
I was just reading there that they are going to limit the length of time that the long term sick can claim incapacity benefit to six months to a year and they will then be forced onto either Jobseekers or ESA (which as far as I was aware was designed for people who are able to go back into work at some point in the future. The levels of payment will be a lot lower on ESA, and why the hell should genuine, long term and even terminally ill people receive less money? Bearing in mind you don't even get your prescriptions paid for if you are on incapacity, which is just ludicrous.
Also these new medical assessments for incapacity and ESA are meant to have even less mental health related criteria, with questions like 'can you count backwards from 100' and if you can walk 200 metres unaided then you are deemed fit for work. This means that people with genuine mental health problems are going to be deemed fit for work and shunted onto Jobseekers Allowance when they are actually in no fit state to even be looking for work. 40% of claimants with mental health issues win their appeal against decisions made to stop their benefits, doesn't that tell you how woefully ignorant the DWA are on this subject? And it's only going to get worse.
I agree that cuts do need to be made, but it seems to me that once again it's the poorest and more vulnerable that will be made to suffer, rather than the fat cat bankers that got us into this mess in the first place.
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Agreed, the most vulnerable in society are in for a rough time, it really saddens me...thats what you get when we're not all in it together, we're getting robbed and creamed off by the fat cats who have created their own society and couldnt give a **** about the rest of us aslong as we work for them
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...arder-says-ifs