Changes to the welfare system - how are you feeling?

independent_ · March 18

As this is a space for young people and some of these changes affect young people (namely under 22s no longer being able to claim the disability part of universal credit and changes to the PIP criteria) I figured it might be good to have a space to talk about how we’re feeling about these changes?

For anyone curious, the full BBC article is here: Benefits crackdown unveiled with aim to save £5bn a year by 2030 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89y30nel59o

The changes primarily affect disabled people and those with mental health issues, so how are you feeling about it all? Are you feeling worried? Angry? Or do you think it is the right thing to do?

To avoid pushing my own opinion, I’ll post it in the comments. I’m interested to hear how people feel about these changes. Interested to hear all opinions and thoughts. Note that, as it’s such a sensitive topic, please be respectful of everyone when discussing this as we’re all from different walks of life here

independent_ · March 18

Now for my personal take on it. A note about me. I’m a 22 year old woman who has been blind since birth. I also have depression among other mental health issues, which, I reckon, is partly related. I am in Scotland, so I receive the enhanced rate of adult disability payment (ADP) the Scottish version of PIP (though I was on PIP for a number of years before this). I also receive the limited capability for work and work related activity (LCWRA) element of universal credit, and have done since I was 18.

The government have stressed that anyone with a long term, incurable condition will be protected. This is likely to mean that I, personally, am not too heavily affected, but at the moment we don’t really know what those protections look like. Also, being in Scotland, we don’t know what it will look like for ADP, but the UC changes will apply to me.

To me it feels like disabled people and people with mental illnesses have become a target. We are seen as the problem, we are taking all the slack. When actually we are the ones that need that welfare support the most.

I broadly agree with welfare reform, in that I do think if people are able to work, they should be given support to do so. But we can’t forget that we live in a broken system, and unless that support is drastically improved, it will mean some disabled people are still trapped in the system with less financial security. Sure, there may well be less reassessments, but the freeze to UC in particular concerns me. People who are actively looking for work are going to be getting more money, whereas people who can’t work are getting less - punished as it were.

And heaven forbid you’re under 22 and disabled, the only support you’ll be able to get then is PIP, and they’re making PIP harder to get hold of (and trust me, it’s bloody hard to get hold of anyway).

Redemption · March 19

I’ve heard about this trending on the news, and I can see why so many people are worried. It feels like the government is making life harder for disabled people instead of fixing the system. Removing support for under-22s and making PIP harder to get will leave many struggling. I agree that people who can work should be supported to do so, we might even need more support with that where people are supported until they end up in a suitable job they secured and can manage, barriers needs but not at the expense of those who truly can’t and it always important to know peoples circumstances. Hopefully, the promised protections will help, but I can see its all very uncertain and concerning. We're here if you need to have any rants or vents or anything about this though.

independent_ · March 19

@TheNightmare you’re absolutely right. People who can work (disabled or not) should be supported into work, whatever that means for them. The problem as well I think is the job market and the attitudes towards disabled people. Before any of this change is meaningful, that needs to change, and that will take a generation.. if it changes at all.

Redemption · March 19

independent_ wrote: »

@TheNightmare you’re absolutely right. People who can work (disabled or not) should be supported into work, whatever that means for them. The problem as well I think is the job market and the attitudes towards disabled people. Before any of this change is meaningful, that needs to change, and that will take a generation.. if it changes at all.

@independent_ yh the attitudes towards disabled people does seem tough and the job market is also tough. There does need be changes and people's voices needs to be looked at.

Amy22 · March 28

Personally for me I have found it not only worrying but worrying for friends I got who claim the extra top up and knowing that it is going to be frozen will make things worse in the mean time for those people who deserve the support they need. Im lucky in a way I managed to get the limited capability for work earlier before they decided to change the whole system. I feel its like the government have completly not acknowledged people with disabilities at all (They started taking money from the pensioners, now they are doing it to the disabled community). Also, what I hate is how sometimes the government like to describe as a 'lazy' generation when in fact we are not because there are hardly any jobs out there at the moment for young people (I speak from experience of this) and also some people may not be able to work either i.e disabilities, mental health etc which is understandable. I totally agree with you all on this because it is just wrong of them to decide this, a lot of people are going to be put into poverty and thats not good at all especially for the disabled community because they deserve as much support as they need in their everyday lives. Im also on PIP too and have been for a while, and I find that they want to make the PIP process even more harder and more off-putting so people decide not to sign up for it which is sad actually. It's going to take a lot of people to be able to change the labour governments mind and I hope something good actually happens because with the state of the UK (yet alone the world really in general) things have been doing down south as they say.

Sian321 · March 30

@independent_ , thank you so much for creating a space here for this discussion. It feels really important to be able to talk about this, and how we're feeling about the up-coming changes. Certainly a lot of worry and uncertainity in the air.

Changes to the welfare system - how are you feeling?

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