Official thread: ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper released Tuesday 26th November

apple85

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/966180#Comment_966180

that’s very kind of you

Fortunately I’ve had a strategy in place for weeks - the only thing I didn’t plan for was the letter being lost in the post for 6 weeks! (Just need to hope 7 weeks is enough time to get appointments with certain resources to ensure things go through smoothly)

(which was stupid of me as the only dwp letters I’ve gotten in the post that haven’t been lost/delayed by a minimum of 3 weeks from the date in the head of the letter were the 2 letters notifying me of my current award being downgraded and the letter years back trying to sanction me for not turning up to a jobcentre appointment (funny story - I turned up but my work coach was sick…….thankfully she cleared things up) - to the outsider they’d think I was quoting conspiracies or pulling their leg but the number of odd ‘coincidences’ and experiences with the dwp that only belong in fiction in hindsight im surprised I defended the labour figures now in charge of the dwp as much as I did)

I know there’s a lot of talk that things will be fairer under labour and you’ll be able to try things with no risk - however by no way are labour guaranteed to win the next ge and I’ve lost count of the amount of times in both esa and dla/pip assessments that I’ve lost points and the accessor notes state the reason was that I was ‘able’ to do x, y and z 10, 15 or even over 20 years ago (and often reword things to match their narrative rather than history in reality)

The thing that scares me is that even if labour do provide this safety net to try things and you work through fears to do so - if the tories and/or reform win the next election (and even if they do) the dwp has a way in logicing that what you where able to do in the past, you can do no problem in the present (which we all know is bull when disability is involved and occurs) and my logic is if the dwp has pulled that **** from my 15+ year back history it’s going to be child’s play pulling the same trick if I tried to jump hoops (successful or epic fail) the matter of a couple of years to months previously

i Basically see 3 options for those of us on this forum on esa or uc and not in work when it comes to labour reform ideas (excluding protesting, legal cases, the general fight for fairness etc as that will happen regardless)

• you embrace the reforms (if they are fair) and push yourself with the aim to move off esa/uc - for that to be an option you have to trust the ppl in charge of the dwp and labour leadership itself……………..I think not only don’t a number of us not trust labour under starmer, but we are openly questioning if they are bad or even worse than tories or reform (if a coup on starmer happens within the next 2.5 years I’m open to reassess my stance as there are decent labour mps that I do trust……..just not many in current frontbencher minister jobs
  
  
• You concentrate your effects in maintaining as high disability/sickness welfare awards as to be quite frank the assessment process and stress and worry is a full time occupation. The problem is that it safe option on the system is to do nothing unless your work coach gives you no other option and even then do the bare minimum (and that feels so dirty to say because that is basically the benefit ‘scrounger’ strategy of choice)

• you ‘bend’ the rules and do things to better yourself unofficially (aka not telling dwp or work coach) - I won’t expand on this as it is dodgy territory and it’s up to every individual what is a bend, what’s a break and if they are okay with either (I think my autism makes me Uber want to follow rules to a t…..however they need to make at least a little sense/logic - the dwp break and twist their own rules all the time and have made things unfair on disabled claimants -however I would never undeclare savings or lie about being in paid employment or fake a disability,etc….as 2 wrongs don’t make a right)

To me the answer is obvious in terms of labour gaining trust amongst disabled claimants (and I do think it may result in more disabled claimants in work in the long run as a knock on effect)

Change having to declare activities (such as volunteering, trying work experience and even studying (such as a distance learning qualification)) to your work coach/dwp as OPTIONAL

Right now it’s mandatory and if you officially declare these activities you currently risk losing your current benefit award or triggering reassessment and many disabled are caught up with wanting to better themselves but also doing things the correct way and also not wanting their welfare award that they need to survive - it’s a terrible catch 33

the thing is that with labours employer ni changes the number of jobs will be reduced alongside existing jobs being cut - there won’t be enough jobs for everyone and a disabled person isn’t usually an employers first preference as to treat us fairly will cost them more money than our abled counterparts. There are not enough paid jobs but there is also a national shortage of unpaid volunteers in many sectors which because of increased flexibility when compared to paid employment and to me this is a 2 birds one stone option and a possible way disabled claimants who can’t work health wise maybe able to contribute to society safely

(for example look at some under stress sectors - care home workers are overloaded and if ppl volunteered in visiting and socialising with the residents that would probably take some of the stress off the staff - another examples is our schools, there are not enough teachers to go around. When I was young in both primary and secondary school a number of parents or even volunteers would come and help provide one to one help on certain things if a child needed it and it doesn’t seem to be done anymore which is silly as it really did work - and yes some of you will bring up safety however police checks document on yourself to show place you want to volunteer I’m pretty sure is still a cheap and simple process)

Also disabled children and adults often aren’t offered the same education and training opportunities as our abled counterparts so we end up less qualified and employers are less likely to want to put in the work training us (esp if it’s on the job and they have to pay us whilst doing it) - also you can’t study and qualify for universal credit (well you can if you have a disability element I think but if you start studying that may trigger reassessment and you may lose your award as a result which is counterproductive). On the educators side there needs to be more flexibility (such as more distance learning options - pandemic showed it could be done - and qualifications such as degrees split into shorter part (it is already done but very few offer it), a disabled person may find it too much to do a 3 year degree on site but doing one stage (of 3) at a time full or part time then taking a small break may be doable. Also employers are more likely to offer disabled ppl work experience if they don’t have to pay us (just be very clear of the terms of the arrangement and don’t let them take the mickey)

the irony is that the biggest block to work and contribution to society for many disabled claimants is the dwp themselves - trust between the dwp and disabled is at its lowest and under labour that’s not changing - disabled will never trust dwp if they continue treating us as toddlers on leash’s - making officially declaring activities such as the above would be a step in the right direction

(Another conversation altogether but I do think non mandatory disability id cards needs to be consider as someone’s ’disabled’ status based on a wca just isn’t fair and isn’t working - the ‘perks’ of the welfare system isn’t just limited to the cash………..for example the minimum income floor being disregarded if on lcw or lcwra - opening up this disregard to those with a disability id card could open so many doors as self employment is vital to be made more possible if labour are serious about getting more disabled into work - there has been an increase in support group/lcwra awards as money and ‘rule’ wise wrag/lcw group is nearly the same as having no award at all these days……………..if a disability id card was a way to gain some of the benefits of being in the support group not related to the award money I think a few wouldn’t put themselves through the wca assessment process as what sane person would put themselves through that if there were other options with affordable sacrifice so to speak)