Upcoming changes to benefits
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Yes.. it’s early days yet but I’m going to write cross party tomorrow to Lib, Lab,Green and my own SNP MP. Then I’ll consider writing to a few members of the Lords.
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These cuts of welfare that evil witch reeves wants to cut for her own failings, would they be cut straight away? Also the green paper how does it work out with these cuts she's planning. Also the change to how pip would work by that questionnaire I filled in ,is that coming into play or is that now scuppered because of her cuts
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I've been self harming about these changes, im utterly terrified, of what they will do.
Been scared for the last few weeks about this and very very nervous and scared about what will happen.
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Today's Times story suggests to me they are now just throwing 'ideas' in the hope somebody somewhere likes something (unlikely, I suspect).
The same paper also reports that while there is high support for the idea of those on disability benefits being interviewed about work, only 20% support the idea of the disabled facing financial cuts. If true, the audience Labour is appealing to is not a particularly large one.
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please Kaliwax please don’t hurt yourself, I know it’s dreadful and that you think you are alone but your not, we all have to stay as strong as possible and fight this as best we can. Please stay safe.
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it’s just too much talking about abolishing the wca, lcwra, forcing people into engaging with the job centre, only face to face wca, changing criteria so people like me with mental illnesses don’t qualify. I don’t know where else to post but I’m so completely fed up and depressed that I wish I never had kids so I could just end my life without consequence
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Me?
3 reasons I won't worry
- I refuse to worry about the DWP or government on principle after They caused.me s suicide attempt years ago, they now get no second of my time or peace.
2. I've had a very hard and shocking life from being abused both sexually as a child and psychologically as an adult , I watched my nan die in front of me and just last Saturday Nearly lost my mum (my only family) to a cardiac arrest so I am a very tough and stubborn person and unlike labour know what's really important in life.
3. No I don't believe very much will make it into law we've been here before a few times and when even Osborne,IDS and a Blair crony all say it won't work then that's the real hard proof that shows it really won't.
please be kind to yourself and try enjoy your weekend best you can 💛
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No - any cuts would take months/years to implement - they have so many layers of legislation and beurocracy to get past first !
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I agree scope is amazing everyone amazing Like yourself this has been my lifeline I've learnt so much still get my days but noting like when I joined I was in bits
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I think that applies to new claims not legacy I think it moves over with you and alot of people on here said it won't happen overnight so I hope we move over with lwcra
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@YogiBear So like me you get less ESA that income-related ESA. Most of my ESA money is because I am Support Group/LCWRA. I think I Stand to lose about £400 per month. It's going to kill me. I'm alone without family.
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Thank you
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Here’s John Mac’s piece in the Guardian.. there’s also piece in I paper based on IDS’s thoughts but I can’t get through paywall🤔
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/15/benefit-cuts-labour-mps-disabled-sick
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Has anyone told reeves that she will blood on her hands if these cuts are implemented. That people won't be able to cope anymore. And starmer, although he is like a dictator from the 1930s , he wouldn't care
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It really bugs me that whilst the government wants to freeze PIP - State Pensions are still increasing by 4.1% per year (and have been for several years and will continue to rise) - so they see the Elderly as much more important than disabled people.
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@Nightcity you too, I really hope your mum is on the mend 🙏. The PIP people almost made me completely lose the plot in Sept 23 totally giving me the runaround and lying on their report I ended up ringing the coroner's office ranting and they sent the police to me (like a welfare check really). But the police coming probably saved my life, i won't give detail but the DWP /PIP and my former boss tipped me right over an edge. The police were very kind but how embarrassing. It is very scary as I know I won't agree commitments for say jobseekers if combined/attached to LCWRA or PIP as I've no intention of even considering working until my bowel problems are fixed until they are I can't go anywhere and they can all go to hell basically. I spoke to Samaritans this morning (not just re all this thats going on), when going through stuff he said you sound like you've really got a fighting spirit and I'm glad I rang them and they reminded me of that. I'm upset because I don't feel my shoulders are very broad at the moment and it all just weighs very heavily when you're unwell at the same time. Just recovering from diverticulitis again after having double pneumonia for 7 wks, it's never ending. I've not even wrote letters yet I'm going to try and do them tomorrow and send a lot of emails. Take good care everybody ❤️ I thank God or whoever for Scope x
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finally the media (including far right) report on the worst political timing since partygate (and the ‘perfect storm’ many of the disabled had feared for months now)
Hope the general public can see the worst case scenario of ‘2+2’ for themselves now (anyone can become disabled at any time - some cruel individuals in society could find their words come back to bite them if life serves them a ‘curveball’)
If the woman wasn’t already a dame I’d say dame her again - TGT is a huge asset to the disabled community 💖
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@Maggie37 Here's a copy/paste:
"What’s the point of a Labour MP who votes for something so cruel, tin-eared and short-sighted?
Treating disabled and sick people callously flies in the face of all the party stands for – the government must rethink its plans
Sat 15 Mar 2025 09.30 GMTShare753
Emails are pouring into MPs’ boxes from disabled people and carers, who are truly frightened by the suggestions from government sources and ministers’ speeches that the benefits they rely on are to be cut.
The latest comments to a journalist from someone described as a “government insider” demonstrate starkly what a tin ear some ministers have on this issue. This person accused Labour MPs who are expressing their constituents’ concerns about proposals to cut benefits of “pearl clutching”.
It’s clear that some politicians have learned nothing from the winter fuel payment debacle that is still being raised angrily on the doorstep with Labour canvassers. More importantly, they appear to have learned nothing from the introduction of the work capability assessment for disabled people, associated with nearly 600 suicide deaths in England between 2010 and 2013.
As so many have said, the callousness of this treatment of disabled and sick people is not the Labour way. It prompts the question: why become a Labour MP if you are to vote for a policy that flies in the face of all that Labour has ever stood for?
We’ve heard that there is a moral argument to justify the government’s plans. There is definitely a strong moral argument for providing professional and empathetic support to help people get into work if they are capable of doing so. There is no moral case for propelling even more people into poverty by cutting benefit levels, or denying access to financial support to those who have no alternative.
The lack of understanding and empathy in the government’s policy planning and articulation has been shocking. Report after report has been published by thinktanks and specialist charities, including the Institute for Employment Studies, the Resolution Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, to explain the plight of sick and disabled people; how the numbers have risen and the best ways to tackle this issue.
Although people are living longer, they are not necessarily living longer healthy lives. The increase in the retirement age has meant that many simply cannot physically manage to work until their retirement age. The rise in young people claiming benefits for sickness and disability, especially related to mental health conditions, has to be understood in the context of this austerity generation coming on to the books.
Throughout my time as shadow chancellor, I, along with many charities and professional bodies, highlighted the impact the massive cuts in social care were having. They prevented those early interventions to support families and young people by social workers and expert specialists that could identify and tackle emerging problems before they worsened.
We are now reaping the cumulative impact of the austerity measures sown by Tory chancellors. Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, gets all this and appeared to be working to design a system whose underlying principle was supporting sick and disabled people, not penalising them. She recognised that this needs investment in the short term to bring the professional resources together, but that it would pay off in the longer term.
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, obviously gets it because he was putting in place an extra 8,500 mental health workers to address the mental illness challenges we have within our society.
All that meaningful, positive, policy preparation seems to be being ridden over roughshod by the Treasury, whose demand for cuts appears to have risen from the £3bn planned by the Tories to £6bn now. The obsessive and misjudged adherence to out-of-date fiscal rules by the Treasury is knocking this government off course.
Ruling out increased taxes on the wealthiest when groups such as the Patriotic Millionaires are calling for them also appears dogmatic and foolish. And with such an overwhelming majority in the Commons, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have no fear of losing any votes in parliament.
However, many Labour MPs are waking up to the fact that moves such as cutting the winter fuel payment, and now disability benefits, could very easily lose them their seats. Reform UK could exploit the unpopularity of these policies and build a base in their constituencies to springboard into the next election.
There are only a few days left before the publication of the green paper on welfare benefits and just over a week before the spring statement.
There is still time for the Labour cabinet to act like a cabinet, and for its members to stand up to the Treasury to halt the cuts in benefits to the sick and disabled, and to insist on a more flexible interpretation of the fiscal rules and a limited set of tax measures. That would follow Starmer’s guiding principle that the broadest shoulders should bear the heaviest burden."
- John McDonnell is MP for Hayes and Harlington. He was Labour’s shadow chancellor from 2015 to 2020
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Big hug back X
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"Labour" can go on as much as they like about "work sets you free". There are not enough jobs out there. The stats show there are more job seekers than there are jobs. Due to the businesses national insurance rises, no one can afford to hire people.
Where are all these jobs going to come from if they do move us all over to the search group...
Funding has been cut for programmes that help you into work.
Also removing autism from pip when there is only a very small amount of autistic people in work in this country. The national autistic society says there are only 22% of autistic adults in paid work.
I have autism and severe mental health issues. I was working in the nhs, they refused to make reasonable adjustments. I tried, I got union rep and HR involved. My manager still said "it's unfair to other people" I literally asked for two simple things... but whatever I couldn't fight anymore. I tried and tried. I even spoke to the lead in inclusion and disability for my trust. She was as helpful as a toilet brush. In the end I quit while I was off sick again for my mental health and then a month later went into hospital again. I've tried to end my life several times over the years, been in and out of hospital, been sectioned, been in police cars taken to a place of safety.
No workplace has ever been understanding. There's just no point anymore. I've had to go off sick several times in jobs, I've ended up in hospital while still being employed. No employer actually gives a **** about you, I've been treated appallingly.
Where are all the jobs that will employ disabled people let alone make any reasonable adjustments. The whole thing is a load of ****, it isn't about helping us into work, it's about cutting all our money so we don't live.
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