Green Paper Discussion (from 24th March, 2025)
Comments
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Totally understand that my neighbours we all moved in the same time same age lived beside each other 25 years she's a manager she works for dwp and was saying about changes and she said to me your such a kind caring person I could see you as a carer I felt so sad and embarrassed I never compare myself to anyone but I did then her and her husband bought thier house I can see it's her time in her life and my life is in my room with the curtains drawn I know people say it's never to late and I understand that but I just don't have the capability to do what people find normal I really understand I have autism not diagnosed but makes such sense I'm a complete loner I live in my head anyways can go on and on but yes I think it starts from birth for some people if your natured you grow if your pushed down you get broken regrets I have a few but as the song goes all we have is here and now
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It's easy to drift to other topics I do it all the time not intently
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That 50 pence is your pocket money 💰
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Dear Scope Community,
It saddens me deeply to see tension and disagreement emerging among us, especially around who deserves disability benefits. I completely understand how passionate and personal these topics are-we are all navigating difficult circumstances, especially with the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming Green Paper and Spring Statement proposals .
But now, more than ever, is the time for unity. We need to stand together against the proposed welfare changes that affect us, our families, and our futures,not against each other. Every person’s disability experience is unique, whether visible or hidden, and deserves to be met with empathy and understanding.
I also feel that some discussions,particularly those drifting toward political systems abroad,may not help us constructively at this moment, and can be emotionally draining to many. Speaking personally, I’ve found some recent comments affecting my wellbeing.
Please know that I say this with kindness and respect to everyone here. This community has always been a place of safety and support for me and everyone on this forum , and I share this out of care, not criticism.
Let’s try to refocus our energy on supporting each other with compassion and shared strength, and steer the conversation back to the core purpose of this thread.
With warmth and solidarity12 -
Well said, @noonebelieves 🙂
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beginning of the end for Starmer ?
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Welfare reform in the United Kingdom (2010-Present)
Reforms
Legislation
- Welfare Reform Act 2012
Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016- Housing and Planning Act 2016
- Welfare in the United Kingdom
- United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2016
- This page was last edited on 27 March 2025, at 10:27 (UTC).
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Sorry to hear you have been affected and I agree we have to unite. However I just want to say my opinion.
If we don't do something about it then it definitely will be who deserves it and who doesn't because the 4 point descriptor will hit hard and it is designed to hit hard. It will be who is more disabled and who isn't. It will be who is more effective at the point scoring and who isn't. It will be the haves and the have nots. Millions will suffer. This is almost very close to happening. They are trying to make it happen. Those that say nothing is happening right now, nothing is for certain, well, they are going ahead with it aren't they?
It will be who is more disabled and whose disability deserves financial help and whose doesn't. That is what the reforms are all about this is why they designed it.
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Thanks @Girl_No1 🙏🏽
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I think the last thing any of us want is to be assessed by work coaches, unless you're thinking of ones that are fully qualified doctors and psychiatrists.
A lot of work coaches have no understanding of mental issues, and there's a lot of work coaches who are unsympathetic and unempathetic.
I have had experiences with most work coaches that I've seen where after I have tried to explain my issues to them it is as though it has just gone in one ear and out the other, they will still continue to treat me as though there is nothing wrong with me and expect me to do things I cannot do.
For example, after explaining to one how I suffer from depression, social anxiety, and how I find it very hard to cope with a lot of regular situations that most other people can cope with, he suggested that I become a security guard! A mentally fragile person being expected to stand around somewhere in public and to tackle criminals?
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Obviously they would need to be trained and the culture would have to change. You can't have the culture we have currently with work coaches otherwise no one will qualify for disability. My thinking was it is better if the local work coaches in peoples own areas deal with claimants because circumstances in cities and rural areas are very different. Transport, finances, investment, jobs etc. That was my thinking. Personally I would not want to go to a work coach either, I get that. They would have to train people up to deal with disability if they are talking about reforming, that is what a reform should be shouldn't it?
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Is it possible to divert the Trump posts here to the correct thread please.
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Forgot to mention the £97 to £47 for LCWRA. That is another thing no one dares talk about it.
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I don't disagree that the MSM can be biased, which is why it's good to read across the papers and compare sources. The only way you get to truth is by doing that. Believing in one person/politician uncritically is very dangerous. If you really support someone's way of doing things you should also be willing to hold them to account - otherwise you are only taking one side of the story as well.
And you shouldn't ever just rely on social media, because social media is far MORE biased and more of an echo chamber than the MSM. This is because of algorithms, which give you more posts similar to what you were already reading and reacts to what you like reading. It does not give you a balanced view, which is why you should use as many sources as possible to verify what is true.I didn't vote Labour and I am angry about what they are doing. At the same time, I realise that the Tories and Reform would do more harm to disabled people if they were in power, so it worries me when people think that getting rid of Labour would solve all our problems. It won't. We have very few positive options, politically, as disabled people.
I'm not going to comment on Trump because it's another country's politics. I also know people over there going through a very bad time/lost their job etc however.Apologies if that is still off topic but I feel like it's relevant in all the political frustration - remembering to check data and corroborate information across different sources no matter what the issue.
If anything, what we should be concerned about is how little MSM coverage there is now of the benefit cuts, as if it's someone else's problem and not as important as the financial implications of Trump's tariffs. These are all economic issues.
I do think that we should be challenging the idea of economically inactive as well. There is a difference between being not employed and not contributing to the economy. There will be further implications to cutting these payments if people are no longer to contribute to the economy by buying necessities and such. But there's nothing from the govt on that impact.3 -
26 years for me. When I was last in the job centre which was in around 2019, they said we have to do something about the massive gap in your CV, and they also said don't say at any job interviews that you've not been able to work for all these years because of being ill.
So, I guess I'm supposed to just lie at job interviews then and pretend I'm normal with no issues even though that's not true.
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It seems like they may want us to lie but I will not do that.
I will be truthful and tell them I was granted early ill health retirement from my career because it was agreed that I am unable to undertake any paid employment
All reasonable adjustments were tried and failed
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I'd feel like I'd have no choice but to lie because I guess if I told the truth it'd get back to the work coach and I'd be sanctioned.
A lot of people on here say if we're forced into jobs what employer would want to take us on since we're so ill? But I'm guessing the work coaches will expect you to play things down and pretend you're not that ill so you get the job, otherwise sanctioned.
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Same here.
Medically retired, after all reasonable adjustments failed. No expectation I would be able to undertake gainful employment prior to retirement age.
Light touch review on PIP.
Support Group- NS-ESA.
I'd be equally humiliated and enraged if some 18yo, medically unqualified, 'Job Coach' was to attempt to tell me what jobs I could/should be doing.
Perhaps that's their aim?
To humiliate us into stopping claiming our current benefits?
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What you've said is spot on @noonebelieves 👌👏💪
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After all the posts about Trump, that have appeared on the Green Paper Discussion thread, may I make a suggestion that a separate thread could be created for news and current affairs that would be general and not related to our benefits and all the issues they raise? 🤔
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