Scope's reply to the governments planned concessions to the green paper.
Comments
-
we'll have to wait and see as liz kendall is giving all the details of the concessions on monday.hopefully we will get clarity on whats going to happen.
0 -
The user and all related content has been deleted.0
-
Right so that's that then people in the position that I'm in of being on CBESA / LCWRA but no pip will be assessed under the new 4 point criteria then .... Absolutely criminal , these concessions have changed nothing for us then
0 -
The user and all related content has been deleted.0
-
@Trevor_PIP You do seem to quite like quoting (as does @mawempathy) of all of the increases in benefits' claimants, particularly emphasising the increases since the Covid lockdown and asserting a link to fraudulent activity.
You do realise don't you [both of you], that as at c March 2023, there were c 1.9 million people suffering from Long Covid in this country - c 1.8 % of the population and 71% suffering from it over a year later. Why are you choosing to ignore that in your utterances of fraud and lockdown? I'll leave you to do your own research on that - Government has done so, as have the University of Oxford. The information/evidence is there for you to avail yourself of it. Or maybe just remain blinkered and ignorant of the facts. Your conscience, your call.
You might want to more fully inform yourself of the reasons for increases in benefits claimants instead of the usual claptrap that I expect to hear from Government, not the users of a disability support charity. Your comments, and your choice to be ignorant of facts are, I find, utterly offensive and repugnant.
I would bet my life on it you were out their, banging your pans in support of the NHS and carers. These same, dedicated, brave men and women (BTW, never thought of myself in that vein but yes, I was, and I will never regret it, in whatever life I have left, the care I gave the night I caught it, to seven who all tragically passed away) well we've all become a big part of those very statistics you're so ready to spout off about - ie the benefits claimants that you choose to ignore or castigate - many of whom will have been not only very severely affected, but find the damage never allows them to turn their health or life back round to any degree or semblance of normality.
Those, like I, whose health has been decimated by coronavirus for what will be five years in November, always thought would improve over time but the reality is far, far different. You can't be expected to have a clue that that's the reality for many people and that's fine. Be grateful you don't.
That reality which includes excruciating pain and, to spare you the graphics of it, bits and bobs of your body ending up in other areas it shouldn't be. It is beyond belief the horror of exactly what it does. You want to learn? Ask, I don't mind not sparing you the detail.
But please. Please use what facts are already widely available to be responsible and with a bit of humanity, instead of taking a simplistic view that lockdown has just caused everyone to sit on their a**es and become lazy and fraudulent.
Finally, before I'm told to 'play nicely' that needed saying so consider yourself told: sorry, but, most definitely, not sorry. It might suit Government to ignore/leave people behind, we all know of them whether it's the Post Office Subpostmaster's, the infected blood scandal or us, Long Covid sufferers including us, healthcare workers who were denied PPE, but it should be called out loud and clear. Be glad I didn’t lose my voice.
9 -
I give up .... at least I know what's what now ....November 2026 the new pip criteria won't apply to us no matter if we're assessed before or after that date it will still be with the WCA , it's when the WCA gets scrapped in 2028 / 2029 is when it will affect us and we will have too take the new 4 point criteria .... I'll just keep taking the WCA until it gets abolished , I should get one more as I'm 3 and a half years overdue so I will be getting one before the WCA gets scrapped , if they start in April 2026 again I'm hoping I can go without one till beginning of 2027 , then pass it and get a 2 year award meaning that will take me till beginning of 2029 , then I'll just take it from there 😩 absolutely nothing has changed whatsoever , these concessions mean nothing for us , it's vile what they are doing .... Obviously the most are happy with this , all the ones that have dropped out of the rebellion are cowards
1 -
mate, sorry to say but you don’t know what you are talking about.
Why say lockdown rather than pandemic?Why not mention the state of the NHS and other public services?
There were more than 2 million people affected with long Covid, a new disease that no one knows the long term effects of it for a start.
As a % of GDP, the UK government is spending the same amount on working-age benefits as it was in 2015. This stands at around 5% and is not projected to change by 2030. This is because we have seen deep cuts to benefits like Universal Credit alongside the increase in people claiming health and disability benefits.
Look at the facts rather than speak out based on your personal impressions or prejudices.
4 -
I’d also encourage you to start doing some research on how much money does the UK government spends on disability benefits compared to other European countries as per %GDP.
These cuts are a cost cutting exercise to balance the books. That’s all this is.
1 -
The population of disabled people is something like 16 million, of which around 3 million claim PIP. That's an indication that most disabled people don't claim PIP/have been refused. PIP is notoriously underclaimed. I can't speak about ESA/UC as I have never claimed it. But official DWP figures on PIP fraud is 0.2%. 1000 people may be applying for PIP each day. There is no proof all, or even any of them are awarded.
When I went through my shift from DLA to PIP my then support worker told me she had several people who were so traumatised by the initial first rejection they could not appeal even though they had all the evidence. She admired me for fighting on - but that fight left me with a healthy fear of dealing with the DWP. The number of mistakes in my case were so many that my disability advisor at the time suggested I find a lawyer. That was a 'face to face' review. (Sidenote, but face to face reviews are also not suitable for all disabled people, and if doing everything the same way puts someone disabled at a disadvantage, it is technically in breach of Equalities legislation).
I went to tribunal, which was utterly unnecessary and that lengthy process also cost me in employment terms because it prevented me from completing some academic aspects that ultimately have kept me from pursuing the career path I intended.My review was done over the phone with my advocate, it was a lot less stressful and there was a lot less fighting. It was a relief to have my case handled in that way. Any disabled person who thinks that the way my case was first settled is 'better' because it was face to face is not well informed about the damage unnecessary appeals do to people's lives.
…I am a disabled person who has managed to get back into work. Only 22% of autistic people are in employment, because of systemic ableism (see the Buckland Report), but I managed it. The majority of people who are unemployed for more than a year do not easily find work - but I was in lockdown with my medically vulnerable relative for two years and I still have a job. The government didn't help me with this specifically, but PIP did help me generally :)
…I am frankly so tired of anyone - whether they be disabled or not - casting sweeping judgement on other people's disability experiences or PIP claims when they have no knowledge about anyone else except themselves.
Also, long Covid is a thing. My sister caught COVID at the very start of the pandemic, before they even really knew what it could do. She was one of the lucky ones in that her employer accommodated her working from home as she recovered, and she is now more or less (but not entirely) back to what she was before the pandemic hit. That's five years. It also impacted her asthma which means she now has more asthma medication than she used to. People who underestimate the impact of COVID are frankly just not helpful to the community as a whole.In all other respects, lengthy waiting lists and lack of medical access is a big part of why we see people reaching crisis where they might not have done if they had had support.
Let's not scapegoat each other unnecessarily. Some disabilities are not more valid than others. In this space we should be safe from misinformation and other people's prejudices :)
10 -
The government says, as part of its new concessions, it will increase the health part of Universal Credit in line with inflation, but only for people who meet a very strict definition of having a “severe condition”.
Most people currently receiving the LCWRA element won’t fall into that category under the new rules. I put this to my MP yesterday. She couldn’t answer and said she’d go back to Westminster to get clarification and update me at next week’s meeting.
This is exactly what I have asked her to confirm:
Why thousands of people already receiving the health element support, because they’ve been found to have serious, long-term health problems, will still have their payments frozen from 2026 to 2029, even though they’re not being moved onto the lower rate.
Isn’t that effectively a benefit cut, and how does that square with the government’s claim to be treating disabled people fairly?
I’ve asked my MP to explain who actually qualifies for the so-called ‘severe conditions’ group, because as it stands, there’s no public definition available at all. The system is asking people to meet criteria that haven’t even been clearly set out. If ministers can’t explain the rules, how on earth are claimants expected to navigate them?
She admitted she didn’t know and couldn’t give an answer, but has said she will return to Westminster to seek clarification and get back to me next week.
1 -
You’re absolutely right, these so called “concessions” fall apart under scrutiny. If current claimants will still face the 4-point rule at their next review after November 2026 (though as my MP said yesterday, it could be years away for many claimants depending on when their next review takes place after the new rules come into effect), then the idea that the changes “only apply to new claims” is clearly misleading. That’s exactly how the reforms were going to work before the announcement.
And yes, you’re spot on about the LCWRA element too, there was never a direct cut planned in 2026, just a freeze. So what’s changed? Nothing of substance. If PIP is still being overhauled as planned, and most current UC claimants will lose inflationary protection, then the picture remains exactly as bleak as it was before.
Aside from the small number placed in the Severe Conditions Criteria group, these reforms still offer no meaningful safeguard. It’s spin without substance.
2 -
You are absolutely right to call this out, and your post captures exactly why we cannot let this slide quietly.
This is the moment for everyone affected, or who believes in basic fairness, to hold their MP’s feet to the fire. The government’s claim that “nobody will lose out” rings hollow when people are facing reduced income, harsher criteria, reduced safeguards, and no genuine change from what was already planned.
We must keep the pressure on. Every question asked, every letter sent, every MP meeting matters, because if we don’t stand up and challenge these PIP reforms now, silence will be taken as consent.
3 -
Wes Streeting set to be ‘grilled’ on welfare reforms BBC now with Laura Kuenssberg
0 -
I haven't seen him on the daily mail, but to say stuff like he has he cannot really be claiming PIP .
1 -
This is exactly how i interpreted it from the start, that those in support group ESA will be literally thrown under a bus. Deleted from existence. It’s all about PIP.
1 -
^^^
0 -
Thats fine.
I don't have any recent letters but I sent letters from the past because its verified medical evidence and though technically medical evidence isn't required, I have always been asked if I have been medically diagnosed to which I answered yes I sent evidence and it was referred to in my decision reports.
1 -
I would be delighted if this happened
I hope this is true
2 -
NNeed loads more before Tuesday so they can take to government
0 -
So I just got a letter from DWP telling me that my existing claim expires in December 2025, I got PIP under SR as I was terminal at the time, had an emergency transplant which bought me some time and my medication although keeping me alive is killing me.
There is nothing about a review it tells me that I have to make a new claim for PIP, does this then mean I then have to claim on the new system as in have 4 points for a daily living category with all the new rules, or does that only apply to new people claiming.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 15.7K Start here and say hello!
- 7.4K Coffee lounge
- 101 Games den
- 1.7K People power
- 149 Announcements and information
- 24.7K Talk about life
- 6K Everyday life
- 476 Current affairs
- 2.5K Families and carers
- 889 Education and skills
- 1.9K Work
- 560 Money and bills
- 3.7K Housing and independent living
- 1.1K Transport and travel
- 632 Relationships
- 1.5K Mental health and wellbeing
- 2.5K Talk about your impairment
- 873 Rare, invisible, and undiagnosed conditions
- 935 Neurological impairments and pain
- 2.2K Cerebral Palsy Network
- 1.2K Autism and neurodiversity
- 40.9K Talk about your benefits
- 6.1K Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- 20K PIP, DLA, ADP and AA
- 8.9K Universal Credit (UC)
- 5.9K Benefits and income