Green Paper Discussion (from 24th March, 2025)

Most people think agoraphobic cannot go out at all. That is simplistic and wrong. People with agoraphobia often leave home in certain limited circumstances. You have bravely cited your own. Perhaps the person of whom you write can only venture out alone without the pressure of people around him.

The problem is that, when you start reiterating and validating the idea that 'some people are cheating', you are actually causing harm to disabled people, especially those whose disabilities are less easy to codify in the current system.

The DWP's official stats for fraud in PIP are negligible (0%) and ESA are very low as well. The DWP are not friends to disabled people, and many, many claimants have struggled to prove their claims, gone through tribunals, had issues with assessments and reports…this forum is full of those testimonials. This is good evidence that the DWP is not letting people claim disability benefits or related benefits easily. If even the DWP - who want to monitor our banks for fraud - think there isn't much or even any going on, then it probably isn't.

When disabled people start questioning other disabled people, that's when we lose this fight. It ultimately comes down to - "I know I'm disabled, but I don't know you are, so maybe you're not". Or worse, "My disability affects me like this, but yours affects you differently, so maybe you're not really disabled." These are all ideas floating around at the moment, in the media, on social media, and in comments sections on threads and stories.

This is not a rhetoric we should jump on board with.

Our money goes back into the economy while they get pay rise, claim concert tickets and other things while they themselves never pay for it.