Interesting snippets from the Labour conference

it’s at most 50:50

There are reason why some people aren’t so bothered if pip goes means tested and/or gets absorbed into uc

I think a lot of people have no intention to work and/or try to come off benefits like uc

Some may think that the dwp plans will exempt them (bcos they have a lifelong disability rather than long term sickness - I’ve noticed a few scope members trying to read between those lines)

And some are single ppl living alone (and not of state pension age which is taxable income) where the welfare system is more straightforward then if you were a couple and/or have children under 16?

If it hashes out that way for the ppl thinking like the above then because uc is already means tested, for their scenario pip going means tested would not affect them one jolt!

But listening to starmer/reeves/kendall quotes this week I’m not sure how many disabled will be 100% fully exempt from this push to find (hopefully suitable) work - I’ve noticed in past easy to read dwp pdfs on helping disabled ppl into work that they included quite a few stock images of ppl with Down’s syndrome (which I think most of us would recognise as a lifelong effecting disability) so my gut feeling is that I think the majority of us will be expected to explore options and/or test out the waters as a bare minimum

now there are 3 types of means tested the dwp use:

1. Calculated and based on income
2. calculated and based on savings (and assets……..though currently your main home/resistance where you live is excluded)
3. calculated and based on both income and savings/assets

For reference universal credit is means tested both based on income and savings/asset

using an example - the downside of being a single person living alone is that current award of uc + hb is most likely significantly less than a couple or a person with children so using the uc tapered earning rates if that person was deemed to able to work full time (at least on minimum wage) the majority of single people would lose all their uc entitlement once all the tapering is calculated (for those saying a lcwra or lcw saying they can earn some money before tapering kicks in - that’s true…………..but how long do you expect to continue getting those elements if the dwp know you work full time)

As many have pointed out, employers aren’t exactly queuing up to hire those with disabilities of all varieties so for starmer and co to have any chance to get a sizeable number of disabled in the workplace then Dwp suggesting and providing support for freelance/self employment will play a massive part - problem is after 1 grace year the dwp calculates your income using the ‘minimum income floor’ (which uses the highest amount of ‘min wage x 35 hours a week’ or your actual earnings to calculate uc award amount) - there aren’t many self employment making a good profit by the start of year 2 so that’s an obvious issue

point is that if pip goes means tested in the same way uc currently then there’s a good chance that those disabled working full time would likely no longer be entitled for a pip award (esp if you were on standard care and/or mobility rate) and those working part time would likely have any pip weekly amount significantly reduced if tapering plays a part

With scope saying that disabled people need over an additional £1000 to have the same minimum quality of life as our abled counterparts it’s clear how vital pip is to working disabled pip

And if labour press ahead with their massive ‘get disabled into workplace’ push than Pip staying NON means tested is essential and non negotiable imo

I think later this week I’ll start a new thread where members can make suggestions what would help/not help them try and find work

It’s obvious the labour is making this push to get those on long term sickness benefits into work a huge part of their strategy to get the uk back on its feet and functioning well (so they have a huge amount riding on ppl from us jumping through hoops…………….dont know about the rest of you but I’m no circus animal and the vindictive side of me doesn’t really want to help out the labour spreadsheets) - point is the disabled actually hold a decent number of cards on whether labour get re-elected next GE both directly and as a knock on effect.

It’s therefore mind boggling that Kendall hasn’t appointed any disabled people or a representative from a disability charity to the board that are going to make all the vital choices of labours upcoming strategy

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/labour-makes-unthinkable-and-exclusionary-decision-to-sideline-disabled-people-from-dwp-inactivity-board/

Im hoping that disability charities are booking meetings with the likes of Kendall, timm and McGovern (and starmer/reeves if it can be swung) to talk about all this and suggest ideas that protects disabled and where everyone (us and government) all succeed

Before that charities like scope needs to be talking directly to disabled ppl asap (as they are basically being the disability community voice in all this) to get an idea on what WE need if we have any chance of being able to work with the gov on these plan (either by choice or otherwise) via a very speedy consultation, focus groups or chats on forums like this one

that’s my 2 cents

(Hope one of the scope mods can pass on that thought to someone higher up the scope management chain)