Official thread: ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper released Tuesday 26th November

sorry for not getting back to you @Catherine21 on your question

Honestly the commons vote on Black Friday affected me more than I thought it would and in all frankness if (and it is still an IF) said ‘bill that must not be named’ passes into law it would alter my viewpoint when I mention things like ‘compromise’ as that would signal labour having no interest in ‘fairness’ nor all disabled persons well-being - it’s already difficult enough to entertain ‘trusting’ and working with the dwp but this may close that door entirely for me

Anyways, when I say compromise I am basically asking what would the disabled & labour/dwp want the welfare system to be in an ideal world?

• I imagine many disabled would like to simply sign onto welfare with the paperwork being enough (no phone or face to face assessments) and your health status being believed with no questions asked & no strings attached. No more brown envelopes and being left alone by the dwp and jobcentre (but you can anonymously ask for help doing work IF and when you yourself deem you are ready……if you ever are)………feel free to add or subtract from this ideal claimant wish list summary
• I think what labour/dwp want in their ideal scenario is clear - for the welfare to be significantly reduced (by 50%+) and the amount of claimants to be massively reduced and the number of ppl in jobs and paying taxes to massively increase. I think more perverted members of gov probably wish that disabled ppl in society would just disappear as for obvious reasons we ‘cost’ the state more than our fully abled counterparts

now neither side will get their ideal scenario……….it’s unrealistic and probably impossible

Hence compromise is needed (where both sides both give/concide something but get something we want back…….in an ideal worlds an fair 50:50 split)

Unfortunately labour and the dwp hold significantly more cards than the disabled community on this (not helped by many of the general public being manipulated by right wing press to see disabled as scrounger drains on society and same said public unwillingness to listen to the other side of the reality of being disabled & claiming welfare) - hence picking and choosing battles…….basically what are the priorities on the top of our wish list and also areas you’d be more willing to give the dwp ground on if the circumstances are right

I’ve always said that I will listen to labour if they are being fair and open to compromise and collaboration (a lot of disability charities have welcomed the direction the white paper is going in………but there’s a big BUT on upcoming welfare reforms and cuts which could slam the door on any idea of compromise if it turns out the gov just wants to take huge amounts from the disabled but only offer ‘crumbs’ in return!

the way starmer is running labour (and the increasing feeling of ‘betrayal’ from many quarters of the uk population- not just the disabled) I’m starting to wondering if the (petty) version of myself may just bin all my questions and empathy towards labours uk economy and broken welfare system and replace them with a singular question - if I’m fudged regardless who’s in charge do I want to ‘flip the bird’ at starmer in the show of defiance that I still have control and choice over!

also @Catherine21 - I know how overwhelmed you get and I’d recommend you don’t watch the dispatches tonight…… you gain nothing for knowing the details of what uneducated bullies say about claimants and disabled and the insults are always the same (I’m not going to watch it as I don’t have a tv licence as streaming is cheaper and also it’s crappy Xmas film season and I have a lot of hallmark movies to get through the next 3 weeks - my time is precious 😝)

I’m 90% certain your comment above was aimed at me as I do like looking at the larger long term picture (and know some members aren’t able to but may want to consider it)

I’ve been posting on the scope forum for a good few years and yes the mods have asked me to rephrase some times I post as I can be a very blunt black or white thinker (which for those who don’t know me can sound very brutal and almost ‘kick up the backside’ - but I value being honest which at times may see mean but I certainly don’t want to be mean for the sake of being mean)

When I mentioned the threat of a Tory/reform gov slipping in in 4 years time it’s because from what they’ve quoted in 2024 it sounds like they’ll target every disabled person, including those amazing disabled ppl already working but need pip to remain doing so and those who have worked most of their adult life until disability forced them to stop not out of choice. There are many scope members that clearly want to do more but dwp rules stop them and/or the help isn’t available and it’s very hard to do things alone. But yes there are some people who identify as disabled who when reading between the lines clearly don’t want to give back and only want to take - but the majority of disabled that I talk to are decent ppl and I’m sure they would think about how they can contribute to society in a way that is safe for them but right now because of the way the dwp currently operate that isn’t possible but I for one hope labour legit transforms the dwp/jobcentre culture so more on the scope forum feel safe in having discussions in how to give back in a safe and yes even enjoyable manner

(And when I say contribution to society, I don’t just mean full time work (which in all honestly if labour got even 10% of the long term sick safely into work then they’ve overachieved………….i don’t think the majority of those on long time sickness welfare will ever be able to full time work as many things can’t be treated or cured and even those conditions that are you need to address asap to have any chance to reverse but the gov & nhs & society stereotypes have let those ppl down) - I also mean part time and self employment but even more so I’m talking volunteering and generally being able to offer help to someone else without potentially losing your award from trying to do something positive. I think the dwp and Kendall need to ditch their obsession to the word ‘work’ as they are setting the disabled and themselves up for failure (which is why I prefer the term ‘contribution’ and why if Kendall has any common sense she’d introduce more volunteering schemes)

both this post and my previous posts I had no intention to be malicious - however you described (what I presume was) me as aggressive, toxic, derogatory and hurtful (and prehaps implying that I’m not truly a member of the disabled community) which I can’t read in any other way as intended attacks towards me. Lots of members don’t agree with some or even all my posts but they are more polite when they disagree with me or accept everyone has differing opinions - and honestly your post has been eating at me for the past 48hrs and I don’t think I deserved that

also I know the scope moderators do their upmost to be fair and use the best possible language (not easy considering how easily some in society get offended over the smallest thing these day - the concept of being ‘cancelled’ needs to be cancelled imo) so I don’t think the part of your post about the mods was very fair