Fit For Work – Three Part Series on BBC Radio 4

Simbindi said:
I know current1y they say it won't app1y to the contributions based ESA
Click to expand...
Is that new info since the white paper was announced Simbindi? At the time there was little info on what would happen to those of us currently on CB ESA only (so no IR ESA) & in the SG. Has that changed?

so sorry if we have had this conversation before i am so terrified by it all i forget.

ETA also how are you these days? I recall you were struggling to recover from covid or another infection or something? sorry i forget the details i just remember you wqere struggling.
 
JemPD said:
Is that new info since the white paper was announced Simbindi? At the time there was little info on what would happen to those of us currently on CB ESA only (so no IR ESA) & in the SG. Has that changed?
Click to expand...
No. But it's the 1ogica1 conc1usion. The White Paper has been i11 thought out. I've read on disabi1ity sites that the abo1ution of the WCA has been announced without the government thinking through any of the detai1s of how it wi11 actua11y work. If there is no WCA then how can they decide which CB c1aimants are entit1ed to a continuing award, when the WRAG equiva1ent group of it on1y keep their award for 12 months?
 
It's difficu1t to discuss the abo1ution of the WCA without going into po1itics. We have no idea whether this party wi11 be forming the next government. And no idea how 1abour wou1d take forward any of these ideas.

I rea11y hope disabi1ity groups keep up the momentum on how bad it wou1d be with no WCA equiva1ent.

In retrospect they shou1d have been ensuring they were campaigning for 'a fairer assessment' rather than the 'abo1ution of the WCA'. I hope this is what they now focus on, as we11 as the harms that wi11 happen if the current White Paper's approach is fo11owed after the next genera1 e1ection.
 
Just listened to episode 3 (as an ESA50 landed on my doormat this morning).

Mo Stewart (of Mo Stewart Research & the Preventable Harm Project) made very telling comments at the end.
If their main concern is cash not care then nothing good will ever come of it. Since when is it alright to starve somebody to death because they are too ill to keep a DWP appointment?
Click to expand...
 
I was under the impression that a very large proportion of funds spent on "welfare" went on pensions which go to people irrespective of health conditions.

I looked up the numbers... The ones I found on the ONS (Office for National Statistics) website were not very recent, but they do give an indication of the way the money is split.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/gove...rticles/howisthewelfarebudgetspent/2016-03-16

In the financial year ending 2017, the UK government spent £264 billion on welfare, which made up 34% of all government spending. In the financial year ending 2013, the government spent £253 billion on welfare, around 35% of government spending.
Click to expand...

upload_2023-7-6_1-30-19.png
 
Arnie Pye said:
I was under the impression that a very large proportion of funds spent on "welfare" went on pensions which go to people irrespective of health conditions.

I looked up the numbers... The ones I found on the ONS (Office for National Statistics) website were not very recent, but they do give an indication of the way the money is split.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/gove...rticles/howisthewelfarebudgetspent/2016-03-16
Click to expand...
UK Public Spending Details for 2024 https://ukpublicspending.co.uk/year_spending_2024UKbn_17bc1n_40000102#ukgs302

Pensions: Total 191.1 0.0 0.0 191.1

Sickness and disability 56.6 0.0 0.0 56.6
Old age 132.7 0.0 0.0 132.7

Welfare: Total 87.0 0.0 55.3 142.3

Family and children 15.6 0.0 0.0 15.6
Unemployment 1.4 0.0 0.0 1.4
Housing 5.4 0.0 0.0 5.4
Social exclusion. 57.9 0.0 0.0 57.9
 
CRG said:
Pensions: Total 191.1
Old age 132.7
Click to expand...
The larger figure includes occupational pensions for public sector workers including teachers, NHS workers, civil service etc. and local authority employees, all of which are contributory pensions, so there's an income from current contributions which should cover a lot of that. The old age figure is presumably the state pension which is at least nominally a contributory pension through National Insurance, I think.

The area that stands out for me as needing government action is building a lot more truly affordable homes so that people even on minimal wage and with children can cover their rent and living costs and don't need state top ups and subsidies. i think this rocketed up with the combination of selling off local authority housing and not replacing it, and the huge rise in house prices that started in the early 2000's when banks were allowed to lend far higher multiples of wages, and offer interest only mortgates. A house I bought for about 70 thousand in 1999 I sold 5 years later for 170 thousand. That's crazy, and priced a lot of people out of the market. Wages had barely risen in that time.

Trying to cut benefits to disabled people and to get disabled people into work is not going to save money and will cause a lot of distress. The only way to save money in the long run on state support for people with disabilities and disabling diseases is through medical advances and through sufficient better, cheaper, more suitable housing.
 
Sean said:
The beating and starving will continue until the ungrateful peasant scum submit to their superiors.
Click to expand...
Well I think it is born of megalomania rather than leadership and I wonder if it (meaning sanctions) meets the legal intent behind the term "cruel and unusual punishment" as used in the Bill of Rights 1689, meaning the UK Parliament has allowed itself to act cruelly, like a tyrant, illegally.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom