Only 7% sickness benefit claimants unable to do any sort of work

[Happ Hazzard]

Axe all benefits and replace them with government issued unemployment insurance so that those that have worked hard all their lives can have a decent living if they lose their jobs, or become ill, but those that have shirked all their lives get nothing.

[Obelix]

Axe all benefits and replace them with government issued unemployment insurance so that those that have worked hard all their lives can have a decent living if they lose their jobs, or become ill, but those that have shirked all their lives get nothing.

 

And what of those who leave school and are unemployed then?

[Happ Hazzard]

They get nothing, their parents must support them. It would focus a few minds at school if they knew they had to make themselves employable by the time they left.

[rad]

The problem is that whilst many people on IB would be capable of *some* work, the *some* is the important word here. Depending on their condition, they may need very flexible working hours, specialised equipment, certain environmental conditions and so on. Most IB claimants would not be capable of full-time work, but there is (or was) no proper sliding scale to help people into work.

 

A few years ago, I was on IB briefly for a few weeks. At the time I was temping, so not in the kind of employment where there would have been phased return/sick pay etc. As I began to get better, I would have been able to work part-time, but take on anything over 16 hours a week, I think it was, and all benefit would have been stopped, as that was, for some inexplicable reason, what was classed as 'full-time' employment. So I was faced with a choice - stay on benefit longer than I wanted because I wasn't capable of working a full week, work a 0.5 week (20 hours, for argument's sake), which I was capable of, at minimum wage, which would have meant losing IB and HB and not being able to afford to live, or go back to work full-time before I was ready to. Struggling to survive on IB and missing work, I chose the last option, and slept pretty much every hour I wasn't in work, and I was also late for work on a couple of occasions as I slept in because I still wasn't well enough to work full-time. More flexible options for part-time work whilst maintaining some level of benefit until I was able to work full-time again would have done me a world of good.

 

Or take cases of people I know on long-term IB - people who are capable of "some" work, but only on days where their health issue isn't playing up, people who need - like Medusa - specialist equipment, which employers may well be reluctant to pay out for if people can't work full-time or are going to have to call in sick whenever their condition flares up. Work is important - I know some people on IB (and I am not thinking of forummers) who suffer immensely from not working because their lives lack purpose and they get trapped in a cycle of dependency on benefits - because the system is not set up to support them to find flexible work.

 

At the moment, it's all-or-nothing. You work, or you don't. This is not a healthy system. Making the "tests" or "criteria" harder so fewer people qualify is not the answer - these things end up just demeaning those who need help the most. Flexible modes of working, adaptable environments of employment and graded levels of benefit relating to work (and not the stupid 16-hours cut-off) are the only way - but how many employers are going to want people whose health concerns make them unreliable at best? I really think we need an overhaul, but that overhaul is not in the way people are tested, but in the way they are supported - and to be blunt, it ends up being more cost-effective to stick people on benefits than to actually give them a better quality of life. This is not to say nobody scrounges - but I would bet scroungers are the exception, not the rule.

[HeadingNorth]

They get nothing, their parents must support them. It would focus a few minds at school if they knew they had to make themselves employable by the time they left.

 

How is a disabled person going to be able to focus his mind into not being disabled?

[Conrod]

And what of those who leave school and are unemployed then?

Workhouses.

[dongle]

If he is the same person then he is doing good work for the community so credit where its due.

 

my point is that he claims he is unable to work, yet he feels that he can work as an unpaid police officer and has tried 3 times

[Happ Hazzard]

How is a disabled person going to be able to focus his mind into not being disabled?

 

Most disabled people are perfectly capable of working.

[HeadingNorth]

Most disabled people are perfectly capable of working.

 

And you're happy to let the ones not capable starve? Or will you admit that your policy must have exceptions?

[mossdog]

Bottom line is there are to many people on benifits who sit back and <removed>, while hard working people pay for them to do so.

And there are too many lefties in Sheffield who always support the benefit culture.............probably because lots are recipients in some form or other! There are some class acts round our way.