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

[chem1st]

I have an uncle who is 'mentally handicapped' (for want of a better term?).

 

He went to one of these tests and unbelievably my nan (his full time carer) was not allowed to speak on his behalf at all. They asked him if he can lift his arms up, walk reasonable distances and other stuff. Can he write his own name, can he use a keyboard, etc. They asked him if he felt alright and obviously he said yes, his mental capacity clearly will not allow him to articulate to the assessor what his disabilities are.

 

He was passed fit for work, even though there is CLEARLY not able to do any work. If he was in a customer facing role, the public perceptions and prejudices would be negative for whatever company he worked for. They wouldn't employ him. If he was in a call centre role as soon as anyone shouted at him he would cry. I have worked in a call centre - people tend to shout when its just someone on the other end of the telephone. A lot.

 

He just is not capable of working and anyone who spent 10 minutes with him would not begrudge him living his ever fading days out on disability, watching horse racing every day or the olympics, or childrens TV.

 

This Governments policies are truly repugnant.

 

Hopefully the appeal will be successful.

 

You can download a pdf of the questions, and the point system that determines the outcome.

 

It's similar for the new 'work program', certain things can excuse you from participating without affecting benefits.

 

The means testing is where the money is wasted in the system.

[Tenants]

:oIs there really such a job as a forum poster? What do they do apart from the obvious.

 

 

Yep, for people with new forums (they need lots of content)

Sometimes people have older forums that have slowed down (but they still get the traffic)

 

People don't like to post on non-active forums. There are quite a lot of forum posting / content writing jobs

 

 

See here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=102

or here: http://www.qualityposts.com

 

I my self have paid for content. I think medusa would do a great job (but its not great pay)

[chem1st]

I've looked into doing call centre work and found that operatives hot desk, including using all the same chairs and desks which are fine if you don't have a problem, but I've got a custom office chair which cost £1000 and which I still can't sit in for more than half an hour because my feet go dead unless I'm lying down.

 

I also can't predict when I'm going to need to take naps, and they can be up to 2 hours at a time. How many employers would be fine with that?

 

The council complies with the DDA, and most of the organisations it contracts out too are supposed to too, X% of BME, disabled workers etc. come as part of contracts!

 

Now the contracted organisations might not fork out for a specialised chair, but the council definitely would, especially if it was for health reasons.

[medusa]

Personally, I would think this is solid ground to claim incapacity benefit.

 

However, on the flip side (and what the public might argue) from what you've written, it seems you are intelligent, articulate and can put your self across in a proficient manner on Message Boards.

 

People actually pay for that... Forum Posters. Its not great money, and there will be no helpers, but its work that you as and when you feel you can

 

I spent a number of years working in a customer facing technical sales rôle and I very good qualifications, so I know that I am articulate and have good English skills. What I lack is a body which will support the rest of me to do stuff!

 

At the moment I can earn no money at all without losing it in one manner or another with my private income source or Incapacity Benefit. Even though I can earn something like £20 a week whilst on Incapacity Benefit, that's only an hour's teaching a week, which isn't enough to maintain my technical skills, and then that money would be deducted from the main source of my income which is company health insurance, so it's either all or nothing as far as they're concerned.

[Becky B]

Having seen some Incapacity Benefit claims, I can well believe there are people claiming who could quite easily work.

 

However, it's not black and white, and businesses are about profit - which may be reduced if they have to spend more on adapting a job for an employee.

 

Much of it is down to the attitude of the individuals, I think. As with most things in life!

[andikay]

Yep, for people with new forums (they need lots of content)

Sometimes people have older forums that have slowed down (but they still get the traffic)

 

People don't like to post on non-active forums. There are quite a lot of forum posting / content writing jobs

 

 

See here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=102

or here: http://www.qualityposts.com

 

I my self have paid content, I think medusa would do a great job (but its not great pay)

 

Why we are all posting on here when we could get paid for it, unless you lot are getting paid and I'm the only sucker that isn't.

[Tenants]

At the moment I can earn no money at all without losing it in one manner or another with my private income source or Incapacity Benefit. Even though I can earn something like £20 a week whilst on Incapacity Benefit, that's only an hour's teaching a week, which isn't enough to maintain my technical skills, and then that money would be deducted from the main source of my income which is company health insurance, so it's either all or nothing as far as they're concerned.

 

That's the real issue, the government haven't thought this through...

Even if people that really shouldn't be working (in my opinion), want to work and can work, and we would all benefit from their work in society

 

The government slaps them across their face, and effectively fines them for working... and then they come out with stupid figures like this

 

In my opinion this stat should read:

Only 7% of SICK Politicians than Claim to be able to do their work competently, actually can!

[gnvqsos]

Tony, has it not occurred to you that the test is designed to find only 7% of people unfit for work, regardless of whether they are or not? This government is trying to save money.

 

We could change the driving test to make it much harder to pass so that only 7% of people get through, that wouldn't mean that only 7% of people were capable of safely driving.

 

Very perceptive:)

[evildrneil]

For someone like me who suffers from M.E. the test is pretty much useless. It takes no account of fatigue, pain or intermittent problems. I would love to find a job but realistically that is going to take some support - I can't just jump back into a full time position or I'm going to be next to dead in a fortnight and signed off ill again. Without some sort of graded return to a job I can't see how I'm going to get back into full time employment. Simply saying that I'm either fine for any work or incapable of work is actually of limited use to me, or the economy, without offering some sort of support process is a very short sighted approach.

[donkey]

A friend of mine told me about a guy who worked at the post office and who, at the age of 63, applied for a new post. He was sent for a medical conducted by a certain private company. They told him that not only was he unfit for the new position, but he was unfit to stay on in the job he had. With two years before his pension, he had to leave, and applied for sickness benefit. In a medical examination run by the same company, it was declared he was totally fit and inelligable for sickness benefit.