Tests claim few benefit claimants 'unfit to work'

Personally I think that if this system of assessment gets even a percentage of the spongers off disability benefits and forces them to look for work I'd be very happy with that!!!

Ok the system might not be perfect and I'm sure could probably do with refining and reworking etc,

Where I live there are loads of people who don't work and a lot of whom are on incapacity benefits who really shouldn't be.

Take one of my neighbours for example. He can't work because of his bad legs and back, he gets a new car every 3 years on some mobility scheme, he gets the only parking space in the area, as it counts as a disabled space.

Now I wouldn't mind this if it was obvious that he couldn't work, however when he loads up his car with several very heavy (yes I have lifted one) suitcases, loaded with glasswear and crockery etc, a couple of times a week and gets up early to do a boot fair where he is standing or sitting about for several hours. I get annoyed.

Also the fact that he fairly frequently goes and spends entire days fishing annoys me too.

If he is well enough to move about and stand/sit for boot fairs and fishing why is he deemed unable to work?

Ok he would probably not be suited to manual labour or physical jobs like that, but why isn't he able to work in a office where he would be seated for most of the day and have no hard physical work to do???
 
valve90210 said:
Personally I think that if this system of assessment gets even a percentage of the spongers off disability benefits and forces them to look for work I'd be very happy with that!!!
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even if it forces an even larger percent of people who shouldnt be looking for work?



Take one of my neighbours for example. He can't work because of his bad legs and back, he gets a new car every 3 years on some mobility scheme, he gets the only parking space in the area, as it counts as a disabled space.
?
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he doesnt get a "free" car he recieves a car instead of a mobility allowance benefit
 
mglover070588 said:
I have just graduated and have no idea of this 'bad job market' that people were on about.
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Lucky you.

I had various interview offers for good jobs and even a decent job offer (which was turned down as I start postgrad on Monday).
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Lucky you, not everyone has a degree.

Those who WANT work (the passion and desire to work) will get work. In a 'bad job market' you just have to put more effort in..
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While of course the more effort you put in, the more likely you'll get a positive result, it's not as simple as effort = job. I know of many people, qualified and otherwise, who have worked their socks off trying to find a job. And I mean a job that can support them and/or their families, not 12 hours a week for £5.83, crap. I was out of work for over a year and I tried extremely hard to find work. I must have put in a CV to every shop, restaurant, bar, business in both a city and a town, where I moved back to. I was constantly looking for jobs online, in newspapers, boards in town, you name it. I also asked repeatedly for training from the JobCentre and got nothing! Absolutely useless waste of space those people are. Ridiculous.

You were lucky not to have to suffer from the effects. Many many others have had to endure it.

Just because you managed to avoid it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
 
mglover070588 said:
I have just graduated and have no idea of this 'bad job market' that people were on about. I had various interview offers for good jobs and even a decent job offer (which was turned down as I start postgrad on Monday).
Those who WANT work (the passion and desire to work) will get work. In a 'bad job market' you just have to put more effort in.

To the posters above, JSA is £53 a week for under 24s, which is circa a day of pay for a poorly paid job. Therefore one day a week they should be litterpicking or filling potholes.
£££ for no work needs to be made unacceptable.
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Have you been brain washed at uni or something or just had your head in the sand for god know how long..:confused:
 
cymatty said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14280849

I knew that some people were abusing the system but this is shocking and shows that it is a worthwhile exercise.

The problem is who are going to employ these people when there are over 2 million out of work?
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i wonder how many of these 'assessments' are now being taken to tribunal and will be overturned?

The ESA assessment process is a total joke, particularly when it comes to those with mental health issues. My brother is bipolar and has been in and out of hospital for the last 17 years with severe depression or mania/psychotic symptoms. He has to be on medication permanently to have any kind of normal life,but is totally incapable of dealing with average day to day stresses that you and I would take for granted. Yet his assessment took away the vast majority of his benefits without consultation with his doctor, his community support worker or anyone that had ever dealt with him in hospital.

It's taken the best part of a year to get it to a tribunal which lasted all of half a day before the whole thing was thrown out and everything re-instated. ESA were totally slated during the process for the ridiculous lack of dilignence in the way they make their assessments - the statements from the medical professionals involved in the process were particularly forthright in stating what a shambolic process was being employed.

What concerns me is that my brother is fortunate, in that he has a loving family who have helped him fight this. What of all the other vlunerable people that don't have the same support network that my brother has?
 
Wolfe777 said:
If we had actually protected Britain from immense and not needed immigration we might actually have enough money to treat our own needy people.

When we're inheriting a massive amount of problems from the third world it's hardly surprising that there's no money for the genuinely sick.

When a Nigerian lady can come here to have quintuplets just because she felt like it costing the taxpayer £400,000, how can we be expected to have enough money to go around?

When we pay millions to hold non British citizens in prisons, when we pay millions to protect terrorists and to allow their 'human rights' to illegally stay in our country at our expense, it's hardly surprising that we're in this state.

Of course my mini rant will be offensive to some and that's not my intent - but it is my intent to be honest and that's my honest appraisal as to why our welfare state is in the sorry state it is.

I'm not disputing the lion's share of the welfare state are indigenous British, many of whom are abusing the system to sickening levels, but the massive influx of needy people from other countries is not helping to say the least.

Yes, many immigrants shame lazy British people with their wonderful work ethic and pay huge levels of tax, I'm not disputing that, but it's an undeniable fact that a large proportion of immigrants go onto benefits and stay there, what's more they are all aware of how claiming a disability upon arrival in the country gives them a much better chance of claiming asylum.

Bet your last £ too that 'cultural sensitivities' will mean that they will likely be the last ones to be pressured to look for work.

To hear some of circumstances of ill mothers being forced to look for work in this topic is genuinely upsetting, unfortunately it's only going to get worse as our population gets more and more bloated, it's yet another legacy of the last government that we'll be paying for for generations.


.
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I agree. As far as immigrants having better work ethic. If someone ups and leaves their home country for greener pastures then they have made up their mind that they will have to work hard (for the most part), and ontop of that don't forget £ are worth more in their home country... Also the people who are not up to moving country to work will stay at home....

This will make indeginous people fell shunned, and and on top of this thought of as criminals by some, with no mention of the fact that it has become much more difficult to find a job than for example when my father went to work.

There are certain individuals who are good at finding jobs but not as good at doing and vice versa.

Lets say for example you have anxiety, and the anxiety is caused by not having a job and being constantly deemed unworthy for any position. Its a bit like saying to a fat person, you're fat and you know you are now get slim on your own or we are going to starve you; the consequence of which could produce the opposite effect.
 
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My OH is manager of the local CAB and sees people seeking benefits day in day out. She has noted that on many occasions applications for benefits are just sheer luck and based purely on the wording of the completed application. Whilst she sees many deserving cases, she also sees those families that were born out of the benefits culture. They know of nothing else in many cases, for them it is the norm. In one particular case there is a family of 6 all claiming DLA, and furthermore each is claiming carers allowance on the basis that they care for each other. Perhaps one out of the six is genuinely disabled, but they have learnt how to play the system. I think the whole ESA thing is a case of too little too late and was rushed in to deal with a problem that should have been confronted some time ago. Due to its rushed introduction its fundamentally broken before its started.

As for JSA, I had the pleasure of signing on 3 years ago for 6 months. It was an absolute waste of time in terms of finding employment. The whole system relied on you turning every fortnight to sign on, and they would quickly drag their database for any old rubbish and insist you apply.
12 years of full time employment left me with only 6 months JSA to rely on. As such, when the money stopped I signed off and set myself up as a self employed IT tech. Fortunately this took off and I have managed to maintain a reasonable income ever since. So for those looking to work dont expect any inspiration from the jobcentre. Sadly as they see those that dont want to work as well.......they seem to tar every poor sod with the same brush.
 
Spook187 said:
Have you been brain washed at uni or something or just had your head in the sand for god know how long..:confused:
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I have had no issues with interviews and offers, because I get off my backside and want to do well. The world owes me nothing, you must go out there and GET your living yourself.
I could work part time on a checkout and complain all day long. Stop wanting a violin solo and get out there and get your living yourself.
You can spend your life making excuses for why you don't do well, or you can work hard and be a 'can do' person.

Is this a sore subject for you? Are you a bit of a drop-out? :confused:.
 
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Rofl I have read most of this thread and i knew the new tests were bad but not as bad as this.
I am disabled, i cannot sit or stand in any one position for any length of time or do any manual labour work. I have full medical evidence from a consultant supporting this and are on controlled drugs (Oxycontin) and a few others for the pain.

This should be very interesting indeed...
 
arknor said:
even if it forces an even larger percent of people who shouldnt be looking for work?
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Like I said, it's not a perfect system and it does need working on to make sure those who genuinely can't work don't have to, but a system that stops perfectly capable people from sponging is good.


arknor said:
he doesnt get a "free" car he recieves a car instead of a mobility allowance benefit
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I never mentioned it being 'free', and I admit I don't really know how it works apart from the fact that every 3 years he gets a brand spanking new car and doesn't have to go out to work or do anything, where as I work full time and run my own business in my own time and could not afford to get a brand new car that often...
 
Why do they get new cars? Surly it would be cheaper to run them longer and just pay servicing and repairs. Just like any business fleet.
 
Just had a very quick skim of that site, makes good sense for the adapted cars, like a chap I used to know who was in a wheel chair and had the throttle controls on the steering wheel but this chaps car is totally standard, and he can walk about perfectly fine and without sticks or crutches etc, so not quite sure how he comes to qualify for it...
 
Amp34 said:
What has self harming got to do with not working? Same with migraines? Why can she not work round that in a job that will not be affected by these things? One of the problems I forsee with this is the number of people that have assumed they will never work again but now have to. Getting back into that working mindset is very difficult, for those that were on IB or for those that are long term unemployed.
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Its hard enough to find a job these days let alone one which can accommodate people with something on the servere end of the scale for migraines. Paralytic migraines can quite easily make someone essentially house bound without a lot of support.
 
mglover070588 said:
I have had no issues with interviews and offers, because I get off my backside and want to do well. The world owes me nothing, you must go out there and GET your living yourself.
I could work part time on a checkout and complain all day long. Stop wanting a violin solo and get out there and get your living yourself.
You can spend your life making excuses for why you don't do well, or you can work hard and be a 'can do' person.

Is this a sore subject for you? Are you a bit of a drop-out? :confused:.
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lol a drop out i dont think so,i have worked for 23 years,i got made redundant twice in two years and got sod all help from anyone,i actually earn more than someone who has gone to uni in a lot of cases with little education if thats what you want to call it.you say Those who WANT work (the passion and desire to work) will get work,wrong i applied for 50 jobs yes 50 jobs and got one interview
 
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What annoys me the most are those people who have disabled badges on cars, yet can drive to the store park right outside in a disabled zone and spend ages in shopping centers walking?. So you can walk around the shopping centers but you can't walk to the car park

Anyone explain that? and why is it i've seen some performance cars like once i saw a BMW M5 and it had a disabled badge.
 
Mr Jack said:
No reason for the 36% was given. They could have been unable to complete the assessment, failed to understand what was needed of them
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Surely if you're unable to complete the assessment or cant understand it you "Pass" (for want of a better word) and are deemed unable to work.
 
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