m eating wagyu steak while on benefits! should I feel bad?

[Threepwood]

Not wishing to drag this thread awry, but Hugh Grant was clearly having the time of his life playing that role.

oh definately, hugh seems to have taken a full different route now with comedic roles that he obviously is enjoying, he was good at playing the evil monarch in dungeons &Dragons, and the oopaloompa in Woka too, he bloody deserves an award for his role in the gentlemen, it certainly showed that he is a seriously good actor.
yes, we see a lot of films at the cinema

 

[Threepwood]

No, no. Benefits for the lower echelons of society should be calculated down to the penny. They shouldn't save any money, and they certainly shouldn't spend it on family members.

I see what you did there

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

I'm on PIP as well but not universal credit as I earn over the threshold.

PIP in principle is meant to help with living costs, so taxis for me due to not seeing well enough to drive, visual aids and ready made meals as never really been able to cook. However, PIP and DLA aren't ring-fenced as I spend it on normal shopping too. If the OP wants to use some of it on steak then so be it. Ignore the post further up about veganism

 

[Threepwood]

PIP in principle is meant to help with living costs, so taxis for me

agreed, I see my PIP as money for diesel and things for the van, as it is what keeps me out and about, or rather 'us' out and about, since it is my mum who helps get me into the passenger seat, and who does all the driving, we go to some lovely places that are wheelchair friendly

 

[Threepwood]

speaking of vans, it failed its MOT this morning, booo!
(Major defects)Rear Registration plate lamp inoperative,Parking brake efficiency below requirements , too much corrosion near a rear suspension mounting point, so only a little bit of welding there, don't need a full sill replacement,(yay, they're still sound )that'll be next year job I bet, CV joint boot cover needs doing.
(Advisories)Oil leak, but not excessive, front near side, and offside tyres are worn on the edge , but still legal (more tyres next year,maybe needs the tracking needs doing too at the same time.)
Not bad for a 13 year old motor

my mechanic is on it already, and will be retested tomorrow, so he said it should be ready tomorrow, he is a bloody legend he is!, I imagine that he is just going to weld up the major defect pop a new rear plate lamp bulb in, replace/secure the cv joint boot, tighten the hand brake, and leave the rest, so it gets through by the skin on its teeth, I'll come back with the cost later

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

agreed, I see my PIP as money for diesel and things for the van, as it is what keeps me out and about, or rather 'us' out and about, since it is my mum who helps get me into the passenger seat, and who does all the driving, we go to some lovely places that are wheelchair friendly

That's cool

If you haven't done so already, you can also get a blue badge. I've never been road legal, but I was still able to get a blue badge for myself. It means that when others drive me, the driver can use my blue badge for parking as long as I'm the passenger.

 

[Hotwired]

Not wishing to drag this thread awry, but Hugh Grant was clearly having the time of his life playing that role.

I thought he was great. Even more so when you realise he's only talking to one other character or the camera the entire time despite having about half the lines in the film.

 

[Tech_Boss]

Me and my partner had to have a conversation about how many kids we would like / can afford (I imagine most working parents do the same) Our combined income is £90k pa. If we had more kids our expenses would go up and our quality of life would go down. We would also need to move to a bigger house that we can’t afford. (We have 2x kids btw)

People on benefits don’t have to make those sort of decisions. More kids = more benefits = bigger house.

Most get on the pip gravy train like the op. Just go to your GP in person or virtually and say you have anxiety = £800 per person per month.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Most get on the pip gravy train like the op. Just go to your GP in person or virtually and say you have anxiety = £800 per person per month.

Ah, you're one of those.

OP had a stroke and his wife left him, let's hope you never find yourself in that situation.

Nobody is getting £800 a month for anxiety, but you already knew that.

 

[Tech_Boss]

Ah, you're one of those.

OP had a stroke and his wife left him, let's hope you never find yourself in that situation.

Nobody is getting £800 a month for anxiety, but you already knew that.

I have nothing against genuine people claiming benefits. It’s the freeloaders I have a problem with tbh.

 

[ltron]

I have nothing against genuine people claiming benefits. It’s the freeloaders I have a problem with tbh.

There are very few freeloaders.

 

[dowie]

Maybe save up for that escort instead.

I just had a horrible thought, you know how there used to be "NHS glasses"? What if there were "DWP escorts"... if you're on PIP you get one visit a month from a public sector one:

 

[dowie]

Nobody is getting £800 a month for anxiety, but you already knew that.

Well, I don't think anyone gets that much on PIP but people certainly do get PIP for anxiety, there's a success rate of 45% for anxiety claims.

There are very few freeloaders.

No shade on the OP as he quite clearly had a serious medical issues but there are likely plenty and there's lots of advice out there to help fill out the forms and say the right things in interviews too. Perhaps similarly asylum claim approvals have increased by a silly amount as there's some guidance given on what to say there. When systems have a lot of weight on personal narratives and have to be part of some standardised system then people who are familiar with the details of how the system works can aid in abusing it.

Spoiler: details perhaps getting a bit off topic so in spoiler tags

Brit boasts about her side hustle charging £650 to fill out PIP applications

Charlotte Anderson, from Staffordshire, is helping people secure a disability allowence by offering advice on YouTube and charging up to £650 for a one-to-one meeting

www.mirror.co.uk

A self-proclaimed "PIP consultant" has revealed that she is charging Brits £650 to help fill out their disability claim forms.

Charlotte Anderson, 46, from Bucknall, Staffordshire, has boasted about how she runs the lucrative "side hustle" from her garden shed. The YouTuber, who has chronic fatigue and severe arthritis, films guidance videos to help people secure Personal Independence Payments ( PIP). The application is for people who suffer from long-term physical or mental health conditions.

In one video she advised viewers: “You have to be able to explain to PIP how you feel, so if you struggle with anxiety you have to explain how it feels for you.” Ms Anderson says the £650 fee comes with a virtual guarantee as she has "only ever lost one claim in six years".

No one assessing people for PIP knows how the person making the claim feels inside and having a given diagnosis or several of them doesn't necessarily mean claiming PIP as some of those people don't struggle with daily tasks. Lots of that is self-declared and based on the form filling and what is said in interviews etc. thus you can have someone who knows the system well basically guide you through a claim.
One small example I've seen cited a few times is they might have an appointment in an office up some stairs, someone who has been coached might know not to climb the stairs and make a fuss about that etc. not because they couldn't actually do so but because it looks better for their claim. And of course, they'll be told what to say on all the forms to ensure the best result from whoever is going through a box-ticking exercise when reading it (and of course if that person messes it up then -> appeal and have someone else do the box-ticking exercise on the form that has been specifically tailored to tick the right boxes/score enough points).

 

[ltron]

Well, I don't think anyone gets that much on PIP but people certainly do get PIP for anxiety, there's a success rate of 45% for anxiety claims.



No shade on the OP as he quite clearly had a serious medical issues but there are likely plenty and there's lots of advice out there to help fill out the forms and say the right things in interviews too:

Brit boasts about her side hustle charging £650 to fill out PIP applications

Charlotte Anderson, from Staffordshire, is helping people secure a disability allowence by offering advice on YouTube and charging up to £650 for a one-to-one meeting

www.mirror.co.uk

No one assessing people for PIP knows how the person making the claim feels inside and having a given diagnosis or several of them doesn't necessarily mean claiming PIP as some of those people don't struggle with daily tasks. Lots of that is self-declared and based on the form filling and what is said in interviews etc. thus you can have someone who knows the system well basically guide you through a claim.
One small example I've seen cited a few times is they might have an appointment in an office up some stairs, someone who has been coached might know not to climb the stairs and make a fuss about that etc. not because they couldn't actually do so but because it looks better for their claim. And of course, they'll be told what to say on all the forms to ensure the best result from whoever is going through a box-ticking exercise when reading it (and of course if that person messes it up then -> appeal and have someone else do the box-ticking exercise on the form that has been specifically tailored to tick the right boxes/score enough points).

This is just supposition from you, the Tories have made the process to claim benefits ever more onerous and exclusionary (hence people need lawyers and other helpers to express themselves in the way the DWP understands). Where do you think they got those many tens of billions of pounds?

The fraud percentage is only 2.8% for this year:

Fraud and error in the benefit system, Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2024

www.gov.uk

 

[Ayahuasca]

Well, I don't think anyone gets that much on PIP but people certainly do get PIP for anxiety, there's a success rate of 45% for anxiety claims.

Well, that would be a worthy response if I had even suggested that people couldn't get PIP for anxiety. It was the amount I was questioning, not whether it was even possible.

Just out of interest, is this 45% success rate based purely on claims where anxiety is the only condition listed on the form?

 

[arknor]

What you should be doing is spending all your excess money on amazon vouchers to avoid the 5k savings cap or whatever it is.
or just buy gold, loads of gold jewellery the one thing people on benefits can have as an asset without having to sell it.

Well, I don't think anyone gets that much on PIP but people certainly do get PIP for anxiety, there's a success rate of 45% for anxiety claims.

Fake news, anxiety is a side effect of whatever is wrong with these people, also that stat sounds a lot like the percent of cases overturned at tribunal

usually a mental disorder/learning disability like Autism, it's not a primary cause of their issues

the news just runs with it because it sounds good and makes their millionaire owners happy when people hate the poor and disabled.


aren;t they on about doing full time surveillance of peoples bank accounts when they are on benefits now anyway? which will be most of this forum once it encompasses all benefits which no doubt is the plan.


might put people off claiming child benefit etc when they don't need it at least, hope no one claiming child benefit etc is buying anything nice

Despite their wish to work, the latest official statistics show that only around 3 in 10 working age autistic disabled people are in employment, compared with around 5 in 10 for all disabled people and 8 in 10 for non-disabled people.

The Buckland Review of Autism Employment: report and recommendations

www.gov.uk

yet if you have autism their is no support and your on your own when it comes to trying to claim PIP

whys there no special help to get autistic people in work? it's not as simple as anxiety they have loads of issues processing basic information that's going on around them, and most struggle with executive functioning or don't have any

 

[dowie]

This is just supposition from you, the Tories have made the process to claim benefits ever more onerous and exclusionary (hence people need lawyers and other helpers to express themselves in the way the DWP understands). Where do you think they got those many tens of billions of pounds?

The fraud percentage is only 2.8% for this year:

It's not just supposition, why do you think they needed to make the process like that in the first place - because if you set up a system that can be gamed it will be gamed.

Citing the fraud percentage says little about those people as they'd not be counted.

Fake news, anxiety is a side effect of whatever is wrong with these people, also that stat sounds a lot like the percent of cases overturned at tribunal

No, it's not fake news, anxiety can be the main listed condition and what do you mean sounds like? If it's 45% then of course 55% aren't approved.

 

[dowie]

Well, that would be a worthy response if I had even suggested that people couldn't get PIP for anxiety. It was the amount I was questioning, not whether it was even possible.

It's worth pointing out regardless as people aren't aware you can, see one of the other replies calling it fake news, you didn't make it clear you were objecting to the amount as that's not specific to anxiety.

Just out of interest, is this 45% success rate based purely on claims where anxiety is the only condition listed on the form?

Claim PIP for Anxiety

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments, reviews, appeals.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

In 2023, there were 47,048 PIP claimants with anxiety listed as their main disabling condition.
[...]
The success rate for PIP claims for anxiety is 45%, compared to an overall average of 53%.

 

[Ayahuasca]

It's worth pointing out regardless as people aren't aware you can, see one of the other replies calling it fake news, you didn't make it clear you were objecting to the amount as that's not specific to anxiety.

I made it very clear what I was objecting to. Trust you not to see that and start digging one of your usual holes.

Those statistics also state ‘main disabling condition’, so it's not always the only one on the form. We also have no idea what's causing the anxiety in these cases, or how debilitating it actually is for these people.

 

[robfosters]

No need to feel bad at all. I’m on the same benefits and eat lots of expensive food like steak, lamb, fish, takeaways. I couldn’t care less what others think. If you’re permanently disabled you can often never work again. That shouldn’t condemn you to a life of living like a pauper. I look forward to my weekly M&S food delivery. The likes of Iceland and farm foods just don’t excite me at all when it comes to grub.