General Chat

Lisa,,,It would be unfair to say neither would I,,,,they assess each case I supose,,

I just worry incase they do misjudge someone where there are children,,,,,,,,,

Not sure where the eviction of council tenants comes into this one .If the law is changed surely the people no longer eligible will be able to claim income support whilst "actively " seeking work .If there income is low ..ie due to being on benefits then they will still be eligible for housing benefits ?
Kim

We have got a car but our mobility money pays for it.
We have only been on one holiday in 11 years.
If it was a choice of having a special needs child or my OH working he said he would rather work as our son has been really ill in his 7 years and he has nearly died twice.
But we don't love him any less.

Lisa, I am sure this won't apply to you and others in similar situations.
I am glad we live in a society where our genuinely ill, disabled and their carers can get the help they need for as long as they NEED it.
But we have all met with people boasting of how they work the system. Many people on incapacity benefit are more than capable of returning to work but they prefer to sponge off society, or are just bone idle.

I know a few people who claim money as they claim they cannot work, which I agree is wrong.
We had to fight to get DLA for our son yet others seem to be able to claim it really easily even though they don't need to claim it

I dont know Kim,,,

basically if you (some) dont try and get work and come off IB------long term------------- you could lose your right as tenant,,is how it came across,,,,they are trying to get as many people off all sorts of Benefits..........but will still allow MP to claim housing allowance if they have to have a flat in ---**Town**_ mind this comes out of Taxpayers money,,,,,along with their pay........

My OH was bayoneted in the back in a freak accident at age 19yrs. He was invalided out of the Guards which he loved and given a pension of 10shillings a week, average wage was about 3-4 pounds at the time. I worked from the day we were married and brought home the main wage. My OH found a job and said nothing about his disability because he was told he was unemployable. He workesduntil he was 47, was made redundant, couldnt get ajob so became self employed and worked until he was 60, when it became impossible for him to work enough to earn a wage. Since then he has had his war pension reinstated and has a full moblilty allowance which pays for our car. We have not been on holiday for at least 30 yrs but do not hanker after it. Now he spends his spare time doing a little bit for older people in our street and is never idle. No, we have always rented a home, were on the housing list for 30 yrs before we got this bungalow when I reached 60, only then because of my disabilities and longterm illness. I agree there are some spongers out ther, but dont lump us all in together, there are many genuine people out there who you never hear about. Forgive me if I dont put my name to this today. It is a bit personal and I dont want to be recognised.

It will be interesting to see what happens when they have forced all the genuinely ill
people off Incapacity and into the workplace.........how many days off for sickness will the employers tollerate I wonder?
I have been going through the tribunal system for 62 weeks now.
Having to claim JSA whilst doing so.
I wish so very often that I had never been in the road accident that has left me disabled to some extent.......the "powers that be " moved the goal posts and now I'm a fraud ?
And I live in a council house.....!
Rant over
Amanda

All I know is that HA,s do not just come along one day and evict tennants for rent arrears . It takes at least 8 to 12 months to get a court order for eviction .In the meantime numerous warnings are sent they even offer to send in a benefits adviser to check that everything eligible is being claimed for .
Even if the tenant does a runner the HA is obliged to store any furniture and personal effects belonging to the tenant for 6 months before they can be disposed of .
With regards to MP,s Kay ? Never met one living in social housing yet love ! pmsl
xxxx

When I finished uni I was determined to find work despite my disability. I tried for three years, doing everything that I possibly could to find work. I had a two month term as a part-time temp cashier, which put me in bed for xmas and the following two weeks.

When applying for jobs I was honest about my disability and only had 3 interviews in all that time. I claimed DLA (put that claim in while in uni) and because of that it gave me other opportunities as a job seeker, I took them going on a six week placement that exhausted me although I loved it. But they couldn't employ me as they didn't have the funding even though they needed someone. I went on a couple of courses, did the New Deal programme (which was a joke because it really wasn't set up for people with disabilities) At the end of that we were down to a 12 hours being comfortable for working and not putting me in bed for my entire days of.

Eventually my doctor said to me that she thought enough was enough and that I should apply for incapacity benefit. It made a huge difference to not have the stress of signing on once a fortnight. Since then I had a major flare up and have been a lot worse. Going shopping in a wheelchair for a couple of hours exhausts me.

Yes I have a nice new car, it's on motability and if I didn't have it I would never leave the house on my own. As it is I have very little independence and rely on my mother for most things.

Unfortunately, decisions like this one for getting people into work, while it's all very well and good for the spongers who really aren't ill, the people who are genuinely unable to work (sadly, like myself) get dragged in too. So you would end up on the street & disabled. That's a great combination. I sometimes wonder how the frauds get the money as I've had to jump through hoops to get what I deserve and need. Those nice things I have is because I have no life to spend it on anything else and so save it up.

Surely it would be far better to spend efforts clamping down and those who are fraudulent. Aside from that, where are the jobs supposed to come from for all these people. Because even the people who are fit and healthy can't find work... and if given a choice most employers will find a way to avoid hiring a person who has health problems without it being obvious discrimination (even though it is)

Yes this is a subject I feel very strongly about as it affects me. People have a duty to report those who are frauds and then us genuine claimants will be left alone to try and get well without living in fear of being homeless or penniless.

I know of several genuine people on here who are having to fight to get their benefits that they're entitled to. Having to go to tribunals etc. It's not right.

The subject of immigrants coming here and getting benefits is a whole other issue and, well... we need to tighten our borders. I'm not racist but it's no wonder people can't work when the cheaper option are being employed, ie Polish etc.

I have a few replies but because I am tired, forgive me if I don't refer back to the relevant people who made the comments.
First off, Kay, I remember it was you lol, it is OCD and not ODC lol This can be debilitating as some of you might have seen on the recent 'My High Maintenance wife' programme, and the person can look well but still have too many issues that are insurmountable to be able to go to work.
Other disabilities can be un noticeable to people, as with me, everyone always tells me how well I look, but they don't see me when I can't do more than have a bath and have to go back to bed, etc with the cfs, and all the similar problems with fm and cfs. There are many people like that who claim IB altho of course now I am an oap I am off IB.
I think the latest news items are two different things. First off there are suggestions that all IB claimants will be assessed to see if there is a job they can do despite their illhealth. This will take for ever to sort out, but might at least scare a few into working instead of fraudently claiming, or will sort the wheat from the chaff! I know many people who claimed and didn't truly qualify, but just knew how to milk the system.
The second suggestion is that because more than 50% of council house tenants don't work and claim council tax benefit etc as well as pay little or no rent, there is to be a rethink on who gets council accommodation and an effort to 'encourage' more of them back to work. Quite how this will be done is puzzling as they can't put families with young children on the street and if they push people into private rentals they will still presumably be able to claim help with rent etc.
I think it is pointless to panic if you are in one of these situations, but maybe reassess your own situation and talk to your local council office if you are worried. I don't think any firm plans are afoot yet, just supposition.
Lizx

Hi Joan, is your heating fixed now?

I was on income support in lieu of IB because I had been on IS when my son was small, and then when it was time to retrain and get back to work, I was found to have so many health problems I was advised not to look for work by the Jobcentre people. I was allowed to earn a little money, up to I think it was £20 a week, as therapeutic earnings, ie. if the doctor thought it was ok for me to try a few hours a week, I could keep up to £20 a week of it if it was under 16 hrs a week. I think I have quoted the right details altho these might have changed. The therapeutic work is to help you get out and do something, rather than for the money so it has to be something that has been approved as being good for you lol
If I had been able to do a longer part time job and been in council accommodation, I would have been given help with my rent etc to manage, but because I had a mortgage I wasn't able to claim help so was unable to do that, as I wouldn't have earned enough to cover all my needs/costs! The balance was firmly in favour of rental tenants, which was unfair.
I got called back several times for medicals and eventually told I needn't go for anymore, they realised my health was not going to improve enough to get me back into full time work.
Lizx

Now you mention it, I am income support because I don't have enough of the right contributions to get IB, but still have to go through the same things as though on IB. I have been awarded it for a year so will then be checked. My dad was awarded it permanently.

I was on Severe disablement allowance for 6 years and while on this your NI is meant to be paid. I also thought there was a thing where it was paid for being a full-time higher-ed student. But apparently not. I really hate to think what my pension will be like should I reach that age, even if I was to miraculously recover and work until I'm 65 (or maybe it will be 80 by then lol) I will still probably only get a basic pitence.

I can't believe you don't/didn't qualify for more help, it's really shocking. I also don't understand how some people seem to get so much money in benefits.

Another question based on someone my sis in law knows.... how does someone on benefits get a mortgage?

We were the same, Dad worked hard at his job and never had a day sick for the majority of the 25 years he was with VSEL (as it was). The pay wasn't very good but it was just above the threshold for claiming family credit. Mum had problems with her nerves and couldn't work most of the time. So we were really hard up and didn't qualify for any help.

He was an engraver by trade. They were really canny and down skilled his job to unskilled from semi-skilled (which was a joke as his job couldn't be done without training) and had him cleaning on the boats, he had a fall because of a slippy ramp that had no handrail and damaged a tendon in his hand.

He was off sick because he needed an operation and successfully won a claim for damages. Think it was something like a grand he got, nothing like these huge claims they boast about. He still has the problem with the finger locking. So anyway, when they were offering voluntary redundancies, he gladly took it. Although he had arthritis he was still in pretty good shape. He got a sizeable amount of redundancy pay and they paid off their mortgage.

He was lucky to quickly get a part-time job and was claiming his works pension. He loved the job but when he fell ill he could no longer do it as it was very physical. His arthritis became life threatening as it had severely weakened the cervical vertebrae. Consultant told him he would need an urgent op...took them almost 5 months to do it and he'd been told not to go over speed bumps as one bump could break his neck and kill him...he was terrified.

It's lucky that they were able to pay off the mortgage when they did or they would have no doubt lost the house.

Joan, as far as I know this guy didn't lie about being on benefits. I have no idea how he would manage to pay it, I played around with a mortgage calculator and on the benefits I'm on wouldn't even qualify for £5k lol.

Im amazed and saddened at the obvious genuine illnesses of some of our GR members. It shows when we are on here,
we dont know the circumstances of others or what pain and discomfort they have to put up with.

Changing the subject.
it seems there are people who from school virtually, have never had a job.
If as has been said you can only claim a pension if you have paid your stamp. How will/would those who have never worked fare.

Not lived in England for 34 years so bit ignorant about local matters.

If you are a single parent you have to register to get home responsibilities protection, then you are covered for those years of not paying a stamp. It stops when you stop getting child benefit. If you are on IB or IS in lieu of IB you are still covered, I worked full time for 19 years before having my son and ending up on IS so have a full state pension and a little bitty pension from one of my previous jobs and I get just under £10 a week pension credit.
Now this will amaze you! When I had my son I already had my own house with a mortgage! When he was 4 I sold that house and bought a different one without a bisected garden. The neighbours sons had been forever leaving the gate unlatched at the first house so my son, a toddler kept getting out on to the busy road. I checked with DSS and the building society and was approved to get a new, bigger mortgage with DSS paying the interest. I needed more money to update the house, as it was only basically modernised and I was given a further mortgage again helped by DSS. Then I needed a kitchen extension and downstairs showerroom/loo as my parents were elderly and unwell and I thought they might end up living with me, so I got a further mortgage and help with it. All the time I was receiving benefits. I had other friends who had done this which is why I tried and succeeded. I had to pay the endowment policies out of my IS which was a big struggle and has turned out to be a bad choice but seemed a good idea at the time.
Lizx

SS

im on IB and we got a mortgage, luckily because of the the length of time we had been council and HA tenants we qualified for the full discount and used money that hubby was left by his dad but had two banks quite willing to give it to us and hubby is on a really low wage infact he would be better off not working but would rather earn less and have the satisfaction of knowing he has earnt it.

Im sure a lot of people would look at me and think I dont deserve it and should be working but let them live a week in my body,

Because hubby works we arent entitled to a lot of benefits its the little things that soon add up like school dinners If you work and earn less than 14k and dont claim working tax credit you can get it if you earn less than that but claim it you cant even if the combination of wages and tax credit are less than the 14k. madness

There needs to be changes to it and thought it was just new tenants they were asking to sign the extra clause not existing ones.