The government is keeping secret the location of venues for public consultations about the Pathways to Work Green Paper.  Individuals who manage to get a ticket will be informed of the venue by email only after bookings have closed, presumably in an effort to reduce the possibility of demonstrations taking place outside.

Tickets are now available for nine in-person events between 30 April and 24 June in London, Manchester, Plymouth, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow, Birmingham and Nottingham.

Reasonable travel costs will be reimbursed for those attending in a personal capacity.

People hoping to get tickets may be greeted by a notice saying the event is sold out or closed, even though it isn’t.  The organisers say that “To ensure we hear from a range of voices ticket releases will be automatically staggered so please check back later. “  There is no indication of what the final date for bookings will be.

There will also be a series of six virtual events.  However, each of these is very limited in scope, dealing with a single chapter in the Green Paper such as “Supporting people to thrive”.

More information and links to booking forms are on this page.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 days ago

    From Disabled People Against Cuts Facebook site 
    Official Petition please share widely 
    I've signed this as well as others



    Petition
    Protect Disabled people who cannot work from planned cuts to benefits
    We want the Government to halt all planned benefit cuts for disabled people unable to work. Instead of reducing benefits, we want them to rise in line with inflation. We want support, not hardship and deprivation, for those who cannot work.




    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/721547?fbclid=IwY2xjawJknpBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmtuex7oeXBTqFLx4GyezuL9_LAiKpNy5FuZC3kcD3625YKQKu0kup06GPi4_aem_67mXOLqk3kaN3F9NzprctA



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    · 2 days ago
    Hi Why I admire all the people who are commendable in standing up to the Government what about people like myself whose main income is CB ESA ? To merge 2 benefits into one JSA and ESA and making it time limited will mean I will lose £600 a month and for people like myself in the support group. The point is not about just cutting PIP/ADP (in Scotland) . Benefits and Work Team deserve commendations for their hard work and dedication and support. It is all the welfare cuts are unjust as everyone knows. I am worry not for myself but for other disabled people in difficult circumstances. My heart goes out to all of you who have so much courage and strength to make your voices heard and it upsets me that all disabled people are being treated this way and how the proposed measures will impact on them. Thank you to everyone for making your points and the kindness and support of all who work at the Benefits and Work Team in the  valuable contribution they make.
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      · 1 days ago
      @Anon Article 54 of the green paper suggests the time limiting of CB ESA is only for new claimants by saying:

      "Alongside levelling up the rate, this change would end the indefinite entitlement
      to contributory ESA for those assessed as having limited capability for work related activity (for new people claiming). Those unemployed after the time limited period would be able to claim UC, depending on their personal
      circumstances. We believe this reform would align with the removal of the
      WCA, by offering a route to financial support for those with temporary and
      short-term health conditions, including for those who may not be entitled to PIP
      and therefore not entitled to the health element of UC."

      You can read it here: 

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      · 1 days ago
      @Jamie Hi there, thank you for your answer in regard to CB ESA, but due to my own financial circumstances I will not get UC. Those who receive income related benefits receive more than those who rely on contribution based benefits as a sole income apart from receiving either PIP/ADP. People and others like myself on CB ESA  will not be protected. While I appreciate your very polite and kind reply all of us as disabled people irrespective of our disability or circumstances will be impacted by these changes. All the benefit changes being proposed are unfair to all disabled people. I feel worried and anxious not about myself but those who are less fortunate. By only standing collectively and uniting together can disabled people make a positive message by opposing the proposed changes through the Green Paper Consultation. Again I send my heartfelt thanks to the Benefits and Works Team who work so hard , are kind and positive and are brilliant at the support they give to all disabled people. Thanks to all disabled people who are so courageous to tell their own stories of and my heart goes out to everyone full of support. Thank you to one and all for what you do to give support to one another in these difficult times we are experiencing. 
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      · 1 days ago
      @Anon @Anon I am also on CB ESA and will possibly stand to lose a similar amount to you alot is said about PIP which I get but only mobility but virtually nothing about CB ESA and what will happen to those of us set to lose that with the time limited period, and then nothing.
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      · 1 days ago
      @Anon You won't lose anything. Yes, it's time limited, however, you will just move to UC on the same amount.
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    · 2 days ago
    From Disabled People Against Cuts Facebook site 
    Official Petition please share widely 
    I've signed it


    Petition
    Protect Disabled people who cannot work from planned cuts to benefits
    We want the Government to halt all planned benefit cuts for disabled people unable to work. Instead of reducing benefits, we want them to rise in line with inflation. We want support, not hardship and deprivation, for those who cannot work.




    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/721547?fbclid=IwY2xjawJknpBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmtuex7oeXBTqFLx4GyezuL9_LAiKpNy5FuZC3kcD3625YKQKu0kup06GPi4_aem_67mXOLqk3kaN3F9NzprctA





  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 days ago
    Just a quick note to say that the House of Commons is currently in their Easter recess.  The recess dates for the next two months or so are:

    Easter - 8 to 22 April
    May bank holiday - 1 to 6 May
    Whitsun - 22 May to 2 June

    If you want to contact your local MP during these dates it may be worth contacting their constituency offices.
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      · 1 days ago
      @Matt How long has a bank holiday lasted six days? 
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      · 2 days ago
      @Matt You wonder why they bother turning up at all, but I guess we should be thankful for the holidays - at least they can't do much harm during them.
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    · 2 days ago
    Disabled People Against Cuts
    I meant to put
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 days ago
    It remains important that we don't treat the consultation as merely a chance to bash the government. I know it is tempting! There are questions in there where we can press for transitional protection if we lose benefits. That could be hugely important, and it's mentioned in the green paper. But we don't want them to say "no-one mentioned it so we didn't go through with it."
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      · 1 days ago
      @Slb I agree with Gingin, you start playing their game talking about transitional protection and you are giving them tacit approval, you are admitting defeat and acceptance. If they don't realise themselves that there must be transitional protection then they are even worse than I think already. 
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      · 2 days ago
      @Slb My post of my consultation answers wasn’t meant as a bashing- my motivation is to expose the deceit and to move them
      to shame and a change of direction, although obviously my anger comes across loud and clear. Perhaps it’s the wrong way to go about it, but I don’t like being lied to, or the public being lied to, especially when it is a means to violating the basic human rights of disabled people. Everyone will have their own approach and I do get your point. I feel like accepting that transitional protection is needed is giving them permission to take these proposals foreword though. Just my opinion. 
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    · 2 days ago
    Correction to my previous post about taking part in an APPG emergency meeting on 7th May - its the APPG for Carers, not for Poverty and Inequality. I've emailed 5 APPGs so i'm getting mixed up!
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    · 2 days ago
    Labour are doing this to save money but also to been seen as sweeping up the Welfare scroungers. Because there is votes in that. Sorry to be doom and gloom but we are pretty much on our own. Some chap was on here telling us it will be okay and lambasting the naysayers for ages (he doesn't post so much now) but we haven't the public on our side.  From the middle class saying why are my taxes paying for these malingers to the working class on minimum wage saying those so and soes are getting as much as me. Don't shoot the messenger. This is what we are up against; I see it and hear it. So do you. How do we change the perception.  We can't. We never will. I say this through gritted teeth. I'm a realist. But we must however fight our corner. Do everything we can. And action those charities to do so. 
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      · 1 days ago
      @SLB Well I do. A couple saying not to worry it might be okay giving people false hope. And yes lambasting the naysayers like myself for saying this is not going to be okay, this is going likely to be bad, and I was criticised for saying that, being told you don't know, you could frighten people saying that. Nobody was trying to "scare the crap" out of people I was trying to be honest and realistic. There were some others the same. No I wasn't 100% but it was fairly obvious this was going to be bad. 
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      · 2 days ago
      @Ala To be honest, voting Labour was the best of a bad bunch at the election.  Remember that a year ago we were facing no PIP money at all, and with it all being replaced by vouchers.  Nobody could have foreseen what Labour have come up with, though, and part of me wonders if the people who came up with these ideas even understand how the system works. 
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      · 2 days ago
      @James Couldn’t agree more James 
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      · 2 days ago
      @MJ They are wrong, people who they are targeting will NEVER vote for them!   Such peolple are telling me-dissabled: we've told you dont vote Labour, don't trust them!  
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      · 2 days ago
      @MJ I don't remember anyone on here saying it will be ok, or for lambasting naysayers.  What they were saying was to not scare the crap out of people months before any announcements were made, and to wait for the announcements.  I really fail to see how all of that talk and rumour in the months leading up Kendall's speech helped anyone. 
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    · 2 days ago
    I just had a call from the media assistant for Carer's UK, having previously agreed to engage with their campaign against these proposals. She said they are working urgently to mount their campaign. She asked if I would be willing to speak to a Guardian journalist who she's meeting this afternoon and I said yes, but will discuss with husband about how I would do this (share photo or not etc). She also asked me to take part in an in person emergency meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Poverty and Inequality on 7th May in Westminster. I would have about 5 mins to speak. So i'm booking leave from work to do that now. 
    If any carers have points they think I should make, please let me know. They will probably only want to hear about my personal experience but it would be helpful to know any points I should include anyway about how in general these proposals will affect carers and their families. 
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      · 2 days ago
      @gingin I’m sorry it’s  the Carers APPG, not the Poverty and Inequality one (I got mixed up because I originally emailed 5 of them) 
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      · 2 days ago
      @Pixelmum Of course (-:
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      · 2 days ago
      @gingin Hi gingin, firstly I would like to say thanks for agreeing to speak with carers uk and taking it further with the all parliamentary group at Westminster, I was asked if I would like to take part too but it wouldn't be possible, even though I want to do all I can to show my support for against these cruel cuts. As a carer to my disabled sister I am worried sick about these proposals, what the future will hold for us if she loses her pip and lcwra and I would lose my carers allowance and council tax support. I recently had to give up my job of 24 years to care for her when our mum passed away, she was her carer and now we could have our benefits taken away. Just how does the government expect carers who cannot work live without benefits? How are we going to pay the bills,  rent, food etc? If you could raise these points when you speak I would be grateful. Once again, thanks for considering other carers and good luck. 
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      · 2 days ago
      @gingin Well don gingin, please let us know how everything goes!
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      · 2 days ago
      @gingin One thing very relevant to this as it relates to care is that it will trap people, particularly women, in domestically abusive situations with burnt-out carers, as people won't be able to pay for care after they lose their PIP. 

      I know a number of people in this situation where they were reliant on PIP to change the caring situation and now cannot leave. The 4 point rule worsens this as it means carers have to be in more constant attendence to merit points. Carer burnout is a real problem and though most do an amazing job it must be factored in as Disabled women are twice as likely to face domestic abuse.
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    · 3 days ago
    Just been on Instagram, and there is an advert from Amnesty International about how the poorest 10% in the UK pay proportionately more than the richest in taxes.  Then it says:

    "According to the UK government's own analysis, 250,000 people will be pushed into poverty by the latest social security cuts.  Call on the prime minister to stop the cuts now."

    I can't link to it, but thought people would be interested to know it's there.

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      · 2 days ago
      @Anon It's just numbers on a screen to them.
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      · 2 days ago
      @Slb It's 400,000 according to JRF.

      Nearly half a million.

      Disabled people.

      No big deal, is it?
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    · 3 days ago
    I know there are people saying they are despondant, depressed, and don't see a way forward.   I realise it's easy to be despondant, especially when everyone else on here is as well.  Me included.  

    But I think we should take some solace that there are little tiny movements - rumblings, if you like - in our favour, or that might help our cause.  We're only four weeks in - there's another eighteen months to go before any of this might kick in.  And benefit changes are notorious for being pushed back for one reason or another.  So I want to list what I see as tiny positive things to try and give some form of hope.

    Anyway, my positive rumblings...  

    1.) There are two inquiries within parliament - one about poverty and the disabled in general, and one about the cuts specifically.  Formalities?  Well, neither HAD to happen, so probably not.  

    2.) Despite Trump hogging the UK news cycle, there have still been prominent pieces about the benefit cuts on the BBC, and in the Indpendent and Guardian in the last couple of days.  And the interview with Timms linked to in the BBC article is an embarrassment.  I'll provide the links to the recent news articles at the bottom of this post.

    3) There is the prospect of humiliating defeats in the elections next month. If councillors etc who lose their seats are reporting back to the govt that it's due in part to the disabled vote, then that might cause some significant issues for the parliamentary party - and might result in more MPs coming out against the cuts.

    4.) Starmer had to defend the cuts yesterday in front of the committees, and the same repeated lines seem to be wearing thin with the MPs who were questioning him.   It wasn't reported positively in the press.

    5.) There is still a backlash after both Darren Jones and Rachel Reeves made references to the cuts as pocket money.  That hasn't gone away.  

    6.)  The backlash from charities seems to be increasing rather than going away. 
     
    7.)  The govt has been criticised again - this time for not having the accessible versions of the consultation ready at the same time as the regular version...despite it being about disabilities.

    8.)  I think the virtual and in person elements of the consultation (which we didn't know were happening until this week) allow for the govt to get a much bigger sense of how the disabled feel about what's going on. I don't think they realise the bashing they are likely to get. 

    9.)  There are various petitions etc to sign, and a couple of sites asking for evidence from us about how we feel about what's going on (including benefits and work, of course). 

    10.)  These changes still have to go through the commons, the committee stage, and the Lords.   There is still hope that there will be amendments to it following the commons debates or when the Lords get their hands on it - and the Lord (agree with them existing or not) caused the last govt quite a lot of problems.  I'm not saying the changes won't go through.  They will.  But a few changes here and there through amendments, while letting the government keep its dignity and not do a complete U-turn, may well be of use to us.  


    Here's some of the articles from the last couple of days in the more serious news outlets.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/labour-benefit-cuts-vote-when-april-pip-b2729582.html





    Sorry for the essay!!!
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      · 2 days ago
      @Neil Cook That's if it goes through as a "money bill."  Some here think that will be the case, others don't.  I don't think anyone knows at this stage.  I don't see how changing PIP eligibility fits into a money bill.  The parliamentary website says that "A money bill is a bill that in the opinion of the House of Commons Speaker is concerned only with national taxation, public money or loans."    Either way, whether its a money bill or not depends on the view of the speaker of the Commons.  I guess we'll find out some point soon!
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      · 2 days ago
      @Anon Aw I love this community too, because we together understand how difficult this is and i feel less alone because of that. But i'm one small drop in the ocean in this opposition fight - I hope everyone will do what they can to shout as loud as they can. 
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      · 2 days ago
      @SLB Good stuff, Shane.
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      · 2 days ago
      @SLB In terms of Lords delays, isn't Starmers trying to put these changes through via an Act of Parliament rather than a Statutory Instrument which effectively accelerates it's passing and massively limits anything the Lord's could do? Basically I think he's running scared coz he knows the Lords would most likely tear it to shreds 
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      · 2 days ago
      @SLB Thank you, really appreciate you doing this 
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    · 3 days ago
    "If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, it is partly because that is the road they generally start out on."
    -Stephen G. Post
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    · 3 days ago
    The road to hell is paved with good intentions
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    · 3 days ago
    Would be useful to have similar for the effects of changes to UC health component based on 4 points. I know loads of people who don't receive PIP, many of whom should be currently eligible but either didn't appeal an incorrect decision or haven't even applied because they thought they wouldn't get it. Obviously these people have been able to get by so far without PIP but now they are faced with being forced to look for work they can't possibly do. 
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      · 1 days ago
      @ANGELA You should more money on Universal Credit
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      · 1 days ago
      @Kitty Thank you for explaining what you meant - glad we are on the same page!
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      · 1 days ago
      @ANGELA Which benefits are you currently getting, Angela? Jamie is correct about transitional protection. You will get at least the same amount on UC as you get now, if not more. 
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      · 1 days ago
      @ANGELA Nobody loses anything when they move to UC. You have transistional protection. I can gaurentee, you won't lose anything.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 days ago
      @Anon Anon. 

      I'm really not making any assumptions. I just meant that they have been able to survive so far, what many other people would consider 'getting by', it's not right or acceptable and I didn't mean to imply it was but if they lose UC it will be catastrophic. For many people also on pip they will lose all income too. I just think it would be useful to draw attention to that whilst trying to educate the public about what the real impact of the cuts is. Many people I know who don't have experience of the system think people are just facing losing a portion of their income when in fact  people are only just surviving up til now and could lose everything or the majority of their income. 
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    · 3 days ago
    My answers to the so called Govt consultation: 

    What further steps could the Department for Work and Pensions take to make sure the benefit system supports people to try work without the worry that it may affect their benefit entitlement?
    Thousands of people who will lose their PIP due to not being awarded 4 points in daily living will also lose their LCWRA and their family carer but are still too sick or disabled to work. Labour knows this but wants to save money and gain political points at the expense of people's safety and health.

    What support do you think we could provide for those who will lose their Personal Independence Payment entitlement as a result of a new additional requirement to score at least four points on one daily living activity?
    This government is not interested in supporting people. If they were, they would not add the 4 point rule. My husband's health is very poor due to a genetic condition and no employer would have him or put up with him for long. We need financial help, plain and simple, or we and our children will be destitute. I work, but cannot work full time, as I care for my husband. 

    How could we improve the experience of the health and care system for people who are claiming Personal Independence Payment who would lose entitlement? 
    We need money to live! We need a roof over our head, to pay our bills and to feed ourselves and our children. If a disabled person is unable to work, no amount of 'support' from a work coach will change this. My husband's condition is genetic and he is only going to deteriorate, yet this brutal 4 point rule will mean he gets no financial help at all. No health intervention will cure him or make a significant difference to his myriad of symptoms. 

    How could we introduce a new Unemployment Insurance, how long should it last for and what support should be provided during this time to support people to adjust to changes in their life and get back into work? 
    Disabled people need long-term financial support for life if they are unable to work. Thousands of disabled people who only score 2 or 3 in the PIP assessment are very, very ill and unable to work! They did not choose to be born disabled! Do they have no value to our society if they cannot work?

    What practical steps could we take to improve our current approach to safeguarding people who use our services? 
    Stop penalising, demonising and discriminating against the sickest people in our society. Do you seriously want to safeguard disabled people? You have put the long term sick and disabled through terrible stress and fear over the last few months, and this continues. I cannot believe you care about safeguarding them.

    How should the support conversation be designed and delivered so that it is welcomed by individuals and is effective? 
    People who are unable to work, many of whom only score 2 or 3 in their PIP assessment categories, will not be helped by a support conversation. They are unable to work and employers do not want to employ them. If they were to work, they would not last long. You know that in this economic climate particularly these people will not gain employment. You know this, so stop deceiving the public. You only want to save money. You have no interest in the welfare of disabled people. Disabled people need financial help, not support conversations. Disability is expensive, and it is NOT a life choice. Who would choose to live with a disability??

    How should we design and deliver conversations to people who currently receive no or little contact, so that they are most effective? 
    Have some respect for disabled people by giving them the financial support they desperately need, not conversations. Stop hounding and persecuting them. There but for the grace of God go you. 

    How we should determine who is subject to a requirement only to participate in conversations, or work preparation activity rather than the stronger requirements placed on people in the Intensive Work Search regime?
    Don't implement the 4 point rule. Have some sense. Speak to disabled people and see for yourselves that many are too sick to work, who would not be awarded 4 points. Stop designing assessments whose main purpose is to deny people the support they genuinely need or to catch them out. 

    Should we require most people to participate in a support conversation as a condition of receipt of their full benefit award or of the health element in Universal Credit? 
    The support conversation is meaningless and useless to those disabled people who don't score 4 in one PIP category but are too unwell to work. You know this. You are ticking boxes and fulfilling a PR exercise. Disabled people need financial help to live. They have not chosen to be seriously unwell. The best support you could give is to stop harassing and demonising those who have more than enough on their plate just managing their many health issues. 

    How should we determine which individuals or groups of individuals should be exempt from requirements? 
    I have no idea, but the 4 point rule blatantly flaunts basic human rights. PIP should not be linked in any way to work. Removing PIP from thousands of seriously ill people will also cause them to lose any financial support at all. You are effectively subjecting people who will lose their PIP to work requirements, when many of them work already, but would not be able to afford to without the financial support of PIP. Clever move??

    Should we delay access to the health element of Universal Credit within the reformed system until someone is aged 22? 
    I fail to see how someone does not require financial support to live with expensive disability just because they're younger. 

    How can we support and ensure employers, including Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, to know what workplace adjustments they can make to help employees with a disability or health condition?  
    You know that these proposals are simply a cynical move to save money and gain political points. Unless you live in La La land you know that employers are unable and unwilling to take on the expense and effort of accommodating a disabled person to work, who is too sick to do so. As if there are even enough jobs for the fit and well.  

    What should DWP directly fund for both employers and individuals to maximise the impact of a future Access to Work and reach as many people as possible?   
    Just give the disabled who are too sick to work enough to live to a minimally decent standard and stop these cynical and cruel proposals. Managing their health is already a full time job. 

    At this point I gave up answering their stupid questions. 
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      · 1 days ago
      @robbie I thought the same. Old enough and adult enough to vote at 16, but not an adult until 22 when it comes to getting the same benefits.

      Labour wanting to lower the voting age could spectacularly backfired on them. Many 16 and 17 year-olds have said they would vote Reform. 
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      · 1 days ago
      @LeeLawson Not a mistake, just an attack from a different angle. Go with what works for you, we should all put things our own way. The important thing is to show we're not taken in by their deceit.
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      · 1 days ago
      @WorkshyLayabout So they're planning to delay access to the health element of Universal Credit within the reformed system until someone is aged 22, but they're giving them the vote from 16 🤔
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      · 1 days ago
      @gingin That's the way, though, @gingin, b*gger the questions, just say what needs to be said!
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      · 2 days ago
      @gingin "Should we delay access to the health element of Universal Credit within the reformed system until someone is aged 22?
      I fail to see how someone does not require financial support to live with expensive disability just because they're younger."

      As a guess, most under 22s are still living at home and Labour expects parents to be making up the financial shortfall. 
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    · 3 days ago
    "Disabled organisers refuse to meet ministers over DWP benefits cuts and the fact that the government is not consulting on these cuts."


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      · 2 days ago
      @gingin I read an interview with him today. His statements are appalling… 
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      · 3 days ago
      @Scorpion well, so it says in the headline, and then tells you they are merely considering the move, although some people have resigned - although that seems are rather daft move, as it's no doubt easier to make changes from within than outside such organisations.
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      · 3 days ago
      @Scorpion I can't believe the 'putting disabled people at the heart of everything we do' trash was repeated not once, but twice again by Mr Timms in that interview. It is beyond disingenuous. He and his crooked party should be ashamed. Not a scrap of integrity among them. 
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    · 3 days ago
    We come across "PIP cuts" all over the internet, including in the newspapers, yet no PIP cuts have been proposed. The cuts target people on LCWRA, yet no one is mentioning this fact, leave alone drawing special attention to it. Particularly, the cohort of claimants who are only on LCWRA and do not receive any PIP, as they're risking to lose their sole social security payment all of a sudden and, in result, become at the mercy of UC and all the dreadful paraphernalia that goes along with. 


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      · 2 days ago
      @Anon Would being on an indefinite fit note have any bearing on wether or not u get pulled on for an assessment 
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      · 2 days ago
      @Scorpion Agreed you would lose lcwra, and you would have to comply with conditions, but you would not lose all your social security payment, because you would be re-classed as lcw or looking for work.

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      · 2 days ago
      @Kitty The New Economics Foundation estimates that the cuts actually amount to £7 billion and that the government has used a statistical sleight of hand to say the cuts only amount to £5 billion.
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      · 2 days ago
      @Scorpion Read up on the 4 point criteria for PIP. People on PIP and LCWRA could lose up to 10K a year. 

      BOTH things are barbaric. 

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      · 3 days ago
      @SLB @SLB - cuts to UC Health (LCWRA)will effect current claimants if they fail their next WCA or PIP reassessment. Recently the DWP confirmed WCA assessments will recommence until it's abolition.  The DWP also confirmed it plans to conduct more frequent PIP reassessments including for claimants on 10 year or continuous awards. 
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    · 3 days ago
    Dear MP/Councillor,

    Re: Urgent Concerns About Flawed Green Paper Consultation on Disability Benefits

    I am writing to express my deep concern about the current Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) consultation titled “Modernising Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper”, which proposes significant changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Universal Credit (UC), and the Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

    While these changes will have profound and life-altering consequences for disabled people, the DWP has refused to consult on the most critical proposals, including:

    Abolishing the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)
    Freezing the UC health element (LCWRA) until 2029/30
    Introducing a new requirement to score at least 4 points in a single descriptor to receive the daily living component of PIP
    Merging PIP and UC assessments into a single system
    Restarting WCA reassessments ahead of its abolition

    These are major reforms with serious consequences for people with physical conditions, mental health challenges, neurodivergent profiles and fluctuating conditions — yet the public is being denied the opportunity to comment on them.

    The government's own Impact Assessment (independently verified by the OBR) of these proposals show that:

    370,00 current PIP recipients expected to lose entitlement to the daily living component on review and 430,000 future recipients. Average loss is £4,500 per year.
     
    150,000 current Carer's Allowance recipients (average loss of £4,200 per year)

    2.25m current recipients of UC Health to be impacted by the freeze (average loss of £500 per year – although they will also see a small rise in cash terms from the standard allowance)

    730,000 future recipients of UC health (average loss of £3,000 per year).

    The vast majority (96%) of families that lose financially have someone with a disability in the household. These families losing out are also estimated to represent 20% of all families that report having someone with a disability in the household.

    It is estimated that there will be an additional 250,000 people (including 50,000 children) in relative poverty as a result of these changes to benefits.

    The fiction that Rachel Reeves is spinning is that the claimants who lose their PIP will be able to make up their lost income by working. This claim is nonsensical because:

    Many PIP claimants already work.
    Many PIP claimants are physically and/or mentally unable to work.

    Currently 800,000 job vacancies in the UK but 1.5million unemployed people actively looking for work. So what chance do 370,000 disabled people (soon to be stripped of their PIP) and 150,000 carers (soon to be stripped of the Carer's Allowance) have of securing work to make up their lost benefits income?

    This Green Paper risks causing serious harm to thousands of disabled people — not just through its policy proposals, but through the way it is being conducted. A consultation that does not allow people to respond to the most important questions is not just flawed — it is undemocratic.

    Please stand up for fairness, transparency, and the rights of disabled people by challenging this process and demanding a lawful, open, and inclusive approach.

    Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I would be grateful for a response outlining your position and any steps you plan to take.

    Yours sincerely, 
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      · 2 days ago
      @Bern400 That's great Bern, very explanatory and clearly pointing out the detrimental effects of these changes, really hope they reply, after you taking the time to write this it would be really shameful if they don't.
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      · 3 days ago
      @Bern400 Well done, Bern400. Hope you get a respectful reply.
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      · 3 days ago
      @Bern400 Brilliant!
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    · 3 days ago
    I'm so despondent, feel lost, Then i come on here and read uplifting posts from some I'd call 'Warrior's' and i get a wee sparkle of hope
     I want to say thanks to many of you who have generated that hope in myself and others. Thank you again.
    Xx
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      · 2 days ago
      @The Dogmother Ditto Dogmother, it really helps to stand together x
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      · 3 days ago
      @The Dogmother It's difficult not to be despondent, knowing that we might all face a cliff edge in little more than eighteen month's time.  And then another in 2028 where we could get hit again.  But there's glimmers of hope out there.  Despite Trump hogging the UK headlines for a week, there are still news stories about the benefit cuts.  We now know of two inquiries - one into poverty and the disabled (which probably would have happened with or without the cuts), and the other about the cuts themselves.  It's easy to shrug them off as "just a formality," but they are not really.  Can they persuade the government to change course?  Not on their own.  But those inquries + pressure from charities (who seem to be speaking out more) + angered back benchers + possibly humiliating results in next month's elections could lead to something.  I feel more hopeful of a rowing back on what's going on now than I did two weeks ago.  But what the hell do I know!  lol
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 3 days ago
    I've got a ticket for Leeds. Got one as soon as I saw this in the i paper. I'm representing my husband who cannot attend due to his disability.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 days ago
      @Ilo Can you please post time/ date and venue. Thanks ✊
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      · 2 days ago
      @Gingin Best of luck to you too x
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      · 2 days ago
      @Ilo Good on you and the best of luck, I'm in NI but there hasn't been any meetings proposed here.
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      · 3 days ago
      @Ilo Hi, I’m representing my husband too, and myself as his carer- Cardiff. Glad you got a ticket 
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      · 3 days ago
      @Ilo Hopefully people will release the locations on forums to give people the heads up.
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