Why are sickness and incapacity benefit payments so high?

Question

okay so people are sick or incapacitated somehow - so why do they need such a high amount of benefit

my exes brother makes me sick , he gets £260 every fortnight plus a futher £250 a month for mobility and carers allowance plus housing and council tax so thats almost a grand a month and there is sod all wrong with him , he has somehow blagged epilepsy ! he has never had fit , he blacked out 1 morning due to heavy drinking and fighting night before and now he geyts all this moneya nd blows it on drugs n beer

im a single mum of 2 , i on benefits now but worked ten years flat before the kids and not always been a single parent- i really struggle with what i get (no where near the same amount)

why do they make the sickness benefit so high? surely if they gave a lesser amount then it would deter these scroungers , its a joke the amount they get when poor elderly people get literally nothing to manage on,

and some of the fakers get free brand new cars too every few years

what a joke !

Answer 1

Life is hard for so many people and it wouldn't be if they didn't have to pay so much tax. However, i do think that there are greater drains on public funds than benefit scroungers. To be honest, i don't envy those scroungers as they are complete losers and have a c**p quality of life anyway. I'd rather die than sit around drinking all day for the rest of my life. It does seem very unfair as thsoe people are getting something for nothing when you get single mothers working 2 jobs just to put food on the table. Or, as you said, elderly people having to choose between food and heating because they can't afford both. I do think that the system, despite being exploited by many, does help a lot of deserving people so i don't think they should get less money-perhaps we should just give them food and medication rather than cash, or check up on the benefitees more often.

I really respect you for working so hard, and the scroungers give people who do need benefits a bad name-making you all look like lazy wastes of space. I can sympathise because my parents worked hard for years and for the year or so they were out of work when i was a kid, they got looked down on got a lot less than the skinheads on estates faking illnesses.

If the benefits system did not exist, i do think that performances by people in schools would sky rocket as everybody would know that it's either get a good, stable job, or become homeless.

However, a lot of families would be out on the streets with nowhere to go.

It's a difficult one, but the world is full on unfairness and we should be lucky we live in a country where we're not in constant fear for our lives or where our next meal is coming from. Be happy that you have happy, healthy children and ignore those idiots. Karma will come back round and bite him in the ***.

Answer 2

I know somebody who can hardly walk and they were turned down for mobility allowance, so I can't imagine how your exes brother can get all that if you say there's nothing wrong with him. How can he have mobility allowance for epilepsy? I thought it was for people who can hardly walk. They told the person I know that she can walk enough, although she has a lung condition and gets out of breath easy and had to give up work.

I know a woman who has a disabled son and she has a flashy new car every few years that she uses for herself more than for taking her son places. She doesn't work but still has a free taxi to take her son to school.

edit: are you sure he doesn't have epilepsy? He might be embarrassed to admit he really does have fits and pretends he doesn't.

I don't see why I should have to pay for so many single parents, as people seem to go around having children with anybody nowadays, even if they know they won't stay with them. They don't even have to pay for their children's school meals, so I wouldn't complain. Illness can't be avoided some of the time, but having children people can't afford can be.

Answer 3

It's a disgrace - but be prepared for some nasty answers. Judging from my previous answers on matters of benefit scroungers and cheats - most of the people on here seem to think it is perfectly acceptable to blag the system and rip off tax payers such as you and I.  It's a sad reflection on the apathy of British society - they expect other people to pay for their living.  One thing you have that they don't is your self respect.

Answer 4

I currently work in  DWP department dealing with IB claimants.   Your story is not beleiveable

To get Carers Allowance you have to convince them that you cannot perform basic tasks for yourself (such as washing, dressing, eating, going to the toilet etc).  Very few people can actually get it.  

You cannot get mobility allowance for epilepsy.  My mum in law (who has a crumbling spine full of metal pins and bolts and has to take daily pain releif for her condition) couldn't get it and she has real trouble walking - she was not considered "disabled enough" as she could just about walk "enough" to satisfy their criteria (albeit with difficulty and pain).  Mobility cars are even harder to get - my mum in law couldn't get one and she has genuine mobility problems.  She had to buy her own car, (or rather, my partner had to buy her one - getting into debt to do so.)

People on IB or incapacity-related Income Support have to go for a yearly medical examination with a Dr employed by Atos Healthcare, the company who the DWP contracts its medical examinations to.  These doctors award points for how severely a person's illness/condition affects them (how it prevents them carrying out basic everyday tasks, the degree of pain they are in etc) and if you do not have enough "points" you fail your medical and lose your IB.  If you fail to turn up to your medical you lose your IB.  If you cancel a medical appointment twice without good reason you lose your IB.  This happens to many genuinely sick people every day so how someone like your ex-'s brother can fake it I don't know.

The benefit amounts are not "high".

Incapacity Benefit is £72 per week. Thats only for people who have previously worked and paid enough NI stamps.  If you do not qualify for IB you have to get Income Support which is only £57 per week.  Could you live off that?  Remember, many people on Incapacity Benefit are geuinely sick or disabled through no fault of their own.

Carers Allowance and DLA and Mobility Allowance are, as I said, not available to everyone and actually very hard to get.   Many genuine sick people are living on £57 a week.   Beleive me, some of the stories I hear are truly tragic - people who have worked all their lives, been afflicted by cancer or another debilitating illness/condition and have literally lost everything they worked for and are living in poverty.

Maybe what needs to be done is tighten up on what counts as "Incapacity".  I'm not convinced alcoholics and drug addicts should be getting Incapacity Benefit, at least not without taking some form of treatment for their problem as a condition of receiving it.

Maybe your ex's brother is getting IB because of alcoholism/drug addiction?  It would be very difficult if not impossible to "fake" epilepsy.  Drugs would not affect a brain scan to produce false results - it doesn't work like that.

Answer 5

well judging by what they said on the news yesterday, thats all set to change!

why not grass him up to the authorities??? i certainly would! sounds like a complete **** to me!

Answer 6

Makes me sick 2, i know a few so called sick ppl, that r basically just lazy so and so's.

I live in northern ireland and alcoholic's also apply for sick benefits, which i personnally think is a joke, (wat do u think about that)?

My mum is on incapacity benefit (she doesnt get nearly as much as that though) and had to fight 2 get it 4 years, and she has scoliosis of the spine ie (twisted spine and hump on her back).  They seriously need 2 look at who they do and dont give these benefits 2 in2 more depth.

Answer 7

the amounts you mention are an exaggeration  so therefore

you have no credability  only negative discrimination  against the disabled  and sick

Answer 8

Genuinely disabled people need that level of income due to extra expenses. The bloke you mention clearly lies very well and without any conscience. Hope he's not tempting fate...The money shouldn't be reduced - the fiddlers and liars should be caught. Report him to your nearest Department for Works and Pension - anonymously if you wish.