Sickness Benefits

The new Welfare Reform Act is due to be passed during this Parliament. I am particularly interested in sickness benefits because the government aims to get a Million people off sickness benefits and back to work. I agree that in general,that is a good thing. I have certain reservations though.

I would like to see certain groups protected. There are some people with conditions that are either incurable or can only deteriorate. I'm thinking of people with Alzheimers, Motor Neurone Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, the last stages of AIDS or Cancer or renal failure or Schizophrenia, Post Polio Syndrome and a range of other illnesses as well. People with these sorts of problems should not be hassled to get jobs or to fill out endless forms. Once a consultant has certified their condition, they should be left in peace because constant form filling with the fear of Benefits being stopped can only cause needless suffering.

Previously, the Government had Sheltered Employment Schemes for people who could work a bit but not in a competitive job market. These schemes have stopped so there is no government Sheltered Employment available any more. With many companies going belly up in the Recession, there is fiercer competition than ever for fewer jobs. It isn't rocket science to work out that a recently employed person will be offered the job in preference to someone who has been off sick for a few years and who may need special arrangements and adaptations to enable them to do the job.

How is it that so many people think all you have to do to get these Benefits is to ask for them? My boyfriend was telling me today that under the new Welfare Reform Bill, people will have to be examined by doctors. I told him that is just propaganda and spin because it has been done for at least 10 years to my certain knowledge! Do people really believe that doctors routinely lie when issuing sickness reports? Lying is professional misconduct and they can be struck off the Register for it. They know that. So why would they do it? Someone hasn't thought this through too carefully.

Many people are on Incapacity because the Government wanted them there. In places like Merthyr Tydfil where local industry collapsed, the unemployment statistics were high enough to embarrass the Government, so Job Centre staff were told to advise people to claim for sickness benefits so the unemployment stats would be less embarrassing.

The way I see it, there are 4 groups in the sickness benefit spectrum:
1. Those put on them to reduce unemployment statistics.
2. Some liars, cheats, scroungers and scoundrels.
3. The genuinely ill and
4. The genuinely ill who need the benefits but are finding it a form of torture to get them. I am in correspondence with quite a few of them and I wish I could communicate their despair.

I have a friend who has severe Schizophrenia that is only barely controlled. Under the new proposed Reforms, she will have to look for work because under the new guidelines, Schizophrenics who are only moderately violent or not violent at all will have to work. Who on earth do the Government think is going to employ a 'moderately violent Schizophrenic'? Someone is obviously in Cloud Cuckoo Land! Besides, whenever the spectre of being forced into work is in the news, my friend gets so anxious and worried that she doesn't sleep for days because of fear. She says she will either stop taking her medication completely or she will take the whole lot at once.

I fully support helping people back into work if they have been put on Sickness Benefits to massage the Unemployment statistics. I fully agree that liars, rogues and scoundrels should be put to work. People who find their current jobs too stressful, instead of being put in sickness benefits could possibly be sent on a stress management course and moved to a less stressful job. For instance, if a teacher felt overwhelmed by job stress, she could possibly become a librarian or florist. 'Work' need not necessarily mean working exclusively in one's own profession.

The genuinely ill need protection though, as they are very vulnerable. It seems that first applications are routinely rejected even with good supporting medical evidence. The forms that have to be filled in are in the form of booklets and are about 30 pages long. And you have to fill out two different ones to apply for Disability Living Allowance. It is fraught with tension, and people who are very ill and who need the help most very often do not have the strength to fight for it.