[Admin - Rethink]

Benefits Reform - live chat on Tuesday 23 November from 12 noon Jane Harris of Rethink will answer your questions and concerns about benefits reform live, here on RethinkTalk.

Please post questions for Jane and start the debate here!

Today, 11 November 2010, a welfare reform White Paper (which is an official government plan to change the rules) is being launched.

If you want to follow the announcement live there should be coverage on the main news channels around the time of the official announcement, at about 12.15pm. Rethink will issuing a reaction to the press as soon as possible after the White Paper has been released, which will be after the announcement.

We are also hosting another 'live chat' discussion around the issue on the 23rd November, so please post your questions and concerns here. If you're not sure how this will affect you, let us know your circumstances and we should be able to give you clear advice.

Chris

PS Please note that Rethink are also hosting a free event on debt and direct payments in London on 26 November.

[I am an Aardvark]

Seeing as a large proportion of the prison population is mentally ill; & there are no proper MH services to help people with severe MH difficulties; when faced with potential destitution, poverty, homelessness, & starvation - is it then a viable option to turn to criminal activities to support ourselves?

[alienpresence]

If I'm unable to keep appointments because of bad nerve days and medication induced tiredness when I become homeless and begin to starve should I do this in public or wander into the countryside to starve in private?

[Admin - Rethink]

Hi all,

Here's the link to the BBC News page where the announcement will be broadcast live:

http://www.bbc.co.uk...litics-11728546

Please note, these changes will not happen overnight and there is still a chance to influence them. This White Paper is what then becomes a Bill, which goes through a long debating process in Parliament before becoming an Act of law - it's very common for things to change during this period.

[Admin - Rethink]

Just listening to the House of Commons debate now and wondering if the 'ambitious' IT system will become a major part of the ongoing debate around these plans.

[Admin - Rethink]

In response to Tracey Crouch (Conservative), Ian Duncan Smith has confirmed that Disability Living Allowance will not be incorporated into the 'universal credit'.

------

And another mental health related question from Kevan Jones (Labour) - in response, IDS says that the system will 'adjust rates depending on incapacities' and that the new system will help people more than anything that has gone before. Not very specific though!

[Admin - Rethink]

Question in the House of Commons debate asking, 'if carers will be able to adjust hours of work according to their needs, how to get employers to agree these hours?'. I didn't fully understand the Govt. response - IDS seemed to say that carers will only need to take a job that suits their hours already, however, it wasn't that clear!

[DeletedMember]

Chris - Rethink, on 11 November 2010 - 12:48 PM, said:

In response to Tracey Crouch (Conservative MP), Ian Duncan Smith has confirmed that Disability Living Allowance will not be incorporated into the 'universal credit'.

I don't get DLA, I was too intimidated to apply for it. I'd like to raise the following points that I am directly screwed by...

Incapacity benefit? (migration to ESA [WRAG])
Atos? (flawed and corrupt)
Legal Aid? (slashed)
Housing Benefit 10% reduction? (punitive)
Under 35's to move into shared accomodation? (I am 33)


In April I will have to move out of my flat because i'm under 35, I will have to move into shared accomodation. I've been without my IB since April and my appeal is'nt due until next year. 2 points awarded by Atos for svere Bipolar Disorder.
Keep pushing me, keep treating me like a second class citizen and eventually I will flip (think Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down'). I can only take so much, my dispair is turning into anger, fast.

I don't have any questions, politicians don't answer them.

Ditko
x

[Admin - Rethink]

White Paper published online here:
http://www.dwp.gov.u...ll-document.pdf

See page 18/19 for points on disability and caring.

[Admin - Rethink]

Ditko, on 11 November 2010 - 01:18 PM, said:

my dispair is turning into anger, fast.

I hope you can join the chat with Jane Harris here on 23rd November - there may be some clarity and additional info that will help. You're not alone in feeling angry of course. And I know I bang on about this possibly too much, but you can join Rethink campaigns here www.rethink.org/campaign - become an activist to get really stuck in, but you can also join as an e-campaigner which isn't a massive commitment, but really helpful to improve things for people affected by mental illness and mental health issues.

[DeletedMember]

Chris - Rethink, on 11 November 2010 - 01:30 PM, said:

I hope you can join the chat with Jane Harris here on 23rd November - there may be some clarity and additional info that will help. You're not alone in feeling angry of course. And I know I bang on about this possibly too much, but you can join Rethink campaigns here www.rethink.org/campaign - become an activist to get really stuck in, but you can also join as an e-campaigner which isn't a massive commitment, but really helpful to improve things for people affected by mental illness and mental health issues.

http://www.guardian....ty-benefit-cuts

Hi Chris, I will be joining the debate, thanks for organising it.

[Admin - Rethink]

Excellent link Ditko - thanks, we'll be tweeting etc. that one.

Can we quote your first post here in a tweet, by the way? Your name won't be used. Thanks if so, but no worries if you'd rather we didn't.

[DeletedMember]

Chris - Rethink, on 11 November 2010 - 03:05 PM, said:

Excellent link Ditko - thanks, we'll be tweeting etc. that one.

Can we quote your first post here in a tweet, by the way? Your name won't be used. Thanks if so, but no worries if you'd rather we didn't.

Of course, I go into slightly more datail here
http://www.rethinkta...ch__1#entry7836

[ramboghettouk]

I phoned up the benefit enquiry line and the guy said i was getting dla and the severe disability premium on income support because i am incapaxitated and sabsometime in the next 3 yrs i'll be transferrred to esa, is that true and what will it mean for me as i'm living slightly on wjat small savings i'm alllowed

[Admin - Rethink]

Just to keep you up to date, this is from a press statement we released today:

Quote

Paul Jenkins, chief executive of leading mental health charity Rethink, comments:

“Iain Duncan Smith has insisted that no one will lose out from his reforms, but we’re not as confident as we don’t think the system effectively recognises mental illness. The proposed conditions attached to job seekers allowance will add to the worries of those who already fear they will be wrongly assessed as fit to work under the new benefits test.

“It is now even more essential that benefits assessments really reflect people’s ability to work in the long-term. Mental illness affects people differently from day to day, and if someone is wrongly found to be fit for work, and put on Job Seekers Allowance, they could now be forced to do inappropriate work or lose their benefits. Job Centre Plus staff tell us that they don’t have mental illness expertise, yet they will decide who to send on these work programmes.

“We are pleased that the new Universal Credit will change the way benefits are reduced once claimants are working. The £7,000 earnings allowance for disabled people is a marked improvement on the current system and will make the transition into work easier, as well as avoiding the perverse situation where people find themselves worse off when they begin employment.

“However, Rethink is disappointed by the White Paper’s failure to propose any improvements to carers’ allowance, despite its acknowledgement that the benefit is entirely unfit for purpose. Millions of carers need to see a government commitment to better support.”

[alienpresence]

He should say something about this 'parking and creaming' lark happening in job centres where the people with poor work histories or signifiicant symptoms are parked at the back of the line. These are the ones who'll be expected to do a months work after twelve months and the ones least capable of doing a months work.

[ramboghettouk]

I have a question of policy, is it rethinks policy that those on long term meds for illnesses like schitzoprenia are fit for work?

At the moment if you say to a psychiatrist your drugs aren't pperfect you'll start a change of meds programmme looking for that non existant perfect drug, that will only end when you learn to keeep your mouth shut, that is how psychiatrists conveniently avoid facing the issue that meds aren't cure

Psychiatrists and the drug companys have a lot of power and get away with the drug cure claim, whic h if used by the dwp could be disastrous for people like me

[ramboghettouk]

Crap if i comed off my meds i get anxious, a month i'd be sectioned

I had reduced them on the principle that if the worst happened it'd help my claim, the anxiety has forced me to increase them

[DeletedMember]

ramboghettouk, on 11 November 2010 - 05:53 PM, said:

Crap if i comed off my meds i get anxious, a month i'd be sectioned

I had reduced them on the principle that if the worst happened it'd help my claim, the anxiety has forced me to increase them

This is a good example of how frightened we are, adjusting meds dose through fear of DWP's sanctions. What an insane system we are part of.

Rambo, I did'nt mean for you to actually stop your meds, just the threat of it as a form of protest, and I say it with my tongue firmly in my cheek.

Ditko
x

[Monkerty Tunkerty]

I rent a 2 bed house from a private landlord, currently all my rent is covered by Local housing allowance (£450 per month). My question is when the new housing benefit rules come in force in april will I have my housing benefit cut straight away? I am 29 years old and live alone. I believe I will only be entitled to money for a bedsit