800,000 people have been on sick for over 10 years

[VectraMan]

You can be on the sick for Depression/Stress and other fairly minor 'disabilities' as many scammers know. These people are robbing from the genuine disabled. it's a wonder they don't pretend to be old to get meals on wheels.

I never understand why anybody thinks sitting around at home all day with nothing to do and little money is a good cure for depression.

[BoredBloke]

As pointed out before - the severley disabled do not tend to get better. My son for instance will never see, so he is probably going to be on these types of benefits for years. What I do not agree with is how incapacity benefit seemed to become the benefit of choice. Yes this started under the Tories, but Labour have been running the show for 11 years. The fact it has been maintained by Labour is a disgrace, especially as it is not something which has come as a suprise to anybody.

As for the blue badges - many are given to people who really shouldn't have them. There is also a large amount which get stolen each year as they allow the user to park pretty much anywhere including double yellows. We never use ours when James is not in the car

[TheBigYinJames]

It's the 10 people who have been on the sick for 800,000 years who need to be caught.

[Diver]

You can be on the sick for Depression/Stress and other fairly minor 'disabilities' as many scammers know. These people are robbing from the genuine disabled. it's a wonder they don't pretend to be old to get meals on wheels.

Thanks for the tip; Baggy

[expat]

As pointed out before - the severley disabled do not tend to get better. My son for instance will never see, so he is probably going to be on these types of benefits for years. What I do not agree with is how incapacity benefit seemed to become the benefit of choice. Yes this started under the Tories, but Labour have been running the show for 11 years. The fact it has been maintained by Labour is a disgrace, especially as it is not something which has come as a suprise to anybody.

As for the blue badges - many are given to people who really shouldn't have them. There is also a large amount which get stolen each year as they allow the user to park pretty much anywhere including double yellows. We never use ours when James is not in the car

I'm not surprised. But you are running counter to the culture IMHO. I even once saw a woman trying to maintain to a security man that her son's blue badge meant that she could park "anywhere", including in a parking space on private ground.

And I'm pretty sure that nobody is getting at someone who is blind; indeed someone mentioned chancers in effect stealing from genuine claimants.

[ASB]

As for the blue badges - many are given to people who really shouldn't have them.

True, there is a statutory definition. some fit this, some don't. Beyond that it's down to the authority's discretionary policy and these vary considerably.

A couple of years ago before treatment for a neurological condition I couldn't walk more than about 50 yards. I didn't qualify by my authority's discretionary criteria because I wasn't in enough pain. [At the time I had been told I qualified for the tier 1 mobility portion of DLA but I wasn't going to claim it, if I had I *think* I would have fitted the statutory definition].

I think part of the blue badge policy is that it's a bit all or nothing. There is probably justification for a "partial" sort of blue badge. given the layout of all shopping facilities etc it is generally fairly difficult to go about your daily life if you can only walk 50 yards in one go. An ability to be able to park closer to facilities for a limited period rather than the 3 hours would certainly have made me less dependant on others rather than more.

We never use ours when James is not in the car

If more people had this attitude it would be much better.

[BoredBloke]

We have only just started claiming the DLA thing for James. He gets the medium level - Because he is only blind. He doesn't qualify for the higher mobilty level because he isn't deaf also, which I think stinks. The mobility part is to pay for the travel needs of somebody who is disabled - people on the higher level qualify for a motability car for their use. Because he is blind they argue that he can get around under his own steam, dispite the fact that at 11 years old I'm hardly likely to let him head off into town on a bus. Everything James does means somebody has to drop him off and pick him up, including the VI sports club he goes to every Saturday in Stretford (that's a fun jaunt from Rochdale, especially on match days)

The DLA for james is supposed to e paid to us, but we put it into his bank account so that he can save up for uni etc.

[shaunbhoy]

That's how you keep unemployment down. That and creating thousands of public sector jobs.

Along with trying to get >50% of school leavers to go to Uni as well.

[Bagpuss]

Bloody hell who woke you up?

[shaunbhoy]

I never understand why anybody thinks sitting around at home all day with nothing to do and little money is a good cure for depression.

They are probably measuring it against sitting working in an office all day with little money.