0.5%, *really*?

"The fraud rate for DLA is 0.5%"

I find that rather hard to believe. There are whole _towns_ filled with people falsely claiming DLA!

Seriously, some of my family members on my wife's side are like that, so I've been around those circles and seen for myself. It's truely outrageous what some people get away with - and they do it because they know how to game the system.

One of them has never worked a day in her life, claiming work is too distressing because she was bullied as a child! (which she wasn't BTW, not that it really matters)

Re: 0.5%, *really*?

There are whole towns claiming falsely? Where? Don't spout out such statements without anything to back it up. Why don't you report them and your family members? I would dearly love to know how anyone can game a system where people with terminal illnesses are found fit to work and then die within weeks.

Personally I have mental health issues that mean I practically lived in my bedroom and even though I live with parents I would see them perhaps 5 - 10 minutes a day on a "good" day. I was waiting close to THREE years for help after asking for it and when I finally got it and had appointments with psychiatrists, CPNs and various groups I was sent for a medical and given 0 points. The person doing the medical wasn't a psychiatrist, she wasn't even a doctor, she was a nurse. She blatantly lied on the forms and wrote down that I'd never sought *any* help despite a veritable mountain of evidence to the contrary. It took a year to get to appeal and I came out with *31* points.

The point in all this? If I, and others like me, can't pass a medical with these assholes and you know of people that are gaming the system then report them! Family or not they are a huge part of the problem. I struggled and thought plenty of times about suicide because it felt like an endless hassle when I was doing everything I was able to at the time. Others have unfortunately gone through with it yet anyone gaming the system, as you put it, doesn't care because there is nothing wrong with them.

AC because while I don't mind sharing this I do mind trolling assholes and don't want this coming back to me.

Re: 0.5%, *really*?

That anon coward at 12.14 is spot on. As for you, call the benefit snitch line if you think she is on the make. No point telling us, do I look like the scroungers hotline!

You could ask your GP about it too next time you go in for a fondle. Doctors and consultants are known to be very pissed off with a certain company with a masturbatory name too - they undo a lot the work the consultants do in getting their patients better with all the worry and stress they cause - you have to rememberer, the top consultants have big-ass egos, they tend to get pissy when their patients get ill cos of idiots like this messing with their work! it really gets on their tits! They'd phrase it differently in the main, I'm using laymans terms here!

Whole towns == Burnley

Whole is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but it is a large percentage.

Re: Whole towns == Burnley

if large means almost fuck all and town means, a few streets in a sink estate.

Re: Whole towns == Burnley

Actually, I take that back, I just realised in the title you said Burnley - yeah you're probably right then.

Re: 0.5%, *really*?

"Why don't you report them and your family members?"

Actually, I did. Guess what happened? Nothing.

You're own situation is regrettable, but has no bearing on those people I am describing - those people who *know* how to game the system, whereas it sounds like you are more honest than that.

I know it may be hard for you to believe given your own experiences, but bejesus, it does happen :(

Re: 0.5%, *really*?

Disability Living Allowance is not Employment Support Allowance (formerly incapacity benefit)

DLA is not a means tested benefit and is to support people who have disabilities....attached to DLA is Mobility Allowance @ £56/Wk, often used to RENT a car for travel....No DLA, no MA. those with DLA can also work up to an income limit.

Many people on high incomes claim DLA: legally.

I know it may be hard for you to believe given your own experiences, but bejesus, it does happen :(

I refuse to believe unless she lives in Burnley LMAO

Re: 0.5%, *really*? Yes. DWP's own figures

And

As the DWP are a fairly unsympathetic bunch, it's hardl;y likely to be falso

And DLA is nothing to do with being in or out of work. It is to do with trying to make life a bit more normal for those with disabilities, like mobility allowance for squaddies who have had their legs blown off

Re: I know it may be hard for you to believe given your own experiences, but bejesus, ...

Scottish central belt - whole load of ex-mining towns there where people are brought up on a benefits culture. You wouldn't believe the extent of it unless you've seen it yourself.

Re: 0.5%, *really*?

Firstly, that was a crap situation to find yourself in, that is exactly the time you should be being supported.

The current method obviously doesn't work, the problem was neither did the old system. Unfortunately there isn't a test that gives a 100% accurate yes/no answer to if you are able to work. People know this, unfortunately so do some immoral lazy gits who game the system. Not everyone on DLA is gaming the system, most aren't, but some are.

I have no issues beliving that genuine claims are being turned down, but I also have no issue in believing other folks are swinging the lead. The people to be pissed at are the scum who are gaming the system. If people could be trusted then your word would be all that was needed. However, some winnets on the arse of society think it is ok to lie and steal benefits meant to support people who genuinely cannot work and paid for by taxes paid by those of us that do. I fully support the idea of social insurance, that reality is that a small minority take the piss, but that still has an impact. All that said, any changes should not put at risk those that need help, nor should cutting corners.

As for the Burnley comments, theres a few other places could be added to that list. Whilst we aren't talking everyone, but there are places where it seems socially accpetable, you'll note that in these places going to Asda \ Bargain Madness \ Brighthouse in your jammies is also accpetable.

Re: I know it may be hard for you to believe given your own experiences, but bejesus, ...

I believe there are towns that are devastated when their heavy industries closed down and there is fuck all hope for anyone - I refuse to believe EVERYONE in the whole town is a crook though. The DWP aint THAT thick. If it were true the Job Centre wouldn't even be staffed to give anyone any benefits as the workers would be at home on the dole flicking themselves off to Jermeny Kyle, wouldn't they!

Re: I know it may be hard for you to believe given your own experiences, but bejesus, ...

Perhaps a little dramatic there :-) There is some hope. Having been born in the grim north amongst all the closed pits and steel works there was some hope, a train ticket to somewhere else with jobs. Sad, especially when returning home to see the high street full of charity shops and pound shops, even maccies moved and you know you are in trouble when Brighthouse arrives.

It is grim growing up knowing the only jobs are in the dole office and it isn't the easiest thing to leave family behind and jump on a bus or train, but it beats sitting around waiting for work that never arrives.

Re: 0.5%, *really*?

Not sure how that has any bearing on what I said before about people falsely claiming DLA (and anything else going, BTW)?

Re: 0.5%, *really*? Yes. DWP's own figures

lol, trust me, these are not squaddies with their legs blown off I'm talking about!

I'm not saying there aren't people that *should* be getting DLA, of course there are. But those are clearly not the people I'm on about.

Re: 0.5%, *really*?

If you mean me, I was replying to the comment directly above mine about towns being devastated by the loss of industries.

Re: I know it may be hard for you to believe given your own experiences, but bejesus, ...

It was generations ago that these towns were devastated, and it's truely sad that people are brought up there today being told my their parents to game the system. Seriously. My wife (who is from said town) got into university but her own mother hid her acceptance letters and told her to get pregnant so the council would give her a nice house with nice curtains.

I have a cousin on my wife's side who got up the spout at 16 and prompty got her own council flat. But she didn't want a flat, she wanted a house. So her father actually lit a fire in the flat, then complained to the council that the area wasn't safe for her, so she could be moved somewhere nicer!

That same bloke also has a council house, and last year he wanted a new kitchen, so he smashed his old one up and phoned the council - he had a new kitchen within a few weeks.

You couldn't make this stuff up! And there are plenty more similar tales.

OK, so maybe it's not the *whole* town, but it's certainly great swathes of it. Regarding the job centre, no, you're wrong - all they have to do is go in every now and them and pretend to look for jobs, and come up with dubious reasons why they can't take any jobs that are found for them.

Thumbs up for the Jeremey Kyle comment ;)

Re: I know it may be hard for you to believe given your own experiences, but bejesus, ...

That culture does exist unfortunately. I remember sitting down to lunch with a colleague and talking about rent. I was paying about 600 a month for a 3 bed semi in a reasonable area, he was paying 115 a month for a council flat (3 bed also). I remember him looking at me like I was an idiot for paying 600 and him saying well why don't you just get a council flat. It was all I could do not to stand on the table and shout because I'm not a thieving little shit. Social housing should be there for those that really need it. Once you earn more you should pay up to market rate depending on how much you earn. There shouldn't be any stigma about using social resources when you need them, there bloody well should when you use them when you don't need them.

Re: I know it may be hard for you to believe given your own experiences, but bejesus, ...

Social housing for those that need it?? I agree with that, but not sure our ertwhile union leaders who are being lauded on here do! Do your own research on who's living where...

Re: £7.20?

Some jobs aren't worth that much. A kitchen washer upper in Newcastle is probably valued at less than minimum wage, whilst one in The Savoy probably would get more than the minimum wage. It all depends on the demand for that job. That's because a wage is a mixture of that at which a company think it's worth and the level that stops the worker working elsewhere. Interfering with that via a state imposed mechanism throws the market into a tissy and so you you end up with people being unemployed because the company doesn't think a job is worth the minimum wage.

@DJ Smiley: Re: £7.20?

"Seriously people need to take a look at themselves sometimes."

"Themselves" is the only thing that most people ever look at....

I did work for Atos once

Getting on for 4 years ago, and I seem to recall at the time they sent a email round to staff asking them to volunteer to work on the olympic games contract this year (ie take unpaid time off to go and support the systems in london)... left pdq for similar atossery reasons

AC for obvious reasons

Re: ATOS == Tossers.

Sounds exactly right you must be in the same office as me, im getting out of here asap, been here to long as it is.

Re: ATOS == Tossers.

Now I am intrigued! Clandestine meeting at the coffee machine inside the canteen on the smaller site? Or are you based on the bigger site?

:D