Stef Benstead Profile picture
Christian interested in disability, poverty, welfare & justice. Author: SecondClassCitizens. Chronically ill/ELCI: hEDS, PoTS & fibromyalgia.
Feb 7 9 tweets 2 min read
Ch5
82% of respondents left work because of their health. "Most...
left work simply because their health condition got worse (94%), but many felt they had left work because of unsupportive employers (26%) or a lack of flexibility (17%), or following advice from HCPs (27%)." "For others, while they considered their employer supportive, the adjustments made were seen as ineffective. Customers described being unable to meet the demands of their job despite measures being put in place."
Sometimes people just can't work.
Apr 30, 2024 19 tweets 4 min read
End of Chapter 2; onto Chapter 3!
I don't really know why I'm doing this thing where I break my twitter thread by quote-tweeting the last tweet of the previous section.
I'm vaguely thinking that twitter doesn't always like really long threads, but I might just be being annoying. Okay, we're doing the 'some people have relatively small costs' thing again. And still not providing evidence for it.
This is important, because if it were true, it would be a good and important reason to change PIP. But as it's probably not true, it's just as an excuse for cuts.
Apr 30, 2024 12 tweets 3 min read
Chapter 2!
"In this chapter, we look at the potential for retaining the current PIP assessment but making changes to the PIP eligibility criteria."
This might involve some deeper thought based on the existing descriptors and changes needed to them. I might do that thinking later. The govt is concerned that legal challenges have changed how some of the original PIP activities and descriptors worked.
Arguably, any such legal challenge is for the better. It's not a reason for retreat to the original 'intent', but an indicator that there was a flaw originally
Apr 30, 2024 15 tweets 3 min read
That's the end of my immediate thoughts on the Introduction to the DWP's new Green Paper on 'modernising' that really quite modern benefit, #PersonalIndependencePayment #PIP
Now onto chapter 1 I'm still really intrigued as to what - except ageing population, Covid, impacts of austerity and general Tory mismanagement of a country - the govt thinks has changed so drastically in 10yrs to result in less need for disability benefit.
Apr 30, 2024 15 tweets 3 min read
Thread of my initial comments on the Ministerial Foreword to, and Executive Summary of, the DWP's latest Green Paper - Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper. Now onto the introduction.
If it repeats points from the Foreword and Executive Summary then I'll just skip it.
Unless it really annoys me, like the 'fair to the taxpayer' trope, which is just used to mean 'we won't fund this properly enough to be fair to the end recipient'.
Apr 30, 2024 21 tweets 4 min read
It's quite something when a government cites *as something to be exceptionally proud of* that it was so kind as to uprate benefits in line with inflation.
Like, that's the very least you can do. You don't seek praise for doing the very basics and the bare minimum. I'm tired of the 'most needy' trope. You could claim to be helping 'the most needy' by only helping the two most sick or disabled people in the country.
That's not a laudable aim. You have to aim to help everyone in need, by definition of 'need'. This isn't a luxury for us.