Tag: Government

Taking The PIP – Reform Style

*Sigh* Ok, fine. I steer clear of politics in this blog as much as I can, and have especially avoided mentioning Reform given their deliberately and dangerously divisive way of conducting themselves. But it was inevitable that they were going to start attacking disabled people, as they’re already adept at spreading misinformation and inciting hatred towards immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and anybody they consider ‘woke’ or ‘lefty’. Of course we were next. I may be visually impaired, but like most people I saw this coming a mile off.

Disabled people are simply a burden they don’t want to deal with, so they want to cut as much support as possible and shift the responsibilities on to others, without caring if people suffer as a result. And it will naturally be a vote-winner amongst their supporters to paint us as fraudsters and scroungers, because they have no respect for us and no understanding of the benefits system (even though any of them could need it at any time, and some of them already do use it).

Me writing a post like this isn’t going to change their minds either, I know that. As much as I’d like them to read what I have to say, consider it thoughtfully and discuss it with politeness and respect, I won’t be at all surprised if I just get insults thrown at me instead. That seems to be what happens if you dare to criticise Reform on social media, and I could easily put together a bingo card of predictable responses. But I’d love a Reform supporter to prove me wrong, showing a willingness to read and think about things with an open mind, instead of just blindly believing what their party tells them.

I also know that their welfare policy announcement and press conference – for which they didn’t consult disabled people as far as I can tell – is just an attention-seeking distraction technique, and me having a rant is exactly what they want to keep that discussion flowing. So I’ve been in two minds as to whether to write anything about it. But I don’t appreciate them using disabled people like myself as a political football, in their latest attempt to try and kick discussions about their dodgy dealings and a pointless by-election into the long grass, especially when it involves spreading lies about us and threatening to wipe out our support. We can’t just roll over and let extremists treat us like this.

So here are my initial reactions to Reform’s proposals, beginning with some clarifications about PIP.

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Taking The PIP – Part 2

Last updated July 17, with a section at the end for a few new developments.

For disabled people here in the UK it’s been a very anxious time lately, because of all the proposed cuts to disability benefits in the Universal Credit & Personal Independence Payment Bill, and the misinformation that’s been spread to try and justify them (e.g. falsely claiming that PIP is an out of work benefit or is easy to get, which isn’t remotely true).

I wrote about the plans back in April after the Green Paper was released, and the government have been determined to push it through as quickly as possible since then because of all the backlash – which they knew full well it would generate from the outset but just didn’t care.

Yet despite having a sizeable majority of MPs, it’s not been as easy as they’d hoped, and there have been significant developments recently. If you follow me on Bluesky or X you’ll have seen me sharing several posts by others to raise awareness of what’s been going on, and I thought I’d do a quick update here to give my reaction to the latest events.

Continue reading “Taking The PIP – Part 2”

Taking The PIP

I very rarely have a rant or talk about politics here, as I like to keep things positive and use this blog as a distraction from the news as much as possible (so don’t worry, I will have my usual monthly roundup of good stuff for you soon). But as the government have got disabled people squarely in their crosshairs at the moment, because we’re such an unwelcome financial burden to them, it would be odd for me not to chuck my two pennies’ worth in, especially as their plans could affect the benefits that I and millions of others receive.

I’m not going to give a deep analysis of it all – goodness knows there are lots of organisations and advocates out there who are far better informed and more articulate than me in covering complex issues like this (e.g. Scope, RNIB, Benefits & Work, Frances Ryan and Jay Watts to name just a few of many). But this is still going to be a bit of a ramble, because I want to give my reaction to the plans to add my voice to all the others, particularly regarding the changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the way it’s been falsely linked to people’s ability to work.

But ultimately I feel a real sense of unease, disappointment and anger at the way we’re being treated and scapegoated right now. Huge numbers of disabled people and the organisations who support us have already made it abundantly clear to the government that the plans will make things worse rather than better, because we naturally have a deep understanding of what it’s like to live with a disability, claim benefits and try to find work. And I haven’t seen a single disabled person defending what Labour are doing. Yet the government are completely dismissive of all that and insist they know better, and are quite happy to let misinformation spread as well.

Continue reading “Taking The PIP”

Scam Email – IMF Compensation

It’s time for my first scam awareness post of the new year, pointing out another con I’ve received that promises to give you lots of money that you didn’t know you were entitled to.

There are a lot of variations of this scam – where someone, completely out of the blue and completely unknown to you, is offering to transfer a huge sum of money into your bank account, either for safekeeping or because it’s some kind of reward. They’re always fake.

But this one particularly caught by eye because it tries to sound official by mentioning the International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN) and the US Secret Service. But it’s clearly fake. However, there must be people falling for these things if the scammers feel it’s worth sending out. So it’s still worth taking a look to break it down a bit for those who find it useful.

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