# Further disability benefit cuts on the way, new DWP secretary Stephen Crabb signals



## Northerner (May 11, 2016)

Further cuts to disability and sickness benefits are in the pipeline, the Work and Pensions Secretary has signalled.

Stephen Crabb said he wanted to go further than the £12 billion welfare cuts set out in the Conservative manifesto and “re-frame discussion” around disability welfare reform. 

The surprise announcement comes just under two months since Mr Crabb said the Government had “no further plans” for welfare cuts.




Mr Crabb, who replaced Iain Duncan Smith in the role in March, said he would set out a green paper on further proposed changes to disability benefits later this year.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...secretary-stephen-crabb-signals-a7023916.html

Didn't take him long, did it?


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## grovesy (May 11, 2016)

I am not surprised I wonder if Iain Duncan Smith refused to do this?


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## trophywench (May 11, 2016)

Well all these cripples draining our economy - they should be ashamed of themselves.

Not to mention OAPS.


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## Diabeticliberty (May 11, 2016)

I really would not worry about this personally. I see it as a bit of spin to grab cheap publicity at a time when the government looks a bit curly round the edges. Let's face it, they surely cannot expect to get away with this. Society should not, can not and will not let them get away with it. I and many like me who do not favour a left or right wing agenda but try to vote on pure policy at election times will not let them get away with it.


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## AlisonM (May 11, 2016)

Unfortunately for England, they probably can and will get away with it. Lucky for me, I'm in Scotland and the newly devolved powers include disability benefits, so I have a decent chance of not being hit by whatever changes they inflict down south... I hope.


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## trophywench (May 11, 2016)

Diabeticliberty said:


> I really would not worry about this personally. I see it as a bit of spin to grab cheap publicity at a time when the government looks a bit curly round the edges. Let's face it, they surely cannot expect to get away with this. Society should not, can not and will not let them get away with it. I and many like me who do not favour a left or right wing agenda but try to vote on pure policy at election times will not let them get away with it.



So - they are actively seeking BAD publicity?

Whichever it is, it's a lie anyway, since the bloke in the Gannex mac went, there hasn't been a UK politician (and I doubt anyplace on earth else either) that opened his/her mouth and told the truth.


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## Northerner (May 12, 2016)

Well, he's already saved a bit of money...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/women-lose-state-pension-fight-7946669


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## Val999 (May 12, 2016)

They should scrap child benefit instead of disability benefit. That would save them loads of money. With the NHS and education free anyway if you are saying you can't afford to feed and clothe a child then don't have one. Contraception is free too. Its a big bug bear for me but I'll get off the soap box now. Nothing will change anyway because it would be a vote loser.


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## trophywench (May 12, 2016)

Yes but if you wait till you can afford to have a baby, you'd never have one LOL - in 1970 when my sis had my nephew she reckoned he cost them £30 a week extra, all in, what with the extra heating, washing powder, Nappisan, Milton, tins of SMA, clothes he would keep growing out of, etc. on top of losing her monthly salary for starters!

We could never afford any - so I didn't.  Apart from not wanting any anyway that is.  Found out one day my mother had told her friends it was because of my diabetes - I went bananas at hearing that.  Only thing actually I ever had an argument with her about, after I left home that is LOL - had plenty while living under the same roof before we were married of course!


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## Diabeticliberty (May 12, 2016)

I maintain that they will not even try to pursue what I can only describe as this fools errand. Even these clowns cannot be so stupid as to think we will stand idly by while they pick the pockets of the people in our society who need a little bit of help from the rest of us. It is one thing to raise the issue it is something far more cynical to really expect that you can get away with it. Won't happen


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## Northerner (May 12, 2016)

My biggest problem with all of this is that the effort and resources they put into finding ways of shaving pennies off the benefits of the poorest and most needy (many of whom may have paid into the system for decades, but now need to draw on that 'insurance') would be much better spent pursuing the billions tucked away by people who have no real use for it, because they are already so rich they couldn't possibly spend it.  This whole business of demonising 'benefits' is wrong. /they could save billions overnight if they brought in tougher laws and taxes for landlords and stopped subsidising the extortionate rents they charge - if it leads to them selling up, then maybe the consequent glut of houses would bring down prices to a reasonable level and people could actually afford to buy them whilst they are still young. Rant over!


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## Northerner (May 12, 2016)

Maybe instead of scrabbling around trying to make people's lives harder than they already are, they could think about this eye-watering sum of money for something that will never be used:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-205-billion-campaign-for-nuclear-disarmament


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## wil7985 (May 15, 2016)

I'm sure these "benefits" type programs are government propaganda to brain wash the general public into believing anyone on any sort of benefit are worthless scum.


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## Northerner (May 15, 2016)

wil7985 said:


> I'm sure these "benefits" type programs are government propaganda to brain wash the general public into believing anyone on any sort of benefit are worthless scum.


I refuse to watch them, they give a totally distorted view of the experience of most people who receive benefits. One of the biggest misconceptions they have managed to convince the general public of seems to be the implication that 'benefits' = 'handouts' - most people on benefits have paid far more than they will ever receive in taxes and NI, pensioners are after all the biggest group of people on 'benefits'. Then, there are the people in 'in-work' benefits, which is because the government chooses to subsidise employers paying low wages, or the people on housing benefit because private landlords have no limits placed on what they can charge and the government refuses to do anything constructive (!) about the housing crisis 

I hate this false and divisive vilification of a section of society, it's as bad as racism in my book and entirely political, it has virtually no merit economically


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## trophywench (May 15, 2016)

My husband and I are both now benefit scroungers, being retired.  Personally I only ever claimed any other benefits twice in my life - the first aged 22 when I was stupid enough to catch Type 1 diabetes and my sight went bananas and the second aged 58 after something caused my memory to fail that much I couldn't do my job properly and received so much - quite justified from my employers POV - criticism, I had a mental breakdown.  Having the bright idea to give up taking Simvastatin cured the memory probs but by that time I'd given up my job anyway - and no-one wants to train a 58 year old who will be retiring in 2 years time anyway, funnily enough.  Yes I certainly applied for jobs - but very few I could do anywhere in the country for anyone other than my old ones since all my training, experience and expertise was in a very specific area.

Even to work in a corner shop you have to know how to operate EPOS these days.  (I only ever learned to operate a till/cash register behind a bar some years ago, meself!)  So opportunities were limited.  I discovered that you can't even volunteer for very much without specific training in how to face the public, even though you've done it automatically all your life!

I'm quite happy with the scrounging I do, completely at peace with my conscience as I always have been frankly - and thankful that I've so far not ever had to be completely reliant on any of them.

There have always been people who do literally scrounge because of their own misbehaviour - in the past there have been efficient systems built in to the agencies handling benefits to quickly weed these folk out and separate the genuine claimants from shirkers - but the ruddy PC Brigade put a stop to that, ta very much.

So now - every man jack of us must suffer.  The equal society?  Society simply isn't MEANT to be equal !


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