CazW54

Nothing wrong with having tight rules - the problem at present is that the medical examinations are so poor that 40% of refusals go to appeal and over half of those are overturned.

Another prooblem will arise for people with mental health or learning disabilities as these can sometimes not be readily apparent.

scampicat

You don't get it for the rest of your life. You get it whilst you continue to meet the criteria, this is periodically checked, my husband has had three DWP medicals and various other checks since he began claiming Incapacity Benefit in 2004. If they decide he no longer fulfils the criteria it will cease.

Even if they do consider him to fulfil the criteria, his IB will stop when he reaches State Retirement age.

As for the public sector pension, he has lost a quarter of it because he took it five years before the retirement age, he will never get this back. I also cannot draw my Local Government Pension without penalty until I am nearly 65.

Please get your facts straight, although I agree that people who are a) sick and b) ex public-sector are targets for prejudice on two points.

bil

My mother had strokes that left her needing 24/7 care. She had bowel cancer which left me clearing up piles of bloody shit from the carpets on many occasions.

We got turned down for a single penny of carer's allowance.

Medical examinations need to be properly carried out, but tight rules will leave vulnerable people lacking in any financial aid, and once again, I wager that the money wrongly obtained will be far less than the money that should be claimed, but isn't.

megmet

You are quite correct in that!

I worked for local government and through no fault of my own (an operation that went badly wrong) I was unable to continue working.
They sacked me on ill health grounds, even though my surgeon in a letter to them supported the fact that I should be medically retired on ill health grounds, a state of affairs whereby I would have been entitled to my pension without any loss, but they chose to ignore his recommendation.
The outcome of that is that I had nothing from them for three years until reaching my retirement age of 60, and now I get the pension I paid for at a 23 percent reduction for as long as I live.....
The reason for that is they say retirement is at 65 even though in my case it is in fact officially 60.

And yes I did move here while receiving Incapacity Benefit, and yes to look at me people who don't know me will think I'm fit and healthy....those who do know me are fully aware of how wrong that opinion is.

Compassion should not only be for people with an obvious disability, non of us know what another is going through on a daily basis!

Rotor

Thats the majority of expats of working age ,if you loose your job the only guarantee is no health care ,the ss are taking the piss out of foreign residents hence most dont see the point in paying.

cricketman

Since when has the social security for foreign residents been any different to Spanish ones?

And a foreigner is just as entitled to seek benefits to pay for healthcare as a Spaniard is. As I said, if you lose your job and have very low income and assets then you can declare yourself destitute and get your healthcare paid for by the state. And if you lose your job (or dont have one), all your children still get free healthcare, you just need to fill the right form in

LittleWeed

Not destitute just ian ncome below about 600 euros per month. Any assets such as cash in the bank, property etc are disregarded.

linjon

As the spanish government is going to stop benefit for the long-term unemployed from February, how will these people survive? Are there other benefits they can claim, for example if they have children? If not, goodness knows what they will do, desperate situations lead to desperate acts, would you beg, steal or lie to feed yourself and your family?

cricketman

The long term unemployed have only been getting benefits as part of a temporary measure introduced just 18 months ago. I suspect they'll do exactly the same as before that i.e. ask money from family members and work casually on the black.

After all unemployment was at 20% in the not too distant past in Spain (late 80s I think).

CazW54

I think one problem with incapacity benefit (now employment support allowance) is that people with a physical disability (whether temporary or permanent) have been assumed to be incapable of any work at all. It looks like this is changing.

rugbymatt

Isn't that what it is now?

cricketman

Yep that was my point.

Bigger Jim

This can be for the rest of your life if the condition will not improve but will continue to deteriorate or remain the same. I know as my son falls into this category.

Jim

Bigger Jim

Not so there are, or were, three categories of disability and my son falls into the first and works full time and has done so ever since he was diagnosed.

Jim

scampicat

You can get Disability Living Allowance for the rest of your life, but not Incapacity benefit (now ESA).