Sally Redux

Presumably, yes.

Hotscot

And who approved their disability claims?

Giantaxe

The same thing has happened in the US:

Disability claims skyrocket: Here's why - Apr. 11, 2013

neilcumming

Maggies great monetarism plan to keep inflation down was to have as many people unemployed as possible .Her idea was if so many millions of people didnt have money to spend then inflation wouldnt rise.Now in the UK the children of those people thrown on the scrap heap have grown up on welfare benefits having learnt from their parents how to work the system.

Pulaski

The problem is that people seem to invariably get "permanent" disability, when there should be an expectation of rehabilitation and retraining for many people, perhaps with a gradual taper and/or means testing of the disability payment.

I understand that a injured carpenter or mechanic can't walk into another job if he has lost use of a hand, but a man injured in his twenties should be expected to find something else to do within a few years, even if it is at lower pay. I read recently that US disability numbers upticked sharply in 2008-2010, and historically people rarely ever come off disability once they're put on it.

Yorkieabroad

Some people come off disability, but often not the right ones.

My eldest nephew was invalided out of the army with brain damage, loss of one eye and ear, and very limited vision in his remaining eye. He has extremely limited short term memory and some self control issues as a result of the brain damage. If anyone needed help, it was him, but for reasons unknown, he was deemed fit to work, and was taken off disability about 4 years ago. He had tried and tried to get a job, but he is unable to drive, and his memory was so bad that he couldn't reliably get to work, even if he wrote his bus route on his hand because he would forget where he'd written it.

He was heading into deep depression, but was still going to the hospital for 6 monthly checkups, and on one of those visits the doctors and nurses who had known him since he was first discharged from the MOD rehab place at Headley Court heard what had happened. They knew he wasn't a "waster", and how hard he was working to recover and get back to a semblance of normality. Bottom line, they "swung" him a job as a porter. He even gets help getting to work as he lives close to others that work there. He has been there 3 years now, and loves it. The staff have adapted to the fact that he will always need every job written on a sticky note and pasted on the trolley or whatever he is moving. If it hadn't been for the kindhearted staff at the hospital, he'd probably be penniless, either on the street or back living with his mother now.. Instead he has his self respect, his own life, and has just had his first son. In fact, if you google an Evening Gazette article on the number of staff at the James Cook (the English one) University Hospital A&E who have had babies this year, you'll see a picture of him and his baby - he's not hard to spot!

dunroving

What's that Law about the number of posts in a forum thread before Hitler is mentioned? (Godwin's Law?)

There should be one for the number of posts in a Scotland thread before Maggie is mentioned.

And re: your previous post, it was Labour who were in power when we got into the current mess, not the Tories (and the Chancellor was who? .... and the prime minister was who? .... Hmmm, some guy from Scotland, I believe).

scrubbedexpat099

I was going to recount a few stories. The point is that they all are date Maggie.

neilcumming

Nice to hear your nephew has been looked after.Was it ATOS that deemed him fit to work?
I recently read a story about a man in his 50s ,worked all his life,had a stroke and was deemed fit to return work by the french owned ATOS.He was no way near fit to work,went into depression ,worried so much about losing his benefits he commited suicide

Pulaski

Sorry? .... You dated Mrs Thatcher?

Pulaski

The system in the US is utterly ****ed-up. I know a man in his late 50's who had a stroke and can't get disability (heaven only knows why), but conversely I met a young woman, probably mid-late 20's, who was "disabled" and yet was fully mobile, had all her extremities and apparently all her faculties, and she had a job, but "couldn't earn more than $600 a month because it would reduce her disability payments".

Yorkieabroad

Don't know who/what ATOS is? Googled them but came up with a French IT services company...It was (presumably) the DHSS or whoever administered disability benefits at that time

neilcumming

New Labour is just the same as tory .Blair was a lawyer,not really a working class hero.The only good thing Brown did was put the Bank of England in charge of interest rates so the tories couldnt mess around with them like they did previously
My point is those children born 30 or 40yrs ago to parents on the dole(I think it peaked at 3million) are now the wasters or layabouts who wont work.Its become a cycle.I have know people who are proud to have never done a days work in there life.

dunroving

No, ATOS is a company that was contracted by the government to evaluate people's ability (or disability) to work. I think it may well be the same company you found. These days some conglomerate companies do everything from provide security for pop stars to making sausages.

There were some horror stories about people who, as in the example provided, committed suicide shortly after being deemed fit to work or, indeed, died within days. Whether that is cause/effect, an indication of their ability to evaluate true work capability or a few extreme examples of coincidence I am not sure.

dunroving

And it's that very same victim mentality that prevents many a person simply getting off their arse every day and doing something worthwhile.

God knows I have a dislike for most of the political elite (I include AS in that lot), but honestly, I am a bit sick of paying taxes to fund people who are "trapped by their circumstances and the actions of Margaret Thatcher". Honestly, give me a break.