Monday 8 July 2013

The disability stats Government DON'T want you to see

H/T @WTBDavidG and @djmgaffneyW4

As sickness and disability activists finally hope to see IDS and others hauled before the Work and Pensions Committee for misleading statistics, it can sometimes seem as though the whole country has turned away, happy to lap up the nasty lies of a government and media intent on painting us all as "scroungers" and "skivers".

If only the DWP could brainwash a whole country eh? Well it turns out they can't.

Oh so quietly, nearly a week ago, the government snuck out this revealing little survey from the beginning of the year : https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/209931/ad-hoc-opinions-survey.pdf

In particular, this shiny little nugget on "Government Spending" (Go to tables 20-22) https://t.co/zMqiCqxdvd

When asked  "Would you like to see more or less spending than present on disabled people who cannot work? A full 46.7% would like to see government spend MORE or even much more. Just 4.1 % would like to see them spend less. 

As one might expect, amongst sick and disabled people, the figure is even higher, with a whopping 61.4% believing the government should spend more and just 2.2% believing the government should spend less.

And remember, these are, in the government's own words, "disabled people who cannot work" - the group so reviled and attacked by the Daily Mail, Daily Express and DWP ministers themselves.

When it comes to carers, responses are even more emphatic. The survey asks "Would you like to see more or less spending than present on benefits for those who care for someone who is sick or disabled (My italics. Please note they use our language now too!)

A whopping 70.6% would like to see more or much more spending on carers benefits. Just 1.8% would like to see government spend less. 

This chimes with a Prospect poll from last year in which just 11% of respondents supported cuts to disability benefits. http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/02/the-benefits-britons-want-to-save-are-the-ones-the-tories-want-to-cut/

Isn't it odd how this government shout false statistics from the rooftops, claiming that "900,000 chose to drop claims for incapacity benefit rather than face new tougher tests" (When the real figure was just 19,000 and those people found work or got better) yet somehow, it slips their minds to mention that the public do not support the devastation they are inflicting on every area of the lives of sick and disabled people. 

I'd heard rumours about this data. Apparently, backbench Tories, are seriously alarmed by the implications, chiming with mailbags crammed with pleas from their sick and disabled constituents, some even urging the government to drop DLA reform. Fearful for their safe shire seats, already under unprecedented fire over Incapacity Benefit reforms and social care cuts, PIP was surely a "reform" too far? Is it purely coincidence that almost exactly at the time these findings were compiled, government announced that they would not be migrating those with lifetime DLA (Disability Living Allowance) awards to the new PIP benefit until after the 2015 election???

For me, this data shows that no matter how hard politicians try to smear one of the most vulnerable groups in the country, simply to cut support away from millions, human nature is what it is. We, the people simply aren't as cruel or cold hearted as those that attempt to control us from Westminster. 

Again and again, this government totally ignores the views of sick and disabled people. I have never seen politicians so arrogantly refuse to engage or modify their proposals. They slash their way through already desperately challenging lives, using media and fear to attempt to divide and rule.  

This data shows it hasn't worked and they proceed with their devastating agenda at their peril. 




11 comments:

  1. I don't know what to say.

    Can we just have a group hug with all of humanity?

    ((((they <3 us and we <3 them))))

    This needs sharing everywhere - there are so many people out there feeling desperately hopeless...

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  2. Thanks Sue for finding this xx

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  3. Related (loosely) article over at Richard Murphy's Blog It's now 1.15 my time, I left two comments which won't have been moderated just yet. If anyone has anything to add there I'm sure that wouldn't hurt at all :-)

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  4. Thanks for the credit, though I actually got it from one of John Pring's DNS articles. It's buried amongst a whole lot of other WTF?! Tory activites in http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/07/osbornes-benefits-spending-cap-will-include-dla-pip-and-esa/

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  5. Truly great post Sue. Exposes the governments blatant disregard for any truth in parliament. Political lies, ineptitude, unfairness and arrogance in dealing with disability. As for right-wing media, it's just so bad, you couldn't make it up, the damn bastards.

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  6. IDS should be talking to the committee at least once a month so that those that have died who are going through the welfare reform process get a chance to question him on how these people have died and in what circumstances

    as you can see from this PDF the death list is very high and contains many people whose relatives are left wonting answers in to how there family member has died

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/196635/incap_decd_recips_0712.pdf.pdf

    This list is out of date however and am told the death figure is now much higher IDS should be forced to go before the select committee and to give an account on these deaths

    calums list is also out of date and can be found here

    http://calumslist.org/


    the only question Anne begg has to ask is very simple i have told her time and time again and the question is

    HOW MANY SICK AND DISABLED HAVE DIED WHILE GOING THROUGH THE WELFARE REFORM PROCESS UNDER YOUR COMMAND IN WHERE THEY WERE FOUND FIT FOR WORK BUT WERE NOT AND DIED BEFORE THE ASSESSMENT OR SHORTLY AFTER WOODS THROUGH THE STRESS BROUGHT ON BY A HEART ATTACK OR SIMILAR MEDICAL CONDITION OR THOSE THAT COMMITTED SUICIDE IN AN ACUTE PANIC ATTACK ???????/

    Anne begg if she has done her homework will know the full answers to that question of which IDS will not the reason he wont is because in law if he knew that deaths were resulting from the welfare reform bill and he failed to act he would be classed as guilty of corporate manslaughter in a court of law

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    1. * HOW MANY DEATHS AND SUICIDES HAVE OCCURRED SINCE LAST DECEMBER AMONGST SICK AND DISABLED PEOPLE FORCED ON TO THE WORK PROGRAMME?

      * HOW MANY OF THE DEATHS INVOLVE PEOPLE OVER 60 WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN SAFELY RETIRED HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE PENSIONS SNATCH - NOT BEING HOUNDED BY JOBCENTRES AND ATOS?

      WE DESPERATELY, DESPERATELY NEED TO SCRAP THE UNUM-LED DOGMA OF WCA, AND FIGHT TO RECLAIM THE RIGHT TO RETIRE ON GROUNDS OF ILL HEALTH (and otherwise at 60).

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  7. IDS's secretary told me time and time again he does not know on how many people have died if any in going through the welfare reform process has he has no access to the coroners reports but he is aware of a few errors

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    1. Yes, our unkind uncaring secretary of state for work and pensions Iain Duncan Smith, being 'aware of a few errors' equates to his not caring if people have suffered or died. The sickening aspect of all this is that should conservatives get voted out in 2015, they will all have lined their pockets with vast amounts of wealth that will ease their guilty? consciences as they party off down to Rio, clutching their money bags in their greasy sweaty palms, leaving behind sick and needy Britain to swallow it's bitter tasting pills. And that's the best they can do !!??

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    2. Doubletalking DWP’s new assault on the sick
      by Mike Sivier

      http://mikesivier.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/doubletalking-dwps-new-assault-on-the-sick/

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  8. Thanks for such a cogently written article Sue. They can promulgate about thier market forces as much as they will but "you can't change human nature".

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