Terminally ill people warned over possible benefit cut

Source - BBC News

 

Thousands of terminally-ill people have begun receiving letters warning them their benefits could be cut in April even though Parliament has yet to approve the changes.

 

Under proposals being scrutinised in the Lords, Contributory Employment Support Allowance (CESA) will be time-limited to 12 months from April 2012.

 

The changes will be retrospective.

 

So people on CESA for 12 months or more when the rule comes into force will have their benefit cut immediately.

 

Earlier this week, delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham passed a motion calling on their MPs to oppose the "arbitrary" time limit, contained in the Welfare Bill, and the plans are likely to face stiff opposition in the Lords.

'No win situation'

 

Neil Coyle, of the Disability Alliance, said that while it is uncertain whether the rule will be passed, it is premature for the Department for Work and Pensions to warn recipients of the changes.

 

"The letters are now being sent at a cost of £2.7m, including letters to people who unaffected by the change but who will experience considerable anxiety," he said.

 

"The government has time to change plans before terminally-ill people and their families have this avoidable and quite nasty cut imposed."

 

The Department of Work and Pensions admits it is conceivable the legislation may not be approved but says it is better to warn people early.

 

"It would be completely wrong not to alert people well in advance that there is a possibility that their benefit entitlement may change," a spokesman said.

 

Jenny Willott, Lib Dem backbench spokesman on welfare, says it is a "no-win situation for the DWP".

 

"If they don't pre-judge the situation they could end up with thousands of people losing their benefits with little notice," she said.

 

Ms Willott says Lib Dem peers are working on the "issues to be ironed out" in the bill.

 

Terminally-ill people with less than six months to live will not be affected by the changes

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Yeah, so if anyone has a problem with how I titled this thread, how else could you describe this, or even try to rationalise it....?? Just when you think the Tories cant sink any lower, they actually manage to confound expectations... Hitler would be proud of them... This isn't "benefits cheats" or "dole fiddlers" this is people literally AT DEATH'S DOOR.... Can you actually think of a more vulnerable group in society...??? I think that to put people like this under this kind of distress is utterly inhumane and just plain evil and wrong..... AND DON'T DARE ANYONE TRY AND JUSTIFY THIS.....

Now perhaps all you young 'uns out there will actually believe me when I tell you that this is what the Tories are and this is what they do - vindictively target the weakest and most vulnerable in society and make them pay for the mistakes made by the rich "Tory Cronies"....

AND DON'T DARE ANYONE TRY AND JUSTIFY THIS.....

Far too much money is being wasted on people who are going to die soon anyway. The money would be better spent on people who may still have decades left to live. In particular, tax cuts for the healthy wealthy (good phrase, eh?) will allow the beneficiaries to enjoy looking at the money for many years to come.

 

 

Sorry that's not a very good attempt to justify it.

AND DON'T DARE ANYONE TRY AND JUSTIFY THIS.....

 

On a slight side note, it is posts like this that are the reason people don't like to use this forum.

Far too much money is being wasted on people who are going to die soon anyway. The money would be better spent on people who may still have decades left to live. In particular, tax cuts for the healthy wealthy (good phrase, eh?) will allow the beneficiaries to enjoy looking at the money for many years to come.

Sorry that's not a very good attempt to justify it.

 

That would've made a good line in a Newsthump spoof article..... :lol:

 

On a slight side note, it is posts like this that are the reason people don't like to use this forum.

 

Yeah, well, I'm not going to soft-soap it, I tell it like it is... If anyone thinks this kind of thing is acceptable then obviously they have a diseased mind.... Or they're a Tory. Or a bankster looter who would sell their own grandma to make a buck....

Actually, it sort of reminds me of this....

 

 

Of course Mr Hicks was just using it as an extreme example for humourous effect, but, hey, why not, I'm sure it would fit in nicely to Tory party ideology... -_-

On a slight side note, it is posts like this that are the reason people don't like to use this forum.

 

Not true why should anyone pussyfoot around an issue.

I do not know what people expected when they voted for the Tories. That is all they do and all they have ever done forget about the poor, sick and underclass and protect the interests of the rich.

The Tories have no sense of society and no conscience, David Camerons cabinet is full of people who have never had to struggle for anything.Nick Clegg remains passive and weak and should be ashamed of his servitude to the Tories. I am shocked that they do not have someone going from one hospital bed to another seeing if they can pull the plug early.

Yeah, well, I'm not going to soft-soap it, I tell it like it is... If anyone thinks this kind of thing is acceptable then obviously they have a diseased mind.... Or they're a Tory. Or a bankster looter who would sell their own grandma to make a buck....

 

Grimly have you watched V for Vendetta? Lovely line in that regarding the Tories!

 

I loved your post - I always do. I'd respond to them but (almost) everyone else seems to be quite articulate, addressing each point - whereas my only response to most of your posts would be 'I agree with everything you say!'

 

Kath

I do not know what people expected when they voted for the Tories. That is all they do and all they have ever done forget about the poor, sick and underclass and protect the interests of the rich.

The Tories have no sense of society and no conscience, David Camerons cabinet is full of people who have never had to struggle for anything.Nick Clegg remains passive and weak and should be ashamed of his servitude to the Tories. I am shocked that they do not have someone going from one hospital bed to another seeing if they can pull the plug early.

 

In a nutshell... Another thing that ground my gears was one minute Cameron, Boris, Osborne, etc all condemning the rioters as thugs, but conveniently forgetting their own rather thuggish behaviour when they were in the Bullingdon Club and smashing up shops, etc...

 

People think that the Tories have changed since the days of Thatcher... Yeah, right, wake up and smell the coffee and listen to those of us who have actually lived through it.... Actually, they've not really changed since the 19th Century apart from a few cosmetic changes... They still essentially represent only the narrow, land-owning, Capitalist interests...

Grimly have you watched V for Vendetta? Lovely line in that regarding the Tories!

 

I loved your post - I always do. I'd respond to them but (almost) everyone else seems to be quite articulate, addressing each point - whereas my only response to most of your posts would be 'I agree with everything you say!'

 

Kath

 

I've done better than that, I've been a fan of Alan Moore's graphic novel since I was a teenager... He wrote it as a response to Thatcherism..... :lol: :lol:

 

 

In fact, let us not mince words… the management is terrible! We’ve had a string of embezzlers, frauds, liars, and lunatics making a string of catastrophic decisions. This is plain fact. But who elected them? It was you! You who appointed these people! You who gave them the power to make decisions for you! While I’ll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go on making the same lethal errors century after century seems to me to be nothing short of deliberate. You have encouraged these malicious incompetents, who have made your working life a shambles. You have accepted without question their senseless orders. You have allowed them to fill your workplace with dangerous and unproven machines. All you had to say was “No.” You have no spine. You have no pride. You are no longer an asset to the company.

 

Alan Moore - V for Vendetta

In a nutshell... Another thing that ground my gears was one minute Cameron, Boris, Osborne, etc all condemning the rioters as thugs, but conveniently forgetting their own rather thuggish behaviour when they were in the Bullingdon Club and smashing up shops, etc...

 

People think that the Tories have changed since the days of Thatcher... Yeah, right, wake up and smell the coffee and listen to those of us who have actually lived through it.... Actually, they've not really changed since the 19th Century apart from a few cosmetic changes... They still essentially represent only the narrow, land-owning, Capitalist interests...

 

Actually the Tories have changed since the Thatcher years Cameron and Osbourne wear more make up than Thatcher, take more drugs and seem to have more black friends.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-20...-interview.html

Actually the Tories have changed since the Thatcher years Cameron and Osbourne wear more make up than Thatcher, take more drugs and seem to have more black friends.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-20...-interview.html

 

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I keep thinking this coalition have reached the zenith of despicability and then I find I'm wrong yet again.

 

 

I keep thinking this coalition have reached the zenith of despicability and then I find I'm wrong yet again.

 

I keep thinking the exact same thing....

 

Somehow, this actually fails to surprise me. Which is really quite shocking.

Somehow, this actually fails to surprise me. Which is really quite shocking.

 

"Tories To Target 'First Born' in Attempt to Lessen Benefits Burden"..? Would that do it...? Shite, I probably shouldn't be giving the fecking DWP ideas....... -_-

"Tories To Target 'First Born' in Attempt to Lessen Benefits Burden"..? Would that do it...? Shite, I probably shouldn't be giving the fecking DWP ideas....... -_-

 

They already have a policy in place to do this. It's called 'abortion'.

They already have a policy in place to do this. It's called 'abortion'.

 

I'm not going to go into a massive debate on abortion in this thread, but I will just say, simply dont agree with your implication that abortion is murder....

Not true why should anyone pussyfoot around an issue.

There's a big difference between being arguementative and downright aggressive though, if you ask me.