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Disability Bitch in benefits shocker!
24th June 2009
Readers, I know none of you keep up-to-date with current affairs - you're disabled, after all - so you'll be delighted to hear that this week's missive from the world of Bitch contains some actual real life news worth knowing about.
It's not that support for dyslexic pupils in British schools has up 'til now been a bit lacking, I found that story just over the page from fresh reports that the Pope is - apparently! - Catholic.
No, this story is a proper revelation: readers, far from being subject to massive fraud, Disability Living Allowance was underpaid to claimants last year, meaning the government owe us, disabled people, £260 million. It's true!
No, this story is a proper revelation: readers, far from being subject to massive fraud, Disability Living Allowance was underpaid to claimants last year, meaning the government owe us, disabled people, £260 million. It's true!
Yet again, I find myself telling everyone I meet that I HATE BENEFITS OFFICIALS, for many reasons but mostly because it would appear that DLA was the most underpaid benefit of all last financial year, and that doesn't even include people who were entitled to claim it but didn't. Fact. We're only talking about those who DID claim it but were given too little.
Eager to find out more about this surprising calculation, I rushed to my local newsagents and demanded copies of every tabloid going, knowing that they take a keen interest in stories about mistaken benefit payments. Remember how quick they were to point out that fat people and people with acne were among those claiming Incapacity Benefit during the 'debate' about those IB reforms this time last year. And who could forget the man with carpal tunnel syndrome who mowed his lawn and ended up national news because benefit claimants are not allowed to mow lawns, or something. And then there's the geezer who did a spot of breakdancing on Britain's Got Talent but turned out to be claiming disability benefit too, so got a hard time in the press.
Eager to find out more about this surprising calculation, I rushed to my local newsagents and demanded copies of every tabloid going, knowing that they take a keen interest in stories about mistaken benefit payments. Remember how quick they were to point out that fat people and people with acne were among those claiming Incapacity Benefit during the 'debate' about those IB reforms this time last year. And who could forget the man with carpal tunnel syndrome who mowed his lawn and ended up national news because benefit claimants are not allowed to mow lawns, or something. And then there's the geezer who did a spot of breakdancing on Britain's Got Talent but turned out to be claiming disability benefit too, so got a hard time in the press.
Obviously people with genuine impairments don't go out dancing, we sit at home watching daytime TV and weeping about the futility of our own pathetic existences, draining NHS resources as we do so.
So surely these same journalists would be interested in the revelation that, contrary to popular belief, Disability Living Allowance is rarely claimed fraudulently, at least in comparison with other benefits, and in fact many disabled people are receiving less money than they are genuinely entitled to. That's news, isn't it?
Strange, then, that when I typed the phrase 'benefit fraud' into a popular interweb news search facility I found very few references to the story at all. There was plenty about evil fraudsters, although, while having a click around, I did discover that the people of Northern Ireland fork out £4 million a year for appeals against disability benefit decisions which the claimants wish to challenge. Just to put this into perspective, that same news search facility reveals that almost every publication going is still banging on about the fact that David Blunkett got mown down by a cow, several weeks after it happened. Get over it. Get well soon, though, Mr Blunkett
So surely these same journalists would be interested in the revelation that, contrary to popular belief, Disability Living Allowance is rarely claimed fraudulently, at least in comparison with other benefits, and in fact many disabled people are receiving less money than they are genuinely entitled to. That's news, isn't it?
Strange, then, that when I typed the phrase 'benefit fraud' into a popular interweb news search facility I found very few references to the story at all. There was plenty about evil fraudsters, although, while having a click around, I did discover that the people of Northern Ireland fork out £4 million a year for appeals against disability benefit decisions which the claimants wish to challenge. Just to put this into perspective, that same news search facility reveals that almost every publication going is still banging on about the fact that David Blunkett got mown down by a cow, several weeks after it happened. Get over it. Get well soon, though, Mr Blunkett
Which leaves me with only one remaining question. Readers, how do you think we should divide up the money? I mean, I'm perfectly happy to write to Gordon Brown and come up with an arrangement whereby I take control of the cash we're owed and sort out some kind of Disability Bitch Charitable Trust making payments to needy impoverished cripples. Or here's an idea: let's use the money to create a benefits application system that actually works. £260 million should be enough. Then again, we could just buy a couple of Premier League football players, a giant box of gold-plated doughnuts, and have a huge night out on the town.
MillsWatch
Help me Lord. Heather Mills will be skydiving for charity in the next few days. No, I'm not joking. If my column's not here next week, it's because I'll be lying in a dark room screaming and gouging my eyes out with spoons. Good luck, everyone.
For minute-by-minute (maybe) coverage of Heather's mighty leap from the air - I understand she will have a parachute - why not become my friend on Facebook - and join in with the catty comments my 1382 friends will no doubt be posting, if the weather's bad that day and they've got nothing better to do.
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Comments
As an ex volunteer benefits adviser its absolutely no surprise to me that DLA is underpaid, or that it has very low fraud rates, that has been the case for sometime. DLA fraud makes the headlines for 2 reasons IMO, firstly that its rare, so when it happens, its newsworthy, and secondly, disabled people are seen as an easy target. The 'anti disabled people hype' in the media, just makes it sound as if we all make illegal claims for a pastime, and that benefits allow us to lead a life of luxury, neither is true.
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The bit that tickled me was the admission that the £260m doesn't even include all the people who are entitled to claim DLA, but take one look at the form (or the appeals process) and go "actually, I don't need the money *that* much."
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Okay, so what do I do to get my slice of the underpayment? Because, yes, I wish to buy a premiership footballer who will mow my lawn!
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People in Northern Ireland spend four million a year on appeals? That's just insane, especially when you consider we're talking about a place with only 1.7 million people... and yet, when you think about how the system works (or fails to) it isn't entirely shocking. I wonder what the statistic on that for the UK as a whole is... doesn't bear thinking about!
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It took me 14 months to get HRMC, but a year on from that am still waiting for a response for my Care component, so would think I count for a part of that :(
http://soyourenotdeadyet.blogspot.com/
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I have to say that this is not shocking at all - It's old hat!
The government have had these statistics in the wild for some time - they just have not been looked at correctly.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/fem/fem_apr07_mar08.pdf
Not only is the Underpayment of benefits quite interesting - but how these relate to Fraud is even more fascinating!
Fraud accounts for far less that Official Errors ( read incompetent staff not knowing their jobs ), Underpayment and even under claiming due to client error.
the focus of the DWP multimillion advertising campaign should be on dealing with the bigger problem which their figures show is not Fraud.
The best bit is where the figures state there is 0% fraud in DLA claims - Yes that is right the Figure reads 0%!
Oddly the official errors account for £10, million and supposed customer errors read as £240 million - so really they are saying that all Disabled People are stupid and get it so wrong that we cost ourselves £240 million per year.
If that is the case - shouldn't some of the Advertising Budget be spent on telling us error prone lot how to claim and get it right?
Perhaps that is too revolutionary an Idea for the DWP - after all if decision making is evidence lead, they really should be using their own evidence to help us poor error prone types get it right!
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When I helped out in the Pensioner movement during the 90's one figure that kept coming up was by just how much total benefits were under claimed year by year from 2bn to 5bn. The unspent amount going back to the treasury and the total budget (spent & unspent) was always the figure flouted by the press as the money benefits cost. Just take a dive into how much has been held back in the national insurance fund over the years and you will never believe the hype that we can't afford decent pensions & benefits again - means-tested benefit is the really expensive one because if you are credited with a pound or a hundred in payments, the administration cost in sending the money out is the same.
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