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William Donald (USouthampton) explains why cutting PIP payments is not the right way to 'encourage' the disabled into work.... and suggests a better approach:
reverse the PIP eligibility changes;
hold employers accountable for removing systemic barriers to work;
increase disabled representation in decision-making;
integrate health & social care;
pay carers better!
But of course, this would require a very different government would it not?
https://theconversation.com/why-financial-hardship-is-more-likely-if-youre-disabled-or-sick-253877
@ChrisMayLA6 Absolutely.
I can't stress this enough - it *costs money* to "get a job".
- Transportation
- Appropriate clothes & shoes
- Daycare
- Sometimes other equipment like construction workers who need their own tools.
- Certifications
- Opportunity costs to vanish from your other responsibilities for a shift, to be able to schedule other times for doc appointments, etc.
Shoving people deeper into poverty makes it harder not easier to work.
@Knittingdancer@toot.wales@syntaxseed @ChrisMayLA6 To add: if you are unable to to drive, then the challenges are even higher. Running a car is expensive, but what if there's no or no sensible public transport to where you need to be, when you need to be?
Investing in public infrastructure creates opportunities and lifts people out of poverty. Cutting it to save money pushes people further into poverty.
@Knittingdancer @syntaxseed @ChrisMayLA6 a case in point is a delivery operator who sends an email advising that your four packages are available for collection a 25 minute walk away when they haven’t even attempted delivery. One of the household works from home, so there is always somebody in, but nobody has access to a car. They haven’t even offered a facility to request a delivery. They just assume you have a car.
@peterbrown @ChrisMayLA6
Don't even get me started on councils: "you'll have to take it to the tip". How? Our local tip doesn't allow either pedestrians or taxis.
We're a no-car family and that both constrains where we can live and has a huge time-cost, because there's no "just nipping" anywhere. Day time services are acceptable if you want to go where they go, but evening services range between limited and non-existent. That rules out a huge range of employment opportunities.
@Knittingdancer @peterbrown @ChrisMayLA6 Same problem here. Our local tip only allows access to people in cars so, even though we could take some of the stuff we need to get rid of on foot or by bike, they wouldn't let us in with it when we get there.
I guess we'd have to wait in the street, like underage teenagers outside an off licence, flagging down other tip visitors to dispose of our rubbish 
@Steffi @Knittingdancer @ChrisMayLA6 and as a non-car owner if you take a van from the Car Club, they regard it as a commercial vehicle and they don’t let you in 
@peterbrown @Knittingdancer @ChrisMayLA6 Oh for goodness sake!!
We had mooted the idea of renting a small Enterprise van for a day - apparently they're supposed to be allowed in free as long as we also took ID and our council tax bill - but I've heard that, in reality, it all depends on the whim of whoever is guarding the gate so we could go to all that effort and expense just to get nowhere.
@Steffi @Knittingdancer @ChrisMayLA6 worth checking. It’s a couple of years since I tried and it had to be a van because it was a mattress and bed.
@Steffi @Knittingdancer @ChrisMayLA6 well having been ejected for driving a rented van I was actually sorely tempted just to fly tip it on the access road.
Notahappybunny.
@peterbrown @Knittingdancer @ChrisMayLA6 I can empathise with that (although obviously I'm glad you didn't!). It's just such a ridiculous system and ends up costing the councils more because it does encourage fly tipping 