As someone with psychosis, I often say my condition is so awful that I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
But I’m not sure I stand by this today, on hearing Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirm major changes to the benefits system, which will leave many sick and disabled people worse off.
In fact, a morning dealing with what I do might enable her to build a shred of empathy for her targets.
Reeves’ Spring Statement comes after Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, announced an overhaul of a number of different forms of support, including Universal Credit, which helps those on low incomes or seeking work, and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) a benefit that helps with the cost of disability.
In terms of PIP, that involves changing the criteria for who qualifies – with particular focus on making it harder for those like me with mental health conditions – part of a bid to save £5billion by the end of this decade.
Practically, that means that the minimum age to claim PIP will rise from 16 to 18, and the ‘points system’ (a tick-box exercise to see exactly what criteria a disabled person meets so their level of benefit can be determined) will be made more difficult
Currently, claimants only need to score over eight points across a range of 10 different components to receive PIP – but from next year, they will have to score at least four points in a single component to qualify.
That means support will be prioritised for those who physically struggle with things like eating, bathing, and managing toilet needs, and those like me with mental health issues are more likely to miss out.
The incapacity benefit element of Universal Credit, support for those who can’t work due to disability, will also by cut by nearly 100%, from £97 a week to £50 a week.
Liz Kendall says this will stop the ‘perverse incentives’ keeping people in benefits.
Well I claim Universal Credit and PIP combined for my psychosis and schizo-affective disorder – and the only incentive I have is to stay alive and manage my conditions as best I can.
There’s nothing perverse about that, whatever the government says.
Cutting my livelihood won’t cure my life-long disability – far from it.
Instead, it will add to my anxiety levels, and as much as Liz Kendall says disabled people will be treated with dignity, I can’t help but feel I’ve had my feet cut off then asked to do a dance.
And that’s not all.
‘We believe that unleashing the talents of the British people is the key to our future success’, said Kendall – but ‘unleashing our talents’ won’t resolve my depression and anxiety.
Future success for me is being able to have a good life despite my disability – and that is something the government is threatening to remove.
That’s still not all.
According to Kendall, disabled people like me have been denied hope, dignity and self-respect by not being in ‘good work’ – but the biggest indignity I have experienced is managing my conditions while in employment.
I have far more hope, dignity and self-respect claiming benefits without needing to work full-time.
Kendall spoke of a ‘right to try’; of ‘giving people the confidence to take the plunge and try work’. She added that this would be ‘without the fear this will put their benefits at risk’, due to a guarantee that ‘work in and of itself will never lead to a benefit reassessment’ – but I don’t need the ‘right to try’.
I have tried full-time work several times – stress and lack of time to manage prescriptions always put me back on suicide watch.
I don’t need to ‘take a plunge’ so I can suffer like that again.
Certainly, the ‘broken benefits’ system – as Kendall referred to it – that makes up a significant part of my livelihood is not sustainable. As Kendall pointed out, one in 10 people of working age are claiming sickness benefits; while 2.8 million are out of work due to long term sickness.
But the answer to the ‘broken system’ that Kendall is supposedly looking for doesn’t lie in making it even harder for people to access benefits they need – it lies in increasing wages so that people can work part time if they need to, without worrying about how they’re going to make ends meet.
I’ve found a combination of benefits pays more than the part-time work my psychiatrists recommend I engage in – which I do – but it doesn’t have to be this way.
I get by, I do have a nice lifestyle on benefits. I also work part-time and am a carer.
And if Kendall really wants to ‘unleash the talents’ of people with long-term (and life-long) illnesses and disabilities, she could start by helping to de-stigmatise these conditions.
Putting people with mental health conditions in competition against those with ‘the most severe’ disabilities doesn’t help anyone.
Mental health is stigmatised enough without people like me being portrayed by ministers as a drain on the system.
I have friends who won’t reach out to their GP for much needed support for mental illnesses, because of a fear of how they’ll be judged.
These same friends won’t claim support with disability benefits – exactly like the benefits currently being overhauled – because of the fear of being dubbed a ‘scrounger’ like I have in the past.
The prognosis for them is poorer than mine – some of my friends are older than 40 and still living with their parents, because the stigma attached to their condition means they can’t manage any other way.
It no longer matters what party is in power – whether it’s Liz Kendall overhauling PIP or George Osborne’s austerity programme – our disability benefits are rarely not up for grabs.
For those with mental health issues, this constant threat of change can exacerbate our conditions.
Since my diagnosis I haven’t been able to watch TV for fear of hearing the worst – that my benefits will be cut – and scrolling through social media can be hard, for the same reason.
Uncertainty about my livelihood causes me anxiety on a huge scale. It’s like the constant threat of redundancy workers experience. As someone with psychosis, I can tell you – it’s hugely triggering.
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But to those who, like me, are wondering about what the future holds, I say to keep your head up and to keep on fighting back. U-turns and not doing what they say they do are all de-rigueur for politicians these days – but we still have a voice.
And I’ll join my voice to those demanding that the government changes tack.
A spell of unemployment might let politicians experience first hand the uncertainty she’s given me – and who knows how many countless others.
How’s that for a perverse incentive?
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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