The Socialist 31 January 2008

End this market madness

No more school closures!

Teachers' union calls strike ballot on pay

Anti-war protests save teachers

Labour councillors anger parents and tenants

New Labour attacking our vital benefits

Incapacity benefit cuts hit the sick

Hain resigns but stink of sleaze remains

Jail break from Gaza

Suharto: "One of the 20th century's biggest killers and greatest thieves"

US elections: The Barak Obama mirage

NHS in crisis

Debt and housing slowdown threaten Britain's time bomb economy

Student elections: Not just a 'beauty contest'!

College students seek socialist ideas

Reality of London students' debt trap

More foo than fight as rockers agree to cross picket line

How Hitler came to power

Global warming, climate change and human activities - Part 2

Burslem postal workers march back to work

Giving the real facts on Burslem strike

National Shop Stewards Network meetings




Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/518/3693

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Incapacity benefit cuts hit the sick

THE GOVERNMENT'S plans for 'welfare reform' are raising concern among people on Incapacity Benefit (IB). People on this benefit are unable to work because of a certain illness or disability. If plans to cut the benefit go ahead, expensive new tests and check-ups will cut the number of people claiming it. Nooshin Shabani spoke to two people on incapacity benefit.

BEVERLY WILSON has suffered cancer of the bone twice and has also lost muscle and nerve in her right leg which has resulted in her not being able to walk correctly without aid.

She explains: "If the government decide to cut my benefit, I will no longer be able to live away from my mother's home in Newcastle. I would need to leave my partner and move back home with my parents which would be very upsetting to me as a 25 year old woman. I would be forced out of where I now call home - London.

"We are very much discriminated against already. For example, 90% of housing agencies don't accept people on benefits even though you would work if you were able to, we are not lazy."

Josephine Joseph has been claiming Incapacity Benefit temporarily for the last few months due to her being too ill to work.

"In my opinion, IB does not even cover basic needs. Electricity, gas, water, and other bills are much more than this, leaving little left over for food or anything else. I live on bank overdrafts and other people face the same problem. Some of them cannot even afford to turn the heating on in winter.

"If the government wants to cut down the amount, I will be forced to work when ill as I have no other means to live on."

In this issue

End this market madness