\n<\/p>\n
With reference to your editorial (The Guardian view on disability benefits: Pip must not become another route for cuts, 10 July), and speaking as someone who has contributed to Sir Stephen Timms\u2019 review on behalf of family carers dealing with\u00a0those with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, I\u00a0fully support a substantial revision of the whole approach to personal independence payment (Pip) assessment.<\/p>\n
The assessment process is currently a daunting one for those who are justifiably\u00a0applying for this\u00a0much\u2011needed support.<\/p>\n
We appreciate the need for a programme of investment, which leads to participation in work for the growing number of young people who have mental\u00a0health\u00a0problems, but within\u00a0this, attention\u00a0must also be focused on those with longstanding, serious mental illness who have no realistic hope of entering the workforce.<\/p>\n
On no account should their case become an area to limit entitlement. Their award for Pip in\u00a0its future form should be automatic on receipt of the required medical\u00a0evidence.<\/p>\n
They would love to be mentally unchallenged and to be able to join the workforce. However, given that this is not feasible, they need all the\u00a0support they can get to make the difficult life they lead slightly\u00a0more bearable. You rightly argue for acceptance of social security spending as \u201cinvestment in independence and participation\u201d to reduce current pressure for cuts.<\/p>\n It also is, or should be, a means of ensuring genuine financial security for all through social means. Hence the term social security.<\/p>\n However, the more that you and other journalists and politicians use the divisive American term \u201cwelfare\u201d, with its connotations of a miserable residual scheme for the\u00a0stigmatised \u201cother\u201d, the harder\u00a0it is to resist cuts and the dominant false narrative of \u201cballooning\u201d spending.<\/p>\n The minister of state for employment, Diana Johnson, recently described social security as \u201cthe bedrock of our welfare state\u201d. As such, a decent social security system reduces pressures on other arms of the welfare state by reducing poverty. It should be a priority for any government that is committed to social justice. You say in your leader that Sir\u00a0Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, \u201chas seen the system from almost every angle\u201d. However, he has not covered perhaps the most important angle \u2013 he has never been dependent on benefits to be able to afford to go to work or to meet the basic needs of his household.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing about us without us\u201d should be the defining feature of discussion of the benefits system.<\/p>\n Sir Stephen\u2019s view of Pip as an enabling benefit is undoubtedly an improvement, but until the structure and operation of the system is richly and meaningfully informed by the experiences of those dependent on benefits, there will always be a danger that procedural and bureaucratic barriers will prevent the payments from liberating recipients as they should. Your coverage of the Timms review did not mention the link between Covid-19 infections and rising levels of disability. Covid-19 is one of the largest mass-disabling events in modern history, and it isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n The decades-long neglect and downplaying of post-viral illnesses has led to a woeful lack of research funding, serious underestimation of the long\u2011lasting (often lifelong) devastation they wreak on sufferers\u2019 lives, and no cures. We cannot afford to erase post-Covid conditions from the narrative. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With reference to your editorial (The Guardian view on disability benefits: Pip must not become another route for cuts, 10 July), and speaking as someone who has contributed to Sir Stephen Timms\u2019 review on behalf of family carers dealing with\u00a0those with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, I\u00a0fully support a substantial revision of the whole<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2335,634,701,2428,563],"class_list":{"0":"post-51099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-benefits","9":"tag-call","10":"tag-disability","11":"tag-shouldnt","12":"tag-welfare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Susan Randall<\/strong>
Cambridge<\/em><\/p>\n
Ruth Lister<\/strong>
Labour, House of Lords<\/em><\/p>\n
Luke Howard<\/strong>
London<\/em><\/p>\n
Katie Medd<\/strong>
Devon<\/em><\/p>\n