I recently wrote about the Benefit Reforms recently and how they could affect me. I think a 4 point score requirement for one descriptor is too harsh and excludes people with mental illness and autism who tend to be affected in more breadth across all the descriptors scoring 1 to 2 points.
I know I would likely suffer significantly if I was to lose PIP. I wrote the following email to my MP today:
Dear David Burton-Sampson MP,
I voted for you at the last general election as I wasn’t happy with 14 years of Tory rule.
I have a diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder (a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) as well as Autism. I have been hospitalised in a psychiatric hospital about 14 times since 2010. I was sectioned 8 times between 2017-22. I sometimes hear voices even on my good days and experience a lot of anxiety and sometimes paranoia around people. When I am severely ill I hallucinate and experience delusions. I can also be manic and do bizarre behaviour in public. Sometimes I get so stressed I want to end my own life. My autism means I don’t cope with lots of people and am not a people person. I am presently given an anti-psychotic injection every 4 weeks at the Southend NHS Taylor Centre (Mental health outpatients). This seems to have helped control my symptoms better in the last 2 years and I haven’t been in hospital.
My mother and stepdad died a few years ago from cancer. I am 40 and live in a privately rented home that was found by Southend city council when I was homeless in 2022.
I presently get Universal Credit and PIP. I am worried I am going to lose my PIP and the UC health element. My rent is £775 a month but UC housing element only overs upto £680 due to the local housing allowance limit. I use my PIP to top up my living costs such as my rent. I also pay to see a private counsellor every fortnight. The standard allowance of UC (£400 a month) isn’t enough to live on once I pay my top up to my rent and council tax. I’m not gonna last long on it.
It is very risky to the public too. Because I need a safe home and address to get my anti-psychotic medication regularly. Stress triggers episodes so putting me under more pressure is inadvisable. It gets to the point where I would rather be in prison than be homeless again. What a perverse incentive this system is creating by putting people into extreme poverty with these welfare cuts.
I am disappointed with the government plans for welfare. I think if it goes through I won’t vote Labour again. This is my most important issue and I feel let down. It’s possible I will end up homeless again thanks to these reforms.
Anyway I go to St John’s Church in Southend every Sunday. I will say a prayer for you and your government. I hope Labour will find wisdom not to continue on it’s current path of welfare cuts.
Kind regards,
Shaun
I think that’s all those of us with mental illness and autism can do is email our MPs. Many won’t because of the stigma. It’s very hard try to sum up your own experiences into so few words to explain why these reforms could do real harm. I hope there is some change to policy as a result of all the dissenting voices out there.