I agree that safety nets are needed, but be careful with safety nets. There's a big problem in the UK with the various forms of disability benefits.
Some people find themselves trapped on benefits, and it's hard for them to move back into work.
An oversimplified (too long!) rundown:
Some disabled people incur extra living costs (for either transport or for care) just because they are disabled. This is covered by something called Disability Living Allowance. In theory you can get DLA whether or not you're working. (But sometimes the work you do will be used to reduce or remove the DLA you get.)
DLA isn't particularly controversial. But recently there's been disquiet about the way it works. It's strictly about "how disabled you are, how much support you need". When you realise that you can accept that an adult that has just lost a leg will need more help and support than an adult who has been without a leg for a few years - they've got a prosthetic and learnt how to move and got workarounds sorted out. This situation suddenly came to light when a bunch of soldiers with amputations suddenly had their DLA reduced from high to medium. From their point of view they still only had one leg.
The more controversial disability benefit is "Incapacity Benefit". (which is being replaced). (And various older benefits.)
People can have a disability and still work. Recent disability equality laws make this easier. Recent improvements in support for finding work for disabled people and supporting them while they're in work makes this much easier. Recent research showing that people (especially with mental heath problems) are better off in work helps too. But those improvements are trying to work with an old system of benefits and sub-optimal medical advice. "Bad Back" used to be 'untreatable', people would be given advice to lie flat on their back with a board under a firm mattress and to not get exercise. In areas of high unemployment (and little prospect of employment returning, eg mining towns) many people lived their lives on disability benefits. We now know that advice for bad back was terrible. We now know that mild to moderate depression responds really well to CBT (just 12 weeks!) and medication. People who used to spend years not working can now have a short amount of time away from work, and then get back in.
The controversy comes because benefits are so Political. People are not trapped in a system and need help to get back to work; they are lazy feckless scroungers stealing from the tax payer.
The other controversy comes from testing for the new benefit regime. This can be brutal for people with MH problems; who often don't have great medical support. Clinicians don't know how to work the bureaucracy, so even if a bunch of doctors think that Fred shouldn't be working for a few months it's not help to Fred.
The old benefits are being replaced by "Employment Support Allowance". In theory it's more compatible with modern attitudes to work and incapacity. In practice the UK needs a progression of gentle changes across everything (tax laws; support structures for disabled people entering work; employment laws; benefits offices; job seeking offices; clinical and vocational support for disabled people (especially those with MH problems) rather than huge disconnected changes in small areas.
Some people find themselves trapped on benefits, and it's hard for them to move back into work.
An oversimplified (too long!) rundown:
Some disabled people incur extra living costs (for either transport or for care) just because they are disabled. This is covered by something called Disability Living Allowance. In theory you can get DLA whether or not you're working. (But sometimes the work you do will be used to reduce or remove the DLA you get.)
DLA isn't particularly controversial. But recently there's been disquiet about the way it works. It's strictly about "how disabled you are, how much support you need". When you realise that you can accept that an adult that has just lost a leg will need more help and support than an adult who has been without a leg for a few years - they've got a prosthetic and learnt how to move and got workarounds sorted out. This situation suddenly came to light when a bunch of soldiers with amputations suddenly had their DLA reduced from high to medium. From their point of view they still only had one leg.
The more controversial disability benefit is "Incapacity Benefit". (which is being replaced). (And various older benefits.)
People can have a disability and still work. Recent disability equality laws make this easier. Recent improvements in support for finding work for disabled people and supporting them while they're in work makes this much easier. Recent research showing that people (especially with mental heath problems) are better off in work helps too. But those improvements are trying to work with an old system of benefits and sub-optimal medical advice. "Bad Back" used to be 'untreatable', people would be given advice to lie flat on their back with a board under a firm mattress and to not get exercise. In areas of high unemployment (and little prospect of employment returning, eg mining towns) many people lived their lives on disability benefits. We now know that advice for bad back was terrible. We now know that mild to moderate depression responds really well to CBT (just 12 weeks!) and medication. People who used to spend years not working can now have a short amount of time away from work, and then get back in.
The controversy comes because benefits are so Political. People are not trapped in a system and need help to get back to work; they are lazy feckless scroungers stealing from the tax payer.
The other controversy comes from testing for the new benefit regime. This can be brutal for people with MH problems; who often don't have great medical support. Clinicians don't know how to work the bureaucracy, so even if a bunch of doctors think that Fred shouldn't be working for a few months it's not help to Fred.
The old benefits are being replaced by "Employment Support Allowance". In theory it's more compatible with modern attitudes to work and incapacity. In practice the UK needs a progression of gentle changes across everything (tax laws; support structures for disabled people entering work; employment laws; benefits offices; job seeking offices; clinical and vocational support for disabled people (especially those with MH problems) rather than huge disconnected changes in small areas.