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00:05One in ten people in England and Wales claim health-related benefits.
00:10Because of my autism and ADHD, I struggle to do basic daily tasks.
00:15The cost has doubled in 12 years.
00:18It's really easy to say you're taking taxpayers' money, but the reality is,
00:23until you've been in that person's shoes, you've got no idea.
00:26The sharpest rise in claims for disability benefits comes from people with mental health and behavioural conditions.
00:33I get people saying that I'm faking.
00:36Unfortunately, they don't truly understand what having an invisible disability is like.
00:43Calls for reform are growing louder.
00:46The worry I have is that we're essentially writing off a lost generation.
00:51With public finances under pressure, should taxpayers be footing the bill?
00:58Do I really want to be trying to take money from the pot of a country that can't really afford
01:05it?
01:14I move around the house holding onto furniture because I can't walk independently without holding onto something.
01:23Georgina has multiple sclerosis.
01:27I'm really conscious of not falling over, which has happened.
01:31And everyday tasks are difficult.
01:37That one was really close.
01:39But you can see how challenging it is for me to just get off a box.
01:45She's started a new business.
01:49I hold onto door frames like this and then I can go into, like, my office.
01:55A website where people with disabilities can get discounts and advice on saving money.
02:02Unlock discounts on offers for food, fashion, tech and everyday essentials with purple.
02:08It's really expensive being disabled.
02:11And I think people just aren't aware of all the costs that come from living with a disability.
02:17She gets £604 a month from the government to help with the additional costs she faces.
02:25Georgina also has ADHD, but the money's for her physical disability.
02:30It's called a personal independence payment, or PIP.
02:35So, neuro, physio, £250 a month.
02:41And then...
02:41It pays for things like physical therapy, equipment and transport.
02:46So, my monthly cost came to £1,798.58.
02:49So, let's say, £1,800.
02:52And when you look at how much I get from the government,
02:54which is just over £600 a month,
02:57it doesn't cover even half of the costs that I have in reality.
03:06Georgina and her husband, Stuart, pay for much of what she needs themselves.
03:12See, this is a challenge.
03:14Cos I can't bend down.
03:16And I can't...
03:18I've done it wrong now.
03:22And I normally run people's toes over as well with this, cos I'm not used to...
03:25Yeah, first time we took it out, you run over my toes about ten times.
03:30All part of the fun.
03:32OK. OK, enjoy.
03:35You don't have to be unemployed to get PIP.
03:39You can qualify whether you're working or on other benefits.
03:44This wheelchair was just under £2,000.
03:47There's a lot of money that I spend on my disability that someone else doesn't have to.
03:53And PIP is meant to level the playing field and help people with those extra costs,
03:59so that they can be independent and remain independent for as long as possible,
04:03which ultimately costs the government less in the long run.
04:11Disability benefits can help people live independent lives.
04:16The number claiming PIP in England and Wales has risen by 50% in five years.
04:22There are now 3.2 million working-age people claiming PIP.
04:28The bill for this benefit alone has risen to £24 billion a year.
04:36These are significant costs to put it into scale.
04:40We only spend about £14 billion on the entirety of the justice system.
04:44PIP claims have gone up significantly across the board.
04:48Big increases for all ages, big increases across the country.
04:56You can get PIP for mental health and behavioural conditions too.
05:01And the payments can make all the difference.
05:09Three years ago, Thomas could hardly leave the house because of anxiety and depression.
05:15My grandma fell ill and passed away.
05:20And then, not long after my close friend passed away, he took his own life.
05:27So that really sent me backwards into sort of a spiral.
05:32I had panic attacks, I'd feel dizzy,
05:34I'd have this sort of over-empowering feeling that I was going to die.
05:39Everything was so difficult, like even just going out for shopping
05:42was like such a task to me.
05:44It was, it was awful.
05:46I was very, very worried.
05:48He was finding it hard getting up in the mornings.
05:51He was up all night.
05:52It was, it was really difficult.
05:55It was like a different person and I, it was scary.
05:58And was it the anxiety and the depression that was stopping you from working?
06:01100% at that point, yeah, 100%.
06:04Thomas was awarded £425 in PIP a month.
06:09It helped keep him afloat.
06:11I feel like it saved my life.
06:14I could buy essentials like food, drink, hygiene products.
06:20Did you want to work?
06:21Oh yeah, I really wanted to work.
06:22I felt really sort of guilty for having that money.
06:27PIP has helped Thomas get back on his feet.
06:30He now has an apprenticeship and is training to be a chef.
06:35It's hard work, it's really hard work.
06:37But I think it's worth it, 100% it's worth it.
06:44Thomas is still entitled to his PIP payments.
06:48There are now 1.5 million people like him,
06:52whose main reason for getting PIP is what the government classifies as psychiatric conditions.
06:58One of the most striking things about the rising disability benefits bill is what's driving it.
07:05Almost half of all claims are due to mental health or behavioural conditions.
07:12Because of my autism and ADHD, I struggle to do basic daily tasks.
07:16I struggle to feed myself, I struggle to get dressed,
07:19I struggle with showers because of sensory issues.
07:24Mostly personal hygiene, self care, it gets really disgusting.
07:27This is my boyfriend's aunt's place and this is where I stay sometimes.
07:36Since I don't have a permanent place where I live, welcome to the mess.
07:4326 year old Alex makes social media videos about her mental health.
07:49Sorry about the breakfast plate.
07:52Many people would think that autistic people are very organised and meticulous with their stuff,
07:58but no, like I said, the ADHD is raging.
08:03She's been diagnosed with autism and ADHD.
08:08I'd been struggling all my life with being extremely forgetful,
08:14organising, task management, all the typical ADHD things,
08:18except I didn't know there was a name for it.
08:20I came across this video on Facebook and I just listened to it all
08:25and I think I was pretty emotional by the end.
08:29I was like, oh, this lady just told my life story.
08:32Like, it's an actual disability.
08:35I'm not very good at organising.
08:38Alex receives £420 in PIP every month to help with her conditions.
08:44She says that simple things like eating cost her more.
08:49I get paper plates and paper cups and single-use cutlery
08:55and single-use foil trays that I can just put in the oven, then throw it away.
09:00I'm sorry, that's what I need to do to accommodate my disability.
09:03Otherwise, I literally cannot do life.
09:06So, what's in the...
09:08As you can see, there's a lot of stuff here.
09:11There's stuff I could make, but I'm evaluating, you know,
09:16where to use my energy and...
09:18If I didn't have PIP, if I had to be always cooking meals
09:22and always be making things from scratch,
09:24I would probably use most of my energy on that
09:27and a lot less of my energy on showering.
09:33As well as PIP, Alex claims a second health benefit
09:36called Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity, or LCWRA.
09:43It's an incapacity benefit and gives her an additional £423 per month.
09:50Phone.
09:52Umbrella.
09:53OK.
09:54Hello, could I get the ham and pineapple, please?
09:57Two slices.
09:58I tend not to go for the pizza, but I haven't eaten much today,
10:02so I'm dying of hunger.
10:06Being awarded LCWRA means Alex doesn't have to work.
10:11And she's not expected to look for a job.
10:15Yeah, I would be happy to work a part-time job like that
10:19if I had a stable place to live, which I don't.
10:24I don't think I'd be able to work a full-time job.
10:27My capacity is much smaller than it used to be.
10:31I've lost jobs because of it, I've left jobs because of it.
10:38Alex is far from alone.
10:40More and more working-age people say they have mental health
10:43and behavioural conditions.
10:46One in seven now say they have a long-term condition.
10:50So across the last 10 or 15 years there has been a big increase
10:54in people reporting mental health problems
10:57in just about every way that we measure it.
10:59What we might typically refer to as mental health conditions
11:02like anxiety disorders, depression, OCD, post-traumatic stress disorder,
11:07but then also neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and ADHD.
11:15Prescriptions for antidepressants are up 12% since 2019.
11:22Deaths from suicide, drink and drugs have risen too.
11:27And mental health services are stretched.
11:31So we see across a range of measures signs that the nation's mental health is getting worse.
11:36More people are reporting having a mental health condition
11:39and also more people report having the symptoms of a mental health condition.
11:45The rising numbers may also be due to better mental health awareness.
11:51Could social media be driving up the figures too?
11:57Have SWOT or ADHD in just 30 seconds.
12:00You have two halves. One half is quiet, shy, rule-abiding.
12:03The other half is rule-breaking, outgoing, extroverted.
12:06ADHD is knowing you have potential, knowing you're smart and creative,
12:10and yet not being able to execute those ideas.
12:14But when I realised that this was autism, I... Oh my God!
12:20The risk is that there are communities online that encourage,
12:25often in a very well-intended way,
12:27but they encourage people to frame their difficulties
12:30in this language of mental health and illness.
12:33Is there a danger then that we are medicalising everyday struggles
12:37and personality differences?
12:39There is, but it's a very delicate argument to try and make.
12:44Mental health problems are very internal challenges.
12:48It's very difficult to know from the outside
12:52what's happening in someone's mind
12:54or what's happening behind closed doors.
12:57So, is the increase in mental health and behavioural conditions
13:01pushing up the disability benefits bill?
13:05The numbers getting PIP have risen sharply since the pandemic.
13:10Awards primarily for ADHD have jumped to 91,000.
13:16For autism, they're up to 241,000.
13:21And awards for depression and anxiety have risen to 423,000.
13:30It helps to have a medical diagnosis, but people can apply without one too.
13:36The welfare system in its current form is unsustainable, it is broken.
13:41And so you've got a very blunt approach,
13:43which essentially, you know, sees conditions like anxiety and depression
13:47as things that count you out of the workplace.
13:58So are some people being parked on health benefits?
14:04This town is famous for its seafront and holiday entertainment,
14:08but behind the facade, it's a bleak picture.
14:12Blackpool has some of the highest rates
14:14of health-related benefits claims in the country.
14:17One in five of the working age population here claim them.
14:23But, yeah, this is my humble and bored.
14:27Can I sit down? Yeah, no worries. Thank you.
14:29Duncan is 19 and doesn't work.
14:33He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was four.
14:37It comes out sometimes in, like, short bursts of anger.
14:40Like, if I can get really overstimulated really quickly.
14:43If I'm doing something and there's a loud noise,
14:46it will stress me out.
14:53Duncan gets £750 a month in PIP for his condition.
15:01The money goes on food and other essentials,
15:04as well as taxis to medical appointments.
15:10Yeah.
15:11Very good.
15:12I know I'd never be able to get, like, the bus or the train,
15:16cos I tried back when I was younger and I just couldn't do it.
15:20I genuinely feel like throwing up.
15:22I'd feel like everyone was watching me and stuff.
15:24It was really weird.
15:28Duncan says he wants to work.
15:30But opportunities in Blackpool are scarce.
15:35Why do you think that there's so many people claiming disability
15:39and out-of-work benefits in this town?
15:42I think it is because of the lack of opportunity.
15:47The best way to put it is just there's no hope for the town.
15:51Like, you feel like there's no hope, there's no point in trying to find work.
15:57Duncan also gets LCWRA, the incapacity benefit that means you're not expected to look for work.
16:05That's an additional £411 per month.
16:11I don't want to have to be on benefits my whole life.
16:14I don't want to be another person that lives to 40, 50 years old,
16:18knowing nothing but the benefit system and the bottom of the barrel, cos it's what it is.
16:23People act like living on benefits is such a great thing. It's not.
16:30Duncan's worked in fast food and retail before, but jobs like that can pay less than benefits.
16:39When you add in other benefits, he receives around £1,400 a month from the government.
16:48The brutal reality of it in this day and age is you have to work out whether it's going to
16:53be better for you to work
16:54or better for you to stay on the benefits that you're currently on.
16:58These jobs that they try and give people nowadays aren't worth it.
17:01Like, lower-level jobs aren't worth it.
17:07In parts of the country, many people are making a rational decision
17:12to seek additional income through the welfare system than taking a difficult, low-paid, insecure job.
17:19And the worry I have is that we're essentially writing off a lost generation.
17:24And for their futures, it's young people who should be starting out in life full of energy, full of life,
17:31full of vigour.
17:32And we're seeing that kind of ebbing away in a really disastrous way for our country.
17:43Around 1 in 10 working-age people in England and Wales now receive health-related benefits.
17:51That's 4 million people.
17:54And the cost has doubled since 2014.
17:58It's now £56 billion a year.
18:03Last year, the government tried to cut the bill.
18:06But several of the reforms were abandoned after opposition from MPs and charities.
18:13A lot of the cuts were targeted at PIP.
18:17Lots of people that receive PIP are already in work and actually use PIP to ensure that they can work.
18:22Too much focus on just cutting support will almost certainly lead to a lot more hardship for people.
18:27Their health will deteriorate and actually that's just going to push further costs onto government at a later point.
18:33Lots of countries spend similar or more than us on health-related benefits.
18:39So, yes, we can afford it.
18:41But to afford it, the government will need to make some other difficult choices.
18:45So, they either need to finance that through taxes, finance that through cuts to other bits of spending or increase
18:53borrowing.
18:58You can see why it's tiring.
19:00Even getting in a car can take so much longer than it does for someone who's able-bodied.
19:06PIP doesn't just give people money.
19:09Those who can't make or plan journeys may be eligible to lease a new car.
19:14They don't get extra payments. They use the PIP they receive to cover the cost.
19:20It's called the Motability Scheme and includes repairs, maintenance and insurance.
19:26I think it's a lifeline for so many people in a disabled community.
19:29It's very easy for people to comment on the Motability Scheme when they're not disabled or they don't know anyone
19:37who's disabled and have no understanding of how, for some people, it really is the difference between staying in the
19:44house all the time or getting out and about.
19:51Since the pandemic, more people who list mental health or behavioural conditions as their main reason for getting PIP are
19:59using their payments to lease cars.
20:05The number of claimants with ADHD leasing vehicles has increased to 10,400.
20:16For autism, the numbers are up to 37,600.
20:22And for anxiety and depression, they've risen to 63,100.
20:31It's currently not sustainable. We can't afford to be paying this kind of money out.
20:35And the longer it goes on, the more people feel like they're mugs for not making a claim themselves.
20:40You know, why aren't they getting a Motability car? Why aren't they getting a little bit of a subsidy from
20:43PIP, even if they're in work?
20:45That's how welfare states fall apart.
20:55Not everyone who may be eligible for health benefits makes a claim.
21:01It's currently 20 past midnight, and today we're actually going to take recycled pre-formed bottles up to Highland Spring
21:12in Blackford, just outside Stirling.
21:16Mick's a long distance lorry driver.
21:19He was in the army for more than 26 years and served in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.
21:26But after leaving the military, his mental health suffered.
21:30I started to reflect a lot about, am I actually needed here?
21:37And to me, the answer was no.
21:40So I drove to North Wales, and my plan was to end my own life.
21:48Mick's family stopped him, and he was diagnosed with PTSD.
21:54He could be eligible for PIP, but he refuses to apply.
22:00I am aware of PIP, so I am constantly, constantly bugged by my wife, and others as well, to apply
22:11for it.
22:11But for me personally, there's a massive element of pride that stops me doing it.
22:16Do I really want to be trying to take money from the pot of a country that can't really afford
22:24it, when I don't particularly need to?
22:30As well as driving lorries, Mick has set up a charity and cafe to support ex-soldiers.
22:36Aptly named Tommy's Lounge.
22:38Tommy's Lounge, yeah.
22:39Tommy, after the stereotypical World War I soldier Tommy Atkins, and then led to the poem by Rudyard Kipling.
22:47Come in, and I'll show you around a little bit.
22:51Wow, look at all of the stuff.
22:52I'll introduce you to the guys. We've got James in the corner, who was wounded in Afghanistan.
22:58Mick has helped some of the ex-soldiers secure PIP for physical injuries.
23:05He says the process is difficult.
23:08I think there's an art form to it, to be perfectly honest to you.
23:12There is an art, and I know there are people out there that are brilliant at doing these forms, and
23:16they do them for other people and everything.
23:18We are very open, honest and transparent, so we will write things as they are on those forms, and sometimes
23:24it's not good enough.
23:29I'm a qualified mental health nurse, and I've helped hundreds of people through the PIP application process.
23:34There's now an army of online advisors offering people help with their PIP applications.
23:42They say they're helping vulnerable claimants get what they are due.
23:47Do you get in contact if you need further advice or support around ADHD or other neurodiverse conditions and applying
23:54for personal independence payments?
23:55Yes, we've won. We win. Like, you know, we win.
23:59Once you understand PIP and how to communicate things, it's not a difficult process.
24:04A lot of these symptoms are self-reported. They are impossible to prove either way, and so clinicians just have
24:11to take people's word for it.
24:12But we know there are six influencers out there who are literally coaching people how to get your PIP payments
24:18so you can maximise what you're getting from the welfare state.
24:24If you know how to answer the questions, you're more likely to get PIP.
24:29The assessment scores people on how well they can do 12 activities.
24:35You can get points if you can't get by without being prompted to do things.
24:41If we look at the section on preparing food, it says needs prompting to be able to either prepare or
24:48cook a simple meal.
24:50That would be enough to get you two points on the PIP assessment.
24:54Here it says needs prompting to be able to engage with other people.
24:59That's another two points.
25:02And bear in mind, you only need eight points to be awarded PIP.
25:13So preparing food, I got a two out of eight because I need prompting from another person or some kind
25:19of help to cook a simple meal.
25:21Alex is able to do all of the activities in the PIP assessment, but she says she needs prompting or
25:28assistance for some of them.
25:31So washing and bathing, I scored a two.
25:34That is true even now.
25:37My partner prompts me to have a shower.
25:42Yeah, so you need prompting or assistance for dressing and undressing and that is true.
25:48When I was living by myself, I would tend to like not change my clothes sometimes for a week.
25:56Oh, that includes like socks and everything.
25:59It's really embarrassing, but that's the, that's the truth.
26:03Alex is having a good day.
26:06She's cooked her own meal.
26:09Hmm.
26:11That is delicious.
26:11You know, today is an occasion where I've managed to cook a meal by myself.
26:19Um, some people will take that and be like, you've cooked a meal. That means you can cook. That means
26:23you don't deserve PIP.
26:24Um, but it's like, that's today. And there's pressure on me. If there's no pressure, I'll have less motivation.
26:33Come on.
26:35You want to play? You want to play?
26:37Good job.
26:39She's faced criticism online from people who think she doesn't need her health related benefits.
26:47I get people trying to, uh, send me personal messages everywhere saying that I'm faking, like that I'm faking ADHD
26:56and autism, that ADHD and autism are not real, that it's just something made up.
27:03Unfortunately, they don't truly understand what having an invisible disability is like.
27:13The government is cutting the incapacity benefit LCWRA for new claimants from £423 to £217 a month.
27:25And it's currently reviewing disability benefits.
27:29There are growing calls for the assessment criteria to be tightened.
27:35You shouldn't be getting PIP payments just because you need to be prompted to do things. I need to be
27:39prompted to do things. I think most people need prompting to do things.
27:42I don't think it's sustainable to continue paying out many billions of pounds to people who have or claim to
27:49have ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety or even mild depression.
27:55The health benefits bill is expected to hit £66 billion a year by 2030.
28:04It's really easy to say, you're lazy, you're taking taxpayers money and all of these comments I see online. But
28:13the reality is, until you've been in that person's shoes, you've got no idea.
28:18Health benefits can help people lead independent lives. But as the demands on public spending grow, is it time to
28:28get tougher on who can claim them?
28:32For more information on public spending, visit us at www.council.com, what we're doing here in a UKRA.
28:39We're going to get more people investment in a UKRA today at UKRA.
28:44We're going to go to Dubai Academy.
28:45I'm going to get more people to buy them.
28:47We're going to get more people to see online online we're going to see online we're going to see online.
29:00Transcription by CastingWords
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