Re: Benefit Cheats..
Originally Posted by
Dodge
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Having being unemployed twice and seeing how the system works first hand, I can understand why the government wanted all the benefits to come under one system, instead of having multiple systems which required multiple separate departments. The problem is, in my opinion, those tasked with designing the new system have never experienced unemployment because if they did, it would never have been designed the way it is now.
I have no idea how the benefits system works. I can only go by what I have heard.
My brother has been unemployed for a long time and related his experiences of the system. I don't know the full details of his disability as he doesn't like to talk about it, but I gather it revolves around him having a bad back and finds it difficult to move.
He told us of when he went for an assessment and was interviewed by a girl who, it transpired, was not medically qualified and relied on a check-list to guide her questions.
Again, I don't know the full details of what happened, but he said that he was asked to walk a few yards along a corridor and, because he managed it (eventually) he was declared fit for work.
He maintains that, due to his difficulties, he should have been seen by a medically qualified examiner but, apparently, because that would have entailed unnecessary expense for them, it was denied.
I suppose the long and short of it is that the system can work both ways - for and against both genuine and bogus claimants - that the system needs a complete overhaul.