[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by churchfcrules

so whats wrong with part time?

Part time work will still be for a set number of hours at a set time - for instance, every afternoon from 1pm to 5pm. But someone may not be capable of sustained work for a period of 4 hours day after day every day.

I have a friend who has such chronic pain that some days it's a sheer effort to dress herself and takes her over an hour. On those days she wouldn't be capable of even getting to work let alone working for a continued period. Some days she has less pain (is never pain free) and more able to move and on those days she does what housework she can but then she may be incapable of doing any at all the following day. She just has to take each day as it comes.

There is no employer out there who can afford to take on someone who can only come in on a totally irregular basis and do as much as they can but only when they are actually capable of doing it.

The medical assessments theoretically should sort out those who can and can't work but some people are very good at acting for the examiner. Others are too honest for their own good. I used to work with a girl whose cousin had rheumatoid arthritis and had been claiming DLA. She was required to go for an assessment but physically couldn't get there so someone visited her at home. Because on the day they called she was able to get to the front door and let them in she lost her benefit!

The comment someone made about having worked all their life and paid into the system so should be entitled to claim something when needed is a valid one. I think we all know that the money we pay in isn't the money we get out. This is why it annoys me when people who have no children complain about their taxes going to fund education. Those children they complain about supporting will one day be paying the taxes which will fund something else. (Possibly the complainant's old-age pension if such things still exist by then.) However, there are many people who contribute to the NI all their lives and die before ever having claimed anything such as my late father who despite being disabled continued to work and dropped dead from a heart attack at the age of 63.