Sick Note Culture Being Looked At.......

[ToraToraTora]

https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-uk-politics-sunak-starmer-general-election-vote-labour-tories-sky-news-politics-hub-12593360

I bet the malingerers are hiding behind the sofa...

[ToraToraTora]

Barry, YMB is talking about civil servants who are already in the job. It will be them that have to implememnt this and they are mostly EW lefties who will obstruct and obfuscate to make political points.

[barry1010]

Are they mostly lefties?  The ones I have had to deal with to get attendance allowance for my oldster were anything but.  

[youngmafbog]

//Why would the Tory's employ 'lefties' to score political points against them?//

The Torys, not any Government, will employe them.  That is the job of the predominately lliberal eft wing civil service.

[New Judge]

"PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland) officers in the town where I live were the subject of a major investigation after allegations arose that they were bringing sleeping bags to work their night shift,..."

But that isn't the point of this question. What you mention is a case of poor (or more likley lack of) management by PSNI. This question is about people who could and should be working but who are not. 

At present one in for people of working age are not working. Some of them will have genuine reasons for not doing so. But many of them will not. They have decided tthat work is not for them - it's only something that other people do. Have a read of his article:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13315727/sicknote-Briton-refusing-job-shocking-insight-lives-economically-inactive.html

You need to be a subscriber to read the whole article, but if you highlightt what is visble you can copy it all into Word or similar. If you can't be bothered to do that, here's a few snippets:

"38-year-old James explains that he has not had a job for eight years and is content to live on welfare.

'At the end of the day, working — it's not worth it for me,' he says. 'I get my housing costs paid for and I get £1,300 a month. To be honest, I'm better off not working. I just don't want the hassle of waking up at a certain time in the morning and going through that energy.' His companions nod in agreement."

"A total of 9.4 million people of working age are now economically inactive, meaning they are neither employed nor looking for work. Of this huge group, around 5.5 million are claiming benefits. And yesterday it was revealed that more than 2.8 million of these are on long-term sick leave — the highest figure ever. At the end of last year, 4,000 applications for sickness benefits were being made every single day."

" 'I don't feel ready; I just couldn't work,' says one. 'I can't handle the pressure. I find it overwhelming,' says another."

Yes I know it's the Daily Mail and some people will dismiss it out of hand simply on that basis. However, there are some easily checked facts it mentions. In particular, that "Even in supposedly booming Manchester, 18 per cent of the adult population in the city is on out-of-work benefits. This figure rises to 20 per cent in Birmingham and Liverpool, 23 per cent in Middlesbrough and 25 per cent in Blackpool."

Whilst attitudes such as those mentioned prevail - and more importantly whilst the taxpayer provides those holding such views the funding for their lifestyle - it will continue.

Mr Sunak really should have been a carpet salesman. His bluster on the topic today is just that - bluster and waffle. Possibly effective if your're trying to flog a nice bit of Axminster, but hardly Prime Minister qualities. This situation has been allowed to evolve because people who have simply no work ethic have been told they are ill. What they really need, rather than a sick note, is withdrawal of support. Then they might well end up sick because they'd suffer malnutrition, though I fancy the lack of funds would concentrate their minds a little. But it will take somebody with a little more mettle than Mr Sunak (or Mr Starmer for that matter) to change things.

[youngmafbog]

Sorry TTT, didnt read over the page.  Yes that is what I mean, thought it was obvious.

[ToraToraTora]

from the judge, quoting some parasite:

//At the end of the day, working — it's not worth it for me,' he says. 'I get my housing costs paid for and I get £1,300 a month. To be honest, I'm better off not working. I just don't want the hassle of waking up at a certain time in the morning and going through that energy.' His companions nod in agreement."// - I would also nod in agreement so we have to make it so they are not better off sitting on their April. Give them a place to live and food vouchers, no actual cash to spend on all the creature comforts. Come on we are always being told that food banks have record use. That's because vermin like this spend all their money on waccy baccy and takeaways.No one is poor in this country.

[Everhelpful]

For once I agree with you TTT.

[Togo]

A review and update on the "sick note" culture is of course well overdue. Some have been pointing out the need to halt the willful misuse of the welfare system for decades. However we must be very careful that we do not take the decision, about who is fit for work and who is a cheating malingerer, out of a mostly apolitical body and hand it over to "panels" or adjudicators who will decide who is worthy of social care based on theoir own political preferences. We are likely to shortly be suffering a socialist government who will be having wet dreams at the prospect of appointing people who will reward only the worthy( i.e. like minded voters). Dangerous times indeed The left wing would love a soviet system of control over the masses. It would be just like the human zoo that is the ultimate consequence of a full blown socialist system.   

[barry1010]

Has the system changed?  At one time GPs issued sick notes for x amount of months after which the DHSS (now DWP) took over the monitoring/reviews/assessments.  The terminology keeps changing.

Surely the GP will still issue the first few fit notes.  

[New Judge]

"Surely the GP will still issue the first few fit notes."

Well good luck to anybody registered wih my GP practice who wants one.

As I have related before, my GP surgery virtually closed its doors at the start of Covid and has not seen fit to open them very much since. All patients must submit an online "triage" before anybody will consider considering their problem and even that is unaavailable one or two days out of the five day week the surgery is said to operate:

https://ibb.co/g9twHX9

Mrs NJ had the unforunate requirement to see a GP earlier this year. After three triage submissions she was eventually given an appointment for four weeks after she first made contact with the surgery, only to be told a eight days before it was due that it was to be cancelled due to "sickness". Fortunately we have a good private GP service nearby so she paid £85 for a private consultation (which she got within 24 hours of applying).

I suppose the indifference shown by my surgery towards its patients might help deter people who aren't really ill being able to claim benefits, but that doesn't help people who are ill.

[douglas9401]

Who knew that a medical degree would cause fecklessness?

Time to play hardball.

[Auntypoll]

With scans the 'bad back' of years ago doesn't work. Now people can go on the internet, look up a certain mental health condition and present to the doctor with 'symptoms'. I say ok anyone who is off sick with mental health problems has to go into a mental health ward for treatment. I won't say what we used to call it but people of a certain age will know. I would bet at least 50% of those on benefits with 'mental' health would suddenly feel a lot better. 

[bednobs]

perhaps if most jobs had as  much recess as mps do, people wouldt feel the needto tke sick time?

[davebro3]

MPs have work to do outside Parliament - they aren't necessarily on holiday during recess. just sayin' (and of course their second or third jobs sometimes need a little attention)

[barry1010]

Recess is when my local MPs do most of their work for their constituencies.  They can't be in two places at once

[douglas9401]

They're constantly working 'really hard' to deliver a watered-down version of whatever they set out to do then popping up to tell us it's 'the art of politics'.

I may not know a lot about that art, but I know what I like.

[Untitled]

rishi sunak is a person who has never experienced hardship and has no medical qualifications (nor consulted anyone with any) also has no mandate for something that was nowhere in the tory manifesto

this is desperation and as is so often the case with tory policies will not actually do a thing about "skivers" or whatever but will actually harm vulnerable people who have the temerity to be unwell

[theshedman]

Untitled, are you sure about this "rishi sunak is a person who has never experienced hardship and has no medical qualifications (nor consulted anyone with any)".  I thought his parents were a GP and a Pharmacist.

[Untitled]

oh were they consultants on this policy? first i heard of it

[ynnafymmi]

Meanwhile thousands of immigrants(legal or illegal)are being put up in luxury hotels,and not contributing to society, while companies such as mine are crying out for employees such as these.Am i looking through the wrong end of the telescope?