Benefit Cut's For The Overweight !

[tonyav]

Obese people who refuse to lose weight could see benefits cut.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/obese-people-who-refuse-to-lose-weight-could-see-benefits-cut-david-cameron-to-announce/ar-AAdDW2R

[ladyalex]

OK, instead of 'visible minorities' let's say 'visibly identifiable'.

[Elina]

Ha ha!

[Retrochic]

How fat do you have to be to claim disability benefits? Do you get PIP because you can't do daily chores including personal hygiene? If Benefits are such a 'pittance' how can people buy so much food to make them obese? In lieu of extra disability benefits they should be given free exercise programmes suitable for their level of fitness and dietitians .

[wolf63]

tony - "While the PM will not explicitly say so, it is believed that drink and drug addicts could also be denied benefits if they refuse medical treatment."

A locum doctor phrased it differently - he said that refusing to take medication could lead me to be sectioned.

[tonyav]

wolf, somehow I don't think that people like yourself are what Dave has in mind, well I certainly hope not anyway.

[Hypognosis]

Just to "lighten up" the thread (pun,pun)

"I have a friend… who, er, may be stout."

[Canary42]

Does this mean Eric Pickles will no longer be entitled to MP's expenses ?

Hope so.

[ToraToraTora]

Good idea, if you are on benefits because you are too fat to work then the benefits are too generous. Speaking as a less than svelte person myself all these metabolism/hormones/genetics yada yada are rubbish. I don't care what "syndrome" someone has, they cannot defy the laws
of physics. If you eat more caloies than you need you get fat, end of.

[Hypognosis]

BBC2 os doing a thing about food cravings right now (Trust Me, I'm A Doctor 3/3, if you look on iPlayer, later)

[Retrochic]

To be honest its no ones business but your own how much you weigh -but don't expect tax payers to fund your pastie-fests. Like I said, there are plenty of jobs that require you to do nothing but sit on your bum while earning a wage. I see plenty of larger ladies and men at checkouts and customer service. Some people are trying to milk the system by pretending their weight is a disability -thin people go down the 'bad back or 'depression/anxiety route'. There will always be Benefit Fraudsters.

[wolf63]

In the long long time that I worked in the benefit system I never encountered anyone who couldn't work due to being fat.

My cat Frankie knows Dave's cat Larry and Larry thinks that Dave is a pompous donkey like animal. George got rid of his cat Freya because he is a two faced slimey/slimy git.

[fiction-factory]

Surely this is just another example of trying to get people to take some responsibility to make themselves more employable (and in this case help reduce the numbers being treated for obesity related issues) I would expect it to be used only rarely but to be there as an ultimate sanction for those that fail to take appropriate help but still expect the state to support their lifestyle. It should also be a sanction for others who for example refuse appropriate help with alcoholism or applying for jobs or core workplace skills training. I doubt it will lead to large numbers of people having benefits cut- maybe only a few hundred and I can't imagine it will apply to those with serious illnesses/disabilities to caused by obesity. In practice I think, though, that this will be too costly to implement and operate and will lead to legal challenges so I suspect it is a case of talking tough but in reality doing little

[dave50]

Benefits should cover shelter, food ,warmth and clothing. That's it, nothing else.