Vulnerable man found starved to death

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Yet another sad story of a person whose disability allowance was cut with tragic consequences ... The safety net that should surround vulnerable people like Errol in our society has holes within it.

Nottingham, UK
5-stone man found starved to death months after DWP stopped his disability benefit

28 JAN 2020
Errol Graham, 57, was found emaciated with a couple of old tins of fish in his cupboard. Eight months earlier, his Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) was stopped after he failed to attend a fit-for-work test

A man was found starved to death weighing five stone just months after the government stopped his disability benefit.

Errol Graham, 57, was found dead on the floor of his 15th-storey Nottingham council flat when bailiffs broke down his door.

An inquest heard he was emaciated, weighed 30kg and had just a couple of five-year-old tins of fish in his cupboard.

The football-loving grandad-of-two had his Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) stopped eight months earlier after he failed to attend a fit-for-work test.

A coroner heard Mr Graham, who had serious mental health difficulties including long-term depression, did not respond to follow-up messages or visits.

His daughter-in-law is now fighting for justice - and holds health officials and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) responsible.

Read More ...
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/5st-man-found-starved-death-21372069

Disability Rights UK strongly urges people to get advice when they are claiming benefits, and use the independent appeals process if they are turned down for benefits they think they are entitled to. ... the number of complaints to the government about the PIP assessment process has surged by more than 6,000 per cent in three years, with 9,320 complaints received in the year to February 2019. We urge the DWP to oversee a radical overhaul of benefit tests, with a focus on compassion and medical understanding.

York, UK

Woman in wheelchair stripped of disability benefits because she can walk four steps in assessment

Exclusive: Severely disabled woman told moving from mobility chair to sofa suggested she could walk 200 metres unaided
1st Feb, 2020.

A woman in a wheelchair was stripped of her disability benefits on the basis that she was able to walk four steps during an assessment.

Michelle Wyatt, 45, who had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) 23 years ago, was forced to survive on £1 ready meals and without heating after her Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was stopped.

The York resident said the withdrawal of her disability benefit – which amounted to £75 a week and which she had been receiving since 1998 – had left her feeling suicidal.

The decision to stop her support came after a benefit assessor visited her home in December and concluded that she was no longer eligible for PIP – a disability benefit that replaced Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in 2013 – because she was able to walk “four steps” from her wheelchair to her sofa.

The assessment report stated that Ms Wyatt was “able to rise unaided from the electric chair and transfer unaided to the sofa” and went on to conclude that it was “therefore reasonable to suggest she is able to rise and walk more than 200 metres unaided”.

Ms Wyatt, who on top of her disability had a battle with breast cancer last year, said her life would be “over” and she would lose her independence without her electric wheelchair, which she could not afford without the benefit payments.

“When there is zero money coming into your bank, the first thing you think is switch off your heating, you don’t use the hot water. Even for cooking food you’re thinking this is using gas and electric," Ms Wyatt told The Independent.

.... Days after Ms Wyatt was informed that her PIP was stopping, she said she received notice that her Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and housing benefit had subsequently been suspended. They were reinstated 10 days later, but during that time she said she felt suicidal.
Campaigners said the case highlighted that the current assessment process for PIP was “unfit for purpose”, with “hundreds of thousands” of disabled people having lost out since the system was introduced.​

The latest government figures show nearly three in four (73 per cent) people who appeal refusals for PIP are successful, which campaigners warn does not include many rejected claimants who do not challenge the benefit decision because the process is too stressful.

It emerged in May last year that the number of complaints to the government about the PIP assessment process had surged by more than 6,000 per cent in three years, with 9,320 complaints received in the year to February 2019.

Varun Kanish, campaigns manager at Turn2us, said the PIP assessment model was “unfit for purpose” and that vulnerable people were subsequently being failed by government, with many suffering further physical and mental health complications as a result.

“[PIP assessments] are relentless, cruel and all too frequently inaccurate. We know this from the fact that two-thirds of decisions are overturned at tribunals. We urge the DWP to oversee a radical overhaul of benefit tests, with a focus on compassion and medical understanding,” he said.

... A spokesperson from Disability Rights UK, meanwhile, said: “Hundreds of thousands of disabled people have lost out since the introduction of PIP; this at a time when austerity and other cuts have made day-to-day life more difficult for disabled people.

“We strongly urge people to get advice when they are claiming benefits, and use the independent appeals process if they are turned down for benefits they think they are entitled to.”

Read in Full...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/disabled-woman-wheelchair-assessment-pip-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-dwp-a9311266.html

Gesundheit, Fnord !

Thanks. I seem to be allergic to Tory bureaucracies -- those edifices of power and authority run by people with no conscience or compassion for humanity.

Welcome. Aren't we all...

seems that maga-style cruelty aforethought is a cancer that has spread to UK as well.

I think it's horrible what's happening to handicapped people in Britain right now. Nobody should have their monthly benefits taken away from them, like that.

I had an ESA assessment back in 2013: it was quite blatant that the very young guy in a sharp suit had no medical training or knowledge, let alone special knowledge of psychology & neurology.

It was also clear that he was deliberately interrogating to reject the claim: he wasn’t interested in the real answers, just pushing for everything to be a yes/no binary.

These assessments are done by private companies hired by the government, and paid commission for rejecting claims.

Same goes for my experience of the Work Programme system: private companies, arrogant little twerps just out of sixth-form in sharp suits, nothing but contempt for the people who’ve come to them in hope of help: just smash ‘em through to mark up the tally and get the taxpayers cash.

Of course, it goes without saying most of the businesses running this are based in Overseas Crown Dependencies (tax havens) and donate money to the Tory party.

I went from enhanced care and low mobility with DLA to just standard care with PIP . My mental health had got neither much better or much worse . My brother, who was with me, clearly stated I needed someone with me on unfamiliar journeys . This was downgraded to just needing prompting in the assessor's report .

I didn't appeal . To tell the truth the thought of going before a tribunal scares the crap out of me . It was later said that people with mental health problems had been discriminated against re the mobility component . All such claims were reviewed . They said there was nothing new to indicate things had changed to warrant the mobility decision being changed .

I asked for a mandatory consideration , and explained I didn't go out very much or very far because of my poor sense of direction and fear of getting lost . My stepdaughter also did a supporting letter for me . I was turned down on the basis of not going out much . The reason for not going out much or very far being completely ignored .

The mobility component would have helped towards paying my stepdaughter to take me places that weren't essential , but would have improved my quality of life . My stepdaughter takes me shopping and to things like appointments , but to expect her to do more than that without paying for petrol would be unreasonable .

As it is ,unless accompanied I won't do more than a 960 or so steps round walk from my flat .