How could they do this?

[brizzledrizzle]

You're on the verge of losing everything - but you don’t understand why http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-42789610

This should not be allowed to happen, this is supposed to be a civilised country. How could they do this to somebody

Yes I did read it. Did you?

Because it clearly says he was working, a carer and managing until he went on benefits and was after being diagnosed with PTSD and depression on GPs advice - both of which can severely screw with your mind, told to claim JSA.

Then,

He failed his WCA because they refused to accept he couldn't work.

GP refused to sign him fit for work so No money because you must claim JSA to get money whilst appealling and likely not told of the loophole to do so.

No appeal because they don't tell you about it directly, the letters all look the same in "dwp English" (or dwp Welsh -equally baffling).

So incapable of paying as......
NO INCOME.

Told to claim universal credit instead because since that screw up its gone live in his area.

Now he has loads of money coming in all at once.
No ones told him it's replaced everything else because they don't do that and hes got lots of bills and things to pay from WHEN HE HAD NO INCOME.

As I have said, repeatedly on here, back pay is a CON. It doesn't cover all your expenses for living when YOU HAVE NO INCOME because you have to take out loans/credit cards/borrow etc and those things COST.

So, how would you live with no money? That point about being fit for work according to the dwp and your GP saying you're not so you get nothing is VERY COMMON.

Those things are not explained.

Here's my best friends story then, diagnosed with cancer which became terminal at which point she got ESA support group, PIP high rate for both, extra help with rent, help with hospital transport - all simple. However, she didn't die on the date on her form so they removed all her money and when she went for mandetory reconsideration it was refused because there was no grounds for appeal as she wasn't dead. Died with a week to go before bailiffs evicted her Christmas Eve 2017 - I was the one who switched off her life support and I was the one packing up her stuff and I was the one who got the fucking letter saying she couldn't appeal because she hadn't died by the date on her form After I'd told them she had died and then got a letter asking for confirmation!!

Is that good enough for you? No?

My godmother? Had bipolar and other medical needs, then got cancer, again, and was allowed easy transfer for DLA to PIP and ESA support group. When her cancer went into remission she wasnt allowed to claim anything despite still having the other conditions because some Drs won't treat you if you're under a team for cancer so she had no up to date evidence and lost her appeal. Wasn't well enough to work and jumped in front of a train a week after the appeal found her fit for work because there's no help here for appeals and the dwp sent someone to argue their case she was fine.

Maybe that the dwp have repeatedly got into trouble about how they hide things from claimants, sorry, customers? Or how people who have had any mental illness any time in their lives are excluded from suicide statistics because the dwp say they'd do it anyway?

Being asked why you aren't dead yet if you feel as bad as you claim, even though you've loads of people keeping you alive and preventing you from killing yourself because, if you really wanted to there are lots of ways to end your life - that was said in an assessment to me.

No paper wanted to know about those cases. Why? Because it's not allowed to happen.

Cancer supposedly is protected condition. In most circumstances yes.

Just die by the date you're given and make sure you can function fine after treatment which can be amputation and chemo and radiotherapy which makes your cancer go into remission but leaves you ill. Not better.

Those are the kind of stories that should be told, not this crap.

If this guy had been posted about on AIBU he would be have been excoriated.

Man you are wasting your time. These threads attract certain posters who will twist any story to fit their narrow view point. No common sense or even a level headed approach - there's the story and it's believed with no questions asked.

People reading the case about this man have quite literally no understanding of the impact that PTSD and depression can have on someone do they? Or they don’t care.

God I despair of society sometimes I really do.

@Neshoma given that you’ve posted misinformation and pretty offensive comments I’m surprised you’re still blathering on. Haven’t you realised you’re wrong yet?

Some people really are appalling examples of humanity.

The man was suffering from poor physical health and PTSD. He'd been stabbed by someone he thought was a friend and it had made him paranoid.

The jobs he'd held were all manual labour or factory work - there is nothing there that would have equipped him for dealing with paperwork, computers etc.

He needed someone to support him through the bureaucracy of his claims at a difficult time in his life - I don't think that's an unreasonable thing to ask.

He needed someone to support him through the bureaucracy of his claims at a difficult time in his life - I don't think that's an unreasonable thing to ask

It’s not unreasonable at all. Unless you ask the Hyacinth Bucket brigade at large on here.

Cant beat the 2 Minute Hate, thanks George Orwell for recognising how necessary it is for some and for giving it a name.

Why did they change the system of paying rent direct to the claimant rather than the landlord. Some people just can't manage money, sometimes it's a choice between eating and keeping warm so dipping into the rent money or sitting in a freezing house/flat and going hungry.

Well, I was on benefits and I afforded three holidays - one of which to Canada. I had full rent and council tax paid, was able to claim free school meals and uniforms, had milk tokens, free prescriptions, free veterinary care for my animals and free college!

Can't afford things now I'm working

Haven’t read all the replies, but just felt I had to say that I’m a reasonably clever, educated person with no significant MH problems etc. Have held down pretty stressful, high pressure jobs etc and never, I mean NEVER in my life have I felt so fucking stupid and confused and backfooted as I have since needing to access benefits. Each brown envelope that hits my door mat causes anxiety that I’ve never felt before in my life. It’s a system I can barely navigate and certainly not fully understand - let’s be clear here - I have an English degree and excellent qualifications in maths - and yet I stare at these pieces of paper with not a fucking scooby as to what’s going on, how the calculations are made, why I get duplicate letters from the same organisation detailing two different amounts.

I had a decent career, 4 very much planned for and wanted children within a stable’ marriage where we decided as a unit that I could take a year or four out as a SAHM because he was a high earner. exH stuck his cock in another woman and now here I am hyperventilating at a form or a deadline or an amount or a calculation or an appeal, sleepless nights and to top it off nicely, being spoken to like shite by someone whose job really should be to take my hand and guide me through those minefield as opposed to throwing me into open fire. Overpayments when I have provided the exact correct details down to two decimal points, subsequent repayments, recalculations, strange payments that I wasn’t not expecting but can’t trust ‘the system’ enough to take at face value less they demand the money back in an instant at a later date, being kept on hold on an expensive call for extended periods, weird courses that are far below my actual level of capability (sent on a ‘CV writing course...’so here you need to write your FULL NAME’ / IT...’this is how you send an email...press SEND’) Ffs! I found a part time job - a truly shit one if I’m honest, and it has somehow ended up with being in debt to HRMC and my hold are provider because of the ludicrously slow processing times and weird rules.

Apologies for the epic rant, but I’m so DONE with this highly subjective, shockingly disorganised, anxiety inducing system that did I not have children that need somehow to be fed, I’d rather starve and live on the streets than have to jump through these ridiculous and ever moving hoops for a second longer. The benefits system is a joke. It regularly brings me to tears. Pity help anyone less capable, be it though ill health or any other reason. To every smug fucker claiming it’s straighforward or judging others struggling with navigating the system - FUCK THE FUCK OFF.

Haha you wouldn’t believe I had an English degree based on that post 🙈 I blame autocorrect 😁

calmandbright you’ve summed it up perfectly. It’s how I felt too, it’s fucking awful. I’m sorry you’re being made to feel like this.

‘My hold are provider’ should be ‘my childcare provider’ + numerous other gramatical errors. Oh the shame!

Coolncalm. Blame and Shame. Both built into this new system. Blame yourself for your own inadequacies and feel shame that you have been obliged to ask for help. The Victorian concept of the deserving poor - eg respectable widows, governesses fallen on hard times, the occasional orphan, etc - and the undeserving poor - everyone else who couldn't earn enough to stay alive has finally been vanquished. In this system we are all undeserving poor if not earning. You will be shamed and you will be blamed by many encouraged by the Daily Rag and the usual propaganda. We're all in it together

Thanks YeTalkShiteHen. It’s nice way to live is it?

calmandbright it’s not, it’s like being in constant fight or flight mode. And the judging and people who confidently talk utter shite in order to put you down make it all the more demoralising ime.

I hope things get better for you soon x

Sugarisamazing. Certainly is. What else were you doing during this halcyon period of leisure?

Argh another typo. I did mean ‘it’s not a nice way to live’ - yes, you’ve captured it perfectly there YeTalkShiteHen - living in a perma ‘fight or flight’ mode. Things are looking up though, plus my youngest starts full time this year so childcare costs should be less eyewatering Hope you are keeping your chin up too ❤️

calmandbright I knew what you meant

That sounds good! Hopefully it’s the sign of life looking up for you

It’s been a few years now, sorry I didn’t make that obvious in my post, but I well remember how crap I was made to feel and it makes me so angry when I see it done to other people. I’m bloody proud of the ideals that brought the welfare state into existence, they should be what we all strive to, to be a community that looks out for each other. I hate what it’s become and the nasty propaganda surrounding it and that it is not fit for bloody purpose now!

Another one here who never expected to be in this situation.

Became a single mum (not through choice!) and now working in a minimum wage job while my elderly parents look after my children, because I can't afford childcare.

I am DREADING UC.

What happens to the people with mental health problems who struggle with all this and have no support?

The lucky ones get referred to a service like the one I work for, which deals with cases like the one in the article and many much, much worse. The lucky ones live in an area where the CAB has capacity to help them, or there's a law centre or similar. The lucky ones find help from the church, or someone at the food bank who has the skills to help them.

The rest end up on the streets, begging.

The nightmare that is Universal Credit, the brutal sanctions system, the cuts to adult social care, the cuts in public spending that have led to a reduction, or total withdrawal, for schemes like mine, that mean there is no longer any legal services commission funding for agencies to do benefit appeals, all conspire to to create a perfect storm and ensure that vulnerable people are serially fucked over.

It's an ideological campaign against the poor, the ill, the dysfunctional.

I, or any of my colleagues, or anyone working in this area of public service could relate a dozen or more case histories that are far, far worse than that poor man's, or Daniel Blake's. That's why I'm trying to get out of frontline work for the last 3 years of my working life.

People who are initially denied PIP for example can get the decision overturned on appeal

The appeal is quite technical for PIP and ESA, it's hard to succeed if you aren't familiar with the regulations that spell out that if you can't do something repeatedly, reliably, safely, within a reasonable timescale and to a reasonable standard then you count as being unable to do it at all. I don't think I've ever known anyone without experience and/or knowledge of the regulations (written in complex legalese), case law and of the content of the DWP's manual of decision-maker's guidance to succeed unless they were only a couple of points short of success.