Killed by benefits cuts: Starving soldier

[CFSKate]

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/killed-benefits-cuts-starving-soldier-3923771

Diabetic David Clapson, 59, died with just £3.44 left in his account after his Jobseeker’s Allowance was axed because he missed an appointment

David once faced death on a daily basis as he served his country loyally in the terror hell of Northern Ireland.

And when he left the Army he went straight into the ­workplace with BT before becoming a full-time carer for his sick mother.

After she went into a home, diabetic David turned to the state for help while he looked for work.

But under the Coalition’s callous new benefits rules he had his £71.70 a week Jobseeker’s Allowance axed – merely because he missed an appointment with an adviser.

Stripped of his income, the 59-year-old could not afford food or electricity and died starving, ­penniless and alone at his home.

His death was from diabetic ­ketoacidosis – caused by not taking his insulin.

When David died he had just £3.44 to his name, six tea bags, a tin of soup and an out-of-date can of sardines. His electricity card was out of credit meaning the fridge where he should have kept his insulin chilled was not working.

A coroner also found he had no food in his stomach.

A pile of CVs for job applications were found near David’s body.

The lost of money also can make people homeless and mean they have no food for their children.

Im happy to protest its not right what they are doing we have a welfair state and this isnt working.

This story is very sad. But it sounds like there were multiple factors here. Pleas don't turn his story into a job centre staff bashing thread though. I've worked in and managed job centres and still have friends and relatives that do. These policies are actually part of legislation .. Whether we like it or not.. So the staff have to follow the rules.Im not saying they are all perfect..but neither are any of us. But I do know most staff genuinely want to help vulnerable people.And there are honestly no targets for sanctions..there used to be many many years ago but not now.

Many many years ago? Like, last year?

"Jobcentre was set targets for benefit sanctions", article on 21 March 2013 about sanction targets in Feb 2013.

That poor man.

It is a situation we should ALL be ashamed of.

I was in a Jobcentre last week.

There are no jobs on boards any more.
ALL the computerised 'job terminals' had 'closed' tape across them.
You are told to 'speak to staff' about jobseeking.
I saw 3 security guys.
2 female workers, 1 of whom was outside having a fag.
I had been to hospital that morning re my double OP, which has been put back indefinitely again (has been over a year now). Next month my ESA will be stopped as I have been claiming it for 'too long'. That feeds my children. I don't know what I will do without it, to be honest.
No one there could help me. Of the two women there, one 'was not trained' the other was 'busy' (having a fag, from what I could see).
I travelled 56 miles for that appointment. Without attendance, I would have been sanctioned. But, it cost me to travel, for no advice. I was questioned about my condition by someone who then would not / could not type in the details so my debilitating condition was inputted as 'trapped nerve' until I complained about the error.
They would not even give me a cup of water when I felt sick and faint.

Please don't think I am comparing this to this poor poor man.
I am certainly not. I am very fortunate compared to him, nor have I ever served my country (which I DO think means we owe a duty of care to those who have).
This news just makes me feel sick and scared.
We are ALL only a few 'accidents of fate' away from such vunerability.

Dwp do not set targets for benefit sanctions. That story relates to some managers that took the decision themselves to do so, which is a hang over of the more draconian sanctions regime when they did have targets. Absolutely disgraceful.But Dwp do not set them nor condone that practice.

firstchoice if you have children under a certain age, you may be able to get Income Support (or whatever it's called now) to partially replace the ESA.

Oh good, as long as it was a middle manager in the DWP who set the sanction target, not a senior manager in the DWP, that's all right then.

Not the point I'm making and I think you know that.
The point is those managers were bang out of line..who are they to set such targets! But it still remains that it's not true that DWP has sanction targets

No, YOU'RE missing the point I'M making.

I don't care who made that particular decision to have those sanction targets in that particular JobCentre.

The point is that this could have arisen in the first place. As you admit, the DWP not merely has sanctions, but has had official targets for sanctions. And it threatens managers on their "performance".

This creates the situation where a manager thinks it's reasonable to set targets for sanctions to save her own neck, regardless of whether official policy to do so has now been halted. This person didn't wake up one morning and say, "I'm a megalomaniac and will go get a job at the DWP today so I can personally invent ways to starve poor people." She did it within the context of the DWP's culture, practices and ethics. She has personal responsibility too, but this doesn't let the DWP off the hook.

I absolutely do not give the shiniest shit about a look-over-there, rotten-apple strategy designed to distract from both the global (DWP culture and behaviour), and the very local (individuals were harmed).

that should have read (DWP culture and high-level policy)

It's exactly the same with trying to reduce each case where someone dies to their individual circumstances.

It's when you put them together that you see the common factors.

I bet if they don't meet sanctions targets their wages don't get stopped.
It would maybe give a glimmer of how it feels to be scared witless of making a genuine mistake whilst on jobcentre.

My friend has had the runs from Thursday to Monday because she had been warned she was likely to recieve a sanction of 12 weeks for not coming to an appt she was not to not attend in a letter.
She broke down in the jobcentre on Thursday and nobody asked her if she was ok, like I said she has had constant runs, unable to eat and her milk supply has been running low.

On Monday when she was informed no actions had been taken she broke down again through sheer relief and her advisor couldn't understand why she was crying.

She is terrified, and I can imagine there are many many people in the same boat.

Sorry for typos, whilst on jobseekers that was meant to say.

And also, she was told not to attend a sign on appt in her letter, then was informed she should have gone in.

And even ignoring the whole "naughty sanctioning manager" incident, the system is fucked by design.

If you design a road junction with misleading signage, poor lines of sight, inadequate stopping distances, and traffic lights feeding multiple lines into the same space at the same time, you know that there will be injuries and deaths from this.

You don't know the names of the individuals who will be killed, or their personal circumstances. And for each and every crash you'll be able to find multiple contributory factors: the sun was in their eyes, they were tired, they were old with slow reactions, the road was wet, the children were arguing.

But just the same, as you sit back at your drawing board and say, "Good, let's introduce this," you know that people will die.

That's what the current benefits system is like.

I posted a link to this on the Nick Clegg thread, as Whistlingpot said.

I couldn't bring myself to post on this thread at the time - I'd just read about Lloyds being carpeted by the Bank of England over fiddling its taxpayers' bailout. These threads and that dreadful blog post by Clegg just summed up my despair and anger at what this country has come to.

That poor, poor man – and his poor family. And for each case like this that hits the headlines, how many others exist silently?

The inequality in our society seems to have become a chasm now, with the Government completely disconnected from the rest of the country (Clegg's post being a very good example of political cognitive dissonance)

Primadonna do you not think that the system itself has become simply inhumane? If you sanction someone, you cut them off from a lifeline. They are already in dire straits. Where else are they supposed to magic money from? They are not meant to have any other form of income, are they?

It's not as though this country has no other financial choice - not when the government can sell off the Royal Mail for a pittance or let companies hide their profits offshore.

Dreadful,
Poor, poor man. I am worried that we are sleepwalking into an American style society and we will see more and more of these stories as a PHP said.

Dwp do not set targets for benefit sanctions. That story relates to some managers that took the decision themselves to do so, which is a hang over of the more draconian sanctions regime when they did have targets. Absolutely disgraceful. But Dwp do not set them nor condone that practice.
Not true, the managers were instructed to do so and the evidence has been clearly shown in a number of newspapers as well as at committee level. DWP absolutely do set and condone.
Oh, and the DWP recently released this little gem. In developing the PIP assessment we were aware that the vast majority of recipients of DLA were individuals with genuine health conditions and disabilities and genuine need, and that removing or reducing that benefit may affect their daily lives. DWP

that poor man, how horrendous for him

really makes me ashamed of this country

So sad. This isn't just about politicians, it's also the responsibility of the managers and staff at jobcentres who are willing to implement the policies.

Do they have a choice?

I've told this before but a friend of mine was in trouble - the job centre kicked her out because they were closing.

A member of staff came out where she was crying, took her by the arm to her own car, took her to chop, topped up her electric, bought her basic groceries and a packet of biscuits because "everyone should have a treat" and then took her home.

The staff are human, the one who helped my friend may not be able to stand it and leave, they will be replaced by people who do not care.

dawn, could you link or ref that line about the DWP knowing that removing DLA will affect daily lives? I want to know more.

This Government doesn't seem to believe that some people do not have any money, or means to obtain money, or family ready to support them. The whole point of job seeker and disability benefits is supposed to be that they provide an extremely basic living to those who cannot support themselves. So - Duh - if you stop paying them that, they have no money and cannot buy the basics. Which then leads to dying of starvation or hypothermia.
I suspect that those rich gits in government cannot physically envisage having no money, and don't actually believe in the concept.

i think this should be on discussions of the day

just asked mumsnet hq to put this on discussions of the day

dwp Parsing

A government review of benefit existing benefit sanctions Primadonna