Did DWP stop this woman’s benefit SOLELY to make her suicidal?

This story, broken today by Welfare Weekly, would be shocking if it wasn’t what we have come to expect from the Tory-run Department for Work and Pensions.

It concerns Patricia, who has Ankylosing Spondylitis and has a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.

A social housing tenant, she had been receiving Employment and Support Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, and Housing Benefit.

Then the DWP stopped her Housing Benefit – suddenly, for no reason, and without telling Patricia.

The first she knew of it was when her housing association told her she was in arrears.

Attempts to sort it out involved getting in touch with staff at the DWP – which took a considerable amount of time – and trying to re-claim HB, which took even more.

Then she was told her application was not valid because she was no longer entitled to ESA and needed to apply for Universal Credit – triggering a further delay of – can you believe it? – four months.

She is now receiving UC – at a lower rate than she had been getting on ESA. Her HB has also been reinstated – but not backdated, so she is having to use part of her UC payments to pay off her rent arrears.

This means she now has huge difficulties paying her other bills.

In the knowledge of all the above, it should be no surprise to anybody that Patricia’s mental health has suffered appallingly.

My question is: was this a deliberate plan by someone at the Tory-run DWP?

Let’s face it, we see no reason Patricia’s HB was stopped.

And if she needed to transfer from ESA to UC, why was this not done automatically?

It seems clear that there was an intention to cause as much trouble, for this poor woman, as possible.

And we’re told the benefit system is a safety net for people who have fallen on hard times!

If they’re in hard times, why is the DWP trying to make matters worse?

It’s a rhetorical question, of course. We know why. It’s run by Tories.

And there’s only one solution.

So if you’re not currently registered to vote, visit gov.uk/register-to-vote and make sure you’re ready for the general election that’s coming after we’re sure Boris Johnson can’t inflict a “no deal” Brexit on us all.

Then vote in a Labour government. You’ll be saving lives.

Source: Exclusive: ‘Suicidal’ Universal Credit claimant left with six months of rent arrears

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(
but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Donate Button with Credit Cards

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.


The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

HWG PrintHWG eBook

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

HWG PrintHWG eBook

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:

SWAHTprint SWAHTeBook

latest video

news via inbox

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

No Comments

  1. Jules September 9, 2019 at 9:13 pm - Reply

    The DWP don’t run HB, the local Council do…

    • Mike Sivier September 9, 2019 at 9:30 pm - Reply

      No, the DWP does. Councils just administer it for the DWP. So here’s another question: who cut this lady’s HB?

    • Darryll September 10, 2019 at 4:18 am - Reply

      Mine is paid via uc now and its appalling when I was switched to uc my housing payments were less than the council paid before, overall I am £155 a month worse off from when I got ESA and HB and it will only get worse.

    • Jeffrey davies September 10, 2019 at 5:48 am - Reply

      Yet the dwp are the ones who tell councils about your benefits so they the councils take job away

      • Jeffrey davies September 10, 2019 at 5:49 am - Reply

        Sorry last part should read control councils whot they pay towards hb

    • Nicholas Binns September 11, 2019 at 8:42 am - Reply

      The DWP can control all benefits from housing to council tax. Since signing on to UCredit 2yrs back they knowingly despite me telling them it could happen bullied me into devrlopdeve of permenent IBS which due to my condition will only worsen until I need surgery. You clearly have no idea. The DWP can also decide whether you get legal aid from CAB (many of which have shut from funding cuts) when fighting DWP. They cut my legal aid from CAB through advising me wrongly. DWP advisor actually came in CAB & threw caseworker off case.

      You honestly have zero clue. Not only can they deby council tax & benefits but legal aid too.

      I have spondylitis, various other mechanical injuries including worn out hip. Epilepsy, dyscalculia, maths dyslexia, a cist in brain size of ping pong ball. I work whole life doing things like keeping londLo ambulance on the road, MOD special accounts.

      You get nothing from DWP. Since having to rely more on them I have been made near homeless twice.

      My IBS should not have required meds for whole life. They pushed it in a year through bullying & ignoring me and in cases overiding GP.

      Keep imagining they aren’t way too powerful if you like. Must be nice to be that unaware.

  2. Mark Allinson September 10, 2019 at 1:49 am - Reply

    Everybody will suffer the same way when o got injured and lost my job because of being off work due to I could hardly walk and I still struggle today I had no choice but to claim UC a few years ago when the waiting time was 12 weeks ( 3 months) my rent was not even backdated I was on the verge of losing my home because of rent arrears I had to borrow money to pay my rent off my son to stop the eviction.i even gave local housing association a nice guy called Alan permission to ring up the DWP with my national insurance number to see how my claim was getting on and the rent money they told him I was getting paid the next day so he rang and told me the next day I checked my bank account and nothing had went into my account I rang Alan back up so he rang the DWP again for the person to tell him that my claim had not even Been sorted out yet so they don’t know why they had said i was getting a payment. 3 months later well in fact 4 months later I got my first payment and my rent was not even backdated to the date of my claim I was £1400 in debt I was having to pay extra every month out of my UC.

  3. John September 10, 2019 at 4:58 am - Reply

    Dwp, tory department of shambles. They told me several times, unless I tried to kill myself, they would not pay my benefit. I attempted suicide and yes they started paying until they created a corrupted story to stop it again.
    They are murderers and killers of many lives. Lets get them down. Hope they get tried in courts one day. Mess of Cameron, carried on by Theresa May now ovrrtaken by dictator BoJo

  4. Jeffrey davies September 10, 2019 at 5:46 am - Reply

    The story so far the house of ill repute nows about Tory rule they heard these stories from the off of Tory rule yet aktion t4 rolls along with out much of a ado. Dwp we only following orders history repeating itself but hay ho many say nah no government can do this open your eyes many have walked into the woods jumped under trains buses but still it goes on the hell the peasants feel of our loving government. Jeff3

  5. Carole Evans September 10, 2019 at 5:50 am - Reply

    The DWP should be taking full responsibility for payment to clients keeping them informed on situations
    Beyond the client’s control
    That’s why we have ministers of departments and leadership in the government who control
    The policy leading to peoples lives

  6. Gary Bowman September 10, 2019 at 8:07 am - Reply

    Brexit has been a wonderful cover for some abhorrent behaviour from the government aided and abetted by those in the mainstream media that pull their strings. Will we all have to know or be someone who has suffered at the hands of the DWP before there is a backlash and the benefits and pensions, that we have paid for, are adequate for a basic standard of living? Not sky tv, drink, drugs or everything else we currently waste our “handouts” on, but for a roof, heat, food and clothing?

  7. poppy September 10, 2019 at 8:11 am - Reply

    Under UC the dwp sort out the amount of housing benefit you get not the council I know because I had to apply for it at the dwp were as before it was the council you went for it .
    .

  8. Joanna Amstrong September 10, 2019 at 8:41 am - Reply

    I broke my ankle badly on my lunch break from work in 2009 & spent the next decade fighting the NHS & also the dwp.
    I ended up on antidepressants, diazepam for anxiety as well as strong painkillers for the broken leg.
    The depression & anxiety were directly related to the continuous cycle of being found fit to work (on one leg the other in a cast & on crutches: totally non weight bearing on the broken one for years at a time)
    I won every tribunal not every mandatory reconsideration, I lost most of those but consistently Won where it counted in a Court.
    I too accuse the dwp of making me mentally unwell when I needed support & help.
    Not once did they acknowledge my consultant surgeons opinions & I ended up with an actual legal team they also ignored.
    They ignored them until I won thenn they believed them as they took all the sick fit pay back before I saw a penny.

  9. Angie Dominic September 10, 2019 at 10:24 am - Reply

    I too have been driven to feel suicidal by continuous problems with universal credit. I’m severely mentally impaired, lost my indefinite DLA/SDA, failed to get PIP (tried twice, told the criteria is different) receive ESA and after moving into sheltered housing had to claim UC to help with housing costs. UC have made my life a misery with constant mistakes that I’m still trying to rectify and I can’t cope with all the problems they’ve caused in the 14 months since I claimed.

  10. Wayne September 10, 2019 at 2:21 pm - Reply

    Dwp even as stopped our uc as they have said that my old employer paid me an amount on certain dates which iv provided a bank statement for the dates and it does not say what they have said they wont challenge hmrc about it im taking this further as iv provided proof but they still sticking to it even tho iv provided proof.

  11. Amanda Harrington September 10, 2019 at 2:40 pm - Reply

    I agree that the DWP need to treat vulnerable people with more respect and give the necessary help to genuine claimants. However, I will never vote for Labour – particularly while Corbyn is leader. He would break this country.

    • Mike Sivier September 11, 2019 at 10:28 am - Reply

      How would he do that? It seems to me that the Conservatives have already done worse than Mr Corbyn’s Labour could ever manage.

  12. Christopher September 11, 2019 at 12:30 am - Reply

    The scum tried to kill me because I lost my mother 2 years ago and tried to make me claim UCLA but I refused and put another claim in for ESA and then they said it was over a month and I had to claim uc but I refused as they did not tell me that so I went to my mp’s office and asked them to contact them it helped a little bit but I refused and told them that it was illegal this went on for a year or so what happened in the end they played with my head so much I started treating them like shit and they got sick of it and paid me in lump sums I refused to get beaten by the scum dwp here to help me had to go for another assessment before I was able to get my esa I did as I knew I was entitled to it as I’ve had 2 hip replacements and 5 ruined discs and curved spine got phone call the day before to say I didn’t have to go as I’ve got enough information from my doctor and specialist they make your life hell suicidal but keep attacking them scum dwp and the housing to not on my Christmas list **** them all and that goes for the social work too they’re all useless . Cristy s xxxxxxxx scum

  13. Ex Claimant September 11, 2019 at 6:37 am - Reply

    Shame about this piece. I’ve got nothing but sympathy for the woman concerned, the DWP are evil. Unfortunately, getting Brexit to remove us from the Thatcherite EU stumps all other priorities for me, so I’ll be ignoring this piece.

  14. hellsbells46 September 11, 2019 at 8:49 am - Reply

    The same thing has happened to my friend 🧐🧐🧐. I’m not sure of the out come as I haven’t seen her for a while. But, it was exactly the same thing. Everything stopped. She wasn’t informed….. she’s very deaf and very dyslexic. So letters and phone calls are of no use. I’ve offered to help her but she’s very proud and private 😢😢😢. She also has some mental health issues. This doesn’t sound like a one of to me 🤨

Leave A Comment