Is this the latest DWP wheeze – stealing money from hospitalised benefit claimants?
Those crazy scamps at the Department for Work and Pensions have been at it again!
They have a new practical joke to play on disabled people who go into hospital for treatment.
Anyone on Personal Independence Payment – the benefit for people with disabilities – will have their payments suspended if they go to hospital for more than 28 days.
But in Melanie Forrest’s case, the Department didn’t wait. It docked her two months‘ PIP when she went to hospital for just four days.
And nobody told her!
She would have known nothing about it if she had not checked her bank account and discovered that she had only 47p in it.
She won’t be able to pay her bills on time, and that means her bank will be charging her.
The DWP has admitted wrongly docking Ms Forrest’s PIP and has promised to repay it in full.
But those rascally civil servants won’t be doing anything about the bank charges they’ve saddled her with!
Did I say “rascally”? Did I call them “scamps”? Sorry – those were typos.
I meant utterly irresponsible menaces to vulnerable people they are supposed to protect.
People on benefits – especially disability benefits – rely on these payments to maintain a basic standard of living.
Disrupting those payments for just a small time can be catastrophic, forcing people to choose between food, rent and heating (in cold weather) bills as they struggle to absorb the hit.
But that doesn’t matter to a government department that recently spent £200,000 trying to get out of paying benefits to just seven people.
Their attitude seems to be, “What the hell – it’s only money!”
That’s right – money they hate giving to the people who need it.
A woman was left with just 47p after a blunder meant her benefits were stopped while she was in hospital.
Melanie Forrest, 56, was stunned when her Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was suspended for two months, branding it “appalling”.
DWP bosses have apologised for the mix-up, which happened because of confusion over dates.
Melanie spent four days in hospital for a hip replacement.
A stay of more than 28 days halts Pip payments, but DWP officials jumped the gun. Her Employment and Support Allowance was still paid throughout.
“They have admitted a mistake with the dates and that they owe me about £600 or £700, which is probably £800 now,” she said. “It’s just appalling.”
Source: Woman left with 47p to live on after DWP axed benefits while she was in hospital – Mirror Online
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People who get PIP are getting other benefits of they are in hospital over a month then what do they need pip for?
Did you not get the point that this person was in for just four days?
Yet another example of those privileged with so many benefits ready to deprive those with so few. These people are not fit to be in the positions of trust placed upon them and it is essential that they are remove from their positions of greed and corruption and replaced with those of trust and decency who do not put personal greed before their duties.
It’s not just the DWP machine, I have a foreign pension that the bank charges £20.00 exchange rate and a £5.00 handling fee just for putting the money into my account each month, OK, I have a plan I pay for so the charges are reduced, but that plan costs me over a year about 20 percent of the cheque amount.. This, to me means that UC would be beneficial, but then, each monetary amount will change every month depending on the currency exchange, UC would play havoc with the other benefits I’m entitled to as a pensioner, imagine what that would do to the local council who would have to cope with the changes each and every month. I imagine that I would be in a state of owing money every month to those who have the potential of making me homeless. Scarry to say that is a possibility because of government rules while others avoid paying huge amounts of money to the tax man.
We are a relatively new group -9 weeks old with 4500 members and are here to share news, share stories, get information and advice and combat issues with the Universal Credit system In exciting developments this week we have our first FUCA Food Heroes project under development – still looking for food collection volunteers if anyone is interested and a Feed the FUCA’s page has been set up too, A resources area is under development .and we network nationwide to resolve immediate issues for the vulnerable as seen this weekend when together with Newcastle Street Friends we managed to sort food, clothing and other items for a young mum with 3 children who had lost everything in a fire at her home. Come join us and vent if you wish whether on benefits or not we are open to all but politeness is requested at all times. …Issues with Universal Credit, news, views, information, support or just a rant.or offer help for a few hours volunteers areneeded too https://www.facebook.com/groups/557907344617657/?ref=group_header
ah aktion t4 takes many forms
How much more bad publicity before the DWP is made accountable for their evil actions…it seems they’re getting away with not protecting the most vulnerable in our society.
It is normal to lose benefits when in hospital. But you must be an in patient and there for at least 3 months. This typical of the DWP though to start using old laws to harass people. This area is a nightmare every time for people who are sectioned.because 28 days is the hold time and benefits adjustment kicks in then. So if you stay any longer you can lose your housing benefit and your home leading to re admittance to hospital. We need to change this when Labour get in as this kind of stress is one of the most common triggers for episodes of poor mental health
Yet another example of those privileged with so many benefits ready to deprive those with so few. These people are not fit to be in the positions of trust placed upon them and it is essential that they are remove from their positions of greed and corruption and replaced with those of trust and decency who do not put personal greed before their duties.