[Image: Black Triangle Campaign].
What are the courts going to do about this?
The excellentĀ Disability News Service is reporting that a coroner has ordered Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride to take action that will prevent flaws in the Universal Credit system leading to further deaths after a disabled man became overwhelmed by the application process and committed suicide.
Instead, it seems Stride is determined to increase the death toll exponentially.
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Here’s theĀ DNS story:
It states:
An inquest into the death of Kevin Gale earlier this month heard from his psychiatrist, who expressed significant concerns about the way mental health service-users were supported with their universal credit claims within DWP.
The inquest also heard from the trustās nursing director, who told the coroner that they considered the issues identified by the psychiatrist to be ānationalā and said they were ādebilitating for service usersā.
Kevin Gale, who is believed to have worked previously as a window cleaner, took his own life on 4 March 2022.
Coroner Kirsty Gomersal sent a Prevention of Future Deaths report to Stride.
She pointed to the ānumber of and lengthā of the universal credit forms that had to be completed which ācan be overwhelming for someone with a mental health illnessā, and which are āperpetuated if the applicant cannot get help to complete the paperworkā, while also highlighting the ālong telephone queues to speak to a DWP advisorā.
She added: āHaving to travel long distances for appointments can be detrimental for those with a mental health illness.ā
And what’s happening to the benefit system?
Here’sĀ The Independent:
Jeremy HuntĀ has warned those who ācoastā onĀ benefitsĀ will lose handouts if they refuse to take a job as part of a new crackdown.
Claimants deemed fit to work, but who fail to take steps to find employment, will be cut off from accessing benefits such as freeĀ prescriptionsĀ and dentalĀ treatment, help from energy suppliers and cheaper mobile phone packages.
Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, said that schemes to help people back into the workforce would also be expanded as part of a new Ā£2.5bn five-year long back-to-work plan.
Under the plan, claimants will be forced to accept a job or undertake work experience to improve their prospects. Those who fail to do so will be hit with an āimmediate sanctionā.
At the moment, claimants can face open-ended sanctions where they have their benefits stopped. Those under this sanction for more than six months will now have their claims closed, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said, which would also end their access to other benefits such as free prescriptions and legal aid.
Mr Stride said: ā…We are expanding the voluntary support for people with health conditions and disabilities, including our flagship Universal Support programme.
āBut our message is clear: if you are fit, if you refuse to work, if you are taking taxpayers for a ride ā we will take your benefits away.ā
Overall, the government says expanded help-to-work schemes will help more than 1 million people over the next five years.
Part of this package includes plans to add another 100,000 people to the Individual Placement and Support scheme, which aims to get those with severe mental illness quickly into paid employment.
Mandatory work trials will be rolled out, meaning that claimants will be forced to accept a job or do work experience to improve their prospects, and those who fail to do so will be hit with āimmediate sanctionā.
Reform of the āfit noteā system will also be explored under the plans. In a trial in certain, fit notes, an alternative to sick notes which set out what work someone can do, will be handed out by the benefits system, not doctors.
So, after receiving an order from the courts to make it easier for people with severe mental health problems to claim disability benefits, Stride and Hunt have chosen to make it many orders of magnitude harder.
And we can all see them:
The last of the ‘X’ posts above makes an extremely good point.
If these changes are being made in order to allow the government to make tax cuts in advance of a general election, then the Tories will once again be pushing the most vulnerable people in society to their deaths, to make already-comfortable people a little better-off.
Are you disabled or suffering from a long-term sickness? Do you want to die to boost the bank account of someone who is already wealthy?
Are you a Tory voter? Do you have sick or disabled relatives and/or friends?
Which of them do you want to see die, so you get a tax cut that will induce you to vote Tory again?
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