DAD’S SUICIDE AFTER BENEFITS WERE SLASHED
Daughter tells of agony as he was judged fit to work, despite chronic illness Appeals scrap 70% of heartless DWP decisions
LEANNE’S plan to help her tragic dad fight the DWP decision at a tribunal might have worked.
Last June it emerged around 70 per cent of appeals against Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) rejections were successful. Mark Atkinson, chief at disability charity Scope, said the figures were “a clear indication assessments are failing disabled people”.
Theresa May faced fury last year after refusing to release the number of disabled benefits claimants who had killed themselves. NHS statistics claimed suicide attempts had doubled from 2007 to 2014. Private US firm
“Over the last year Dad’s illness got worse, and he got less mobile. Whoever deemed him fit for work is a disgrace.”
Dad-of-three Kevin, 48, was signed off five years ago and made ends meet on a £70-aweek ESA benefit and housing support. “He wanted to work, but couldn’t,” said Leanne, 27.
She told how her dad plunged into depression after a grilling at Leeds Centre for Health and Disability Assessments, run by outsourcing firm Maximus for the DWP.
“He needed regular haematology appointments and was on three inhalers, steroids and antibiotics,” said the mum of two. “But because he could walk to the shop and at times minded his grandkids, they said he could work.”
After his appeal failed, Kevin became suicidal. Leanne said: “He worried he’d be homeless as he had to reapply for housing support. He said he thought taking his life was the only way out.”
As Jobcentre staff pressured him, Kevin saw a doctor who confirmed he was too ill to work.
Leanne planned to help him take his case to a tribunal – but on December 17 she and twin sisters Paige and Collette, 18, received a text from their dad saying “I love you”.
Leanne found him at home. He died in hospital three days later. She now plans to tell an inquest about her dad’s ordeal. “He took his life because of what they did to him,” she said.
The Centre for Health and Disability Assessments said: “We make an assessment of how conditions impact on dayto-day life so DWP can make a decision on an individual’s eligibility for benefits.”
The DWP said a Universal Credit advance payment had been made to Mr Dooley on December 8 after the ESA appeal rejection letter on November 29. It said his “work requirement” had been turned off because he told his work coach he would be challenging the appeal decision. Maximus won a £595million contract in 2014 to carry out work capability assessments for the DWP. MPs have since claimed staff are given incentives to rush assessments.
The firm’s earnings at its Centres for Health and Disability Assessments doubled to £26m in the year to September 2017.
Whoever at the DWP deemed my father fit for work is a disgrace DAUGHTER LEANNE ON DEADLY DWP DECISION