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(not satire – it’s the UK today!)
A letter from a desperate mother:
Trish Lewis Walton
My son was diagnosed with testicular cancer on 28th nov so he couldn’t go for an jobseekers appointment on 4th dec. He rang them and explained why he couldn’t go and they still sanctioned him. He had his op on 12th dec to have cancer removed and a further ct scan on 17th dec revealed the cancer has now spread to his lymph nodes in chest and stomach and both of his lungs so he was immediately admitted to hosp to start intensive chemo. A social worker from click sargeant rang them and explained he would not be signing on because of this and they are still refusing to give him any money. He’s had nothing since around 23rd nov. Apart from a horrible xmas, he has now filled in forms for esa which haven’t even been received yet into their office so he’s still gonna have no money. Can anyone recommend what he does now as we have been on the phone and got nowhere with them, they just aren’t interested. David Cameron has screwed this country over good and proper.
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What we are experiencing is no less than the end of the welfare state in Britain.
Do not get sick or old. Unless you’re rich obviously.
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With thanks to Sue Fairweather and The People Vs The Government, DWP and Atos for the heads up on this.
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Related articles by Tom Pride:
DWP blames cancer patient for her illness
The government has finally done something so outrageous even I can’t be bothered to satirise it
Throat cancer victim – “this is not the England they fought and died for!”
Let’s be clear – Tory and Lib Dem MPs have decided terminally ill patients should work or starve
Don’t turn your back. Because you’re going to be disabled too one day.
ATOS assessor found blind woman fit for work after “wiggling his fingers” in front of her eyes
ATOS call police on Labour councillor after he tries to accompany claimants to assessments
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Please feel free to comment.
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Pride's Purge 
Blow up his MP’s office – he’ll then get full time hospital care in prison and not have to worry about rent!
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Reblogged this on glynismillward189.
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I am just shocked and totally disgusted about what has happened. He must appeal and go to Tribunal. I hope he wins.
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Pingback: Mother’s plea for son who lost benefits after missing signing on because of cancer op | Translation Scrapbook
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
I’ve blogged and reblogged several times the horrific stories of people who’ve been arbitrarily and unfairly sanctioned. This is, nauseatingly, another such example. I’ve said it before: just when you thought the DWP and Ian Duncan Smith couldn’t go any lower, they find a new way of making you sick.
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Reblogged this on seachranaidhe1.
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There is, or may be assistance from your local council through the welfare rights officer. This letter should be published all over the media to show how cruel and insensitive this Tory, yes Tory, because the libdems are just the side showin all this, government is. Disgraceful.
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Pingback: Mother's plea for son who lost benefits after m...
Does anyone know who is the MP for this lady and her son?
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Reblogged this on Social Action.
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The lib dems may be the side show, but it is a side show that is voting with them to get tory policies through parliament.
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Reblogged this on kickingthecat.
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Reblogged this on Benefit tales.
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Agree the end of the British welfare system is nigh. But that only applies to the British!!
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do one sunshine – racist bastard!!
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Horrible mess. With my former civil servant hat on, I can see that your son wouldn’t be entitled to Jobseekers because he is not available for employment.
Surely though he would have been entitled to sick pay, or some similar benefit?
I can’t believe how insensitively this has been handled. Jobcentres are getting increasingly useless, which is a tragedy as they once used to be helpful places staffed by people who were proud to work there. I don’t know whether the staff are at fault in this case, or the system, but if there is no mechanism for a jobseeker to be paid if he or she is ill (especially not with a serious provable illness for which you obviously should be provided with NHS sick notes) that is a serious problem, and one which should be addressed.
I think you will get your ESA eventually – ask to see a hospital social worker, or someone from Macmillan – they should be able to help and make sure you are applying for the correct benefit.
If you don’t, see your MP, contact your local paper and raise hell. Good luck.
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Reblogged this on Same Difference and commented:
Oh. My. God.
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While we are right to condemn Cameron/Tories/Coalition for cuts to the welfare system and the Atos debacle, I think that the unfortunate case above is not entirely their fault.
The fault is with the DWP and a crap, inflexible system that basically says that if you don’t show up to sign on, therefore you don’t get your benefit, whatever the reason. It doesn’t allow Jobcentre staff to use their discretion; it’s no show, no money…
It’s a system that has been built up over years and decades under both governments and I suspect had this happened in 2009, the same thing would have still happened.
The only way to solve this would be a complete root and branch reform of the way the system works but neither party has the will to do this – it’s far better for them politically to be “seen” to be making changes rather than doing what actually needs to be done.
It’s not the only government department to have this problem by the way but it’s by far the most visible because of the direct influence it has over people’s lives
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Get on to wefare rights in you area and get them on the case they work wonders .We should over throw Cameron and his animals,their attitude is F— you I have money so F— everyone else.
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a tribunal can take up to 12 months and you can be without any money till its heard
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martin
yes it can take 12mths + if one is declared fit for work from WCA, but one is paid at assessment rate until appeal tribunal…the problem now is mandatory reconsiderations carried out before leave to appeal is given by the dwp…but this claimant is not at this stage, as it is a new claim and i believe that gp can intervene by filling in a special circumstances form, the leonard cheshire org has commented on this but i cannot find the link…jcp should have advised him on his rights but obviously failed to do so… http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/09/dwp-dismisses-talk-of-fitness-for-work-catch-22/
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Don’t get seriously ill, disabled, made redundant, homeless. Wonder how long before the Nasty Party privatises the air we breathe?
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martin
typo, one is paid at assessment rate once the dwp have carried out the mandatory reconsideration and given one leave to appeal and appeal is lodged by self to the 1st tier tribunal…
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its par for the course these days hopping one pops his cloggs before they pay out but has above get the McMillan charity involved and his mp its a sad fact that like the Nazi party they want us gone jeff3
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Rick T – You have one of the very few voices of reason to be found on this site!
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Disgusting that this young man should suffer like this. They can give millions in foreign Aid they can give benefits to immigrants also homes and jobs. But if your British you can go to hell, you get nothing even if you have worked all your life. If your old disabled or sick you are no good to this government. Social cleansing, genocide. Hang your heads in shame. One day it will come back to you.
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Pingback: DWP blames cancer patient for her illness | Pride's Purge
Says the voice of reason, a troll dwp worker.
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You need to get onto your MP asap. Go straight to the horses mouth so to speak. Im a disgusted & yet not surprised…..people are just numbers now . I hope he improves soon. Thinking of his situation & you.
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you can find online a benefits specialist on line and he/she will advice you on what to do…here’s one…THE SOUTH WALES BENEFIT AGENCY…there online and he does not work for them but he represents those who have been put through the mill and you’ll find a contact number on his site…i wish you well and please let me know how you got on….he has a wonderful record and he helped me…regards…sandra.
ps..his name is Glenn Brooks.
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McMillan nurses will sort everything out for you exactly the same happened to my MIL, once forms,were signed she,had hers re instated
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they get you all ways the dwp have targets to meet so any thing will cause you to loose your benifit. they just dont care
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Best way is to make the application over the phone. They put it straight into the computer while you’re talking to them. You get a copy of the paperwork so you can advise if they’ve made any errors and send any additional paperwork they need but it’s by far the quickest way. I did it myself while I was in hospital for a stem cell transplant. They rang me back too so I wasn’t racking up a massive mobile phone bill.
There will be a delay because unfortunately the system simply isn’t designed to be flexible but it will be backdated to when he got ill. He’ll also get one of those stupid ATOS forms but a few pages in there’s a tick box for cancer and from there you skip straight to the back page and you can skip filling the rest in. Later in the process there’s a form for the consultant to fill in which will ensure he goes into the support not work group. This will make sure he doesn’t get bothered about work and will also affect the amount of benefit entitlement after 14 weeks.
Hope this helps.
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If they contact their local council and ask for the department who deal with welfare support funding , what was crisis loans but the funding was passed to local councils. They can ask for help from them and ask also for a discretionary housing payment award if heis having problems paying rent or council tax. The department who deal with the welfare support funding will have direct links and access to the dip systems and should also be able to contact them on your sons behalf to sort out his benefits and get payments backdated. Would also suggest you or your son contact your MP and your local councillor and they will help ensure action is taken.
My son was diagnosed with testicular cancer in August 2012 had surgery and intensive chemo but is now doing well but I know how difficult it is for all concerned going through it. There is a brilliant charity ‘checkemlads’ which is run by survivors and they were a great support to my son. They have a website and are on Facebook if he wishes to make contact. Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery.
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Type dip should say dwp
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Reblogged this on Rantings From a Virtual Soapbox and commented:
This is just so heart breaking, so shocking it makes you want to cry and never stop. The lack of compassion, empathy and plan common humanity, it’s outrageous in the extreme. This poor man needs his money now. To have a financial worry such as this when someone is so ill is disgusting. He and his mother should be focusing on getting well not have to fight the DWP for this entitlement. The government should be ashamed of their policies that have ruined so many peoples lives. The treatment of sick and disabled people is a violation of our basic human rights, article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says everyone should have the “right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/#atop
He should write to his MP immediately. I had a help when I wrote to my MP about my son and the situation was not nearly as dire. So it’s worth writing. Who is his MP? If we can have details I am sure many people would be willing to write also.
All my best wishes to this lady and to her son for a quick recovery and some help sorting out this awful situation.
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I had a similar issue with my sister when she was ill with Lymphoma, we were helped massively by her consultant, who wrote a letter explaining her condition and also made reference to the difference that worry and stress about her finances could make to her treatment and recovery … there was also a MacMillan service that you could access at the hospital that were offering help although we didn’t take it and pursued the ESA ourselves – it might be worth a try, it is a battle but you do get there in the end, for us it was nothing like the 12+ months.
I do hope that you get this moving, it’s a horrible process, that takes no account of what a person with this kind of illness is actually going through, I had my sister write a letter to the Benefits Agency allowing me to act on her behalf, because when a person is going through Chemo they really can’t cope with the process – and particularly the questions that they ask – I remember the day very well when one of the questions they asked me was ‘is she expected to live’!?
I wish you and your son every success with this and more so I wish him strength for his fight against the disease … it’s 5 years since we were battling in this situation and she’s still with us, within a year of her treatment she wasback in a new job and 5 years on we really don’t think about that hateful time or speak of it very much … I wish you a happy outcome
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My son had the very same cancer and it had spread exactly the same ( he was 15 yrs old when diagnosed). Nurses helped apply for DLA which he was awarded, we also had funding from Macmillan which the Clic Sargeant SW helped with. Good luck x ( he is fine now BTW – clear 7 yrs)
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I work in a welfare rights unit for a cancer charity. Ask someome to call us on 0808 808 000 so we can provide help and support including posssible financial support
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Try getting a contact no. from http://www.welfarerights.net. Normally you get through to an answer machine and they call you back. Very helpful, knowledgable & 100% on your side…
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With Jobseekers you are meant available for work, and he was’nt, he can’t moan just because he doesn’t like the rules, he should have applied for ESA as soon as he found out he had cancer, i’m sorry but the fault lies on his side.
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susan jones you sound just alikea jcp or dwp worker he had phoned them telling them why he couldnt go they sanctioned him isn’t that a harsh treatment ontop of whot the poor lad had couldn’t they have we sorry but you now need to claim esa nah they just like ids taking his way sanctions and by the way whot if you were told you had cancer I bet you flap not think straight that’s whots wrong with the government no humanity at all jeff3
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I cannot put into words my feelings of hate towards the scum that are supposed to look after us all. Scum and lowlifes the lot. And they call all of us “Useless eaters” when they meet up and refer to us.
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Beta only
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Are you a human being?
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Why on earth has this govt not been challenged in the European courts?
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Susan Jones lol civil servant by any other name. Be John Smith nxt
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Susan Jones lol civil servant employee by any other name. Be John Smith nxt
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She is
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Rick T you’re talking a load of crap this is pure Tory policy, put in place to inconvenience all ESA applicants so that they abort their claims full stop or they accept JSA which is less money, its despicable..
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Pingback: Mother’s plea for son who lost benefits after missing signing on because of cancer op « Derby People's Assembly
Mr Cameron and his blue clan are a fcuking disgrace, I am disabled and struggling too pay the Bedroom Tax, but this story is going far to far! I would happily shoot Mr C between the eye’s (if I could hold a gun up that is). How can he sleep at night?. because I and countless others cannot!
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put in an immediate claim for dla (pip) under “SPECIAL RULES”
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This comment is for the trish lewis I would say to give your local mp a ring to see if they can help. I went to jail and parents couldn’t get a visit to come see me as jails kept saying there no visits no visits all they kept getting told and they spoke to mp and within a few hours she spoken to the jail and they was given a visit and also got me trasfered to a closer jail to help mum and dad to get to see me HOPE THIS HELP
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Reblogged this on snookcocker and commented:
Tory World is so bleak for us, all I can do is reiterate the comment, “Do not get sick or old. Unless you’re rich obviously.”
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Reblogged this on MAL's MURMURINGS.
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You’re a fucking heartless bitch!!!!!
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This along with so many other things ive read about DWP is disgusting, i wonder how many of the actual employees of the DWP get a good night sleep, the way things are going , as soon as i hit retirement age, im breaking the law so badly i get jailed for the rest of my life , its either that or food banks and the possibility of freezing to death , because of the ever increasing rates for Power,
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