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List of those for whom Welfare Reform and cuts were too much to bear

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‘Damning revelation’: Cuts to disability benefits ‘killed 60’ in 3 years – report


It has emerged that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has carried out 60 reviews into deaths linked to benefit cuts in the past three years. Shocking cases reveal a spike in suicides and health deterioration resulting from cuts.

The information, released by the Disability News Service (DNS), was obtained through Freedom of Information requests. The data showed there have been 60 investigations into the deaths of benefit claimants since February 2012.

The DWP says the investigations are “peer reviews following the death of a customer.”

The revelations follow a series of damning reports, including a list compiled by the campaign group Black Triangle, of over 40 cases directly linking the deaths of claimants to the removal or reduction of disability benefits.

In some cases, deaths appear to be caused by a refusal of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Other deaths of predominantly disabled claimants resulted from claimants being found “fit to work” by a Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

The DWP has consistently denied any connection between its reforms to the welfare system and the deaths of benefit claimants.

Friends of Scottish writer Paul Reekie publicly claim his suicide in 2010 was the result of the government’s crackdown on welfare payments.

The death of another person – referred to as 'Ms DE' – who claimed ESA was reported by the DWS after her psychotherapist said he could find no other reason for her suicide than the impending removal of her benefits.



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Ian Duncan Smith.(Reuters / Andrew Winning )



The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland found that the decision to revoke her out-of-work disability benefits was based on assessments which contained “insufficient information about her mental health.”

Dr. Donald Lyons, the commission’s chief executive, told Disability News Service: “There was not anything else that we could determine was happening in her life [that could have caused her suicide].”

Ms DE was found dead in her home in 2011, only 13 days before her ESA was due to be stopped.

The report by Black Triangle further lists cases in which people suffering debilitating conditions have died after being proclaimed “fit to work.”

John McArdle, co-founder of Black Triangle, said the response to these revelations has been disproportionate. He said if 60 people had died in a major accident, there would have been “hell to pay” and a “massive enquiry.”

Cuts to ESA and other benefits have attracted the attention of high profile disability rights campaigners.

Jenny Sealey, co-director of the London 2012 Paralympics opening ceremony, said she is “seriously in fear” for her job following benefits reforms.

“The severe cuts in my Access to Work provisions mean I simply cannot fulfil my job description as chief executive and artistic director of Graeae [Theatre Company],” she told the DNS.

The DWP reportedly declined to comment, claiming it would publish its own material “in due course.”

The body came under fire from the DNS in October after the department repeatedly contradicted its position on benefit-related deaths.

The DWP originally claimed that no records of deaths linked to, or caused by, benefit removal were stored. The DWP later admitted to the DNS that records of deaths were filed in “appropriate” cases.

Bob Ellard, of campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), condemned the practice, calling the 60 internal enquiries “a damning revelation.”

“We are calling for the deaths and suicides of benefit claimants to be urgently investigated by an independent authority,” he said, further blaming the government’s policies for the deaths.

“We believe that these tragic deaths are as a direct result of [Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary] Iain Duncan Smith’s policies and we want him to be called to account.”
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We hear in the last week of the tragic case in Yorkshire where a double amputee committed suicide just 48 hours after hearing that funding for his care was to be cut by two thirds."
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Posted on CIF, can't find any source yet, I think the cuts in care are now savage and will lead to more tragedies.
 
treelover said:
<snip> only 500 views, why?
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People on low incomes might have very low data allowances - if you were them, would you view that clip and risk doing without a large chunk of what you need for normal social contact?
 
yes, but plenty of other people perhaps should be interested enough

update, apparently, earlier versions were blocked,, ostensibily on copyright grounds, using Adagio For Strings.
 
I've no interest in watching a tribute video, I bet lets of other people don't either. The numbers don't mean anything. I can definitely imagine someone at dwp putting in copyright claims on a video to get it taken down though.
 
Sanctions!

Esther McVey, the Employment Minister, was handed an image of David Clapson – the man found dead in his flat from diabetic ketoacidosis, two weeks after his benefits were suspended – following a select committee inquiry into benefits sanctions this afternoon.

In the emotional confrontation, Clapson’s younger sister, Gill Thomspon, presented the image to McVey and said: “A diabetic cannot wait two weeks.” A reference to the amount of time a Jobseeker's Allowance cla...imant, when sanctioned, has to wait to receive a hardship payment.

When Thompson discovered her brother’s body in July 2013, she found his electricity had been cut off, meaning the fridge where he stored his insulin was no longer working. Speaking to the Guardian in 2014, Thompson said: “I don’t think anyone should die like that in this country, alone, hungry and penniless . . . They must know that sanctioning people with diabetes is very dangerous. I am upset with the system; they are treating everyone as statistics and numbers.”
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just been fwed this, no source.
 
http://www.welfareweekly.com/vulnerable-pensioner-set-fire-benefits-cut/

A vulnerable pensioner set himself alight after his benefits were slashed, a coroner has heard.

Malcolm Burge, 66, found himself more than £800 in debt after his housing benefit was cut due to Government welfare reforms.

Mr Burge was forced to give up work as a gardener due to illness. He was in receipt of a work and state pension, and was entitled to housing and council tax benefit.

Changes to housing benefit led to his allowance being nearly halved, from £89.39 to £44.79.
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really really sad, and the medias lack of reporting is shameful, when people do that abroad it is front page news.

I will ring RT now, I swear this will not go unnoticed..

rang BBC, anyone have a direct contact for RT, in other circumstances this would be a global story, and yes one has to take the persons family into consideration.
 
Last edited:
A FATHER-of-three from Nelson took his own life after his benefits were stopped and he was threatened with eviction from his home, an inquest heard.

The body of Benjamin Del McDonald, of Vaughan Street, was found off Gib Hill Road, where he played as a child, last November.

His sister, Mickayla Carr, told Burnley Coroner’s Court Mr McDonald was “a happy-go-lucky person” who “doted” on his five-year-old daughter.

Mr McDonald, 34, suffered from depression and was reported missing by his ex-partner, Joanne Almond, on November 19 before being discovered near Marsden Park Golf Club that afternoon.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.u...d_and_he_was_threatened_with_eviction/?ref=mr
 
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