Page 12 - Community Living Magazine 36-1

benefits
The brutality of the benefits system

The welfare system is obstructive in design and loaded against those with disabilities. While nearly
all appeals are successful, they can take years, leaving people to struggle in financial hardship in the
interim. Complete reform is needed, says Neil Carpenter

hen she was eight, Denise had income and therefore the money she assessments; requesting reconsideration
the first of what turned out to received had to provide for two people. of decisions; and taking cases to the
Wbe many epileptic seizures. Her £107.50 in 2018 was only 26.86% of tribunal stage. Those experiences –
Because of the way in which they have the UK median per week, 28.27% of the particularly of tribunals – triggered the
affected her memory, she cannot equivalent median for the south west and writing of Benefits on Trial.
remember much of the detail of her life 39.99% of the Joseph Rowntree My book describes how six people
after the seizures started or what her life Foundation’s UK minimum income have to battle with the DWP whose
was like previously. standard – in the foundation’s words, system, with built-in hurdles, is loaded
A member of staff at her day centre, “what you need in order to have the against them. Benefits on Trial builds up a
however, who went to the same secondary opportunities and choices necessary to detailed picture of their current lives and
school, recalls both appalling bullying participate in society”. the past events that have helped to
there and later, when she was nearly 20, a shape them.
sexual assault that went to court. Not the The experience of Denise – her early
start in life that most of us enjoyed and Its attritional approach – a key years and her applications for benefits –
one that cries out for compassion. part of DWP culture – grinds serves as an example of the inhumane
Instead, the state inflicted the reverse people down until they lose treatment suffered by all six at the hands
upon her. Where it should have helped of the DWP.
someone like Denise after her experiences the will to fight back A key part of Denise’s prolonged fight to
in childhood and adolescence, it instead transfer to PIP was countering the
intervened through the Department of distortions of the DWP; for example, her
Work and Pensions (DWP) to make her life The tribunal decision in Denise’s favour assessment and subsequent references to
even worse. came in 2020, three and a half years after it misrepresented her learning disability.
Denise, now in her early 50s, attends a she had first been turned down for PIP. Even though evidence was given in the
day centre and lives with her husband Benefits on Trial, published in February medical records we had submitted, there
– who also has a learning disability - this year, describes Denise’s prolonged were three references in the pack of appeal
without any support at home. fight to transfer to PIP and is based on my documents that cast doubt on her
She, like all the others in my new book, work in Cornwall since 2012 as a disability. One of these – “You do not have
Benefits on Trial, was turned down for a volunteer advocate with adults who have a diagnosed sensory or cognitive
personal independence payment (PIP), a learning disability. impairment” – illustrates how distorted the
and left with an income on which no one In recent years, that work has DWP representation of her condition was.
should be asked to survive. increasingly concerned benefits cases: At Denise’s appeal, which was heard in
Denise’s situation was made far worse helping people with their applications for June 2020, the outcome was successful.
by the fact that her husband, George, who PIP and employment support allowance Having been given no points in the
also has a learning disability, had no (ESA); accompanying them to original decision and at the mandatory

No change for decades – then DWP tries to cut and deny payments

he experience of Danny Recovery was a painfully he stands continuously for Despite all these problems
is typical of what so slow process. He had to any length of time and and his benefits not changing
Tmany undergo at the relearn first how to crawl and walking any distance is a significantly for more than
hands of the state. After a then how to walk. From that strain as a result not just of three decades, in 2016 the
motorbike accident in 1980, point, it took several more the aching but also because Department for Work and
he was in a coma for more years before he was able to of groin and chronic lower Pensions tried – unsuccessfully
than six weeks. move away from his parents back pain. – to take away his employment
Once he had regained and live independently. As a consequence, he and support allowance.
consciousness, he was unable He has been left with a sleeps very badly, with a That was followed three
to walk, crawl or sit up and number of health problems: resultant build-up of years later by the department
had lost all memory of key vertigo, palpitations, an tiredness. Unsurprisingly, trying – again unsuccessfully
elements in his life such as underactive thyroid and stress is a growing issue – to deny him a personal
the school he had gone to. emphysema; his legs ache if for him. independence payment.

12 Vol 36 No 1 | Autumn 2022 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk