Category: Correspondence

20 and her coat and purse

Posted on
She walked out of the home she shared with her boyfriend
some time after midnight.
She had battled depression for a number of years,
had taken a turn for the worse
after receiving a letter
telling her she had to be assessed
to see if she was fit
to return to work.
Her mobile phone
was found discarded
on a bench in the park.
And her coat and purse
in the river.

[Chronicle Live, 26/02/2013, Body found in River Wear is Leanne Chambers]

21 his job prospects

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Her husband
a former painter and decorator
is bed-ridden
registered blind
with severe dementia.
She and a team of carers look after him
24 hours a day.
Doctors told him
his condition is terminal.
He was sent a letter offering an interview
to talk about his job prospects.

[Scottish Sun (via the Internet Archive), 20/01/2012, Wife blasts ‘get a job’ letter]

22 with nowhere to go

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When she returned to their flat
she found a note:
‘Don’t come into the bathroom.’
Her husband was 44,
a former helicopter pilot.
They met while travelling in South Africa
eventually settled in London.
She got a job but was made redundant.
He
constantly struggled to find work,
was unable to complete training
as an electrician;
the Jobcentre would not continue to pay his benefit
because the training
stopped him from being available
for job interviews.
He tried to commit suicide for the first time
by crushing 150 tranquiliser pills
which he swallowed with whisky.
He was found
still alive
by his wife.
The suicide bid
was so she and their son
could benefit from a life insurance policy.
Later
they received a letter from the Council
saying
their housing benefit would decrease
by 30 pounds a week
forcing them to move
with nowhere to go.
He was found
dead
in the bath
by his wife,
with three stab wounds
to his chest and abdomen.
A diagram showing the position of the heart
had been mounted on one wall
and three kitchen knives
were on a folding table
next to the bath.
Suicide notes
addressed to his family
and the police
had been placed on the bed
along with more anatomical diagrams.
But his wife had already cancelled the policy.

[Sutton & Croydon Guardian, 25/08/2011, Southfields dad committed suicide after housing benefit cut; Court News UK (via the Internet Archive), undated (archive dated 14/03/2016), Father killed himself after benefits cut]

23 ‘a pleasant lady to assess’

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She weighed around 5 stone
6 pounds
(34 point 4 kilos)
and was being fed by a drip.
A history of illness:
Crohn’s disease,
osteoporosis,
suffered a stroke
in 2005.
A physical assessment
described her as having
a ‘slim build’;
‘a pleasant lady to assess.’
After,
she was told her support would be stopped
and that the Department
would try to recoup
a prior overpayment.
Then she received a new diagnosis:
lung cancer;
terminal.
She submitted a form
from her doctor
to the Department.
A letter came back
a month later
to say
that the information on the form
required her to start a fresh claim.
She died the same day.

[BBC News, 08/11/2021, Hundreds of people die fighting for terminal illness benefits]

25 long hours

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She was brought up as a slave
long hours
scraps of leftover food like a dog
fine scars down one side of her face and right leg.
At the age of 15
she was sold to a trafficker
who brought her to the UK.
In London
she was locked in a house
and repeatedly raped.
She escaped.
She later gave birth to a daughter.
She wanted to study English
get a job
walk away from life
on benefits.
She struggled to buy shoes for her children.
Then the Department informed her
it was axing her support
because she had failed to show them a document
she had never been asked
to produce.
She called the Department helpline.
Waited to speak to someone.
A recorded message informed her
there would be
a charge
for the call.

[The Guardian, 06/01/2016, The DWP – a bureaucracy of outstanding brutality]

26 on someone’s desk

Posted on
It has been heart breaking
to realise
we have people sleeping
by the underground entrance; devastating
to learn
that at least two people
have died there.
I confess
that I feel a sense
of hopelessness
as I cannot
personally
solve this problem.
I would like to believe
that this is on someone’s desk.
I am also concerned
about the ongoing stench
due to it being used as a urinal
and the fact
that it is
absolutely filthy.
I physically feel as though
I am going to be sick
each time I go by.
More recently I notice
the homeless
are leaving bedding
stacked up there.
Surely this cannot be safe.
This could be used by an
unscrupulous person
as a cover
for an explosive device.
After all
the clientele
using that entrance
are the kind of people
likely to be targeted.
While I recognise that we cannot solve the homeless problem
overnight
we surely need to address
the unsanitary conditions that we face
daily
arriving and leaving
the parliamentary estate.
I am saddened
for security staff
who have to inhale the stench.
It is unacceptable
that they should have to work
in that environment.
However
now that bundles of stuff
are being left there
I really am beginning
to feel unsafe
personally
and equally
for everyone else
who uses that entrance.
I should tell you
I have been tempted
to take a bucket and mop to it
myself.
With best wishes
Chaplain to the Speaker of the House
Priest in charge of St Mary-at-Hill
Priest Vicar of Westminster Abbey
Chaplain to the Queen

[New Statesman, 08/10/2019, Parliament’s chaplain complained about “stench” and security risk of Westminster Tube’s homeless]

35 a large amount of medication

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His housemate found him in bed
a large amount of medication
on his bedside table.
The housemate last saw him
two days before
(he had spent the day in bed himself
due to illness)
but decided to check on him when
he stopped hearing noises
coming from his room.
He did not move the body.
He called the aumbulance service,
who recorded the time of death – 3.33 –
and also called police to the scene.
The post-mortem and toxicology tests
found he had lethal levels
of four different medicines
in his system.
A note was left on his unlocked phone.
It said:
Can you thank the people
who work at the Department?

[Derby Telegraph, 12/04/2019, Tragic tenant left suicide note sarcastically ‘thanking’ Universal Credit bosses]

36 she was. she had

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She was volunteering.
She had a good social network.
She was getting married.
She was notified by letter:
she had scored zero points in her assesment
on the ninth of December.
A welfare rights officer informed her
her benefits would be reduced.
She became upset. She did not know how
she was going to pay her mortgage.
She took an overdose on New Year’s Eve.

[BBC News, 26/03/2014, Benefits assessment led to woman’s suicide says watchdog]

37 blind in one eye, barely able

Posted on
On Boxing Day
a stroke
caused a blood clot on his brain.
He was left
paralysed down his left side, unable
to speak properly,
blind in one eye, barely able
to eat
or dress.
He used a mobility scooter.
Panic alarm
around his neck
in case he fell.
He was summoned
to a work capability assessment.
The stress
caused him to have
another stroke
days before the appointment,
but he was still determined to attend.
A month later, he received a letter
telling him he would lose his benefits.
His health went
rapidly
downhill.
Constant worry;
how would he survive?
Days after his benefits were stopped
he collapsed
in the street
near his home
and died.

[Daily Record, 10/12/2012, Atos benefits bullies killed my sick dad, says devastated Kieran, 13]

39 starting from zero again

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A note was discovered on his computer
by his parents,
detailing exactly
how and when
he planned
to take his own life.
He was 28,
autistic,
diagnosed with depression.
The Department ordered him
to attend a work capability assessment.
He refused.
The Department decided
to terminate his benefits,
his only source of income.
Six years ago
he told his social workers
he did not wish to have contact
with his family.
His parents had battled to see him since
but were forbidden from knowing
where he lived.
He had previously gone
voluntarily
to the acute inpatient mental health unit
in the town where he lived
after being told about the assessment.
He was reluctant to ask for help again.
‘If I am accepted,
I will have to stay up to 28 days
or six months
in a boring and cramped environment
surrounded
by very damaged people. After which
it will be determined
that I no longer need treatment
and will be allowed to leave.
I will likely be homeless,
starting from zero again,
and the vicious cycle
will begin anew.’
Social services closed his case
after he failed to respond to letters.
The note revealed
he made three separate attempts
to hang himself
between 2016 and 2018.
He wrote:
‘Each time I failed with panic.’
He wrote:
‘I cannot be bothered to fight this
any more. I am
out of energy. I only exist
to do what I want to do.
Dealing with paperwork,
making phone calls, feeling
anxious
every day
about whether I am going to be homeless
are things I do not want to do.’
His body was discovered
in an advanced state of decomposition
nine months later
when housing association officials
called to evict.

[Milton Keynes Citizen, 16/09/2019, Autistic Milton Keynes man left suicide note on computer explaining tragic reasons he took his own life; Milton Keynes Citizen, 02/12/2020, ‘Our son’s tragic loss of life could have been avoided’, say parents of autistic Milton Keynes man whose death went unnoticed for nine months]

41 a second, unopened letter

Posted on
She received a letter
from the Department
saying she should go back to work.
She suffered chronic breathlessness,
pulmonary disease,
depression;
she was a recovering methadone addict.
The letter also told her
her incapacity benefit
would be stopped.
She was so distressed
she took a cocktail of drugs.
She recovered
after treatment in hospital.
She regretted trying to take her own life
and vowed to fight the decision.
She died two days later.
A suicide note had been left in a sealed envelope
some medication was around the floor.
A post-mortem examination revealed
she only had a small amount of drugs in her system –
mostly from the suicide attempt
two days previously.
The coroner was satisfied
that she died
of natural causes.
After her body was found
a second, unopened letter
was also discovered
indicating she would not
lose her benefit after all.

[Evening Standard, 14/08/2013, Suicide bid of woman who feared losing her incapacity benefit]

46 23 minutes

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The inquest,
which lasted two days,
heard that his medical assessment
took just 23 minutes.
He suffered from HIV,
hepatitus,
sciatica,
severe depression, insomnia,
dental pain.
He had a history of self-harm,
which stemmed from abuse
as a child.
His benefits
of ninety pounds a week
were stopped
on September eighteenth.
That same day
he went online.
After writing of his disapproval
of the system
he wrote
‘It’s time to say goodbye,
goodbye.’
On September twenty-fifth
(cocktail of drugs:
heroin,
cocaine
alcohol)
he was found dead in his house.

[Nottingham Post (via Internet Archive), 09/10/2013, Sneinton man overdoses after benefits stopped]

50 you probably won’t have heard

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You probably won’t have heard much about the case.
A 33-year-old woman in the West Country
living with her parents.
She very poorly:
bipolar disorder;
she has been sectioned on numerous occasions
after harming herself.
In February she received a letter
from the outsourcing company
which told her she was about to lose her support
and would have to undergo an assessment.
She was found by her mother
and taken to hospital.
She’d slashed her throat in the bath.
Her psychiatric nurse
and a forensic psychologist contacted
the company, and told them
not to contact her directly again.
The company agreed.
The morning after she was released from hospital
she returned home
to find another letter.
She was readmitted to hospital
having slashed her throat again.
Her mother contacted a local benefit advice charity.
They managed to restore her benefits
without the need for further tribunals.
Last week,
another letter.
The charity again took up her case.
The company told them the letter
was computer-generated
and could not be stopped.

[New Statesman, 05/03/2013, The tragedy of Alice]

52 available to help

Posted on
He received a letter last month;
the Jobcentre – an appointment.
 
It read:
‘You and your personal adviser
will discuss the possibility
of going into paid work,
training for work,
or looking for work
in the future.
They will tell you about the support
available to help
with going back to work,
and make sure you have all the information
to help you make decisions that
are right for you
about work.’
His wife
called the Jobcentre to explain.
Sixteen years ago
he was diagnosed
with progressive
multiple
schlerosis.
He cannot walk,
talk,
or feed himself.
He communicates by blinking.
They told her
if getting to the Jobcentre was difficult
they could organise
a telephone interview
but if he did not attend
his benefits would be stopped.

[The Guardian, 22/06/2015, Man who cannot walk or talk called for jobcentre ‘back to work’ interview]

54 the old system

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During the 1960s
while pregnant with her
her mother took thalidomide.
She is blind in one eye,
partially deaf,
can barely walk,
barely dress herself.
She has arthritis.
In 2004 she underwent surgery
to remove a brain tumour.
She retired from her job
as a care assistant.
She was to undergo spinal surgery
late in 2013.
‘It is because of the way I have had
to manipulate my body over the years
to try and live a normal life.
Because we have to use our bodies
in different ways
what anyone else finds normal
has killed us.’
She and her late husband
were believed to be
the first thalidomide victims in Britain
to get married.
(Her carer
helps her make tea
and brushes her hair.)
In July 2012
she received a letter
saying she must go
on a training course.
Her family appealed
and the decision was overturned.
Then
in October
she was told
once again
she should not
be claiming benefits
as she could not prove
she was unfit to work.
A further appeal was rejected.
A spokesman for the Department said
‘The old system
condemned too many people
to a life on benefits
with little hope
of moving back to work.
Now
people who can work
will be given help
to find a job
while those who need unconditional support
will get it.’
She was served with court papers
and must attend a tribunal
where she will have to prove
her disabilities to a judge.

[Daily Star, 16/03/2013, Benefits hell for Thalidomide patient; Daily Mail, 15/03/2013, Blind in one eye, partially deaf and facing major spinal surgery but Thalidomide mother is still found fit to work; The Independent, 15/03/2013, Capable of ‘work-related activity’: Partially blind Thalidomide victim with brain tumour fights Atos decision to force her to attend interviews and put together CV]