Category: Poems

50 you probably won’t have heard

Posted on
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]

51 they took

Posted on
One night
she heard him sobbing
downstairs.
He worked long hours on the farm.
He would leave at five AM.
Some days she would not see him again
until eleven. He wasn’t scared
of work.
Over the years he developed heart trouble,
diabetes, terrible ulcers.
His health deteriorated from there.
He became depressed.
She was borrowing money off everybody.
Last winter
they couldn’t put on the heating.
They sat
with blankets round them.
He was called to his Jobcentre
in late 2012.
They took his blood pressure.
They never checked his back or
asked about his diabetes
and the terrible ulcers he had on his legs.
A computer told them
he’d been on the sick
for twenty-four years –
that’s the only thing
they really knew.
It was decided
that he was capable of limited employment.
His benefit was cut.
He appealed;
a ruling would take almost a year.
He didn’t have a year.
It started in his neck,
spread rapidly.
A very rare form of cancer.
He kept saying
“I wish I could win this case
before I die.”
One night she heard him sobbing downstairs.
He told her
“I can’t go on.”
The cancer took his sight,
his hearing,
finally
his life.
They
took his dignity.

[Daily Mirror, 19/10/2013, Cancer killed my husband, but Atos took his dignity a long time before his death]

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]

53 it’s not as if nobody knew

Posted on
They kept food in plastic bags
in the shed;
the cold night air.
They couldn’t afford a fridge,
couldn’t afford to heat their house.
They lived in one room.
Every Sunday they walked
six miles each way
to a soup kitchen
to have something to eat
and pick up food bags,
free vegetables
to cook into a broth
on a camping stove.
It’s not as if nobody knew.
 
A year ago,
they appeared in a film
about living below
the breadline.
She had learning difficulties
and needed support from her husband,
an army veteran.
He was her full-time carer.
The Jobcentre decided she couldn’t sign on;
she wasn’t fit
for work.
Her benefits were stopped.
He worked in the army
as a PE instructor,
but fell on hard times
after the service.
Struggled to cope with
civvy street.
Their 12-year-old daughter
was taken into care.
He fought to get a carer’s allowance
but they wouldn’t recognise his wife’s disabilities.
He was told he could not claim
until she had been fully diagnosed:
month after
month after
month of specialists, living
hand
to mouth.
They were terrified she was about to be sectioned.
They stayed with relatives and friends
to avoid the authorities.
They walked everywhere
hand-in-hand
like young lovers.
Neighbours raised the alarm.
They had not been seen for several weeks.
This is where despair ends.
They were found
lying side by side
on the settee.
A police spokesman said
post-mortem examinations
had been carried out.
The deaths are being treated
as unexplained.

[The Daily Mirror, 11/11/2011, The tragic story of suicides Mark and Helen Mullins is a tale our politicians should pay attention to; Coventry Telegraph, 08/11/2011, Bedworth ‘suicide pact’ couple found lying side-by-side; Coventry Telegraph, 11/05/2021, Death of Warwickshire couple included in review into serious harms of people claiming benefits; Channel 4 News, 09/11/2011, Police investigate death of couple; BBC News, 09/11/2011, Inquiry call over Mark and Helen Mullins deaths; Metro, 08/11/2011, Married couple driven to commit suicide by utter poverty; Mail Online, 09/11/2011, Army veteran and his wife die in tragic ‘suicide pact’ after becoming ‘too poor to live through the winter’]

54 the old system

Posted on
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]

55 not compatible

Posted on
After a half-hour interview at his home
he was assessed as capable to return to work.
 
He was very distressed.
(Rising rent arrears,
warnings from the electricity company.)
He was reluctant to ask relatives for help;
they were unaware his benefits had been removed.
Concerned about his patient’s condition,
his doctor wrote a letter
in support of his application:
‘extremely unwell
and absolutely unfit
for any work
whatsoever.
Please do not stop
or reduce his benefits.
He simply is not well enough to cope
with this extra stress.
His mental and medical condition
is extremely serious.’
It is not clear whether the letter
reached the Jobcentre.
He was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome
and obsessive compulsive disorder
in his late 20s.
He had an eating disorder
and cognitive behavioural problems.
He was sacked from his first job
because he was unable to follow instructions.
The Department’s assessment concluded
his mental state
was normal.
This triggered a decision
by the jobcentre
to stop his sickness benefits.
His housing benefits were stopped around the same time.
He was not told.
He struggled to survive
on his disability allowance.
Forty pounds a week
to live on.
His sister said
‘He would have wanted to be seen as normal.
He was desperate to get by
as normal.’
A body mass index
of between eighteen point five
and twenty-four point nine
is considered healthy
for a man.
Between April and August his
dropped
from fourteen point one
to eleven point five;
he weighed five stone eight pounds
(thirty-five kilos)
when he died.
The doctor told the inquest
his body mass index
was not compatible
with life.

The Guardian, 28/02/2014, Vulnerable man starved to death after benefits were cut]

56 until the money ran out

Posted on
His family only pieced together his predicament
after discovering a repossession order
in the bin.
He had lived in the house all his life.
The order,
dated 13 September 2013,
gave him ten days to leave.
He suffered from mental health problems
including agoraphobia.
He had worked
as an assistant sales manager
in the 80s but
after leaving
he failed to find further employment.
Depression
and a suicide attempt
followed;
1989, an overdose
which damaged his vision.
(He was registered as partially blind
in 1994.)
After this he never worked again.
‘He was never extravagant,
didn’t go on holiday,
never had a car,’
his sister said.
His benefits were stopped in December 2012
after an assessment
found him fit for work.
‘He couldn’t ask for help.
He didn’t want to be a burden on anyone.’
Relatives believe he lived off his savings
until the money ran out.
It was his sister who found his body,
two days before the eviction date,
hanging in his hallway.

[Stourbridge News, 26/12/2013, Disabled Kinver man killed himself after being left “almost destitute” when his state benefits were axed]

57 how all seemed normal

Posted on
In a statement read by the Coroner’s Officer,
her husband of 36 years
told how all seemed normal
when he went to work,
but when he returned home
the following morning
with their son
his wife was in the back room, lying half
on the bed.
They phoned 999.
The operator talked them through CPR
until the parademics arrived.
She had been unable to work for about ten years
due to a dengerative back disease.
She had depression for about five years.
She had started suffering from stomach pains
and had also been extremely upset
due to a tribunal regarding her incapacity benefit
which had taken from her.
The pathologist who carried out the post-mortem
said she had eight times the lethal dose
of dothiepin, a prescribed anti-depressant,
and four times the dose of propanolol,
a beta-blocker
which stabilises the heart,
in her system.
He also found codeine and paracetamol
in her body.
The coroner said
‘Her husband had gone
to work,
she was alone.
Things must have just
swept over her,
suddenly
she found her life
intolerable.’

[Blackpool Gazette, 09/12/2008, Back problems led to fatal dose; via Web Archive at 19/04/2016]

58 we have to think this way

Posted on
In the undercover film
the trainer tells trainee assessors:
“If it’s more than
twelve or thirteen percent eligible
you will be fed back
‘your rate is too high.’
That’s what we’re being told.”
During assesments
company health professionals
award claimants points,
reflecting the apparent severity
of their condition,
with information gathered
through a set of questions
led by a computer.
“We talk about mobilising,
which means
being able to transfer
from point A
to point B
either by
walking or
walking with aids
which is
crutches
walking sticks
Zimmer frame
or wheelchair. So
if someone has
no legs
but they have
good hands
they can sit
and propel a wheelchair,
they don’t score anything.
This is one of the toughest changes.
Recently I had somebody
with prostate cancer, but
of course that’s not traditionally
treated with chemotherapy. So
I gave him no points.
I couldn’t
do anything else.
Same
with breast cancer.
The hormonal treatment doesn’t count. So
no points.
I felt very uncomfortable doing it.
I didn’t
like doing it.
But I had no way of scoring him.”
The data is typed into a computer.
Patients who score 15 points
are likely to be found eligible for support.
Patients who score below
are not.
“It’s terrible sometimes.
People having problems.
Both hips, both knees, but
good hands.
Terrible.
You know
we talk about
modern work adaptations
but we know how it looks
from the other side.
There’s no jobs
for healthy people,
normal people.
We have to think this way.
Sometimes you feel awful.
You can’t do anything
for people.
You can’t feel sorry
and give them the money
just because you feel
sorry.
You’ll go on a targeted audit.”

The Guardian, 27/07/2012, Atos assessors told to disability benefit approvals low, film suggests

59 the car he was passenger in

Posted on
The car he was passenger in
came off the road
at ninety miles per hour
and collided
with concrete and steel.
1996.
A former bodybuilder,
he was left barely able to walk.
Legs:
constant feeling
like someone digging
a knife
right into the joints.
He spends days in bed.
Struggles to complete
even simple movements.
An assessment by the company
of behalf of the Department,
conducted over one hour
in January 2012 –
“talk
listen
touch your head” –
found him
fit for work.
He said
“It’s enough to make you wonder
would it not be easier
if I killed myself?”
A spokesperson
for the Department
said
“We have made
considerable improvements
to the assessment
to make it fairer and more
effective.”

[The Northern Echo, 15/04/2013, Former bodybuilder from Willington who can barely walk contemplated suicide after nurse ruled him fit to work]

60 making it right

Posted on
Tests revealed
blood clots in both lungs.
2009. He was a landscape gardener
working for the Council
when he fell seriously ill.
He was discovered to have
deep vein thromboses
in his legs.
Hughes syndrome.
Often referred to as ‘sticky blood’.
A life-threatening condition.
His big toe was amputated.
Horrendous headaches,
frequent bouts of illness.
He couldn’t do any hard physical work.
He was put on something to thin his blood.
Would be on it
for the rest of his life.
Still
he hoped his condition would stabilise enough
to let him get a job
or go to college.
He had savings.
He and his fiancee
had just taken out a mortgage on a new flat;
he hoped to spend the money
making it right.
He had been signed off as unfit to work by his doctor,
but received no money from the agency
for 10 weeks.
An ongoing battle.
One morning
after she got up
his fiancee
discovered his body.

[Daily Record, 08/05/2013, Benefits row dad takes his own life and is found dead in his flat by his fiancee]

61 reasons for the necessity

Posted on
Britain in the last decade
wasn’t so much a lie
as a mistake.
When the Chancellor was giving
reasons for the necessity
of austerity
he relied heavily
on recent findings
by two Harvard economists.
They had
‘shown’
via a model built using
44 countries over
two centuries
that
when a government’s ratio of debt to GDP went over 90 per cent,
the economy shrank.
The Chancellor
drew directly on this research:
‘The latest research suggests
that once debt reaches
more than
about
90 per cent of GDP
the risk of a
large
negative
impact
on long-term growth becomes
highly significant.’
Cuts were planned.
A graduate student at Amherst College,
Thomas Herndon,
was set to check the Harvard numbers,
as a homework assignment.
He tried to replicate the findings
but couldn’t.
So he asked them for the original data,
which they (admirably)
sent.
Herndon checked the numbers
and found a mistake.
The economists
had intended to sum twenty
rows of data
but had only used fifteen.
When all twenty were included
countries with debt to GDP ratios over 90 per cent
were no longer shrinking.
But by this point
the government simply couldn’t back down.

[London Review of Books, 21/09/2023, ‘Get a rabbit’]

62 stop worrying

Posted on
You are a fucking bitch”: a man’s voice.
Then the sound of violent banging,
a woman’s sobs.
Officers were on the way;
sobbing and breathing heavily,
she said the man had retreated.
Police arrived and arrested him.
She had opened her window.
If the man had succeeded in getting through the door
she was prepared to jump two floors to escape.
The woman was calling from her bedroom.
She had been placed in ‘exempt’ supported housing
after leaving prison –
a five-year term for serious fraud and deception.
She had a history of mental illness:
suicide attempts, spells in psychiatric hospitals.
She had been the victim of violent abuse
at the hands of a former partner:
twice he had fractured her skull;
marks on her arms; burn scars
snaking across her chest,
where he had set her on fire
while she slept.
The man hammering on her door that night
was a troubled alcoholic with demons of his own.
He was under
a suspended prison sentence
for making threats with a machete.
Police ultimately did not bring charges against him –
a result of conflicting versions of events that night.
“Officers attended the address just after midnight
and arrested a man.
It was alleged he had
been verbally aggressive to the woman,
made threats, and
damaged the door to her room.
The woman was not injured.
The man was later released without charge;
the property owner said
the damage to the door
was already there.
He would not support
a prosecution.”
A Probation Service spokesperson said
“Prisoners released without somewhere to live
are 50 per cent more likely to reoffend.
Providing basic accommodation on release
helps cut crime and make
our streets safer.”
The man was moved to another property.
Exempt accommodation: supported housing
funded through a higher rate of housing benefit, exempt
from caps applied to normal housing.
Prison leavers, rough sleeper, refugees and migrants,
substance abusers, people with mental health issues,
disabilities, people at risk of homelessness:
strangers
housed together, mostly left
to their own devices, with arms-length help
amounting to an hour or so of dedicated support a week;
a support worker
at the end of a mobile phone.
She has lost weight and become more ill;
thefts were so common
she now stored her kitchen pans and cutlery in her bedroom.
She described a fellow resident:
he had not been out of his pyjamas or had a wash
for five weeks; he kept her awake all night.
Access is via a steel staircase.
Inside, the corridors and shared kitchen and common room
are monitored by CCTV with audio mics;
private conversations may be listened to.
Bedrooms are small.
A hole burnt in the kitchen top,
rusted hobs. The common area and kitchen
are full of the belongings of one of the tenants;
crudely written notices in felt tip
on stereo, tv, kitchen gear:
‘hands off’.
Heating comes from plugged in storage heaters.
In the night it’s freezing.
“I eat two sausages and vegetables every night,
cereal in the morning.
I don’t drink, don’t take drugs, yet
it’s all around.
Nobody seems to do anything much about it.”
At her lowest point she tried to jump in front of a train.
She was pulled back at the last minute;
another spell in psychiatic hospital.
“While living here
suicide is the only thing
that goes through my head,
day in,
day out.
The owners say I am too much hard work for them,
they said
they didn’t have problems
before I moved in.
It’s not a great place to be.
The landlord told me
‘just ignore it’, stop worrying
about other people.”

[Birmingham Live, 25/09/2021, Chaos, fear and suicide attempts – life inside ‘exempt’ housing in Birmingham]

The poems

Filters

Contents list

Show moreless

The poems

  • 00 out of sight of the road

    The tarpaulin was covered in logs and stones. Pulled back it revealed a pony six months old weak, barely alive, terrified out of sight of the road his front legs strapped together. Too weak to move it himself his head was twisted around over his back where it had flopped as he was dragged across…

  • 01 she was not ill enough

    She died of a lung condition. Her husband agreed the life support machine be turned off. The same day the Department declared she was not ill enough to receive benefits. [Daily Mirror, 08/01/2016, Dead mum not ill enough for payouts]

  • 02 across a table

    He had been detained on a locked ward; schizophrenia; complex drug problems. The day of the assessment he was heavily medicated, was experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations. He thought he had special powers, believed he was the Son of God. His benefits were stopped immediately. He had been deemed fit for work on the basis…

  • 03 complicated jargon, red

    She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer: major surgery chemo sickness hair loss complicated jargon, red tape. As well as working her husband cared for her. ‘Having chemotherapy makes you see everything through a mist.’ One day she came downstairs to discover her husband lying on the living room floor dead.

  • 04 I don’t want people mourning me before I die

    She works 20 hours a week as an employment advisor take-home pay less than 10,000 a year. But with 400 a month in welfare payments she is able to live alone work and pay for a specially modified car. She pays for carers to come in twice a day to prepare meals, twice-weekly visits to…

  • 05 he didn’t know how he was going to live

    No witnesses gave evidence at the inquest, only the coroner read out written statements from the man’s doctor, the first paramedic to attend him after he collapsed, a police sergeant who investigated his death, the pathologist who carried out his post-mortem. The day he died he was awaiting the results of an appeal against being…

  • 06 see a doctor

    He was sent to his first assessment when he gave up his job as a delivery man after being referred for tests on his heart. His wife was with him: ‘She checked him out. She did his blood pressure and his heart, said “See a doctor as soon as possible.”’ He was diagnosed with heart…

  • 07 the decision-maker

    The coroner concluded at the end of the inquest: ‘The anxiety and depression were long term problems but the intense anxiety was caused by his recent assessment by the Department as being fit for work and his view of the likely consequences.’ A former orthopaedic surgeon employed by the contractor had carried out the assessment,

  • 08 the same company

    She was thrilled when she got work at a council children’s centre but a routine health check by a company contracted by the council and the Department found she was not fit for work. She was recovering from a five-year battle with anorexia. ‘It would be inappropriate to be offered employment in this role.’ Strapped…

  • 09 knocked down

    Knocked down by a car, his right leg was shattered. 17 days in hospital, numerous operations. He could put no weight at all on that leg after the accident, instead relied on crutches. When he applied for support on the basis that he was unable or virtually unable to walk,

  • 10 uncontrolled, uncontrollable or life threatening

    He quit his job in 2007 after becoming severely ill: depression anxiety. He rarely left his home, refused to talk to friends and relatives or answer the door or phone often spent days in the same room. He lived off his savings for two years until his money ran out.

  • 11 she was an artist. she dreamed

    Because of her paranoia she had no television, rarely used her computer, would often throw away her mobile phone and change her number; she thought it was being bugged. She had accused her mother and female neighbours of being witches, once accused a woman walking her dog of sending messages to the police.

  • 12 the next day she took her five-month-old son in her arms

    Six months after having her income cut off and housing benefit withdrawn she was sharing her sister’s one-bedroom flat destitute with a baby to care for. 32 years old, a Frenchwoman living in Britain since 1997. In 2008 she graduated with a degree in philosophy. She found she was pregnant.

  • 13 after he left the army

    He joined the army at 17; served for two years in Belfast, a lance corporal. After he left the army, he worked with BT for 16 years, then different jobs, but left to care full-time for his mother who had dementia. After she went into a home he looked for work, took two unpaid placements…

  • 14 she was no longer allowed to work

    After her leave to remain expired she was no longer allowed to work. She claimed asylum, was relying on food from friends and charities. No one had heard from her for four days. Her one-year-old son weakened from starvation was found by police crying beside her body.

  • 15 he sat in his car in a quiet country lane

    He was twenty thousand pounds in debt. Payday loans; one thousand per cent interest. His children told their grandmother Santa hadn’t come the year before. A single dad, he quit his job in a factory to look after his children, but fell behind with rent and with trying to feed and clothe them. He had…

  • 16 one evening in August

    He has a mental health problem. He takes triple medication. He reports self harm in the past.’ He was assessed in May. ‘He attempted an overdose six weeks ago but he would not say what he took.’ In June, the Department told him he was fit to work, and that his support was being withdrawn.

  • 17 when questioned afterwards

    When questioned afterwards the assessor claimed he couldn’t remember if he had made any phone calls to their son’s doctor or psychiatrist for information about his mental health. ‘He reports self harm in the past. He reports he attempted an overdose six weeks ago; he would not say what he took. He reports he has…

  • 18 Dirge 1: for when you think you will be well again

    The dispatcher noted on the call log that the patient wanted to die, but this particular piece of information was not conveyed. The information which the crew were given was: Psychiatric/Abnormal behaviour/ Suicide attempt; trying to slit wrists; Armed with a weapon – glass. Therefore the crew were given adequate information of the patient’s intent.

  • 19 explosion in the Sangin region

    She received income support after suffering an accident at work in 2003. In 2009 her son was killed in Afghanistan; explosion in the Sangin region. She received a death in service payment: 66,000. She found a letter from the Department telling her the money made her ineligible to claim support after she returned from a…

  • 20 and her coat and purse

    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…

  • 21 his job prospects

    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.

  • 22 with nowhere to go

    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…

  • 23 ‘a pleasant lady to assess’

    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,

  • 24 the family received a letter

    She took her own life. The family received a letter from the Department endorsing the decision to stop her benefits and saying she was fit for work while she was in a mortuary ahead of her burial. [BBC News, 10/05/2021, Death of people on benefits prompt inquiry call]

  • 25 long hours

    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.

  • 26 on someone’s desk

    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.

  • 27 left in his flat

    He had been sectioned before, could not cope with unexpected changes. ‘Upsets my life completely. Feel under threat and upset. Cannot deal with social situations. Keep myself to myself. Do not engage with strangers. Have no social life. Feel anxiety and panic in new situations.’ He had been receiving benefits for many years as a…

  • 28 every 18 months

    He was celebrating getting a new job at a warehouse; outside the nightclub he was approached by five men. One of them struck him with a wheel brace on the head. Spinal damage he cannot walk farther than a few yards. Asthma, depression, panic attacks; he spends most of his time in bed.

  • 29 on the appointed day

    The first time he discovered he was in trouble was when a letter arrived from the Department. It was headed Fraud Investigation Section. An investigator was going to call at his home to interview him. Diabetic neuropathy; he had been unable to walk without discomfort for over a decade. He had been claiming benefit. His…

  • 30 he had used pliers

    His benefits were stopped when he failed to attend a capability assessment. He did not respond to calls, letters or home visits. He was seriously mentally ill. When his body was found he weighed four-and-a-half stone (30 kilograms) and his family said he had used pliers to pull out his teeth.

  • 31 when this also failed, she walked

    One of the first officers to arrive at the scene noted evidence of a poor attempt to clean up the mess; watered-down blood in the kitchen. Officers noted how her husband had blood on his clothes. His brother, who received a call at work urging him to rush round to the house, had dirt on…

  • 32 his doctor would have told them

    He had stated in the assessment form that he had problems: anxiety depression. He was unable to cope with either support workers or help from his family. Because of the severity of his panic attacks the assessment was carried out at the cottage where he lived alone. His mother says he was unaware of the…

  • 33 the most frugal existence

    He suffered countless attacks throughout his life; he would fall like a tree to the ground. He suffered from meningitis at five months old. It left him brain damaged; severe epilepsy. He had his first attack when he was six. Despite heavy medication he was taken to hospital regularly.

  • 34 my patient will be in pain

    In his report, the first doctor lists various serious health issues: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cervical spondylosis, osteoarthritis. In his summary, the doctor stated: ‘My patient will be in pain on standing and at the commencement of walking. Whilst on the balance of probability he would be able to walk 20 metres in my opinion…

  • 35 a large amount of medication

    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.

  • 36 she was. she had

    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…

  • 37 blind in one eye, barely able

    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.

  • 38 a beautiful sense of humour

    A government scientist, he gave up this role when he was diagnosed with severe cardiomyopathy, failure of the heart muscle. By the end he could not walk, struggled to read. He often fell over, on one occasion smashing his teeth. Doctors gave him a year and a half to live.

  • 39 starting from zero again

    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,

  • 40 a decision was taken

    His daughter received a text and immediately knew something was wrong. The decision was taken despite being told by his doctor he was too sick to return to his job. (He had been a painter and decorator.) He had suffered from anxiety and depression for six years. He also had breathing problems caused by chronic…

  • 41 a second, unopened letter

    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.

  • 42 down the stairs, fussing

    Two years after his wife’s death, her widower was visited by the husband of his niece. ‘I went in the back door. The dog came flying down the stairs, fussing. He must have been in the room with him.’ He had suffered depression following his wife’s death. ‘I went upstairs.

  • 43 the night before his medical

    He worked for forty years: a miner, then a telecoms engineer. Following a heart attack and several strokes his doctors ordered him to stop working. He had claimed for three years, ninety-one pounds a week. He had already gone through an eight-month appeal to keep his benefits, but following a crackdown on ‘spongers’ he was…

  • 44 he may have been successful

    His former wife gave evidence at the inquest. They had been married for twelve years, separating in 1995, although they still saw each other on a regular basis. During the first half of their marriage he suffered a brain haemorrhage, leaving him paralysed down one side. She had last seen him when he called to…

  • 45 everything through a mist

    She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer: major surgery chemo sickness hair loss complicated jargon, red tape. As well as working her husband cared for her. ‘Having chemotherapy makes you see everything through a mist.’ One day she came downstairs to discover her husband lying on the living room floor dead.

  • 46 23 minutes

    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.

  • 47 two. one

    January. She was called in for an assessment. She and her sister spent two hours on two buses travelling to the centre for a two minute assessment. She was only asked one question: did you get here by bus? 53 years old, a former nurse. She was left partially sighted after an industrial accident in…

  • 48 Dirge 2: declare war

    In the years of plenty it was easier to placate and complicate than simplify. The argument for welfare reform is not just one of affordability. In too many cases welfare has entrenched poverty. Get a job tomorrow earning between ten and thirty thousand a year, you’ll only take home thirty pence out of every extra…

  • 49 there were complications

    She had her first transplant heart and lungs in 1985. She returned to her council office job. But her body began to reject her new organs; she had another transplant in 1989. There were complications. 31 hours of surgery. 80 pints of blood. Afterwards she had no stamina.

  • 50 you probably won’t have heard

    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…

  • 51 they took

    One night she heard him sobbing downstairs. He worked long hours on the farm. He would leave at five AM. Some days she would not see him again until eleven. He wasn’t scared of work. Over the years he developed heart trouble, diabetes, terrible ulcers. His health deteriorated from there.

  • 52 available to help

    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,

  • 53 it’s not as if nobody knew

    They kept food in plastic bags in the shed; the cold night air. They couldn’t afford a fridge, couldn’t afford to heat their house. They lived in one room. Every Sunday they walked six miles each way to a soup kitchen to have something to eat and pick up food bags,

  • 54 the old system

    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…

  • 55 not compatible

    After a half-hour interview at his home he was assessed as capable to return to work.   He was very distressed. (Rising rent arrears, warnings from the electricity company.) He was reluctant to ask relatives for help; they were unaware his benefits had been removed. Concerned about his patient’s condition, his doctor wrote a letter…

  • 56 until the money ran out

    His family only pieced together his predicament after discovering a repossession order in the bin. He had lived in the house all his life. The order, dated 13 September 2013, gave him ten days to leave. He suffered from mental health problems including agoraphobia. He had worked as an assistant sales manager in the 80s…

  • 57 how all seemed normal

    In a statement read by the Coroner’s Officer, her husband of 36 years told how all seemed normal when he went to work, but when he returned home the following morning with their son his wife was in the back room, lying half on the bed. They phoned 999. The operator talked them through CPR…

  • 58 we have to think this way

    In the undercover film the trainer tells trainee assessors: “If it’s more than twelve or thirteen percent eligible you will be fed back ‘your rate is too high.’ That’s what we’re being told.” During assesments company health professionals award claimants points, reflecting the apparent severity of their condition,

  • 59 the car he was passenger in

    The car he was passenger in came off the road at ninety miles per hour and collided with concrete and steel. 1996. A former bodybuilder, he was left barely able to walk. Legs: constant feeling like someone digging a knife right into the joints. He spends days in bed.

  • 60 making it right

    Tests revealed blood clots in both lungs. 2009. He was a landscape gardener working for the Council when he fell seriously ill. He was discovered to have deep vein thromboses in his legs. Hughes syndrome. Often referred to as ‘sticky blood’. A life-threatening condition. His big toe was amputated.

  • 61 reasons for the necessity

    Britain in the last decade wasn’t so much a lie as a mistake. When the Chancellor was giving reasons for the necessity of austerity he relied heavily on recent findings by two Harvard economists. They had ‘shown’ via a model built using 44 countries over two centuries that when a government’s ratio of debt to…

  • 62 stop worrying

    You are a fucking bitch”: a man’s voice. Then the sound of violent banging, a woman’s sobs. Officers were on the way; sobbing and breathing heavily, she said the man had retreated. Police arrived and arrested him. She had opened her window. If the man had succeeded in getting through the door she was prepared…