Jeffs posts
Charities have warned of increased demand of basic toiletries before Christmas as an emerging ‘hygiene poverty’ worsens
Families with young children are going without basic toiletries and even toilet rolls this Christmas as those on benefits and low incomes struggle to keep up with the soaring cost of living, charities have warned.
Surging demand for basics like shower gel, shampoo, and sanitary towels has been reported to HuffPost UK by organisations working to help those considered to be living in an emerging “hygiene poverty”.
It comes as a leading charity, In Kind Direct, launched its Christmas appeal on Thursday to encourage big businesses to donate toiletries otherwise destined for landfill.
The Well foodbank in Wolverhampton, West Mids, has seen an increased demand for essential toiletries from those receiving its food parcels in recent months.
George Bowden/HuffPost UK
The Well foodbank in Wolverhampton regularly distributes sanitary products to those requesting food parcels
“I went to a house late on a Friday and when I got there was a mum with a disabled child and all she had in the house was half a loaf of bread,” The Well’s co-project leader Gary Price told HuffPost. “Once she saw the toilet rolls she started jumping up and down. She said ‘I haven’t even got any toilet rolls’.”
“I was quite shocked when I saw this lady so excited to see toilet rolls,” he added. “We just take that for granted.”
“The need in society is increasing,” Gary’s wife and fellow co-project leader, Caroline, added. “We’re feeding around 8,000 a year at the moment.”
The foodbank operates a delivery service over four days, with around 100 parcels distributed a week.
George Bowden/HuffPost UK
Caroline and Gary Price are joint co-project leaders at The Well foodbank in Wolverhampton
The service is preparing for a surge once Universal Credit is introduced across the city later this month. The reform has been blamed by campaigners for an increase in foodbank use and homelessness.
“We’re ready for it,” Caroline said. “We’ve taken on more space in case.”
It comes at a time when research suggests parents on benefits could be as much as £2,800 worse off a year by 2020 than they were in 2010, according to findings from the End Child Poverty coalition.
And as inflation, the pace at which the cost of goods is increasing, is currently running at 3%, above a target of 2%.
The bread and eggs won, and she ended up having to go to public toilets to get loo roll
Caroline Price, Well foodback
Caroline explained how for many people, toiletries fall by the wayside when it comes to the final few pounds in people’s pockets.
“I have a friend who tells me she can remember not having any sanitary towels at all and having the choice of going to buy a loaf of bread and eggs to give her daughter or having sanitary towels,” Caroline said. “The bread and eggs won, and she ended up having to go to public toilets to get loo roll.”
George Bowden/HuffPost UK
Charities have told HuffPost of a surging demand for loo rolls
Referrals to the service often highlight the specific need for loo rolls.
“We had one through this morning asking for toilet paper,” Caroline adds. “It’s on our form and we added toiletries because people started to specifically ask.”
“If we prompt it it’s less embarrassing for people, it must be mortifying for people,” she adds.
Helping those in crisis
It’s not just those with low incomes who are helped by essentials like soap and shampoo.
Alongside its foodbank operation, The Well also helps supply toiletries to The Haven, a local women’s refuge charity for those fleeing domestic violence.
George Bowden/HuffPost UK
Local campaigners say Wolverhampton, West Mids, is experiencing an increase in homelessness
Wrapped like presents, parcels of sanitary products, washes and soap are put together and delivered monthly to safe houses across Wolverhampton.
“Women often arrive at our refuges with nothing but the clothes on their backs, having had to flee at a moment’s notice for theirs and their children’s safety,” Jane Secker, Senior Community Fundraiser at The Haven, said.
“Toiletry boxes like these allow women to feel welcomed and secure when they arrive,” she added.
Natalie*, a service user at The Haven who regularly receives the boxes to support her and her children in refuge, said: “I had nothing when I came to refuge and I was so worried as I hadn’t had time to bring any essentials with me – I was worried about how I would wash the children and how we would clean our teeth.
“I was so thankful for the toiletry box that I was given – it had everything in there I could have needed, even the little things like a comb I was really grateful for it all.”
[Find out more about The Well here and The Haven here]
Restoring confidence
Meanwhile in Hammersmith, west London, mental health and homelessness charity the Barons Court Project also distributes toiletries to its service users.
“One of the most important things we offer those who are homeless is a shower,” Michael Angus, Barons Court Project’s director, said.
George Bowden/HuffPost UK
Mo told HuffPost how a simple shower can have a lasting impact on those who are sleeping rough
One service user, Mo, who chose not to provide his last name, explained how something as simple as a shower, with soaps and gels provided through In Kind Direct, can help restore confidence for those sleeping rough.
“You do think sometimes that as an adult you should need to look after yourself and somehow you’ve failed,” the 31-year-old said. “But coming here, having a shower, getting support, it helped.”
After a car accident in March, Mo subsequently lost his job at a supermarket and problems with getting sickness pay and benefits led to him losing his accommodation.
While sleeping rough with the occasional night in a car, Mo found support at the Barons Court Project to sort through problems applying for Universal Credit - and eventually to begin looking for somewhere to live.
George Bowden/HuffPost UK
Barons Court Project fundraised to finance a revamped shower. 'It's like a hotel,' Mo told HuffPost
The Project recently renovated its shower area after raising thousands for the work and separately for a new boiler.
“The thing about the shower here is, it’s like stepping into a hotel,” Mo said. “Without it you couldn’t survive. When you stay on the street for a certain amount of time the routine you have before starts to slip.
“Once it’s gone it’s hard to come back to it. A place like this is like a lifeline.”
Once it’s gone it’s hard to come back to it. A place like this is like a lifeline
Mo, user of the Barons Court Project
[Find out more about The Barons Court Project and donate to its Christmas appeal here]
Huge demand
At its warehouse in Telford, Shropshire, In Kind Direct takes in surplus toiletries by the pallet, breaking them down and supplying them at a huge discount to charities like The Well and Barons Court Project.
George Bowden/HuffPost UK
Thousands of products are held at In Kind Direct's Telford warehouse before being distributed to hundreds of charities across the UK
On a recent weekday, the warehouse was coping with the delivery of more than 62,000 toilet rolls from Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Andrex.
The rolls were reserved by charities in a matter of days.
“It’s not just food that’s needed and that’s our message,” Robin Boles, In Kind Direct’s chief executive told HuffPost. “The essentials people take for granted are in demand.”
“And if you think, it’s all about dignity,” she added.
In Kind Direct already helps donate truckloads of surplus stock from huge manufacturers and retailers, such as Johnson & Johnson and web giant Amazon, to smaller charities and foodbanks. It’s not just toiletries either, with products including plates, toys and batteries in great demand too.
George Bowden/HuffPost UK
Johnson & Johnson and web giant Amazon are among the big business backers of In Kind Direct's operation
Research by the charity reveals that 97% of CEOs of big manufacturers have surplus stock – yet only 14% reprocess or recycle these, and less than half donate these products to charity, despite the fact three quarters of business leaders say they should.
In Kind Direct is now appealing for more big firms to come forward with stock left aside over the festive period.
“Surplus stock production peaks in December and January, a time of year when families are under most financial strain, in addition to struggling to afford essential personal hygiene products and food for their families,” Boles said.
“I’m saying to those employees of big companies, ask what happens to your surplus stock,” she added. “We’re there to make it easy for them. We can help make a real difference.”
Posted by jeffrey davies [82.9.81.48] on 07 December 2017
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jeffs posts
This is another outrageous statement. But it really doesn't come as a surprise, as it was mouthed by the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, a poisonous incompetent amongst a government of poisonous incompetents.
When Hammond was asked about the fall in British productivity, he responded by blaming it on the inclusion of various marginal groups in the workforce, such as the disabled. Mike over at Vox Political has posted a piece commenting on this stupid, insensitive and mendacious reply. He points out that if productivity has fallen, it might have something to do with a lack of motivation coming from insultingly low pay, poor nutrition, overwork, tiredness and anxiety due to zero hours contracts to care about profits or productivity.
He also points out that, thanks to May's government fully supporting poor wages and precarity, employers now find it cheaper to employ people under these wretched conditions than invest in new equipment.
Mike also points out that Hammond's comments follow the usual Tory line of blaming and demonising the disabled. But this doesn't mean that they're coming for them to throw them in the gas ovens just yet. No, they're just content to let the stress of dealing with the benefit system either worsen their mental health, or force them to commit suicide. All while denying that people are being driven to take their own lives by the stress of their benefit reforms.
This is despite suicide notes left behind by those who have committed suicide, explicitly saying that this is why they have been reduced to taking their own lives.
And Mike also rightly notes how DWP staff are asking people with suicidal tendencies why they haven't taken their own lives. Which sounds like a question from the infamous 'Nudge' Unit, the psychological manipulation department set up to manoeuvre people's thinking so that they come to the decision the authorities want.
Mike also quotes Labour's Debbie Abrahams, who has condemned Hammond's comments, pointing out that disabled people are paying the price for the government's failed austerity policy. This has included scrapping the schemes to get disabled people into the workforce. She states that we should be doing more to get disabled people into work, and definitely not denigrate their contributions. She went on to demand an apology from Hammond.
Abrahams also points out the contradiction that's also hidden in Hammond's statement. He states that there are more disabled people in the workforce, which we should be proud of, but the Tories have actually cut the programmes to get the disabled into work, as well as scrapping their manifesto pledge to halve the gap between the employment rates for disabled and able people.
You can't have it both ways, so one way or another, Hammond is clearly lying.
Posted by jeffrey davies on 07 December 2017
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jeffs posts
Philip Hammond has been criticised following comments made by Philip Hammond to the Treasury Select Committee, after he seemed to suggest that falling productivity rates in the UK workforce was due to more disabled people being in work.
Giving evidence to the Commons Treasury Select Committee concerning the Budget, the Chancellor said: "It is almost certainly the case that by increasing participation in the workforce, including far higher levels of participation by marginal groups and very high levels of engagement in the workforce, for example of disabled people - something we should be extremely proud of - may have had an impact on overall productivity measurements.”
“It may have collateral impact on measured productivity performance", he added.
Labour MP John Mann, a Committee member, said the Chancellor's comments were "appalling" and later tweeted: “Chancellor just linked low productivity growth to the labour market and specified the increased employment of disabled people.
“My experience of employing disabled people is that they are brilliant employees. The chancellor’s comments are ignorant.”
Anna Bird, director of policy and research at disability charity Scope, said: “These comments are totally unacceptable and derogatory.
“They fundamentally undermine the Government’s policy to get more disabled people into work, and the ambition set out by the Prime Minister just a week ago.
“The Chancellor must urgently withdraw them and offer a full apology.”
In their recent response to The Future of Work, Health and Disability consultation, which ran last year, the Government say that they will increase the numbers of disabled people in employment by 2027. The Conservatives claim that they want to ensure disabled people 'fulfil their potential.' They claim that work is a 'health outcome' and employment is linked with better health in order to justify the raft of policies that has left many disabled people without adequate lifeline support for the past few years.
Hammond's comments make a mockery of the whole rationale behind the government's approach to disabled people's welfare and justification of the severe cuts in their lifeline support. Many disabled people have been forced by the state to work because they were no longer eligible for financial support. This is because of state assessment processes, designed to cut costs.
The correlation claimed by the Government regarding health and work most likely arises because of a faulty inferential leap of convenience on their part. Again, this claim has been used to justify cuts to support for disabled people. The correlation arises because people aren't in employement when they are simply too ill to work.
The Conservatives also claim that people taking long term sick leave has a detrimental impact on the economy and productivity, costing UK employers and the Treasury millions.
It seems the Government is struggling to produce a coherent and consistent rationale for draconian policies and in getting their 'facts' straight.
Chancellor Philip Hammond MP. Photo: Getty Images.
Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Debbie Abrahams MP, said Hammond's comments were "disgraceful" and called on the Chancellor to apologise.
"It is disgraceful that Philip Hammond is scapegoating disabled people for a productivity crisis created by the Conservatives’ failed economic policies", she said.
"This is coming from a Government that has forced disabled people to pay the price of their failed austerity agenda, including by cutting measures that help disabled people into the workforce and scrapping their own manifesto commitment on halving the disability employment gap.
"We should be increasing disabled people’s access to employment, not denigrating their contributions.
"The Chancellor should apologise immediately.
Posted by jeffrey davies on 07 December 2017
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well if I couldn't buy it outright then we never bought it but read another interesting report below they screwing us royal
Tories forced to release Universal Credit assessment reports
DWP forced to hand internal assessment reports to the work and pensions committee, but MPs say the public should also be allowed access.
Politics
SNP Social Justice spokesperson at Westminster Neil Gray MP has said the Tories need to face up to the fact that they are still planning to ‘plunge hundreds of thousands more people into poverty’ with their Universal Credit policies (UC), and that the public must be allowed to see the internal assessment reports.
The comments come as a result of today’s UC debate in which the UK government minister responsible -David Gauke – made a concession which would mean he will make available redacted copies of Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) assessment reports on Universal Credit, to the Westminster Work and Pensions committee.
However, the Secretary of State confirmed to Neil Gray during the debate that he will still challenge the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ruling to publish the reports at the High Court.
The ICO has already said they should be published publicly and in full – as that is specifically in the public interest.
Tory MP Heidi Allen reduced to tears after hearing Universal Credit horror story.
Neil Gray MP commented: ‘’This partial cave in from the Tories has to be welcome – but they should be published in full and anything less is really not good enough. The ICO has already said anything less than full public publication would not be enough.
“We must know the real damage being done by the way the Tories have presided over this callous roll out
‘’So today’s partial U-turn by David Gauke looks like a tactic to get out of losing another embarrassing vote at Westminster on social security cuts, and it goes nowhere near enough.
‘’The Tories need to face up to the fact and the evidence that far from helping low income families they are in fact plunging hundreds of thousands more into poverty, as stated this week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
‘’It is this UK Tory government that is the agent of poverty – and they need to face up to that.
“They should allow everyone to see these reports and then come together to invest in and fix the fundamental flaws of Universal Credit for those who desperately need that support.”
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Debbie Abrahams also welcomed the Government’s concession, added they must be published “unredacted and unedited”.
“Following Labour pressure, the Government has finally backed down and made a clear commitment to hand over the Universal Credit reports”, she said.
“This should give greater insight into the scale of their implementation and design failures during the mismanagement of the programme and must be published unredacted and unedited.
“Too many families have been pushed into poverty by the Tories’ disastrous mishandling of Universal Credit’s roll out and it is only set to get worse, with thousands facing a miserable Christmas.
“It is time we knew the true extent of the Government’s failures with Universal Credit in order to fix the multitude of problems.
“Labour will transform Universal Credit to ensure it reduces child poverty and always makes work pay.”
Posted by jeffrey davies on 05 December 2017
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jeffs posts
Hundreds of thousands more children and pensioners are living in poverty as rates have begun rising for the first time in two decades, a new report has revealed.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says progress on tackling hardship is at risk of unravelling, with 400,000 more youngsters and 300,000 more elderly people now living in poverty than in 2012/13.
The charity says since that year there has been continued increases in poverty across both age groups and very little progress made in reducing poverty among working-age adults.
Chief executive Campbell Robb said: “These worrying figures suggest that we are at a turning point in our fight against poverty. Political choices, wage stagnation and economic uncertainty mean that hundreds of thousands more people are now struggling to make ends meet. This is a very real warning sign that our hard-fought progress is in peril.
“Action to tackle child and pensioner poverty has provided millions of families with better living standards and financial security. However record employment is not leading to lower poverty, changes to benefits and tax credits are reducing incomes and crippling costs are squeezing budgets to breaking point.”
JRT
Robb said Philip Hammond’s 2017 budget offered little to ease the strain and put low income households’ finances on a firmer footing.
“As we prepare to leave the EU, we have to make sure that our country and our economy works for everyone and doesn’t leave even more people behind,” he added.
The foundation said new threats are emerging to people in the poorest fifth of households, including becoming trapped in ’in work poverty - where at least one person in the household is employed, struggling to be able to afford a home, rising living costs and being unable to afford bills or save for retirement.
It has urged the government to end the four-year freeze on working-age benefits and tax credits, which it says is the single biggest driver of poverty.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams said the increase in rates is “totally unacceptable”.
“The last seven years of flat-lining wages and austerity cuts, now combined with sharply rising costs of household essentials is a truly terrifying prospect for millions trying to make ends meet,” she added.
“The cuts to Universal Credit, which were not addressed in the recent budget and mean that ‘work does not always pay’, will push even more children and working age adults into poverty.
“Even the government’s own social mobility commission has resigned over their failure to act.”
Empics Entertainment
Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams
Former Labour minister Alan Milburn, who headed up the commission, said he decided to step down because Theresa May’s weak leadership meant there was little prospect of turning “good words” on social justice into action.
JRF’s report shows 20 years ago a third of children lived in poverty, which fell to 27% in 2011/12.
In 1994/95, 28% of pensioners lived in poverty, falling to 13% in 2011/12.
The charity said the falls were achieved by higher employment rates, more generous support for families through tax credits and extra help for poorer pensioners and rates remained stable despite the 2007 financial crash.
But it added changes to welfare policy - especially since the 2015 budget – have reduced families’ financial breathing space, with wage growth at the bottom end of the labour market failing to make up the difference.
Lib Dem leader Vince Cable said: “This report sounds the death knell for Theresa May’s claim to be building a country that works for everyone.
“Instead of tackling social injustice, the government’s policies are worsening inequality and hitting the poorest in society hardest.
“The significant progress made recently in reducing child and pensioner poverty is now going into reverse, due to a growing squeeze on living standards combined with harsh welfare cuts.”
PA Archive/PA Images
Lib Dem leader Vince Cable
Oxfam said it was “deeply concerned” that securing a job was no longer enough to escape poverty in modern society.
Rachael Orr, head of the charity’s UK programme, added: “It’s not just working adults who are affected, but their children too, and it’s a real worry to see progress on child poverty going into reverse.
“The government needs to make sure that work pays, so hard working families are not falling below the poverty line. Their Industrial Strategy, published last week, would have been a good place to start, but sadly was a missed opportunity.”
Ryan Shorthouse, director of liberal Conservative think tank Bright Blue, said the government was right to prioritise cutting the deficit, but that the axe had fallen “disproportionately and unnecessarily” on working-aged benefits since 2010.
“Although there has been some real progress in reducing material poverty among certain social groups in recent decades, poverty is now rising again, especially among families with children, which will thwart life chances and cost society billions,” he added.
“The government needs to focus tax cuts on those on the lowest incomes and restore, at least in part, the work allowances in Universal Credit. Its vision for welfare should not be cost cutting, but to build a contributory-based system
.”Posted by jeffrey davies on 04 December 2017
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jeffs posts
Furious campaigners have accused the government of “cruelty” amid revelations that terminally ill people are assigned “work coaches” under Universal Credit.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been forced to defend the situation, described as “outrageous” and “beyond the pale” by end of life charity Marie Curie.
SNP MP Drew Hendry is now leading calls for changes to the way Universal Credit handles the claims of terminally ill people.
It comes as campaigners told HuffPost UK that people with terminal illnesses such as cancer, motor neurone disease and dementia face a raft of “thoughtless” regulations under Universal Credit.
Charities say they’ve seen those with just weeks to live:
suffer delays in payments so lengthy some claimants have died before receiving their entitlements;
forced to confront distressing details of their medical condition, despite many not wishing to do so;
required to meet officials, dubbed “work coaches”, whose role is to “challenge” and “motivate” claimants into work;
and undergo “deeply humiliating and degrading” assessments.
The conditions could end up affecting many thousands of people by the time Universal Credit completes its roll out in 2022, though the number of terminally ill claimants is “relatively low”.
Unlike under previous so-called “legacy” benefits, Universal Credit does not have a team dedicated to helping the terminally ill.
The DWP said it ensures terminally ill claimants are handled “as quickly and sensitively as possible” and that work coaches adapt to an individual’s circumstances.
But Elaine Donnelly of the Highlands Macmillan Citizens Advice Partnership in Scotland, told HuffPost that she has advised terminally ill cancer patients who have been made to undertake face-to-face visits with a work coach as part of the process of signing up for Universal Credit.
‘Everyone has a work coach’
“Anybody undergoing cancer treatment will still be invited in to speak to a work coach because of the way the system is set up,” Donnelly said. “Everyone has a work coach.”
“The onus is on the client to prove they are clinically ill,” she added. “Sometimes they send somebody out to the house to check an ID, but sometimes a work coach will go along with them.
“They tend to, once they know [a claimant is terminally ill], kinda back off a bit.”
The main job role of a work coach has been described by MPs as “to support claimants into work by challenging, motivating, providing personalised advice and using knowledge of local labour markets.”
“It is remarkable,” Donnelly said.
Parliament/HuffPost UK
MPs described the main role of a work coach to be 'support[ing] claimants into work'
“It’s almost like the government have forgotten that many people claiming Universal Credit are unwell or terminally ill,” she added.
“We’ve not seen one claim go well from start to finish.”
Jill Fennell, whose partner, Mark, applied for Universal Credit after a terminal diagnosis, described her encounter with a work coach.
“Mark subsequently found out he has to have a fitness to work telephone interview,” she wrote in an open letter which went viral on Facebook this year.
“I called the Universal Credit work coach to ask if she was aware he is terminally ill and has difficulty speaking as he has mouth cancer. She said she did, but said it still had to be done.
“I cannot think of any words that express my contempt for her callous and emotionally bankrupt approach to Mark’s predicament.”
Disability News Service reported last year on government proposals to force people with debilitating, lifelong conditions, including the terminally ill, into repeated contact with work coaches.
[Do you or someone you know receive Universal Credit? Share your experiences with our reporter at George.Bowden@huffpost.com]
Delays to payments
Donnelly said she has even advised clients who have died before any payments were made through Universal Credit.
“We’ve not seen anybody fast-tracked through for an earlier payment. In fact we’ve seen people who are terminally ill dying before their Universal Credit is processed,” she said.
“They’re in rent arrears and are dying thinking they are in rent arrears and it’s through no fault of their own.”
Drew Hendry, MP for Inverness who held a Commons debate on the issue this week, told HuffPost several of his own constituents had reported they were forced to understand every detail of their prognosis, even if they preferred not knowing.
Parliament
Drew Hendry, SNP MP for Inverness, has held a Commons debate on the topic of Universal Credit and the terminally ill
A requirement for claimants to “self-certify” means that they must tell the DWP if they have received a terminal diagnosis.
Further rules governing “explicit consent” restrict the ability of relatives and advisors to handle benefits claims on their behalf, a change on previous systems.
Those rules mean a form called the “DS1500”, which estimates the likelihood that someone will live for six months or more, cannot be submitted on a claimant’s behalf by their doctor, forcing them to confront their own prognosis.
And, if it is likely someone will live beyond six months, their claim is not considered more quickly.
We’ve seen people who are terminally ill dying before their Universal Credit is processed
Elaine Donnelly, Highlands Macmillan Citizens Advice Partnership
‘No special help’
“There are no special help facilities for terminally ill people,” Hendry said.
“It’s still not possible for health professionals to do everything that is required to get a diagnosis through the system,” he added. “The person claiming still needs to do something to get it through.”
And during his Commons debate on Wednesday, Hendry told MPs: “Those with severe and progressive conditions, including terminal illnesses, are all given work-focused interviews, which is clearly insensitive.”
He cited the example of a constituent, John, who was forced to conduct a capability assessment despite having a terminal diagnosis.
“When asked if he could walk 50 yards he said no, so he was asked again if he could do it and asked if it would be possible to do it even if it took a long time,” Hendry said.
“When again he said no, he was asked if it was an emergency and he absolutely had to walk 50 yards could he do it, at which point he felt so pressurised he said yes,” he added.
... the assessment process is deeply humiliating and degrading
Drew Hendry MP during a recent Commons debate
“The overview of the assessment said he could reasonably walk 50 yards, the assessment process is deeply humiliating and degrading, putting claimants in a position were they often feel bad about not being able to carry out certain tasks.”
Now Hendry is calling for changes to the system to help those most in need.
“A cruel condition like this can easily be overturned and replaced with something that gives terminally ill people dignity and respect,” he told HuffPost.
“We want to see the waiting time removed for terminally ill people, to make the process simpler for a terminally ill person, to allow implicit consent and to reinstate the severe disability allowance, which is a huge sum across the year.”
The additional costs of a terminal illness are estimated to be around £12,000 a year.
Simon Jones, head of policy and public affairs at terminal illness charity Marie Curie, told HuffPost that assigning work coaches to those who are terminally ill “imposes indignity”.
“It is clearly not appropriate for someone who has been clinically assessed that they are terminally ill to have a visit from someone who is going to help them back to work,” he said.
“You have been given what must be one of the most life-shattering pieces of news you can get, and then to impose the indignity on someone by even suggesting there is a route back to work in those circumstances is quite frankly outrageous, it’s beyond the pale.
“In those circumstances, all anyone should be thinking of is ‘what can we do to support this person to give them the best quality of life before they die’.”
Jones said that any delay to payments for those with less time left can have a real impact on quality of life.
“With motor neurone disease, the time between diagnosis and death is particularly quick and it affects younger people, which means it is more likely that benefits will help support your life, especially if you had been working,” he said.
‘People cannot afford to wait’
And Macmillan Cancer Support Head of Policy, Tom Cottam, said: “Everyone with cancer should have timely access to support when they need it, and this absolutely applies to Universal Credit.
“We know some people with terminal cancer are having difficulties accessing the benefits they are entitled to, and are concerned that there is a serious problem with the system.
“Many of these people cannot afford to wait and should not be put through any additional and unnecessary stress.”
Work and Pensions Minister Damian Hinds responded to Hendry’s Commons debate with a defence of the policy, describing individual examples of problems as being “unintended”.
“Things can go wrong and when they do I am sorry for that,” he said.
A DWP spokesperson said: “We make sure terminally ill people receive support immediately. This includes helping people make their claim and ensuring it is handled as quickly and sensitively as possible.”
Posted by jeffrey davies on 03 December 2017
