“While he was visiting us recently, Chris told us he has lived rough for the last 9 months. Although his G.P. assessed him to be unfit for work after he suffered from a second stroke, the DWP deemed that this was not the case. He has begun the appeal process with support from the agency that referred him to us: this involved completing a 52 page document and took over 2 hours. Chris hasn’t had any money since mid-December but came to the Foodbank for the first time as he felt he could no longer ask his friends for support.”
Our thanks to Chris for sharing this with us. Sadly, his situation is not uncommon. Speaking during the recent Commons debate on Welfare Reform and Poverty, Michael Meacher MP argued that one contributory factor to rising absolute poverty has been “the way in which tens of thousands of severely disabled persons have been judged by Atos, the French IT company, as fit for work … when they are patently unfit for work. Very often, their GP has not been consulted to inquire whether there are other factors that need to be taken into account”. A report compiling further information regarding work capability assessments can be found here.