DWP Was Blamed By A Second Coroner For A Benefit Claimant’s Death
Mike Sivier of Vox Political reports today that the sad death of Michael O’Sullivan was not the only one blamed, by a coroner’s report, on the actions of the DWP.
The sad death of Julia Kelly, who took her own life last November, was reportedly blamed on upset caused by the “potential withdrawal” of her benefits, at her inquest in March, by Northampton Coroner Anne Pember.
Mke Sivier explains the case:
Ms Kelly had been forced to give up work in 2010 due to pain caused by a car crash (which was not her fault) five years previously. In 2013, she was involved in a second crash and had to undergo a six-hour operation on her spine as a result.
Together with her father, David Kelly, she formed a charity – Away With Pain – to help fellow sufferers of chronic back pain.
But then the Department for Work and Pensions told her she had to repay £4,000 in Employment and Support Allowance payments, saying she had failed to declare capital funds.
It seems the government department was referring to money held by the charity, rather than funds owned by Ms Kelly herself.
Ms Kelly, who had fought for every penny of her benefit at three tribunal hearings, was bombarded with a series of repayment demands. According to her father, it was this relentless stream of brown-envelope letters that pushed her to suicide.
Now Vox Political- and Same Difference– have been left wondering how many more coroners’ verdicts have blamed the DWP for the deaths of benefit claimants, but have not yet been revealed to the wider public?
Same Difference 