Yesterday, after eight long years, a coroner ruled that Jodey Whiting’s death was the result of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) stopping her disability benefits.
Jodey Whiting: the DWP killed her
In late 2016, 42-year-old mother of nine Jodey Whiting missed a letter informing her the DWP needed to reassess her for Employment Support Allowance, which subsequently meant she missed the appointment. The reason for missing this was that she had contracted pneumonia and whilst in hospital the doctors had found a cyst on her brain.
On 6 February 2017 she received a letter telling her the DWP had found her “fit for work” despite never completing the assessment.
Just 15 days later she was found dead in her home surrounded by prescription drugs and handwritten notes about struggling to pay her bills and affording food. One simply read:
I’ve had enough.
Jodey lived with mental and physical conditions and was housebound as a result. Jodey didn’t just lose ESA that day, she also lost her housing and council tax benefits. In her suicide notes she wrote desperately about how she’d tried to find ways to pay her rent and bills.
Inquest after inquest
Jodey’s mother Joy Dove has campaigned tirelessly for the last eight years to ensure that the DWP was held accountable. In the initial inquest, Jodey losing her benefits wasn’t even mentioned as the reason she died by suicide. That inquest lasted just 37 minutes. As a result of Joy’s tireless campaign a second inquest was held.
Joy told the inquest
I know my daughter and I know it was that. It was the fact she couldn’t find a job, the worry of paying bills and being pushed out after being so vulnerable all those years.
An independent report found that Jodey’s benefits should not have been stopped – but that came far too late.
Helga Swidenbank, a director at the DWP who did not work there in 2017, said that opportunities to identify Jodey’s vulnerable state were missed (presumably because they didn’t actually speak to her).
Swidenbank told the inquest:
I understand that there is a culture shift from being process-driven to being much more compassionate.
Whitewashing the reality
The coroner concluded that Jodey’s death was down to the DWP stopping her benefits. However, she worryingly said that she’d heard enough about supposed changes within the DWP to not recommend any wider action be taken.
Unfortunately, no matter how sorry and changing their ways the DWP claim to be, the truth is they are still putting disabled people’s lives at risk. Even more so now with proposed benefits cuts.
Jodey’s case feels extremely pertinent given what is happening at the moment with DWP benefits cuts. If the proposed changes go ahead, how many more disabled people will be forced to turn to suicide due to not being able to afford to live?
Cuts kill
The proposed cuts would see nine in 10 claimants losing parts of their PIP in some areas, and many Universal Credit claimants struggle when their benefit is slashed or frozen at below inflation. With the new “health element” assessment being moved from Universal credit to PIP it would see what the Taking The PIP campaign called “a domino effect of financial ruin”.
Over 3.2 million disabled people would see their benefits cut with over 700,000 families be forced deeper into poverty. An untold amount of people will end up in the same situation as Jodey, punished by a system that is supposed to protect them, unable to feed themselves or pay their rent until their only option is death.
The cruellest thing about this though is the fact that the government and especially those in top jobs at the DWP are well aware of the disastrous effects the inhumane system can have.
Whilst the DWP is happy to act like Jodey’s case is an isolated incident, they – and especially disability minister Stephen Timms – know this isn’t true- because they fought to uncover the truth.
Labour ministers know the DWP is deadly
Timms, the current minister for disabled people, was formerly chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. A big part of this role was putting pressure on successive Tory ministers to release reports into safeguarding and the true scale of DWP benefits deaths.
Timms continuously in particular dragged Therese Coffey over the coals on her insistence that the department does not have a duty to safeguarding vulnerable claimants.
The Labour government like to make a big show of being different to the Conservatives. However, the only difference many are seeing is how unashamedly cruel they are. The Tories at least had the decency to be a bit cloak and dagger about it.
The government will no doubt be crowing about the fact that the mainstream media are reporting en masse that the coroner declared the DWP is making changes to the system. It’s our job now at the Canary to show that these are not positive changes.
Fight back
In the coming weeks the bill announcing the DWP cuts will be introduced to parliament. MPs will vote on whether to make these devastating cuts a reality. I implore you to join us and take action
Email your MP if you haven’t already. Taking The PIP has a handy tool to do it quickly and easily. Sign petitions and make some noise on social media. Tag your MPs and tell them what the cuts would mean to you.
This weekend thousands are expected to descend on London in the People’s Assembly demo. But if you can’t make that Disability Rebellion are holding one online too.
The DWP cuts could force so many more into the same devastating decision as Jodey and the government know this – they must be stopped.
For confidential support, Samaritans can be contacted for free around the clock 365 days a year on 116 123.
