Defending what millions have died for

Receiving letters in the post can elicit a range of emotions – frustration at another overdue bill, delight that an old friend is getting married.

But for Sharon, a simple letter precipitated nothing short of a major breakdown. Panicked and sweating, she began hyperventilating and quickly spiralled into full-blown psychosis.

The letter came from the Department of Work and Pensions – it notified Sharon in officious language that she would soon no longer receive her Disability Living Allowance (DLA); that she would have to put in a claim for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), DLA’s replacement, but not before being assessed to determine whether she even merits the benefit at all.

“The subtext of the letter was clear,” explained her husband Tony, a long-time Unite member. “That my wife and others like her were scroungers; that the government would try everything in their power to take away a benefit that she relies on to live.”

Sharon has been diagnosed with rapidly cycling bipolar disorder and other associated conditions including depression, borderline personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Her mental health began deteriorating in her early 20s – she’s now 48. Scars lace her wrists from multiple suicide attempts.

Sharon is unable to work. The stress, Tony explains, has such a profound impact on her mental health that managing a job can, for her, indeed be life-threatening.

The DLA benefit, Tony says, is “vitally important.” Because Sharon suffers from severe panic attacks taking public transportation, using a car, which the benefit helps pay for, is the only way she can leave the house. DLA also pays for therapeutic activities such as knitting and volunteer work, which allows Sharon to have some semblance of a social life outside of the home.

Lifeline

For those with severe mental health conditions, it’s these sorts of activities – going to the shop and a simple hobby such as cross-stitching – that serve as a lifeline; that enable them to cope.

But now all of that may be about to change – successfully claiming the government’s new Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which had an initial rollout in 2013, is notoriously difficult. Statistics show that an astounding 51 per cent of all new claims are rejected.

This week Channel 4 Dispatches blew the lid off the harrowing process that goes into claiming PIP. Claimants must undertake an assessment by private contractor Capita, which received a ÂŁ140m contract by the DWP to undertake this work.

Dispatches went undercover to find assessors being trained to complete as many assessments as quickly as possible, and those who finished more could cash in on thousands of pounds in incentives.

One assessor was caught on camera boasting about earning £20,000 each month on most months, and also admitting that often he’ll complete an assessment before even meeting the claimant.

Mental health assessments are particularly inadequate – even a Capita trainer called the Mental State Exam (MSE) “very shallow”.

The PIP benefit was established by the former coalition government in order to reduce the cost of disability benefits.

And so baked into the claim process itself is the idea that you are intrinsically undeserving; that, even if you’ve been on DLA your entire life, you’re one 45-minute assessment away from being magically healed and no longer in need of support.

This is what Tony and Sharon are up against. But even before going through the process of claiming PIP, all they have is last week’s letter – the one that forced Tony to hide all the knives and other sharp objects from his wife, the one that prompted Sharon to lose all sense of reality.

She’s since been referred to specialist mental health services – her delicate mental state, exacerbated by the government letter, has yet to return to a state of relative equilibrium.

“It was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in our time together,” Tony said. “It shows just how a government policy can have a very real and lasting impact on people’s lives.

“Sharon even began to think of herself as a scrounger after reading the letter,” he added. “She kept saying, ‘maybe this is all in my head; maybe I don’t need the benefit’.”

But Tony, who met his wife seven years ago on the disability dating site, Enabled Already, said that he is determined to ensure that Sharon gets the benefits that she’s entitled to.

The couple are ardently devoted to each other – they married last year and have since been inseparable.

Tony, who suffers from diabetes and severe depression, is also unable to work after suffering a massive heart attack three years ago.

System rigged against disabled

“The system is absolutely rigged against people with disabilities in this country,” he argued. “We are made to prove that we deserve benefits to which we are fully entitled. I’ve worked most of my life, I’ve paid national insurance – disability benefits aren’t charity; they’re a right.”

Tony, who is also involved in Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), says people getting together to take a stand against government austerity is the only way to defeat policies that are destroying lives.

“I think of it this way – my father fought in the Second World War and when that generation returned from the war they created the NHS and they envisioned a world where you weren’t punished simply for being sick or being poor.

“When we stand up against this government, we’re fighting to defend what millions have died for.”

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner agreed.

“Important concessions have been wrung from this government– such as on tax credits and the most latest proposed cuts to PIPs in the latest budget,” he explained. “But this only came about because of pressure from the Labour leadership, and the work of trade unions and other campaigning organisations. It demonstrates that people power works.”

“But Sharon’s story reminds us why we still have so much work to do to stop this government making cuts and to win policies that enable everyone to live independently with the dignity and respect they intrinsically deserve in a more equal society.”

This Saturday (April 16) Unite urges everyone to take this same stand against austerity and join us at the People’s Assembly march for Health, Homes, Jobs and Education. Find out more about how you can get involved here.