{"id":18922,"date":"2019-09-23T11:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18922"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:55:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:55:33","slug":"when-capita-refused-to-pay-a-grieving-mother-after-her-daughters-tragic-death-unite-took-on-the-case-and-won","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18922","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098You have to fight back\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Susan Kemlo was still mourning her daughter, Victoria, when benefits assessment firm Capita decided to drag her through the courts over supposed \u00e2\u20ac\u015breputational damage\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sustained because a judge ruled Capita pay Susan \u00c2\u014110,000 for the appalling way it had treated Victoria.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite Community member Victoria Smith, who suffered from agoraphobia and fibromyalgia, died aged 33 of a brain haemorrhage in July last year \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just months after her personal independence payments (PIPs) were stopped following a wholly inaccurate Capita assessment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mrs Kemlo, who with Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assistance took Capita to court for mal-administration after Victoria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf Capita hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have put the pressure on Victoria and hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stopped her PIP she would have had the will to live. I hold them accountable. After her PIP was stopped she told me \u00e2\u20ac\u0098I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be a burden, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go on\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The decision to appeal the Telford County Court ruling was taken, the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legal team said, because it caused \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsignificant reputational damage to Capita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s business\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But in August, Capita dropped the appeal and agreed to pay Mrs Kemlo the compensation. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it for the money. I launched the legal action to clear my daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name. To prove that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d lied,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Mrs Kemlo explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Capita health care assistant visited Victoria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home in Market Drayton, Shropshire, to carry out a health assessment in March 2018.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite suffering from constant pain and having previously qualified for PIP for six years, the Capita employee found that Victoria did not score any points on<\/p>\n

the assessment and her benefit was stopped by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite Community in Stoke-on-Trent have appealed on behalf of a number of disabled people whose PIP has been stopped after being seen by the Capita employee who assessed Victoria, with every case being successfully overturned at tribunal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Within a few months of her PIP being stopped, Victoria died from a brain haemorrhage, with doctors saying that her underlying health issues, especially the fibromyalgia, had also worsened.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Victoria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s PIP was later reinstated at a tribunal a week after she had died, while the court case brought by Mrs Kemlo in the months after her daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death ruled that Capita had made numerous incorrect statements in regards to Victoria.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mrs Kemlo said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe system is not fit for purpose. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like being in Victorian times when the disabled and the poor were treated as second class citizens. Without our money my daughter would have had no food. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s changed our whole family completely. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not a complete family anymore. I had two children, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve now got one. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re having to cope with life without Victoria.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In support of Mrs Kemlo, Unite community branch secretary for Stoke and North Staffordshire, Duncan Walker, amassed 800 pages of evidence relating to Victoria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case.He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn the tragic case of Victoria, this was just one more example of shocking maladministration by Capita at public expense.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEvery PIP case undertaken by Unite members in Stoke-on-Trent with the specific health care professional in Victoria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case has been overturned by the social security tribunals.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is an abuse of public funds and plainly wrong that such reports are presented as fact and a shameful indictment of the government welfare reform ideology clearly persecuting disabled and vulnerable people.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The decision by Capita to drop its appeal against the ruling should herald a new and more sympathetic way for assessing benefits, said head of Unite Community Liane Groves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite the tragic circumstances of Victoria Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, we hope that Capita and other companies contracted to assess benefit claimants, on behalf of the government, will now adopt a new and more sympathetic approach to assessing claimants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnfortunately, this case is not an isolated incident. Unite Community has an 80 per cent success rate in helping claimants with their PIP appeals. All too often the DWP and the private profit-driven companies that carry out work capability assessments choose to ignore expert medical evidence.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Groves paid tribute to Susan Kemlo for \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe courage and tenacity\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she showed in pursuing justice for Victoria.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must all now work harder to ensure that what happened to Victoria is never repeated,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Groves added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is the message that Unite is strongly giving to Work and Pensions secretary Amber Rudd, as making a claim for benefits is stressful at the best of times and even worse if you are suffering from life-threatening conditions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Groves also lauded Duncan Walker for single handedly gathering the mountains of evidence needed for the case to be won, praising him for a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bpainstaking and diligent task carried out with dedication and great attention to detail\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Though Capita apologised \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfor any additional distress\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to Victoria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family after reversing its decision to appeal the ruling, pledges from the firm to reform its deeply flawed assessment system have not been forthcoming.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead the firm said it had \u00e2\u20ac\u015bconsidered this exceptional case on an individual basis (and) decided not to contest the original default judgement\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In late July the outsourcing giant announced it had secured a two-year extension, worth approximately \u00c2\u0141112m, to its contract to deliver PIP assessments for the DWP.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The firm also signed an additional two-year extension, worth approximately \u00c2\u014133m, to its PIP assessment contract with the Department of Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mrs Kemlo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice cracked when she was asked if she had advice for disabled people and their families at the receiving end of inaccurate PIP assessments carried out by Capita and other benefit assessment firms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bGod help anybody in that situation. I would tell them to fight back. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take it lying down. You have to fight.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This feature first appeared in uniteWORKS, Autumn 2019<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Susan Kemlo was still mourning her daughter, Victoria, when benefits assessment firm Capita decided to drag her through the courts over supposed \u00e2\u20ac\u015breputational damage\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sustained because a judge ruled Capita pay Susan \u00c2\u014110,000 for the appalling way it had treated Victoria.   Unite Community member Victoria Smith, who suffered from agoraphobia and fibromyalgia, died […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[76,44,462],"wps_subtitle":"When Capita refused to pay a grieving mother after her daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tragic death, Unite took on the case \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and won","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18922"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24990,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18922\/revisions\/24990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}