A former NHS worker who is living on cartons of vegetable juice and refusing to use his oven due to the rising cost of living has slammed the Job Centre for taking £88 off his benefits.
Errol Livingstone, who used to work in recruitment and as a NHS call handler, is currently claiming Universal Credit. The 57-year-old, who lives in central Gateshead, said he has been sanctioned for not attending a course about interview techniques.
He claims he was under the impression that he didn't have to attend due to his experience in recruitment and was later told he should have been there. He will now have £11 per day for eight days, a total of £88, deducted from his next monthly payment of £319.84.
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Errol said he is already struggling to pay his bills and purchase food on the money which he receives. He said he has, at times, lived on cartons of pure vegetable juice, fresh orange juice and fruit. He said he also has to take food from his elderly mother and search the supermarket shelves for reduced items.
Errol, who is fighting to get his money restored, said: "Sometimes I feel like giving up. I feel they are always making excuses to take the money away from me. I have lost trust with them. I have worked in recruitment. I could probably do their job!
"I don't think the Government has got an understanding of what it's all about and what it's like to survive. They haven't got a clue what people have to go through if they lose a job or they are made redundant. They're not helping people at all, they are making it worse all the time. I don't think they understand the extent of how people are living.
"I live on very little when it comes to food. I have had to adapt to do that. I'd love to go and have a coffee with people in Costa but I have to blank all that out, it's impossible to do anything like that. I'm starting to find going to Greggs has got dearer, you start to think of those things as luxury."
Errol said that, although he lives alone and owns his own property, he is already struggling to pay for all of his bills, which include his water, phone and his building insurance. He said he is trying to cut the costs of his gas and electricity by not using everyday items in his house, such as his oven.
He said: "I've turned the radiators off in the other rooms I don't use. It's not healthy to have a house with the heating off all the time, it's going to get damp in time. You have to go into a bedroom which is freezing cold and your nose is blue.
"I have an oven but I could never put anything in the oven that takes too long to cook, it would be uneconomical. I'm cautious of boiling the kettle as I know that would cost. I try not to use the microwave very often either.
"I own my property but I know if I was renting it would be really, really frightening because it's so easy to end up on the street. Once you fall behind in your rent it's very, very hard to get back on top of it again."
Errol said he walks everywhere, despite having arthritis in his foot and a hernia, as the Metro is "too expensive". He said he often visits his local Tesco to look at the reduced food but he finds himself battling with others for items.
He said: "I don't want to keep taking off my mother's pension, I don't want to burden her. When I have a little bit of money I have a look in the Tesco near me. They have a food counter and I buy a chicken which is already cooked. You can only keep it for a few days but in the long term it's better than cooking one from scratch.
"They have counters in Tesco which have reduced items and the first thing I look at is how long does it take to cook. I find there's more and more people waiting around the reduced shelves and sometimes you can't even get to the shelf because there's too many people.
"One day a worker was taking stuff off the reduced shelf. She said 'I'm going to reduce them again'. The other people didn't leave, they stood until she came back but I didn't have time to wait for her coming back. All these people must have been as desperate as me!"
Errol said he has a number of qualifications including a degree in fine art and art history and a BTEC in Business Studies. He said over the years he has worked in customer service, publishing and graphic design. He said he also worked as a recruitment officer for a recruitment company in Newcastle called Man Power.
He said that during the Covid-19 pandemic he was employed as a call handler for the NHS, which caused him a lot of stress. This has now exacerbated since he started claiming Universal Credit around four months ago. He said that despite this he completes his work diary everyday, attends interviews and turns up to meetings with his advisor.
Errol added: "When I worked for the NHS I was helping people and it was very, very difficult because people were dying. I spent two-and-a-half years doing that and I was taking over 100 calls a day. Because of all the stress I burnt out and I had to go to see my doctor.
"I feel signing on to Universal Credit is the most stressful thing I have ever taken on and I feel this Government is to blame.
"I feel the whole situation now is depressing - it's diabolical and it's managed poorly. The people at the top are not helping. It's like they have forgotten the people who are really vulnerable. They look at you as if you are not worthy. They treat you like a child.
"You're pushed from pillar to post with different people and sometimes you don't feel they're understanding. It's in their favour to be sympathetic with these people and stop punishing them all the time. It's just really unjust.
"Your desperation causes more stress and anxiety and it starts to affect the way you do everyday things. It gives you less incentive to participate with the rest of the community. I feel useless, I don't feel they are helping me at all. I feel they are making me worse."
A spokesman from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said: "People are only sanctioned if they fail, without good reason, to meet the conditions they agreed to, and Mr Livingstone failed to participate in his agreed Restart programme.
"Throughout his Universal Credit claim, Mr Livingstone has been offered support tailored to his individual circumstances, via our dedicated work coaches, who are helping him get back into work."
Errol disputes the DWP's claims that he didn't participate in the Restart programme. He said he has participated in the programme but did not attend one of the star technique sessions.
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