A man who claims he was living on vegetable juice and had to take food from this elderly mother after having his benefits cut has won a DWP appeal. Errol Livingstone's Universal Credit pay was cut by the Job Centre, and the former NHS worker said the the shortfall caused him extreme hardship.
He lost £11 per day for eight days, a total of £88, from his monthly payment of £319.84. Errol previously told ChronicleLive 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. While the 57-year-old was pleased when his appeal was upheld, he is also disappointed that the DWP did not apologise for what he considers to be their error.
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"At the end of the day, I didn't do anything wrong, so they should not have taken the money away from me in the first place," said Errol. He claims he was under the impression that he didn't have to attend a course due to his experience in recruitment and was later told he should have been there.
"The sanctions don't give you any right to reply or respond to the accusations, they are just imposed on you," he said. "I go on my Universal Credit journal every day and one day I noticed that the sanction had been imposed. There's no communication or no way you can defend yourself. It's an awful system.
"I appealed and then noticed some weeks later that there was an update that my appeal had been upheld and the money would be repaid," said Errol. "There was no apology or explanation. I had to get a short-term loan to tide me over, which I will have to pay back through my Universal Credit."
He continued: "I was already struggling to pay my bills and buy food on the full amount. Sometimes I feel like giving up. It's not right. I feel they are always making excuses to take the money away from me. I have lost trust with them.
"There are different levels of sanctions they can impose on you and it's really quite easy to lose your money altogether, again without any means to dispute their decision. I'm pleased my complaint was upheld and I got my money back, but I had to wait quite some time to get the money back and I am annoyed the DWP has not apologised for their error."
Errol said that, although he 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 and buys ready-cooked food if he can, searching the supermarket shelves for reduced items and occasionally even accepting food from his elderly mother.
"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," he said.
"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."
Despite a stressful job as a NHS calls handler during the Covid-19 pandemic, Errol says that claiming Universal Credit is more stressful.
"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. Despite that, 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. 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: "Sanctions are only used in a small number of cases. If a claimant disagrees with a decision to impose a sanction, they can ask for this to be reconsidered. Mr Livingstone’s appeal found in his favour and we have paid all benefits due to him. We continue to support him with his job search.”
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