#Cancer victim waits 11 months for @DWPgovuk #IDSs flagship #benefit Personal Independence Payment #PIP Mother who had #mastectomy, #chemotherapy and #radiotherapy forced to going back to work to avoid #debt & #starvation. Lyn Ward, a 56-year-old mother, has worked all her life, holding down jobs since she was 14. Last April, she found out she had #BreastCancer and applied for Iain Duncan Smith’s new flagship Personal Independence Payment. Eleven months later, she is still waiting for help. While Lyn has been waiting, she has gone through an operation to remove the #tumour and her lymph nodes, a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This week, finances became so tight she was forced to go back to work, just days after finishing radiotherapy. “We’ve got a mortgage to pay,” she says. “We’ve still got to pay the bills and we’ve had no help. I’ve not even had a letter or phone call from Atos Origin, never mind an assessment. I’m wondering why I paid my #NationalInsurance all those years.” The National Audit Office has revealed that delays – averaging 107 days – are causing “distress and financial difficulties” to sick and disabled people. Given that 10 Downing Street has paid £127million to Atos and Capita to assess people, this is a disgraceful statistic. This week, many people contacted me to say they had waited far longer than 107 days. Lyn, in Bolton, has waited over 200 days and hasn’t even been assessed by Atos.
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 19:10:33 +0000
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