Blind caller with brain tumour reveals he's been refused benefits | Ben Kentish
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- Опубликовано: 7 мар 2024
- Caller Richard has a brain tumour. He’s gone blind and lost the ability to walk.
He can’t work and so can’t provide for his children.
He’s been refused benefits and has now been waiting two years for adequate support.
He admits that the only reason he's alive is because of his family.
Ben Kentish is left 'disgusted' by Richard's case and brands it 'absolutely shameful' that he's not received better treatment.
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The cruelty of the Tories knows no bounds.
Not just the Tories, Labour started the Welfare clampdown after the crash. Politicians always other us Disabled people as they do immigrants because we are easy targets.
@thirdeyeblind6369 nice try yeah but under Labour we were given support the was various support so even if u weren't given some type of benefits you were upgraded to a better one where you got more money 🤷🏿 the Tories have cut off a lot of things
@@thirdeyeblind6369 Yes, just the Tories, they've had 14 years to deal with this.
@@thirdeyeblind6369 derp. it got FAR worse under the tories.
If you think saying that Labour are somehow complicit in the state of the country after 14 years of austerity, mismanagement, incompetence, negligence and fraud gets the Tory party and their voters off hook then you are wrong and always will be.
What annoys me is that the public only seem to be waking up to the Tories recently. The ill, infirm and disabled have been treated with hostility since 2010. It's ideological discrimination.
More like financially initiated eugenics
It started a lot longer back than 2010 - at the tail end of the Labour government under Brown, I had another serious, disabling episode of vertigo - when I told them I'd got vertigo, they said you can't make a claim based on not liking heights! Their medical ignorance knows no bounds, I had to explain what that term meant medically and had to wait 3 months for help. This was the second time I'd had this problem in 20 years - the first time, no problem claiming benefit.
That’s because it’s only recently that the middle class and home owners have been feeling the pinch as the tories enrich themselves and their cronies 😐
Especially when Ian Duncan Smith shook up benefits by introducing Universal Credit in 2015 I think that has been the one to bring it to the boil and problems have more acute even people on the phone lines I saw a clip of a documentation about universal credit a former support worker telling them to get people who needed help off the phone by telling them to do it all themselves online. When there’s people out there who will struggle or have no access at all to internet making them fall on hard times & that was even before the cost of living crisis we have now.
@@mjwilliamsb2676 wait. you can claim for vertigo? USA here and I've lost 2 jobs and counting from missed work due to recurring vertigo. My only option: work until I lose another one then find a 4th job and repeat.
I have no issue with my taxes going towards supporting this gentleman and his family. In fact this is exactly what I want my taxes spent on.
yup. yet for years 25% of all our income tax has gone to tory donors.
Precisely
Yes as opposed to the rich
Even if he's got £100,000 in the bank?
@@PeterPete🙄
The people in the comments who are shocked... this happens every day! THIS is what so many of you voted for!
These are the so-called slackers and grifters you were convinced to hate... 😢
He has worked all his life, paid his taxes all his life and now that he needs help and asks the government for that help he is effectively told to f*ck off. This country is a disgrace.
meanwhile we paid 15k to settle for a tory slandering someone. i know where i would rather the money was spent!
Totally agree.
I’m an encephalitis survivor with lifelong chronic disabilities. If it wasn’t for my family supporting me, I know I would be dead on the streets years ago. The lack of support for people with disabilities and chronic diseases is absolutely disgusting in this country. I despise the Tories and anyone who demonises people who need help through no fault of their own.
I was hit by a car in a hit and run in 2015. I nearly died. I have severe spinal and mobility issues along with C-PTSD.
I did the assessment and got awarded 1 point.
Appealed it and went to tribunal and was awarded full points on both.
The judges couldn’t believe the outright lies the assessor told.
Exactly same situation with me, I went from 0 to full points. All lies, but thanks to my medical background I was able to defend myself
toryism KILLS. Avoid at all costs.
As someone who is disabled I can empathise with Richard so much 😢. The hoops we have to jump through are scandalous. Doctors diagnosis mean nothing, the DWP and their points based questions overide medical knowledge. The questions worded and designed to help you fail their tests. There are many like Richard who have cancer, and lots of other serious medical conditions but aren't believed 😢😢
And there you have the Chancellor who lost his brother recently, presiding over this disgusting situation and attempting to shore up the greedy with a few breadcrumbs.
A story like this should be frontline news. Shameful, and disgusting are not strong enough words.
Who is his M.P.? He should be named and asked what action he is taking. I am disgusted.
Depends which area of Coventry he resides it and wherever that is all MP’s for Coventry at present are women.
And why are you blaming the local MPs. So this isn’t Tory policy causing all this pain? It’s as if they haven’t been in power for 14 years and your local MPs make up national government policy now. They are ALWAYS looking for someone else to blame.
This is exactly what's happened to my brother. His surgeon couldn't believe it. Stage 3 brain cancer and he was told he's fit to work. He been struggling for 5 years now. macmillan helped my brother and there are cancer charities out there. My heart goes out to this man and his family. It's absolutely disgusting that people have to struggle like this. Richard stay strong mate.
I help so many people daily try and get their PIP sorted. People are turned down for ridiculous reasons. I'm in tears for that poor man.
Being in Scotland our citizens are getting lucky as they’ve moved over from PIP or are being moved to an independent Scottish version called Adult Disability Payment but we are not means tested unlike PIP. There are the odd surprise refusals mainly first time applicants rather than Previous PIP claimants but not on this scale here
@@Ecd4life23 Pip is not means tested in england
@@dizzydoodles i stands corrected since i'm in scotland which is phasing PIP out
... and I've just listened to another caller on LBC claiming its lazy people on benefits who are destroying the country.
If people like this cant get help how does he think lazy people are getting benefits?!?
Hes brainwashed by tory hate speech, divert attention from their failings to boat people and welfare claimants
Because he reads the Daily Mail and/or The Sun and believes everything spiteful thing he reads.
My 11 year old daughter died in Leeds of a brain tumour and when she died, we were bombarded with letters in no times saying we owe x£ back and must be paid in no time. DLA payments were pathetic anyway. the system is cruel to folk like this. Poor fella ❤
❤
I had a friend with terminal cancer. She had never applied for any help and has installed aids in her home at her own expense.
She applied for benefit and was told no point applying because she’d be dead before the claim was completed
Not only is that shocking, but it is absolutely shameful.
That's absolutely shocking and shameful.
This should not be the case. I work in PIP and terminal cancer get automatically awarded benefit and fast tracked
@@Liam-zn6pk it does and did for my late father when he was diagnosed as terminal. He still had to go for a fortnightly appointment at the job centre to prove he was STILL DYING!!!! it was crazy
When you see someone in need, you don't kick them, you help them.
thats not the tory way, they would steal the wallet from these poor people.
That used to be the case...The Tories have changed morality
I work in a public service in a deprived area and I meet people in similar situations to Richard's every day. I utterly despise the Tories for what they've done to this country and it's citizens.
What gets me is that I have heard so many of these stories. Over and over and over again. My friend who died recently had lupus and they took her to the High Court in an effort to suggest that she was claiming what she shouldn't have. She won - but the impact on her was enormous
This is heartbreaking, what kind of country are we living in.
I've a friend who's son was paralysed 15 years ago from the waist down after a motorbike accident. Two years ago he was "assessed" Fit For Any Work and had all his benefits stoped for six months until his appeal, which he won ! The six months "sanctioned" money was not paid !
And the tories accuse others of being extreme
The tories decided i was so unwell i needed to be put into a cage and have all my freedoms taken away in a mental health ward. But i got knocked back for pip. So unwell i literally got put in a cage for how unwell i was, but was not unwell enough to get benefits. 100% joke this country
Same here.
Welfare system means help and protect the vulnerable,
not take away and refuse then the help they desperately need.
toryism KILLS. Avoid at all costs.
Tories have torn the heart out of the UK and replaced it with a Fujitsu computer.
And ‘Computer says No’
What have we come to in this country !!! We can’t give him support but we can pay libel costs for an extremist member of the cabinet.
Government has money to spend on wars but not on its people!
Anyone who felt sad for May today shouldn't . I didn't, I was thinking of the many people such as Richard. This could happen to anyone. It is disgraceful.
There are 1000's of people in this country who are in a similar situation, Tories out
Britain is not a poor country , millions of £ are waisted somewhere else 😢😢
tories have added over 2 trillion to the national debt, almost tripling it. where did that money go?
The tories already slashed public services to the bone. The problem is not mass wastage, the problem is we need more money to fuel services and the engine of the economy and they have absolutely refused to tax the richest in society. This is what happens when you allow all new wealth to go into the pockets of the already wealthy, they squirrel it away, if you give it to this man he will go out and spend it in his local economy - which is great. Money needs to get back into the hands of regular people.
WASTED
tax cuts for the rich,tax avoidance loop holes for the rich and transfer of public to pirvate companies and contracts
@kanedNunable Michelle mone was not the only one Pocketing tens of millions of public money yet she's the only one to be publicly investigated. The fact this country isn't more angry baffles me
This was the hardest call to listen to for a long time. Poor poor man
my son is disabled, yet after 2.5 years we still cant get a school space. i have had to drop to part time to home school him and am about to lose my house. wankers.
And I've just been reading a conversation on-line about Council Tax rises and there were a number of people on there blaming the state of our city on people on benefits (scroungers was a common word). Personally I blame George Osborne for his speeches around the need for austerity and capped benefits, blaming the recipients of being lazy layabouts.
Osborne was a disgrace. Totally corrupt and pandered to his corporate overlords. Unsurprisingly he now has a number of highly paid corporate positions. UK must be the most corrupt nation on Earth closely followed by the US.
Aneurin Bevan was once accosted by a Tory MP in the Commons, who complained that he had used parliamentary privilege to call Tories vermin. Quick as a flash he said, "I didn't say vermin. I said lower than vermin". They don't build them like that now.
the speaker would ban them these days. he's useless.
He was right.
This makes me so very sad. Thank you for speaking up for us that are ill and Disabled. We are an easy target for Politicians.
This breaks my heart 💔 this is what should be televised because of the benefit system !
Why on earth would his MP direct him to charities and citizen's advice?
So the MP can claim they helped, without actually doing anything.
Because he’s probably a Tory
The hateful elite have dehumanised the vulnerable. Using language like scroungers. Absolutely abhorrent. Yet people still vote for the Tories, this is on you and your ilk.
This is rhe worst cruelty in benefits story ive ever heard.
Absolutely shameful……the state of this country atm,and this is what our grandparents and great grandparents went to war for…….the Tory party should be held to account for all they’ve caused
The 6th largest economy in the world. The 2nd largest in the EU. Absolutely disgraceful that people are treated like this. This could be any one one of us.
Ac Milan Scotland is 6th largest economy in the world not England, England don't produce anything
When does their contempt turn into hatred?
I’m seen this time after time , when a Doctor says unfit for work, It means unable to work
IT’s criminal that someone can overturn it
No less someone with far fewer qualifications than a doctor.
@@MrSmith_
Absolutely right just a private company employing someone on minimum wage with no qualifications at all
A company making huge profits at someone’s suffering, it’s criminal and immoral
if this dude had a gofundme, I'd happily contribute. Not even from the UK and this makes me sick to my stomach.
Charity is a failure of government.
as are foodbanks
Tory Britain.
In my 60's I was diagnosed with mental health problems, I had worked I all my life up to then and had paid tax and NI.
I tried to claim for benefits (for the first time) and was refused, I appealed and was eventually granted it. It took about 18 months, in the meantime I received nothing to live on and had to rack up £10K in debt with credit cards just to live.
I regularly think of suicide.
Ordinary people don't realise how bad the Benefits system is. Most would rather believe we are all scroungers, headline's that are promoted by the Tory press.
All I can say is that illness can happen to anyone and most people will have to rely on the Benefit system, which the Tories are making more and more difficult to claim - even when you are genuine!
The thing is people think it's never going to be them.
LBC please put the caller in touch with Macmillan Cancer they supported my family to claim benefits when a relative was diagnosed with a brain tumour. They sorted the applications for PIP, blue badge etc.. without them we would've been in Richard's
position.
This is the norm for the DWP we need to expose these criminals
They do what they're told. We need to look higher up the food chain.
CS staff can only follow the rules. They don't set the rules, the Government do. Sounds like this guy just had bad luck because he would absolutely qualify for benefits if truly fully blind.
Have never or will ever vote Tory.
I will never vote Labour ever
@@jeanlawley6483 Then enjoy more of the same from the Tories 😆
My retired mum is the only reason I survive with multiple chronic illnesses under this system.
It's a pity labours right wing can not be trusted with the NHS.
You support the current system as you vote labour
Dear LBC, is there any way those of us interested in helping this poor man can get some help to him?
A GoFundMe or something?
I realise you have to be careful about privacy, but there has to be a way to send him something.
The welfare state should be universal i.e. For everyone in need .
This is typical of the cruelty inflicted on the needy by the Tories .
Please people never ever again with the Tories .
This country is broken. We won’t make it to October.
This is under the tories and Labour said the tories have not been harsh enough. This is the reality of universal Credit and PIP.😡
The caller needs to ask for an advocate to fill the form in him, there is a cancer charity called Maggie's that will help him with forms and also demand that they do the face to face at his own home. Whoever helps him has to claim for carers allowance. I still haven't had my PIP form reviewed since September last year, although they are still paying my original claim money they haven't updated it for my health and mobility failing due to the cost of living crisis.
Richard did his part, he paid his national insurance I'm sure
Yes, they take with one hand and don't give with the other as the punch you to the ground....
It is not just shameful, it is disgusting, callous and people who lack so little ethics that they should not be in charge of the till at a corner shop let alone other people's lives.
The ‘per person’ rather than ‘per household’ child benefit threshold was an indicator for how inept and cruel the Tories were going to be. I was affected by this and left the country in 2011. Best decision I ever made. I’m sure there are hundreds of thousands of people like this poor bloke. I loathe the UK for voting for these Tory criminals for years.
Is this the PIP assessment? They tell us they should have respect as they are professional. Should never have been privatised. They get bonuses for stopping people claiming the benefit? How immoral is that. Poor guy it’s shameful.
lets not forget, we spend more on PIP assessments and staff than we save. its costing us more money to take from the poor/disabled. its a disgrace.
@@kanedNunableyou have to do the tribunals if you have no one to help you your stuffed I’ve done several for my wife over the years.
The legacy of IDS' assault and persecution of the sick and disabled.
Yep. Applied for PIP multiple times. I'm living solely on Universal Credit. I've lost the will to fill in yet another PIP form and be denied, yet again. And that's the entire point of the DWP refusing by default at first - to take any strength you have left, and fritter it away so that you no longer bother them. I've had enough. I don't have the spoons to deal with it, and there is no decent help forthcoming, not even from CAB, who I've been in contact with multiple times, and who do not have anyone on staff who can help with PIP forms. And even if they did, I'm certain that my claim would be denied again. I don't have the strength, the energy, to take it to mandatory consideration. I just don't.
My mam has cancer. Shes worked since she left school at 17 and now she had to leave work for treatment and shes been refused benefits saying she is fit for work.
Please get your mum to contact Maggies or Macmillan nurses. They should be able to help fill In the forms. Being on a points system you have to put certain words or phrases to get the points. The system is made to be complicated.
@@amymcintyre3781 Hi, thanks for that info. :) She has got in touch with macmillan and they've got forms sent off.. Hopefully hear something soon but we have been told it could be up to 1 - 2 months wait. Crazyness.
This is so shocking! I’m not in U.K. but used to be and hearing this is beyond the pale.. I do hope Richard gets the help he needs..
Im a richard. have permanent damage due to an assualt where I was almost killed, damage to my lungs from pneumonia in bad housing and covid that means my lungs are 120 years old (I’m 43) and a terminal disease. I’m about to have my gall bladder removed after ten years of complaining after the assualt where 3 people went to jail (of 11). I have to use food banks to survive. My surgery is in April. I’ve got to walk to sign on next Thursday 2 miles. My gall bladder is busted and I’m in constant pain. This country is broken.
My dad is a similar position he has several health issues cant fully walk, and has issues using computers. Doctors say he can't work yet someone untrained thinks hes fine and even suggested he could try making youtube and tiktok videos becuase they could think of any jobs suitable.
The working class are virtually working for the Tories wealth, and very little goes into our household's.
And people will still vote Tory, because you know, “ It would be worse under Labour.”
Welcome to the Welfare state. Pretty normal stuff since the Conservatives came into power. Austerity!
This is heartbreaking😢
I am crying listening to this. This is heartbreaking. How can we help?
How can we have a system where the very people evaluating/assessing individuals capabilities to work or not are not even experienced medical professionals 😢
UC-Universal Cruelty. People been campagining to have their doctors notes to make things easier but dwp won't allow it
Why doesn't the presenter publically invite this man's mp on the show so we can hear what he plan's to do about it? If the mp refuses the invitation announce the fact and the reason why.
Thank the tories for that poor bugger’s problems and unfortunately he’s not alone 🤬
Roll on the general election.
What sort of a country have we become?
A right-wing one.
"I met my local M.P at my local food bank.." says it all.
There is no welfare state, if I lose my job and can’t find something similar I lose my home, yesterday I listened to a 70 year pensioner wishing he didn’t make it to 80 because of the state of this country. But any mention of the super rich paying some more we’re told they’ll just take their money elsewhere, it’s like being held to ransom by multi millionaires. And it’s ingrained in our culture now, people don’t think how can we build a better society they think if I can just get more money I’ll be alright.
and its not as if they invest their extra ill gotten wealth (which the tories seem to think they will, but probably as a donor for a peerage) they just buy bigger houses and squirrel it away in Jersey or the Cayman islands
And this is what the Country has come too- absolutely DISGUSTING 🤬🤬🤬🤬 I’d happily send the poor guy some £ to help him
I worked in one of the Public libraries that remained open due to austerity (over 300 closed ) we were instructed to help people with claims and basic computer skills, I was no expert. I tried my best, and had to serve all the other customers too. Libraries also host Citizens Advice, provide warmth, safety and interaction for many lonely, disabled, homeless, children who's parents are working when they come out of school. It still haunts me. This Tory rule disgusts me.
Another day in Toryworld.
He should redetermine/appeal his case. If he's fully blind he will absolutely qualify for disability benefits (PIP, UC LCWRA.)
That's the point. The Tories have deliberately created a system which delays vulnerable people from getting the help they obviously deserve. All in the hope that some will not feel able to go through the appeals process. Citizens Advice and other organisations have been highlighting the cruelty of it for years.
Started listening to this poor fella and was reminded of an episode of the 'comedy' series _Yes Minister_ titled *The Compassionate Society'
Tory Britain, its broken
I lose the will to live after hearing this , TOTAL DISGRACE AND UTTER DISGRACE, this government needs to end
It all comes down to the medical assessment process when you have a Physiatrist. Psychiatrists or nurses how can the symptoms of Multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, and Parkinson's disease be measured, it is like taking your Lamborghini to the village garage and asking Dave to fix it
I just ask again - who is his MP ??? !!!! the MP should step in !!!
Heartbreaking to listen to this 💔
Tory Britain.Lets get them out.
As dire as this story is, it's one of many! Tories out..... Now! It never used to be like this!🤬
This is the Tories in full effect. If anyone deserves help from the state it’s Richard.
13 years of Tory torture
Welcome to ‘Great’ Britain under the Tories ladies and gentlemen
the welfare doesnt exist - its there to stop people getting help - this is all on the conservative government any anyone that votes for them is complicit in things like this
Don't worry scrapping NI will help him out... Oh wait.
My heart goes out to this man, contrast this to my treatment when Labour was in power:
In 2003I suddenly felt sick I rang family for help, passed out before getting to A&E, had 3 fits on arrival, tests showed massive brain tumour, was operated on 3 weeks later and discharged after a week with follow up MRIs for 12 years, Thankfully my tumour was benign although I lost my sense of smell I was always grateful that my eyesight was spared. I had a period of paid sick leave after which I had to rely on state sickness payments and the savings I had until I could return to work.
my cousin broke his back at work, was seeing specialist spinal surgeons and couldnt stand for long and struggled to work. they told him he was fit for work and cancelled his benefits.
England is horrid
This is hearbreaking!
Just how ill is ill enough to qualify for help .