Dear DWP………

The real impact on real people’s lives………..

Ok, so now you can smile, now you can place a tick against another statistic you’ve won, after all we are just a number to you – a number to win or lose.
But what effect on the real person behind the statistic – what price do you place on people’s lives?

I consider myself to be a strong person and you crushed me for a while, so well done, you achieved your outcome. I won’t appeal as I couldn’t face that whole process again. My life is difficult enough without this on going battle. So, much to the disappointment of many, I wave the white flag to bring an end to this unnecessary stress to me and my daughters – oh, yes…..had you forgotten that your actions affect far more than the claimant? It impacts on the lives of those around them as well……

So what type of people do this job? Are they so desperate for work that they’ll take something where the main aim is to demoralise and twist the information before them in order to meet KPI’s? I can’t imagine succumbing to such a role in life.But who knows what role people might take if they too are desperate….

I’d love to meet one of their ‘high performers’ over a cuppa tea and hear their side and in turn allow them to hear mine – even more so, I’d love to meet the person that wrote to me, face to face – after all, they’ve never met me; they don’t know the reality of the decision they made and the effect the demoralising words had on the recipient. I was just an invisible number to them……

If the clue isn’t in the title as to what this benefit is really for – i.e. Personal Independence payment – payment to allow you to remain independent – then you need to change the title. Because right now, because of the comments I received, people who live alone with dementia, will never qualify, because by the very nature that we live alone, we immediately fail. We can never meet the qualifying criteria because we have to survive and manage somehow. We can be very creative because we have to be – we don’t have the luxury of someone living with us.
Seems a crazy title for a payment whereby you have to be ‘malnourished’ and totally dependant on others, unable to find ways of doing anything for yourself.

As someone said on Twitter “Get a grip and get real’ DWP……

But most of all – We’re not just a statistic…..please treat us as individuals and not relish the opportunity to make our situation even more depressing than it already is…..

You broke me for a while but now I’m back, however,  I wonder how many lives you’ve shattered beyond repair……..?

Dear ‘Virtual’ friends

A BIG thank you to you all for your kind comments, emails and Tweets – they were all so appreciated and gratefully received.

AND of course – thank you to my wonderful daughters for simply being there……