Inquest finds benefits cut led to mum’s death

Having her benefits cut led to the death of a mother of nine, an inquest has found.

Housebound Jodey Whiting, from Stockton-on-Tees, who had numerous physical and mental health issues, was found dead in 2017, two weeks after being denied Employment Support Allowance (ESA) because she had been deemed fit to work.

Senior Coroner for Teesside Clare Bailey recorded a verdict of suicide due to a “deteriorating mental state” precipitated by the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decision.

The DWP said it was “deeply regretful” after the inquest heard that Ms Whiting, 42, “had lost hope” at the time of her death.

Teesside Coroner’s Court was told how in late 2016, Ms Whiting – who suffered from a curvature of the spine – missed a benefits assessment after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia.

The inquest also heard that doctors subsequently discovered a cyst on her brain.

However, after being finally discharged, a letter from the DWP was found among the unopened mail at her flat asking why she had not attended a recent medical assessment.

That was in January 2017, with another letter telling her she was “fit to work” arriving a month later.

Ms Whiting’s mother, Joy Dove, has spent years campaigning for a fresh hearing after the original failed to consider the impact of the DWP’s actions.

Giving evidence, the 71-year-old said from that moment on she could see a change in her daughter, who had two sets of twins and six grandchildren.

She said: “Jodey said, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t walk, I can’t walk out of the door. What am I going to do?’

”She lost hope, she worried she wouldn’t be able to pay her bills and have nothing to live on.”

Two days before her death Ms Dove said her daughter was “shaking and crying” and had threatened suicide.

In the letters she left for her children to read after she had gone, Ms Whiting wrote: “I’ve had enough, I want peace.”

The coroner at the original inquest in May 2017 recorded a verdict of suicide.

An Independent Case Examiner (ICE) concluded in 2019 there had been a number of serious failings in the DWP’s handling of Ms Whiting’s application.

“Her death really impacted on me,” said Ms Dove.

“And to learn from the ICE reports of the number of failures by the DWP was to play was a further deep shock that I have not recovered from.

”It was the DWP that caused it. There’s no way it was anything other.”

Helga Swidenbank, a DWP director for disability services, said the organisation should have recognised that Ms Whiting had “good cause” not to attend a health assessment.

She said: “I was not in post at the time but those who I have spoken to are deeply regretful about what happened.”

Accepting that “a number of opportunities to have picked up concerns about Jodey” had been missed, Ms Swidenbank said the DWP was now focusing more on people’s vulnerabilities”.

She said: “There is a culture shift from being process-driven to being much more compassionate, but we still have more work to do.”

If you have been affected by any issues in this report, help and support is available on the BBC Action Line.