01 March 2024 , 13:14
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) threatened to stop the benefits of a disabled woman over a savings account it wrongly claimed belonged to her husband.
Vicky Clarke-Williams, from Wolverhampton, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986. For the last eight years, her husband Chris Williams has been her full time carer, alongside two care workers and a personal assistant, reports Disability News Service. Vicky receives Employment Support Allowance (ESA) from the DWP and earlier this month, the department wrote to the couple to say they had "received information" on an ISA and current account which were believed to be in Chris' name.
The letter reportedly warned that Vicky's ESA payments would be "suspended" if they did not send the DWP information on the accounts by February 29. However, these accounts did not belong to Chris - and when he approached the bank and asked to provide written proof of this, his request was denied, as he wasn't a customer at the bank.
Chris told Disability News Service that the letter had caused them both "sleepless nights" on how they would pay their bills and keep their home if the payments stopped. Chris noted that Vicky already experiences significant mental distress and that the DWP's letter had "put her stress levels through the roof”.
Vicky said: "I feel insecure, angry, I feel like a second-class citizen and a scrounger. I just want to hide away from everyone, everything. When the phone rings I go into panic mode, then just sheer anger and frustration. I have no control over my life.”
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Chris added: “Vicky feels worthless and constantly tells me she would be better off dead because she believes that is what the Government and DWP wants with people like her." After being approached by the publication, the DWP admitted that most of Vicky's ESA entitlement was not affected by the capital in these accounts. Due to this, the adjustment to her benefit payment - if they were suspended – would be 88p.
On this update, Chris said: "We feel angry, exhausted, and totally let down, but sadly not surprised. t seems we are easy targets in a system that protects the billionaire tax-dodgers and hounds us down for receiving 88p. Even some media outlets see us as scroungers trying to dodge work; the trouble is that the public seems to be pulled into the same lie.
“Before the disability, Vicky was a 10-tonne press operator, 50 hours a week in a factory, and I was a lorry driver working 60-plus hours a week, keeping our country moving. We paid our taxes, were law-abiding and contributed to society. Now, through no fault of our own, we have no money. Well, we certainly did not choose any of this."
The DWP has recently provided Chris with written permission to approach the bank in regards to the issue and clear the issue. The news however does highlight the potential risks the DWP's new powers to snoop on bank accounts of claimants could pan out. The department says its new powers are called "Third Party Data Gathering" and would allow DWP investigators to see whether benefit claimants are misleading them about money they have, such as savings which could make them ineligible to claim certain benefits.
This measure was initially set out in the May 2022 policy paper "Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System" and the powers are set to be brought in from 2032 with tests set to begin from 2025. A DWP spokesperson told Disability News Service: “Our enquiries into this matter are ongoing and as such it would be inappropriate to comment.”