quote:

EXCLUSIVE: 12 TUMOURS REMOVED BUT BENEFITS BOSSES SAY I'M FIT FOR WORK Jan 24 2006

EXCLUSIVE Mum-of-two fears she'll lose her home

By Natalie Walker


A CANCER sufferer fears she and her kids will be left homeless after her sickness benefits were stopped.

Tracey White, 36, had her money stopped by benefits chiefs six weeks ago, although three doctors backed her claim that she is too unwell to work.

Mum-of-two Tracey has had three operations to remove 12 tumours from her throat, followed by radiotherapy.

But last week, she was told her appeal against the Department for Work and Pensions' decision that she was fit to work full-time had failed.

Tracey, who is still employed by Tesco, said yesterday she had been stunned by the outcome of her interview with a doctor acting for the DWP.

She said: "I did not think for one minute he'd think I was fit enough to work.

"He asked me daft things like could I walk up three steps or could I answer a phone.

"I could do these things for a couple of minutes but that does not mean I'm well enough to work 37 hours a week stacking shelves or in the warehouse.

"My mortgage is £210 a month, so we have next to nothing left to feed, clothe and heat us. If this goes on much longer I really think we could be left without a home."

Tracey, of Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, has gone back to work several times over the past year.

She was allowed to work fewer than 15 hours a week and still receive benefit. But the brave mum, whose husband John was laid off as a spray painter last year, has found it too tough since her last op.

She said: "There's nothing I want more than to have the strength to make money to look after my family.

"But my doctors say I'm too weak and need a wee bit more time to get better. The last thing I want or expect is handouts. But this is out of my control."

Tracey, John and daughters Jade, 13, and Zoe, 10, have only £77 a week in income support to live on after the withdrawal of the £88-a-week benefit.

Her GP Dr Graham Riddle, of Alloa Health Centre, wrote to the DWP: "I find this decision quite astonishing.

"The combination of surgery and radical radiotherapy has left her very weak and she has certainly not made a full recovery.

"I find this system completely irrational when it panders to people who will do everything within their means to stay off work but incapacitates people who want to return to work."

Surgeon David Soutar, from Glasgow's Canniesburn Hospital plastic surgery unit, said: "I would be surprised if Tracey will be fit to return to full-time employment for several months."

And a surgeon from Glasgow's Beatson Oncology Centre also asked for her to be given more time to recover.

A DWP spokeswoman said: "Although we can't comment on individual cases, all decisions are made on available evidence put before us."


Top