By Gavin Mackintosh-
Mum of nine children, Jodey Whiting committed suicide after her benefits were stopped, an inquest was told.
42-year-old Jodey Whiting had her benefits discontinued by her jobcentre because she missed a work capability assessment when a letter informing her of the appointment did not arrive.
The heavily burdened mother who had a brain cyst , was distraught when she realised she would not be able to look after her children without any funds. She wrote to her children and her mother to explain that she could not live without her benefits .
FEAR
Gripped by the fear of not being able to cater for her children or pay her bills, Whiting went into a deep depression and took her own life. Tragic and disturbing, it highlights the danger and flaw of the decision to strip someone of their benefits over a missed appointment.
Letters are known to have got lost in the post; the duty being on job centres to contact receivers of benefits by phone or brought to their
attention by their job centre coach before being quick to halt their benefits. Living without money is a very disorientating experience for anybody, let alone a mother of so many children.
AWFUL
This practise by job centres in the UK is awful and exposes a huge deficit in the rationality of the policy.
The eye of media.com rejected an attempt by the DWP to send a generic statement to explain their actions, and they eventually explained ” off record’ that they were following guidelines by the government on punitive measures to those who do not attend appointments.
If indeed the guidelines originate from the government, it reveals alarming flaws in the underlying reasoning of the policy. Denying a mother of nine children her benefits on account of missing a single appointment is an irresponsible operational move in need of redressing.
HELPLESS
She must have been extremely helpless and embarrassed by the decision to render her penniless.
Unfortunately, the system failed her woefully, an urgent review of such poorly thought out policies is necessary. The eye of media.com will be keeping an eye on the investigation by the DWP into complaints by family.
Many organizations cannot be trusted to conduct honest investigations with integrity, so we will be keeping an eye. Cover ups are common place these days in many organizations. It appears the family of Whiting deserve compensation for the reckless decision that sadly led to her suicide.