Brain-Damaged British Woman Loses Disability Benefits After Husband Forgets Job Interview

A British woman who suffers from severe brain damage and is paralyzed was stripped of her disability benefits and told to find a job when she failed to show up for a job interview, due to her husband's oversight.

Vince Paul Rodger, a resident of South Milford, U.K., posted a picture of his disabled wife on his Facebook page yesterday and wrote a long caption explaining how the government deprived his wife of her "employment and support allowance" after she failed to make it to one of the scheduled meetings.

“To all who know me and know my wife Julie, the government has in their wisdom taken Julie off her employment and support allowance due to an oversight on my behalf and now has been given her P45 to start looking for a job/work. Julie is a tetraplegic due to hypoxic brain damage and can't do anything for herself. Julie will be attending the job center on Monday morning after the miracle worker has been and rid her of her disabilities.”

Elaborating on the oversight on his part, Rodger goes on to say that he had apparently received a letter which asked for him and his wife to attend a job interview. Even though he had carefully kept it in a safe place, he forgot all about it on the day of the interview. When he explained the reason behind his wife’s no-show, the authorities refused to accept his reasoning.

They gave his wife a P45 — a certificate given to an employee working in U.K. at the end of one’s current employment, which contains details of their tax code, gross pay, and the tax paid for that year — and told her to get a job (meaning that she would lose both her allowance and her carer’s allowance). When he appealed to them to change their decision and schedule a second interview, the authorities turned a deaf ear and informed him that they will not be altering their original decision.

According to the website of the Government of the U.K., “Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a tax-free benefit for disabled people who need help with mobility or care costs.”

Under the eligibility criteria, it is clearly mentioned that people who cannot take care of themselves to do even the most basic of chores like cooking, washing, dressing, eating, using the toilet or even communicating with another person will be eligible for DLA. The same goes for people, who suffer from different levels of walking difficulties, are blind, deaf, mentally impaired or are suffering from behavioral problems.

By these standards, Rodger’s wife should still be able to claim DLA benefits.

The comment’s section underneath Rodger’s post is flooded with support for him and his wife and advice on how he should proceed. “Vince: Would contacting your local MP be a step you could take? They might be able to get through to someone higher up in DWP,” suggested a well-wisher.

Another told him to “contact your regional tv news channel get them to come around and do an interview to be shown on local and national news. Then contact your MP and GP to get this disgraceful situation resolved asap.”