Terminally ill patients told their benefits may be cut

The government has clashed with disability campaigners and health charities after warning seriously ill patients that their benefits may be cut from next April if its welfare reform bill, which has not yet passed all its parliamentary stages, is enacted later this year.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is sending letters to claimants saying the contributory employment support allowance (ESA) will be time-limited to one year for people deemed capable of returning to employment, meaning those already receiving the benefit could lose their financial help in six months' time.

The provision is included in the bill, which has still to go to the House of Lords for scrutiny. Campaigners believe there is a chance that plans to time-limit ESA may still be scrapped, particularly after Liberal Democrat delegates voted against the imposition of time limits at their party conference earlier this week.

The chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, Ciarán Devane, accused the government of behaving as if the welfare reform bill had been already passed...'


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/21/terminally-ill-told-benefits-cut?CMP=twt_gu


All very disgusting! As I've said before, I hate Duncan-Smith more than almost any Minister, though Lansley gives tough competition.

She died two weeks after getting the letter.