A vulnerable man saw his benefits cut off for eight months by the Department for Work and Pensions after he was sectioned in a psychiatric ward.
Simon Ford, who suffers with psychosis and is bipolar, was struggling to cope on his own in lockdown - particularly after there was a delay in getting some of his medication.
And in December last year he was sectioned for 28 days at Fieldhead Hospital in Wakefield, Yorkshire.
However, on being able to return home to his flat in Cudworth, Barnsley, after Christmas the 46-year-old found his £225-a-month Personal Independence Payments (PIP) had been stopped completely.
"I didn’t find out until I got out of hospital," he told the Mirror.
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"I was at Aldi check out, I’d done a big shop and I was paying on my bank card. I tried three times and it wouldn’t go through."
He attempted to draw money out at a nearby cashpoint and found he didn't have anything in his account.
"I got a letter [from the DWP] telling me a couple of days after. Because I’d been in hospital for more than three days and didn’t inform them, they stopped my pay."
Simon said during his time in the secure unit he hadn't had access to a phone or computer and so couldn't inform the government department.
"I tried everything but they fob you off," he explained.
"If you phone them up it generally takes them about three quarters of an hour to pick the phone up. They are really blunt with you."
Simon said he sent off appeal forms months ago but the PIP payments - which replaced Disability Living Allowance for most adults - have never been reinstated.
He was originally diagnosed with mental health problems in 2013 after suffering a breakdown in the aftermath of his stepbrother's death.
Simon had been running a successful construction firm but providing end of life care for his younger sibling - who was just 28 when he died - took a toll on his mental health.
His brother had a vegetative growth on one of his heart valves due to Endocarditis and Simon provided round the clock care for him in a tiny one-bed flat for three months before he died.
He said the experience - as well as other triggering factors in his life at the time - allowed trauma from his troubled childhood, which saw him grow up in care, to resurface and lead to a breakdown.
Simon is now regularly visited by a psychiatrist and mental health support worker but said the loneliness of the Covid lockdown had left him struggling.
"With not being able to leave the house and not being able to see anyone it’s been driving me crazy," he said.
But he has recently struck up a friendship with a neighbour who also suffers from mental health problems.
"Before, I’d almost given up on life. I go there and have a cup of tea. We’ve been helping each other out. We’ve been through some of the same things. We can just sit there and talk about nothing or really personal stuff.
"She’s been my saviour in this lockdown. If it wasn’t for her I don’t think I'd be here," he added.
After the Mirror contacted the DWP, a review was undertaken and it agreed to reinstate Simon's PIP as well as backdate payments from December.
A spokesperson said: "Mr Ford’s previous PIP payments ended due to the required Award Review questionnaire not being returned.
"As this has now been submitted, we have been able to carry out that review and have subsequently reinstated his PIP award, as well as making backdated payments to when his award was stopped."
