A housebound disabled woman who killed herself after her benefits were cut left notes saying she was unable to pay her bills and had no food, a second inquest into her death has heard.
Jodey Whiting, 42, from Stockton-on-Tees, had been asked to attend a work capability assessment before her payments were stopped, but had not been well enough to attend, her mother told the Teesside Coroner.
Family members found her in her flat in February 2017 and an initial inquest recorded a conclusion of suicide but it did not consider the impact of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decision.
Her mother Joy Dove fought a long legal battle for a second inquest, going all the way to the Court of Appeal.
She told the hearing at Teesside Magistrates’ Court how her daughter, who was a mother of nine including two sets of twins, suffered from a curvature of the spine and was later diagnosed with a brain cyst.
An Independent Case Examiner (ICE) report into the decision to remove Ms Whiting’s benefits found that a number of mistakes had been made, and her payments should not have been withdrawn.
Extracts from notes found alongside prescription drugs in her flat were read in court.
Bridget Dolan KC, coroner’s counsel, said: “She wrote about not being able to pay her bills and having no food.
“In some she wrote about feeling breathless and having back pain and trying to pay her bills and being in debt.”
Another note stated: “I have had enough.”
In a pen portrait, Ms Dove said: “Her death really impacted on me, and to learn from the ICE reports of the number of failures by the DWP was to play was a further deep shock that I have not recovered from.”
Her father Eric Whiting said in his tribute in court, how she was like the “Pied Piper” as she always had children around her who adored her.
He added: “She always saw the fun side of life until her health issues started.”
Ms Whiting had suffered from chronic pain, was dependent on opiates and had long-standing mental issues, the inquest heard.
Her mother agreed that Ms Whiting, who had six grandchildren, became increasingly housebound in the last years of her life.
She had a hospital stay in December 2016 after contracting pneumonia and that meant she missed letters about her benefits, saying she needed to be medically assessed.
Ms Dove said she reassured her daughter that she would help, telling the inquest: “I said, don’t you worry, we will write in and we will explain how you have been in hospital and you are still convalescing.”
But in January 2017 Ms Whiting was told she had missed the medical assessment.
And the following month, her mother said Ms Whiting received another letter saying she was fit to work.
Ms Dove told the inquest her daughter told her she could not breathe or walk out of her flat.
Ms Whiting received another letter from the DWP telling her that her benefits were being stopped, including her housing benefit and council tax.
Ms Dove said when she saw her daughter, two days before her death, she was “shaking and crying” and had threatened to kill herself.
Ms Dove said she was sure that the stress of losing her benefits was the trigger for her to decide to take her own life.
“I know my daughter and I know it was (that),” she told the inquest.
“It was the fact she couldn’t find a job, the worry of paying bills and being pushed out after being so vulnerable all those years and years.”
Questioned by Jesse Nicholls, for the family, Ms Dove added: “I know for a fact it was the DWP that caused it.
“She was quite happy for me to go through and look after her.
“There’s no way it was anything other than that.”
Two photographs of Ms Whiting were placed on the coroner’s bench at the start of the hearing.
Helga Swidenbank, a DWP director for disability services, said the organisation should have recognised that Ms Whiting had “good cause” not to attend a health assessment, given her illnesses and mental health concerns.
The witness told the hearing: “I was not in post at the time but those who I have spoken to are deeply regretful and sorry about what happened.
“There were a number of opportunities to have picked up concerns about Jodey and we are very sorry about that.”
Ms Swidenbank said the organisation was now more focused on people’s vulnerabilities, although this remained a “work in progress”.
She added: “I understand that there is a culture shift from being process-driven to being much more compassionate.
“We are not there yet, we still have more work to do.”
