The DWP has apologised for telling an electrician to quit his £40k-a-year job and find another which doesn't require walking in order to claim benefits - after deeming him 'fit to work' with a broken leg.
Martin Flowers, 60, was signed off sick by a doctor after having an accident at work, which has left him on crutches and unable to return to his position since January.
Due to his injury, the skilled electrician has been living off £415 a month Statuary Sick Pay (SSP) and put in a temporary claim for Universal Credit to help pay his bills.
Martin Flowers, 60, was signed off sick by a doctor after having an accident at work, which has left him on crutches and unable to return to his position since January.
Due to his injury, the skilled electrician has been living off £415 a month Statuary Sick Pay (SSP) and put in a temporary claim for Universal Credit to help pay his bills.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Found we fit to work the work coach said there is a probability that you will have to give up the job
00:07Take something in the meantime because of the length of time
00:11They will take you to heal up and get back to your normal job
00:14Yeah, so I said do it that mean I'm gonna have to give up my job
00:18It says possibly yes, because you will have to take other employment. My company's been absolutely brilliant fully supportive of me
00:26They could quite easy have got rid of me, but they haven't they're absolutely excellent
00:34Kept in touch all the way through
00:36The doctors have been brilliant looked after me and everything
00:41Until we get to this point
00:42We're worried we stand to lose everything if they sanction us because I won't find work
00:48Yeah, but I've got a job you tell her I'm not under a GP
00:52I'm under a consultant and it literally like banging my head against the brick. Yeah, because there are people who are
01:00milking the system
01:02But for people like myself
01:04It's like a blank carpet
01:08everybody's tired of the same brush regardless and
01:11the
01:13Statute the process they use if you pass it you're deemed fit
01:18Regardless of everything anything else. Can you dress yourself?
01:21I said, yes, I can put my clothes on but I do need a hand from my wife
01:26Yeah, depending on my mobility at the time somebody's terminally ill will pass a tick box
01:32Yeah, and they become made and told if you don't work
01:36You will be sanctioned. Yeah, and that is the attitude that I have had
01:42from somebody who you've
01:44On there and the work