Tens of thousands of sick and disabled people face a year’s wait for cash help under the Tories’ cost-cutting.{jcomments on}
Claimants are close to despair and even suicidal because of the chaos in the new benefit system, an insider has revealed.
Applications should take no more than 26 weeks to process – but many are taking twice as long.
A call centre worker for private contractor Capita, which handles assessments for the Department for Work and Pensions, said: “I've had people on the phone crying their eyes out and saying they are going to commit suicide.
“On one occasion I had to call an ambulance because they said they had stopped taking their medication. Some people have been going for months and months without money.”