Jodey Whiting's mum joins anti-welfare cuts rally
BBCThe mother of a woman who took her own life after her benefits were wrongly stopped has spoken out against planned welfare cuts at a protest rally in London.
Earlier this month, a coroner ruled 42-year-old Jodey Whiting from Stockton-on-Tees died after she feared she would not be able to pay her bills or afford food.
But the ruling was only made after Ms Whiting's mother, Joy Dove, fought a long legal campaign, which reached the Court of Appeal, to secure a second inquest.
A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesperson said a review of how Personal Independence Payments (PIP) were assessed was being carried out and disabled people were being consulted.
In January 2017, Ms Whiting had her benefits stopped after missing a medical assessment, although she had been in hospital with pneumonia at the time and was later diagnosed with a cyst on the brain.
Telling her daughter's story at a rally in Parliament Square organised by the group Disabled People Against Cuts on Monday, Ms Dove said she "spoke from the heart".
"When the cuts were announced I had people on the Justice for Jodey site saying they'd considered taking their own lives," she said.
"But then they'd seen her case and realised there is a way to carry on."
SuppliedDisabled People Against Cuts said it hoped the rally would influence politicians ahead of the vote over the Welfare Bill on Tuesday.
The group said the proposed cuts targeted some of the "most vulnerable people in society" and it would make a list of the MPs who vote in favour of the bill to "make sure they lose their seats at the next General Election".
Ms Dove said after years of campaigning and against all the odds, she had managed to get justice for Jodey.
She now wants to help other people in a similar position.
"I've brought Jodey's picture and I think she's supporting me every step of the way," she said.
A DWP spokesperson said: "We continue to offer our sincerest condolences to Jodey Whiting's family and will consider the coroner's full findings, using them to further improve our protection and support for vulnerable claimants.
"We're delivering one of the biggest and most ambitious packages of welfare reforms in a generation to put the system on a sustainable footing and ensure the safety net will always be there for those who need it.
"We are putting disabled people at the heart of a ministerial review of the PIP assessment to make sure it is fit for the future, and we will work with them and key organisations representing them to consider how best to do this."
The DWP said it had made changes to its assessment processes, which included taking into account a person's vulnerability before suspending payments and allowing assessors to use more information to make their decision.