A RAF veteran being forced to fight for disability benefits for a second time has described the assessment system as “monstrous”.
John McGeorge-Oanta (51) was invalided following almost 20 years service and, after winning a tribunal to retain Government financial support in 2008, has now been told again his benefits are to be cut. He is now planning to pursue another tribunal, with Royal British Legion support.
He said: “I fully expect the decision to change but there’s no compensation for the suffering and stress and hell they put people through by giving people a ‘zero score’ and telling them there is nothing wrong. It’s monstrous.
“They are making the vulnerable more vulnerable so that they can claw back money.”
John, of Swift Court, Spalding, suffers ME – a condition which in his case means he collapses and has prolonged periods of unresponsiveness at least three to four times a week and has constant muscle and joint pain.
Earlier this year, John, who was a medic in the RAF and spent four years with the aeromedical evacuation squadron, serving in the Middle East and Sierra Leone, said a Department for Work and Pensions assessment ruled he was only 40 per cent able, yet this month he has been told he has a ‘zero’ rating for the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP). As a result his Disability Living Allowance Care Component was cut, the carer’s payment to wife Tica and their housing benefit stopped.
Tica (54) said: “It feels like savages coming to take what little you have. It’s heartbreaking.
“My husband served for 20 years in the forces and now it feels the Government is washing its hands of us.”
John Hayes, MP for South Holland and The Deepings, said: “Clearly we want to do our best by people who have given service to the country. I am more than happy to write to the tribunal making that point and supporting his case.
“Each case needs to be judged on its merits and that is what the system needs to do and must do.”
