Scot who takes daily epileptic fits deemed 'fit to work' by DWP
24.01.2023 - 08:23
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A Dumbarton man with epilepsy has hit out at the DWP for insisting he’s fit to get a job – despite saying his deteriorating condition makes it impossible for him to work.
Ryan Connelly, 47, from the Brucehill area, says the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has assessed him as having limited capability to work – despite him having daily seizures.
He claims the decision has also seen him receive lower benefits than he should have received over the last two-and-a-half years, which has caused him to mount up over £2500 of debt.
Ryan said: “I am getting pushed to pillar to post with my benefits because I don’t know how to work the system because I have worked all my days. When I finished up, I was on the sick for six months.
"At the time, I was on ESA, but now I am on Universal Credit, and I am down as limited capability to work. They put me down to that after a telephone assessment from a lady down south who took no longer than five minutes to do it.
“After a couple of weeks, I went down to DWP in Dumbarton, and they told me I was to get Universal Credit, which is around £270 a month alongside PIP. Since then, I have been really struggling.
“My doctor and physio said to me that I should be getting different benefits. One of the ladies from the epilepsy department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital told me that I shouldn’t be down as limited capability to work because I simply cannot work with how many seizures I take.
“They have been asking me for paperwork since, so I took my folder down with all my paperwork relating to my epilepsy and my back problems, which I have had two operations for, with the last one being a lumbar puncture.”
Ryan began having seizures in October 2019 whilst working for Smith Engineering in