Thérèse Coffey – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
19 September 2019
Dear Thérèse Coffey,
In your recent exciting video, introducing yourself as the new head of the DWP, you said, “It’s a privilege to lead a department that is here to help so many people.”
For us mere mortals awaiting, with clenched rectums, the remorseless UC rollout, I wonder if you are going to maintain the wait of a minimum of six weeks with nothing to live on before receiving our state penury?
I also note the plan for Universal Credit claimants to have their mental health assessed by work coaches to determine if they require extra support. Described by your department as: “The initiative means work coaches can continue to refer people with mental health conditions to specialist one to one support, without the need for a GP or clinical assessment.”
Clinicians train for many years before being entrusted with the lives and well being of others but they are to be bypassed by DWP rank amateurs, absent entirely of any clinical expertise. Have you considered using the excellent recycling teams which visit houses weekly (or fortnightly) who I am sure would be happy to take on such assessments if provided with an hour or two of in-house training?
As a pensioner who, due to UK pensions being the lowest of all advanced economies in the world, will have to rely on benefits for the rest of my dwindling days and am awaiting the move to UC in my area with a mixture of fear and loathing, I have a wee suggestion. Have you considered an immediate response of sending each new claimant a body bag as anyone claiming UC will not have the wherewithall to even afford to die?
All the best, persecuting poor, ill and disabled people,
Keith Lindsay-Cameron
Retired Community and Youth Worker, political activist, Corbynista, marxist, leninist, lunatic Trotskyite antisemitic cultist and defenestrator of televisions (the loathsome one eyed propaganda machines).
https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-youre-paid
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42236328
Fear and Loathing in Great Britain 
Reblogged this on Declaration Of Opinion.
Keith, why are you facing UC. Surely you can claim Pension Credit? Should you have a disability or suffering from a serious illness you could also qualify for Attendance Allowance (which replaced DLA). I receive both.