{"id":631855,"date":"2025-12-14T12:03:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/631855\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T12:03:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:03:20","slug":"disabled-woman-plunged-into-crisis-after-appalling-treatment-by-dwp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/631855\/","title":{"rendered":"Disabled woman plunged into crisis after ‘appalling’ treatment by DWP"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stockport resident suffers from cerebral palsy and rheumatoid arthritis.\"SabenaSabena Khan has been left in a ‘critical’ position with her benefit payments (Image: Kenny Brown \/ MEN)<\/p>\n

A disabled woman in Stockport said she\u2019s been plunged into a total crisis by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over her benefits payments. The situation has left Bramhall<\/a> resident Sabena Khan relying on foodbanks to survive, and having to decide whether to turn the heating on or eat.<\/p>\n

The DWP has been slammed by Cheadle MP Tom Morrison over the ‘appalling’ treatment of one his constituents.<\/p>\n

Ms Khan, 47, lives in a flat and suffers from cerebral palsy and rheumatoid arthritis, relying on carers for support day and night. She receives direct payments from Stockport<\/a> council to pay for her care, and survives on money from Universal Credit and Employment Support Allowance.<\/p>\n

She claims the DWP wrongly judged the money from the council to be her own personal savings at the start of this year. She said the mix up has affected her benefits payments and left her taking home \u00a3200 less each month than she was before.<\/p>\n

Ms Khan\u2019s direct payments are kept in a separate bank account from her personal banking, with regular reviews by the council. Her medical conditions prevent her from working but she previously had a career in the probation service.<\/p>\n

She said the situation \u2018has become critical\u2019 and that she has been left \u2018facing severe financial hardship\u2019.<\/p>\n

The DWP said Ms Khan’s original claim was closed after ‘capital was discovered’ – but it has not commented on her explanation that this money was sent by the council to pay for care, or answered why she is getting \u00a3200 less than previously.<\/p>\n

A DWP spokesperson added: “After a new claim and further evidence was provided, Ms Khan is receiving her correct payments.”<\/p>\n

\"SabenaSabena Khan lives in Stockport and is struggling to get by (Image: Kenny Brown \/ MEN)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think I\u2019ve got capital, but it\u2019s from Stockport council<\/a> to pay my carers, it\u2019s not for me for my personal use,\u201d Ms Khan said. She reached out to the Manchester Evening News (MEN) after feeling the DWP were \u2018not listening\u2019 to her pleas to investigate the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m struggling to get by now because of this, I’ve got an overdraft and it\u2019s there for emergencies, but I\u2019ve never had to use it before,\u201d she added. \u201cNow I don\u2019t have any choice, I don\u2019t know how else to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stockport council said it is not able to comment on the situation, but explained that it is in talks with the DWP and is committed to ensuring Ms Khan is supported. The former probation worker uses a wheelchair and said the DWP\u2019s handling of the situation has driven her into a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n

She told the MEN: \u201cMy mental health has gone downhill, I\u2019ve been to my GP and I\u2019m now taking higher doses of antidepressants, I\u2019ve never been like that in my life. In April this year I was suicidal, the GP called me in and they tried to help me, it\u2019s a worry, it\u2019s not good for my disability, my rheumatoid arthritis just kicks off too, my sleep has gone out of the window, just everything is constantly on my mind and I\u2019m worrying how I\u2019m going to pay for this or that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just paying the basic bills now, but they [the DWP] don\u2019t care, they\u2019re not interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Khan contacted her local MP Tom Morrison for support. The MP for Cheadle<\/a> said his office was ignored by the DWP when it got in touch about the situation on numerous occasions, forcing him to escalate the matter to the Secretary of State.<\/p>\n

\"CheadleCheadle MP Tom Morrison (centre) has been supporting Ms Khan with the issue (Image: Ian Vogler \/ Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n

It has sparked major concerns about how the organisation is treating disabled people, the MP added. \u201cWhat the DWP have put Sabena through over the last year is utterly unacceptable,\u201d Mr Morrison said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabena is disabled and relies on care funding from Stockport council to help her with essential daily tasks. The DWP wrongly treated this care money as her personal savings, leaving her forced to use foodbanks and her overdraft just to survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy office has been fighting for Sabena since July. We told the DWP immediately that this was care funding, not personal money. We chased them repeatedly – in August, September, and October. We were met with silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one should be driven to the brink like this because of bureaucratic failures. Sabena has been left in an impossible position through no fault of her own, and the lack of urgency from the DWP has been appalling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m demanding answers about why this took so long and why a vulnerable disabled woman was left in financial crisis for months when the evidence was there from the start. This isn’t just about one case – it’s about how the system treats disabled people who rely on care support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Khan added: \u201cI\u2019m frustrated, I\u2019m angry, and I feel like I\u2019m not being listened to. I\u2019d ask anyone at the DWP to try and live what I\u2019m living on, because it\u2019s not great, I can\u2019t go out anywhere like I used to because I can\u2019t pay for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had enough now. If I could work I would go and work now, it\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t want to work, it was my disability that took over.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Stockport resident suffers from cerebral palsy and rheumatoid arthritis.Sabena Khan has been left in a ‘critical’ position…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2919,1267,105,285,1288,2622,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-631855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-bramhall","9":"tag-dwp","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-politics","12":"tag-stockport","13":"tag-stockport-council","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115717827921929361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}