After recovering from a difficult operation, Gavin informed the DWP that he was ready to come off sickness benefit. He was told that he would have to wait for a formal reassessment - but wasn't told when that would be. That was the best part of three years ago, he says. After several attempted follow-ups, he has given up contacting the DWP.

A taxi driver on the south coast, he says sickness benefits mean he is "probably working half the hours for the same money". He has no financial incentive to change his current situation. "I wanted to highlight how bad things are," he says.

"When you need this help - at your lowest ill health and when you're at your worst - you can't get it. ... And then when you don't need it, or you feel life's much better, they won't stop giving it to you."

What Gavin doesn't know is that the DWP has all but given up on reassessments. The application process - 'Work Capability Assessment' - is now seen by Tories and Labour as flawed and ripe for abolition. A successor regime has not been identified but meanwhile it seems that the DWP has given up reassessing.

The DWP releases no figures on this but in an October 2024 report (pdf, p53) the OBR reveals that the number of people taken off sickness benefits due to reassessment has fallen from a peak of 800 a day in 2013 to barely ten a day now. The phone call that Gavin is waiting for may never arrive.

TRANSCRIPT FROM FILM

Q: So you're working part time now and you're getting long-term sickness benefits. So what's the combination of those two compared to when you were working full time with no benefits?

A: It's no different. So I'm probably working half the hours for the same money. 

 

Q: So there's no financial incentive for you to get out of the situation at all? 

A: None at all. None at all. 

 

Q: So why are you here? Why are you talking to me? 

A: Because I wanted to highlight how bad things are. And this is really important: when you need this help, at your lowest ill health and when you're at your worst, you can't get it. You have to wait for it. And then when you don't need it, or you feel life's much better, they won't stop giving it to you. 

Q: So it's broken at both ends? 

A: Yeah. Busted in the middle, at the end. Broken everywhere. 

When we told Liz Kendall about his story, she replied: "Give me his number, and I'll sort it."