A KENDAL man suffering from a chronic illness was left without his benefits for more than three months after an alleged missed medical appointment.

John Heaton was diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease more than 12 years ago.

He also has a severe obstructive pulmonary disease and is suffering from a hip injury and extreme weight loss.

Mr Heaton is unable to work and relies on the help of his carer, Kath Dunning, who is with him 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

However, at the end of May Mrs Dunning received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions saying that 59-year-old Mr Heaton had missed a medical assessment.

"I rang the relevant authorities to tell them that I hadn’t received a letter about the assessment," she said.

“They told me to put it in writing which I did. They then replied four weeks later after numerous phone calls from myself to say that they were upholding their decision. This meant that I would have to take it to a tribunal and John would have to apply for Jobseeker’s Allowance."

Mr Heaton claims £130 a week in benefits, which is used to pay for all his food, clothes and other essentials.

"I do not get any carer's allowance either because I work so I am not allowed carer's allowance," Mrs Dunning, who is the manager of the George and Dragon pub in Kendal, said. "I do not want that anyway.

"We never had very much money because we were just living on what I earned."

Mr Heaton, who weighs less than eight stone due to his conditions, had his last medical assessment a decade ago.

His driving licence was taken away from him, he was told he would never be able to work again and that his condition may deteriorate.

"Looking after him is a big job," Mrs Dunning said. "And I am now giving up the job as manager to look after him full time."

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has hit out at the Department for Work and Pensions over Mr Heaton's situation.

Back in October last year, the then Secretary of State at the DWP, Damien Green, said that they would no longer reassess benefits for those who have long-term sickness.

However, a freedom of information request from Mr Farron revealed that the DWP do not record data which would allow them to pull out the group of claimants who have chronic illnesses.

Mr Farron said: “The Government have let down millions of people across the country who have chronic diseases with another shameful U-turn.

“This pathetic decision to break their promise on re-testing benefit claimants who have long term illnesses will cause more misery and discomfort for many people up and down the country who continue to be dragged to medical assessments just because the DWP can’t be bothered to make records of who is chronically ill.”

The FOI response confirmed that ‘departmental systems do not record data exclusively related to chronic illnesses’. The department has said that this is because Employment and Support Allowance assess someone’s capability to work, rather than just registering what condition they have.

A DWP spokesperson said: “As part of our Work and Health Green Paper we announced plans to end routine reassessments for people with severe, lifelong illnesses and consulted with relevant charities and medical professionals on how this could be implemented. We are currently finalising how this will work in practice and will make an announcement shortly.”

Now, after more than three months without the money, Mr Heaton has started to receive his benefits again. Mrs Dunning said that she was told the letter she was supposed to receive went to the wrong address.

She has been left frustrated with the way the situation was handled and hopes it will not happen to others.

"I think before they start sending out these letters for those that are severely disabled they should pay them a home visit," she said. "If you have the notes they do not need retesting because their conditions are never going to improve."