Phillip Herron, a single dad from Durham, England, is another victim of the UK’s punishing benefits system and decades-long attacks on the working class. The 34-year-old father of 3 was driven to suicide after waiting a month for his Universal Credit (UC) welfare payment. At his death, he had only £4.61 in the bank. We can only image his distress.
On March 18, he went to a secluded country lane and committed suicide after uploading a selfie of himself in tears on social media alongside a suicide note. Phillip left his employment at a factory just before becoming a full-time carer for his children.
His distraught mother, Sheena Derbyshire, 54, told the Daily Mirror that Phillip wrote that “his family would be better off if he wasn’t there anymore.” His family was ignorant of his financial issues, therefore his death came as a “total shock.”
Sheena eventually discovered that Phillip owed £20,000 to banks, utility companies, and modern-day loan sharks, or payday lenders who charged him 1,000 percent interest. Phillip was in risk of losing his home. Sheena found an eviction notice from his social landlord, the Bernicia Housing Association, among his files.
Sheena was able to piece together the last 6 months of her son’s life by sifting through his computer and mobile phone. It demonstrated that Phillip’s life was collapsing through no fault of his own. Listening to the past few months of voice messages indicating Phillip’s deteriorating mental health was “the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever done,” according to Sheena.
Phillip’s death has devastated his family. Sheena stated that his youngest daughter is “completely lost.” She misses her father so badly. She had a dream the other night that he appeared to her. She stated, “I implored him not to go again.” But when I awoke, he was not there. The children have not even been provided therapy.”
Sheena will submit the evidence she discovered among Phillip’s possessions during the impending inquest following his death, which will be held in Sacriston, County Durham, to reveal how the UC system failed him.
UC was introduced in 2010 and implemented nationally between 2013 and 2018. It is a single benefit payment that replaces 6 former benefits for the jobless and people on low incomes. The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has proposed streamlining the benefits system, which is intended to encourage individuals into low-wage employment and reduce payments as part of a £12 billion cut to the welfare budget.
Because UC is paid in arrears, an initial claim must be filed at least 5 weeks before the first payment is made. This creates enormous misery. “When people come to the government for aid, they are already desperate,” Sheena told the Daily Mirror. “Making people wait so long for compensation is risky. There’s no reason it should take this long. Phillip already had issues, but I believe this was the last straw.”
Phillip’s death sparked an outpouring of grief, sorrow, and hatred on social media. The Manchester Evening News Facebook page received 260 comments, including “This is inhumane,” “those poor youngsters,” and “the poorest loans should be wiped off like the banks were.”
Another tweet targeted Amber Rudd, Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions [DWP], who has been retained in Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new class war cabinet: “You should hang your head in shame.”
In response to the tragedy, a DWP representative stated: “Suicide is a highly complicated subject, therefore it would be incorrect to relate it to someone’s benefit application.” In response, one user on social media said, “Now another dead on their blood-soaked hands.” Someone from Leeds wrote, “So previous Tory Prime Minister “Theresa May” sobbed after losing her position.
She seemed unconcerned about the working-class victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster. She never cried for those who suffered as a result of Universal Credit cuts and even committed suicide when all hope was lost.”
Joy Worrall, an 81-year-old retiree, plunged herself into a quarry in North Wales in May after the DWP froze her pension benefits, leaving her homeless with only £5.
Martin John Counter, a 60-year-old Bromley resident, took an overdose in September after being falsely accused of benefit fraud. He suffered from a variety of health issues that rendered him ineligible for employment. He had failed to notify the DWP of certain bank funds when he applied for Employment Support Allowance (ESA), a vital payment for persons with disabilities.