Northwich Campaigner Gets MP's Backing

Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury has pledged his backing to a Northwich benefits campaigner whose tragic story mirrors that of a real-life Daniel Blake.

Barbara Dean and her husband Bill ran a successful taxi and minibus service company up until 1997.

Bill later suffered a major heart attack at the age of 47, which left him unfit to work and he was forced to apply for sickness benefit.

After being assessed by a panel, Bill was refused as he was fit to work – a decision that went against medical recommendations.

They appealed without success and the couple were forced to sell their business and their home, with Bill later tragically dying of a heart attack.

Sadly, Barbara received a letter from the then DSS on the day of Bill’s funeral advising that he had now been accepted for sickness benefit.

She is now part of the West Cheshire Poverty Truth Commission, which aims to help shape how services are run in a way that makes them more accessible and helpful to the people who need it most.

Having previously met Barbara and her colleagues during a visit to the Commons, Mike – now Parliamentary Private Secretary in Labour’s shadow DWP team - met up with her in Northwich town centre recently where he pledged his backing and said he would help work to bring other organisations and agencies onboard.

He said: “Barbara is an inspirational character who’s done a lot of work in local job centres to improve how certain things are done, and to put a real human face on how benefits claimants are treated.

“There are a lot of stories like Barbara’s around, people who have paid into the system all their lives and yet it’s left them down when they needed it most.

“It’s important that these stories are heard and we do all we can to make the system fair and fit for purpose.”