James O'Brien's shocking call with a benefits officer | LBC 

I'm glad this guy is doing that job - too often people needing help are talked down to an disrespected by the very system supposed to be helping them. I have total respect for this guy !!

Respect that man, he's doing a heartless job with a heart.

I totally understand this guys professional experience, it's heartbreaking working in public service. The benefits system is awful.

I think what often gets missed in the discussions about being on benefits (which I have been myself in the past) is anyone can cope with a month or two of scrimping, and going without the odd meal or nicety. What really gets to you is the existential dread of not knowing when it will end, and the mounting mental and fiscal pressures that are put upon you as a result. No one is under any obligation to give you a job in a free market, so you can spend a full-time working week looking and applying for work with no success or income - and most crucially, no end in sight - over and over again.

I’m a colleague of this gentleman, we’re destroyed every day by this and our mental health is constantly on the brink.

that this is happening in a so-called 'advanced' economy is disgracefull...

I often tune in simply to hear James take people to task on various subjects. But this absolutely stopped me in my tracks. Completely compelling radio, more power to this young man and also to James's call screener for allowing this call through the voiceless need a mouthpiece.

Remember £8,000,000,000 + wasted on PPE alone yet the middle and lower class are expected to foot the bill just like the last financial crash.

I worked in the DWP and I can tell you that doing the job has its affect on your mental health because of the fact that you're perpetually dealing with people who are utterly desperate. I left in 2005 (so 16 years ago) and it _still_ affects my mental health and, aside for a couple of years as a photographer, i havent worked since. It's also true that some, but by no means all, staff enjoy the sense of power that they have over claimants and demonise them, or should I say 'us'. These people are then the ones who then get promoted to management roles (I was never one of those), and then make life difficult for those they manage. It's the culture in the DWP to be strict on benefit claims and, even, their own staff.

The real scroungers in this country can be found in Westminster. Ridiculous salaries that are in no way comparable to the people whom they claim to represent. Frankly disgusting expense claims tendered from almost every single politician. Flipping second homes. Back handing government contracts to their associates. Yet the media will attack the poorest within our society. Absolutely sickening that most of the population get wrapped up in the rhetoric from Fleet Street etc. Full credit to the gentleman on the line here. Bless u sir

The lack of empathy with some of these comments, exhausts me. Let me tell you a story...A few years ago, being a lone parent of my 7 year old daughter, working full time on minimum wage (I have many qualifications but beggars can't be choosers if jobs are in short supply) I had to, yet again cobble something together for the evening meal and go without. The next day I got a flat tyre and had to use money that was supposed to be for shopping that week. The next day I didn't have enough money to put petrol in my car - not even £5 worth, so I rang in work sick because I was too embarrassed to explain why! My manager gave me grief on return of taking time off, I had no money, limited food and a daughter who had no idea this was the situation. This was not a "one off". My mental health declining and robbing my daughter of a mum. Now let me tell you, I worked hard! Hard! To get myself out of that. Harder than most of you who declare "just get a job", "you're scroungers", "get on with it". Poverty no longer means a workless household, it is a working household! I am not in that situation anymore but believe me, we are all a few pay cheques away from poverty if we hit the perfect storm of circumstances. I am unapologetic on this. Those who are quick to judge those who have not, keep it to yourself. You look foolish otherwise!

There is a £200 million tax-payer funded party yacht being built. The government plane has had a new lick of paint. No.10 has been redecorated. Boris. A man of the people.

What an amazing man

Future generations will look back at this system and judge it in the same way we do workhouses and debtors jails today: barbaric, sanctimonious cruelty.

I was waiting in a job centre once and a young lady hobbled in with crutches and leg in plaster. She had an accident and was not able to work and needed to know how to sign on sick. The lady on the front desk told her that as she didn't know how to use a computer she would not be able to claim. The young lady was about to leave obviously very upset when I told her that there was a charity set up down the road that could help her with her claim and teach her to use a computer. She was really grateful for the information and as she left I was disgusted when the lady on the front desk thanked me for giving her the information ! I told her that it would have been more helpful if she had provided her the information which is what she was there for. A friend's son got sacked from his job as an advisor in the jobcentre for telling people exactly what they could claim for.

What gets right up my whatever is that if we are working we pay national insurance, and if we are out of work we are claiming against the 'premiums' we have paid. Even the worst insurance companies pay out with less unpleasantness. And MPs - they all have pretty fancy salaries (and many try to earn more) so how can they understand, and what right do they have to make people grovel?

" pitch their misery"...hats off to the guy, I couldn't do his job for all the money in Rishi Sunaks bank account.

I know someone who used to work for the DWP until she was so depressed she became suicidal and left. I have great respect for those that can handle the job, I know I couldn't.

There's no reason why Universal Credit claimants should wait weeks for their first payment. It achieves absolutely nothing. It saves absolutely nothing because the amount of money given is the same it's just given much later in one lump sum. All it does it needlessly punish people who are by definition short of money.

£200 is less than Johnsons weekly wine bill.

I completely get where this guy comes from - working in the charitable sector the concept of pitching misery just resonated so strongly. It must be utterly heartbreaking for those with consciences having to work those sorts of lines day in, day out.

A sad but great call, it’s comforting to hear someone who is very compassionate about the people and family’s he’s trying to help. This government or any other government are overly skilled at wasting people’s money. There are just absolutely no consequences to these people who waste millions day after day. Would you run a business like it?

If some of the details of this conversation aren't making you emotional, angry or sad or whatever, then do you really understand? You'd have to be completely detached to not be depressed or infuriated.

One of my chief reasons to not vote for the Tories. They mostly come from comfortable or very privileged backgrounds that they were born into and by that fact cannot possibly understand with any depth the problems of ordinary working people.

The general tenor of these comments is utterly unacceptable. There is no humanity, no compassion, no empathy. If people earned living wages they would not need help. They could save. Then they could manage reverses. Universal Credit is simply an invention of right wing politicians. Basically, employers are allowed not to pay living wages. The burden of making up people's incomes to non-starvation levels is put on fellow workers. Can these amoral cretins not see the inherent unfairness of this? The problem isn't people not working. The problem is workers being paid such low wages.

It wouldn’t surprise me, if they found out who this guy was and fired him for speaking publicly…

I was on benefits a few years back. I am disabled but was forced to leave home and go out for a dwp assessment. When I got home I found my front door smashed in and I had been burgled. I phoned the helpline as I needed to get a new front door fitted. I was told having no front door was not an emergency and I could not get a loan to fix it.

This guy is in a difficult situation but understanding how it's happening. Fair play to him for speaking out.

When the UK Christmas number one is a 'charity single' to raise money to feed hungry people in the UK it's time for all, regardless of party alignment, to acknowledge the colossal failures of government. For domestic poverty to be accepted and normalised at such levels is a global embarrassment for 'Great' Britain.

My mum raised 4 of us on benefits. unfortunately she just wasn't capable of maintaining a job due to childcare issues, mental health etc BUT she pushed us for an education. Now as a result 2 of us a Doctors, 1 is a nurse and 1 is a teacher. Id like to think we have more than given back to the system

"Pitching their misery" this is the perfect description

This caller is exactly the calibre of person we need running the country.

I'm not surprised , I'm old enough to have witnessed quite a few Tory governments and this is the exact same scenario with every one of those governments .

Worked in the Social Fund dept in the DWP for 4 years in the early 2000s. I see it's not changed.

I started a new job last month after years of being on the sick. I had to wait 5 weeks to get any UC tax credits, my wages went on rent. Tonight I just got back from the supermarket finally having money to buy enough shopping to last another month. I although it has been hard and really scary working 40 hours a week and being left with £50 for the month after bills but before food, i would rather live like this than being on full benefits. That feeling that one day the brown envelope telling me I must go to a building to tell a stranger why I have PTSD, and what happened to me. The years of wondering if this week will be my last payment, and knowing full well that after the pandemic its going to be the poor the filty Tories will pick on. I am so happy I got brave, studied and did a huge jump to get out of the benefit trap. The worst thing is the neo libralist Tory properganda telling people to hate all on benefits and making people who fall on hard times or have awful things happen to them feel like they are worthless. I am a single mum, with little support I suffer with mental health issues, I am brave and strong and hardworking and for years I have been left behind and not experienced career movement, holidays, or any feeling of security. I have pulled myself out of that hole, but there are so many that will not be able to and I fear for them. I fear what is coming and what the Tories will do to the poor and alone again, on top of rising fuel and food costs. I feel like I had a lucky escape, my life is hard but its nothing compared to what pople without options go through.

That young man deserves a far higher job with the remit of changing policy. His intelligence rings through from his ability to articulate so well.

If I had the power, I would switch off the gas to every politicians house for the winter and introduce damp with fungus spores.

I worked over last 4 years as a Change Coach with unemployed. I have found that many people on UC already choose between food or utilities. I gave out numerous food vouchers. The energy rise will mean more people being kicked when they are down. I would think that the suicide rate will rise.

Excellent that James asked about his own mental health

Wow, as others have said, huge respect for that man for coming forward. Well done mate.

The amount of wisdom and empathy within this caller is astonishing. He is truly ahead of his years.

12 years of playing economic roulette with peoples lives making people endure Austerity and "trickle Down" sabatage all backed up by a Barmy Benefit system that actually tops peoples wages up ! while the Foodbank Queues continue soaring out of control. yet they continue plowing through with their insane crusade. it isnt hard to understand the look of misery, stress and anxiety on peoples faces as you pass on by

It's like this in Norway as well.. You have to explain yourself to death to an officer who don't own an understanding of the situation, and who him/herself benefit from a huge salary themselves, and live comfortable. And you'll have to explain it all again next time you speak with them, or apply for benefits - witch you'll have to do every three months to get a minimal (not to live off of) social security, and so the story goes on. The right wing party was in power for eight years, and in that time they f'd up the social system, changed laws that worked fine for decades, raised the coorperate bonuses, made the rich muuuuch richer, made huge tax cuts for the rich, claiming it would create work places - though, the companies or private business owners, did NOT create 1 single work place in the whole country, as the money went straight to huge bonuses for the owners, directors and company managers - and they took the money from, and at the same time criminalizes, the poo - , even put poor ppl in jail bc of the right wing government's misunderstanding of the law (and most of those haven't been compencated five years later). Everyone says Norway is the best country in the world to live in. That may be true, but only to those who make the average norwegian salary of £50.000 - £70.000 a year - or above. This system criminalizes and makes life harder for the almost 400.000 disabled ppl (like myself), and the rest (about 100. 000 - 200.000) (mind you we are less than 6 million ppl in the whole country), low-income pensionists, and those who need benefits to survive day-to-day. Mind you this is the worlds most expensive country to live in, and it's getting worse by the quarter (a loaf of bread is now £4,5 and we pay the most in the world for gas, electricity - even though we in practice can be self sufficient with only water magazines and pay about 30 cents (in NOK) - but nooooo, since the right privatized el-companies, they have popped up in the hundreds - unregulated in any way, and bc of this we now pay up to £7 kWh for electricity alone, and we pay the highest prizes in the world for petrol and diesel (even though out wealth comes from oil - since the 70's) , three ppl own and run the whooole grocerie market, and they are rising prizes on EVERYTHING, especially what ppl need the most - and while the prices rises sky-high, the low income families, the disabled and those on benefits, are not getting a raised income to deal with it, to LIVE...).. No, Norway is not perfect. Not for the non-wealthy. If you are rich or upper middle-class though, you'll have a blast here.

As a person who spent a number of years on benefits due to mental health issues. I want to send this man my deepest sympathy. I have felt humiliated by the benefits system but never by the people who have to administer it. The majority have been caring people doing their best to remain empathetic humans and I want to thank them for any assistance they gave. I'm now happily employed but still have nightmares about my time in this system so my heart goes out to the people who have to work within it. Thank you all.

There are amazing people in the DWP who really want to help people as much as they can. What most people fail to realise is that they are blocked from doing this because they are constantly forced into hitting arbitrary targets. It's essentially a tick box exercise these days, and everybody now loses. P.S. don't forget that a lot of those DWP staff you talk to will also be on UC themselves, because they are not paid enough to survive on.

If your landlord is not fixing the boiler your local council housing team can carry out emergency works and then charge the landlord. Shelter has great advice for tenants.

Same when your medically unable to work with pip & esa you basically have to make a sales pitch explaining why you cant do things explaining in explicit detail how you cant look after yourself, and this is repeated every few years explaining the same stuff over and over despite having medical document explaining these are life long conditions. Answering the same stupidly worded question designed so you stress out which makes your conditions worse then have to through it all again on the phone with a “Dr” who questions and makes you feel inhuman just so you can get just over £100 a week which is nowhere near enough to live on. I imagine dealing with the universal credit system is just as bad.

To this caller I thank you for your kind heart and understanding of what people are suffering.

Imagine not being able to get financial assistance for heating but being able to get financial assistance for warm clothes. What a slap in the face that must be when you call up asking for help.

Vote Tory, this is what you get. You were warned multiple times.

The reason there will be no change is the reason why the comments sections are full. Society has been broken down to the point that your anger fills the comment sections and not the streets.

I work for Universal Credit and if somebody needs help I will release the funds no matter what the penalty may be.

Scroungers? Those that live on inherited wealth.

This is a humanitarian crisis. We need to call it that all the time.

The f cking Tories 😠

This is why we need universal basic income. The fact that you have to beg for money from the government in order to pay bills & not starve is inhumane.

A Nation’s Greatness Is Measured By How It Treats Its Weakest Members........so every tory voter should hang their head in shame for what they have helped turn this one caring country into.

As an ex-manager of a northern food bank, I witnessed at first hand parents who were in a low paying job, receiving Universal Credit, and going hungry. Imagine the cruelty of a system that sanctions a family for nine weeks because dad took his daughter to A&E hospital in the next town instead of keeping his job centre interview appointment. Yet people who managed to get out of poverty would turn up with a bag or two of food donations as a thank you. I never once met anyone I would have labelled as a scrounger. I met a lot of people and families who were floored by a bit of bad luck and didn't have any resources to fall back on.

And we’ve just had the Governor of the Bank of England saying don’t ask for pay rises, the man on nearly £600 thousand pounds a year. F f s…I despair I really do

The only RU-vid video from a media outlet that I have seen and heard discuss this reality. If Covid lockdowns taught me anything it was actually the huge amount of vulnerable people there are in our society.

Fair play to that guy. He is really doing his job with ❤ in a place where the mindset is becoming increasingly more heartless. Being reliant on help from our social welfare system carries stigma for so many people who may well be without choice. Yet we turn a blind eye to the companies and people avoiding paying their dues, who have abhorrent amounts of money in the bank. Working households are slipping further and further into the red. That will never be a worry for Rishi Sunak and his family will it? And so many more.

You hear a lot about scroungers and people who don't want to work and would rather be on benefits . What you don't hear very often especially from government ministers is that the vast majority of benefit claimants are in work but need help because their wages are too low to live on without augmentation

My experience. The forms have to be filled in with the appropriate answers. Left to myself it is hopeless. The CAB have the words that are necessary. Specific actions are required.

the secondary trauma of doing this kind of work is soul crushing it's why the system has to be improved.

I used to work on Crisis Loans which was the emergency fund that happened before this... The Tories axed it and it eventually became this. It was exactly the same - degrading. People had to justify every penny of their expenditure. A lot of DWP staff are cynical and the culture is geared towards making people feel bad for being on benefits, rather than help them get off.

This guy is sadly rare today. I was brought up on benefits with a dad disabled with MS. This was at a time when mums generally “didn't work” as in my case with a mum who was restricted in ability to do so as a career with young children. We not only survived we thrived and I don’t need a lone for feel. That was over 70 years ago. I don't think a family like ours would do

This guy is very rare. Most people who work for the dwp are convinced everyone is committing fraud. The whole system needs scraping.

Brought tears to my eyes great caller

My mrs,had a business for 25 years, employed lots of people throughout the years, payed for apprenticeships, building insurance, lawyers, council bins emptying, abuse of customers, etc etc etc…after 25 years and let me say she worked her backside of…sometimes working 70 hours per week and bringing home 65 quid once she payed her employees, rental,stock ,etc,,,she quit,,,exhausted…eventually after 7/8 weeks of not having employment, and having bills to pay..joint mortgage, car loads, food etc..she went to try and get some kind of benefits, some kind of help…she got nothing absolutely nothing,,,because I was working and making 28k a year which is the threshold for claims….so working people are also stuck,,,,working people get zero help. The lady next to me who had just arrived with the drug dealer partner, her monclair jacket, and Range Rover outside, was in claiming money saying she was depressed and could get a job🤦‍♂️

It's so sad that people in one of the worlds richest countries have to beg from the govt that has wasted and lost billions of pounds, and pay themselves exorbitant wages AND claim expenses. I don't understand how callous these people could be. I really don't know how mps and the civil servants hold there heads up when walking down the street.

James you are partly responsible for this for propping up the centrist mantra aganist Labour

This is exactly the same as it was in 1975 when it was Supplementary Benefits. If you needed something you had to plead to the visiting officer that called around your home to check. So what do you do?

I totally get this guy and applaud his humanity. I work for my local authority and every single day I see tax revenue being wasted because institutionalised automatons would rather throw someone else’s money into a bottomless pit than address issues and fix them properly. I try to make a noise about it, but I’m never going to be heard ☹️

ive had to deal with the opposite of this caller and its awful. even spoke to a nice guy once who gave me great advice , advised i call back on a certain date to progress my issue only for the guy to pick up that time essentially say i was lying about the arranged call back and the agreements that were made last call. its insane

The Tories should hang their heads in shame

Constance Markiewicsz, Irish revolutionary, socialist and first woman to be elected to the British Parliament, gave a shirt off her own back to a woman in Dublin one day and died poor. 300,000 people went to her funeral. I wonder how Sunak will be remembered?

We need to change the system not just moan and let it be..this whole country is fooked!!!

Those ATOS people are an absolute disgrace like, Two thirds of people end up winning there appeals, What a way to treat sick people.

There is no doubting there is some people who are "scroungers" but the vast majority of people are people who genuinely need help. It's amazing how the Tories have brainwashed the public, most of whom would be on benefits if they were even to loose their job that the problem in this country is scroungers and not their very rich friends who don't pay their fair share into the system.

What a mess the UK is in!!!!

If it’s here in the states or in England . I love when folks know how to speak truth to power. I just found this guy but I love it already

These poor working class and food bank tory voters should stop voting for the tories, simple as that.

I'm a 39 year old disabled man who had an accident in Jan 2012, it took a year to get any help so the start of 2013. I was then assessed and lost both my esa and my DLA, 6 months later after being left over winter wanting to end my life, my medical records went to a judge and a doctor and they over ruled the dwp. Now this is why my mental health is bad, after winning that appeal, I was assessed again 6 months later, I was waiting for major back surgery and my so called medical professional LIED on my report, not only did she lie but the stuff in it was laughable, and then after a so called disability anylist on 34k a year sees you for 45mins, this info was passed onto a decision maker who quite frankly have got blood on their hands, decided I was fit for work, failed on appeals. And then 6 months later 3 years after my accident in having my spine straightened out, 2 disks fused and metal pins put in, my surgeon couldn't belive how bad it was. I've been fighting for answers on why I failed and got so much evife of neglect I have to share my story and expose these filthy a scumbags, my heads a mess with what I know and I'm scared for my life under this government I can't lie, it's either that or end my life but I'll make sure I expose the medical professional and my decision maker, familys need to know what they're doing to people

This is a bit depressing. I can't get my head round that 9.7 billion that was wasted. That's enough to really transform whole cities, schools , hospitals you name it. It's upsetting, really is.

If there weren't so many scroungers there wouldn't be so many hoops to jump through.

What a fantastically empathetic and eloquent young man

If you work full time you should be able to live on your wage. It doesn't matter what your job is, you are contributing. You should be able to live a happy life. This is Britain in 21st century, not Russia or China.

The way he frames it as people having to ‘pitch their own misery’ in order to ask for money to survive is so dehumanising and monstrous. There has to be a better way

On UC , been declared fit for work despite being on a waiting list for a life changing spine operation for 15 months (Thanks COVID) .... bit annoyed when I payed 40% Tax for 20+ years that they are making me jump through hoops for £300/month.

Just come off UC after 12mths. HOW THE F*&K I Managed no idea. for last 3 months we got 0. No help with medical issues, no advice what i can claim, no one wanted to help.

I live in Texas and know nothing about uk politics but i find these conversations fascinating and listen to lbc all the time while I’m working

When the history of our times comes to written Universal Credit will regarded in the same way as the Household Means Test. It was hated. People were forced to sell assets before they were given relief. My Mum's aunt , recently widowed was told she had to sell her piano before she they would give her any money. The Tories will never change.

This makes me both incredibly sad and frothing angry.

I felt the caller was incredibly insightful, thoughtful and considered. I’d vote for someone like that.

What is saddest about this call is I've heard it all before, time and time again. But what I don't understand and never will really is why ordinary working people and even poor people vote tory..and then defend their position with the most ridiculous arguments while making similarly ridiculous attacks on Labour policies. A colleague and I recently had a heated discussion about the Govt's handling of Covid. He's a lifelong tory from down South and has worked hard to build a successful business. I pointed out that this tory govt had mishandled hundreds of millions of pounds running into billions. His response was rather angrily shouting 'we had to do something' and Labour in power would mean we'd still be talking about it now. (see what I mean about ridiculous points) So I asked him, so in that context do you think it's acceptable to have a situation where companies with no experience are handed out millions of pounds to supply things like PPE and he said 'yes' (another ridiculous point) and I asked do you also think it's ok that tory party donors were 30x more likely to get a govt contract than anyone who wasn't, with little or no scrutiny and without any alternative tenders?.. and he said 'yes'. I said then..so you are ok with blatant corruption, and he said...nothing...he just sat there fuming.

Go listen to the lyrics of the song by the band: Dead letter -" fit for work".. It's on a similar theme - justifying ones situation to a benefits officer who has to abide my the cruel rules they have to follow.

GREED, GREED, GREED........ Absolutely no empathy for people and it's getting worse. The subtle way the media puts out the message of scroungers and people who genuinely need assistance are made to feel like beggars just to have a subsistence lifestyle .

I have multiple health issues including heart, kidney, diabetes , IBS. I was assessed by these c...s. I was told there was nothing wrong with, given zero points. And thrown out my flat as I couldn't pay the rent.

I’ll be honest, I don’t particularly like O Brian on many things. I am disabled quite badly with spine disease and still work full time. I am actually dying slowly of an extremely painful illness and have every excuse to probably not work. Orthopaedic specialists and my GP regularly state that they think in their opinion I shouldn’t be working. I have gone onto benefits when too sick to work and I get absolutely hounded to get back to work to “pay my way.” The DWP are fully, fully aware of my condition, backed up with x rays and letters and they know I aren’t lying. Despite this, I have waited 18 months for EMERGENCY surgery which needed doing within 2 weeks in November 2020. I have a broken spine, arthritis, no discs and a ton of metal in there already. I have spinal cord compression which needs reliving….this causes incontinence. My employer can’t really make reasonable adjustments for this and they can’t sack me either. Obviously I can’t quit. The system is absolutely wrong.

I Daniel Blake. They are just following evil rules set down, no help with utilities it’s up to you, no help with heating its up to you and landlord, but a duck house on expenses that’s fine