The mother of a housebound disabled woman who killed herself after a benefits cut has described the “long wait” for justice, ahead of a second inquest into her daughter’s death today, following years of legal fights. Jodey Whiting, 42, from Stockton-on-Tees, died in February 2017 about two weeks after her disability benefit was stopped, when she did not attend a work capability assessment.
Her mother, Joy Dove, fought for a new inquest to investigate the impact of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ending Ms Whiting’s benefits, after the first lasted only 37 minutes and heard no evidence relating to the DWP. Ms Dove told the BBC: “It’s been such a long wait. It’s now come back to where it all began.
“The coroner has said it will be a full and thorough inquest and I’m hoping for the best, not just for Jodey’s sake but for the whole family, especially the young ones, who don’t really know what the past few years have been like. Hopefully, they’ll understand it more.”
She will give evidence at the hearing, and told the broadcaster: “I’m anxious, but I just want justice for Jodey.”
The fresh inquest will open at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Monday and will hear evidence from a DWP representative. The coroner at the original inquest in May 2017 recorded a verdict of suicide.
In 2020, Ms Dove was given permission by the attorney general to apply to the High Court for a new inquest, an application that was eventually refused. Ms Dove took her fight to the Court of Appeal, where in 2023 her lawyers said the first inquest did not investigate “whether any acts or omissions of the DWP caused or contributed to Ms Whiting’s death”, and argued that the High Court judges reached the wrong conclusions.
They said another inquest was necessary to consider fresh evidence of “multiple, significant failings” by the DWP when it terminated Ms Whiting’s employment and support allowance (ESA), which was not before the coroner at the time of the first inquest.
Judges ruled there should be a new inquest, heard by a different coroner, saying the public have a “legitimate interest” in knowing whether Ms Whiting’s death was connected to the abrupt stopping of her benefits. Ms Whiting had received benefits for more than a decade because of serious, long-term physical and mental health issues, including severe pain and a history of self-harm.
In late 2016, the DWP started to reassess Ms Whiting, who said she needed a house visit as she was housebound, had severe anxiety and was unable to walk more than a few steps. Ms Dove’s lawyers argued at the High Court in 2021 that a house visit was not properly considered before the DWP terminated her disability benefit, which led to Ms Whiting’s housing benefit and council tax benefit also being terminated.
Ms Dove told the BBC about a letter her daughter received from the DWP before her death, asking “why she hadn’t attended a medical assessment, because it could affect her money”.
“But she’d been in hospital,” she said. “We waited for another letter and I couldn’t believe it. It said ‘you’re fit to work’.
“She looked at me and said ‘Mam, what am I going to do? I can’t walk out the door, I can’t breathe, I can’t sign on’.”
The decision to terminate Ms Whiting’s benefit was overturned on March 31, weeks after her death. The independent case examiner, which investigates complaints about the DWP, later found multiple breaches of department policy, significant errors by staff, and several “missed opportunities” for the DWP to reconsider the claim.
