‘I spent 32 years in one job and came out on medical grounds’

He’d worked there for 32 years as a labourer and driver.

Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in 2006, the Abercorn Road man was finding it more difficult to cope with the physical demands of the job.

The 63-year-old struggles with poor eyesight. He has problems hearing. He is prone to ulcers as a consequence of his medical condition.

“I spent 32 years in one job and came out on medical grounds,” Bertie explains.

Before joining the Council in the mid-1980s, Bertie worked as a mechanic at McCandless and Piggot’s garage on the Strand Road and later with Dunlop’s.

“I’ve had three jobs and I’m 63 and I’ve been on the ‘bru’ for two months and one week in all that time.

“I left school in 1973/74 and I’ve been working since,” he says proudly.

Bertie left the Council with a modest work pension in 2017 but was several years off qualification for his state entitlements, and still is.

So he signed up for Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and declared himself willing to work if suitable employment could be found.

After a crushing 12 months of unsuccessful job-hunting, his ESA period ended in November 2019 and Bertie says he was transferred to the controversial Universal Credit system.

The Fountain-native says his first prolonged experience with the welfare system in a working-lifetime has been deeply demoralising.

He has been regularly recommended for jobs he is no longer capable of performing due to his deteriorating health.

Last July he nearly went blind as a result of complications with his diabetes. He suffers from double vision but has been asked to consider becoming a delivery driver and mobile security man, he says.

“I was three weeks short of going blind. I have to go every two months for a check-up to the hospital.”

Bertie is also partially deaf and struggles on his feet due to his diabetes.

“I’ve two hearing aids and I came out with an ulcer on my foot. I might have another one starting and I’ve an appointment to see the doctor. I’ve a diabetic clinic to go to. They reckon diabetes is a chronic disease so I just have to be careful,” he says.

“I can’t drive. I can’t stand too long. I can only walk a hundred metres and I have to stop. I get crabbit. I get frustrated and then I lose my temper.”

Bertie says his experience of trying to access his social entitlements in the age of welfare reform has been dispiriting.

“It’s just harassment,” he claimed. “Nobody wants you at 63. I’d like to work but nobody wants me. I’ve tried to work on my own, jobs on my own but nothing,” he says.

At his lowest ebb, Bertie says he was driven to the depths of despair.

“There’s a few times I’ve felt like doing something really, really stupid.

“For the sake of pleasing Universal Credit. They don’t care. They don’t seem to care.”

The veteran worker says he has now been medically assessed for fitness to work and is awaiting the results of that process. Thanks to an income from a better-than-average public pension he is surviving, but only just.

“My rent is £105 a week. I only have to pay £60 now. I’m living on £513 a month between my rent, my gas and my electric and a couple of other wee bills and something to eat. It lasts you about three-and-a-half weeks and I have to go looking for a couple of pound to my next pension date,” he says.

SDLP social justice spokesperson Mark Durkan says Bertie’s struggle is all too common.

“Unfortunately this case is not an isolated one and as we have witnessed locally, more and more welfare claimants are coming forward publicly to highlight their plight. The lengthy waits for assessment, in this case 13 weeks, need to be addressed. Here we have vulnerable people, many who are already in poor health, forced to attend work capability interviews and present up to date sick-lines in the interim.

“Failure to comply could result in claimants being sanctioned, further delaying payments, which undoubtedly places a great deal of undue stress on individuals and risks exacerbating their existing health conditions. The entire process is very demoralising.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said: “Whilst the Department cannot comment on individual cases, we are in contact with Mr Thompson regarding his concerns. We would encourage anyone concerned or feeling anxious about any aspect of their case to contact us, either through their journal, by phone or at any of our 35 local Jobs and Benefits offices where we have trained staff available to help and support them.”