I’m living off £29 a week benefits after my boss died – the pay I’m owed is stuck and I haven’t seen it 8 months later
A FORMER pub worker says he’s living off £29-a-week after his boss died of cancer.
Dave Hardman-Bennett and all the staff at McGlynn’s in King’s Cross, London, lost their jobs after adored landlord Gerry Dolan passed.
But eight months on, Dave says he hasn’t seen a penny of his £20,000 payout as it’s been stuck in probate from Gerry’s estate.
The 64-year-old told MyLondon: “I’d be lost without the foodbank.”
Gerry had been Dave’s partner’s best man at their wedding and they were all close friends.
When Gerry died, Dave was left “devastated” and he and all the staff at McGlynn’s cried all night on the pub’s last day.
But Gerry’s death threw a tragic curve ball as Dave is still owed a month’s pay, plus holiday and his redundancy payout.
With the money tied up in probate, he’s forced to live on just £29 a week Universal Credit which he says is “impossible”.
He now finds himself looking at eggs as “a treat” while living off just three potatoes, an apple, a banana, a pear, some tinned food and one toilet roll a week.
To add insult to injury, he said he used to get £536 Personal Independence Payment.
But to his horror, this was cut to just £284-a-month after his arthritis wasn’t ruled severe enough.
With just a small pension and getting a little support with his rent and Council Tax, Dave is struggling to get by.
He reportedly appealed his PIP cut in January but has still not heard back from the Department for Work and Pensions.
A spokesperson said it was deducted as Dave fell into rent arrears and his landlord asked the DWP not to evict him.
“You can choose to go down the dark road if you choose but you just end up worse off”, Dave said.