I had a breakdown at the Wythenshawe Jobcentre. This is why.

Britain's safety net is supposed to protect the most vulnerable. Yet, I'm on my 5th month of being on Universal Credit, and still waiting for a Work Capability Assessment. What's going on?

Oct 30, 2025

*Credit: Photo by Wythenshawe Jobcentre Plus via Google Maps*

My Struggle with the Jobcentre.

I am transitioning to a career as a investigative journalist due to my disabilities, and I am currently going through a welfare benefits process called the Work Capability Assessment, which gives me a bit of extra money, but more importantly, the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activities status, meaning they leave me alone.

This process usually takes one to two months after sending in the assessment details. However, due to welfare cuts, the support for the unemployed and disabled has been completely decimated, and it’s likely why our GDP has only grown by 0.1% in August.

This is my fifth month of being on Universal Credit, I am now waiting for the third month in a row to be assigned an assessor and because I have a Gender Recognition Certificate, this process has become a complete administrative nightmare!

The job centre in my case, immediately recognised that I was not fit to work after I left my last job on medical grounds. My claimant commitments were turned off, and I was referred to a Work Capability Assessment. And then, nothing happened. I ended up having to write and call Maximus’ head office to even be able to talk to someone.

Every single time I called Maximus, the assessment provider, they refused to believe that even I exist. I even tried to explain to the call centre staff the GRC even though I had zero obligation to, it fell on deaf ears. It was clear there is zero training for this.

As a result of this mess, I ended up going to the Jobcentre Plus on Monday to in a last-ditch effort speak to someone. What happened there, was an absolute & complete disgrace. I’ve made a formal complaint to the Jobcentre about their security guard.

I had the ambulance service called twice on me for having a fucking panic attack.

0:00

-1:26

Music by Kevin Macleod (Monkeys Spinning Monkeys) | Audio by Alyx Payge, QLR editor

It is apparent there are a lack of training at the Jobcentre Plus for how to handle these situations. It’s not the security guard’s fault, really, even though this is extreme incompetence on his part. He’s just working a difficult job to survive himself.

But, he did say to us that “this is not the way to be seen faster”, strongly implying that I was faking my panic attack to jump the queue in spite the Universal Credit claimants’ hotline stating to me bluntly that my case had taken way too long.

Those of you who have been following Queer Love Riot for a while may have noticed that this comes as part of a pattern - where our institutions have become so utterly underfunded, and understaffed, they have been now completely hollowed out.

He went through the same questions I’d heard a million times, as this is not the first time a public institution has used its powers inappropriately to ignore my disabilities.

“Have you got Marfan syndrome?”

“Have you ever experienced an abdominal aortic aneurysm?

At one point, he even reassures the ambulance service that I’m not going to be banned from the Jobcentre. I’m absolutely speechless. Look, If the Jobcentre were to start banning people for panic attacks, we could shut most Jobcentres in the country.

He even asks me if I’m going to be violent to the ambulance service as a result of having a panic attack in a patronising voice, which is a form of complete absurdity. You can see how much I was talked down to by him. It’s completely unacceptable.

It is clear in this clip I do not want to be hospitalised. It is clear that the tiniest amount of empathy could have resolved the situation. Instead, they informed the ambulance services the Jobcentre shuts in an hour, when they said it was a two-to-three hour wait.

I’m scared of what will happen when they put psychologists in job centres. I’m sure they will find a way to tell claimants that the problem is that they need more CBT as they can’t afford to eat or pay their bills. It’ll be psychological gaslighting at its finest.

The Deaths of Vulnerable Claimants.

I have complex post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as chronic pancreatitis, and constant seizures. It’s patently obvious that I need the support, but the Jobcentre and the DWP have outsourced this stupid process to third-party assessment providers.

We all remember Atos, the provider that was so mismanaged, leading to actual deaths of the vulnerable in our country. They were stripped from their contract, but it seems that Maximus has taken all these contracts up north, and nothing has changed since.

I remember having my first Personal Independence Payment assessment. I scored zero points. Amongst the many justifications on that decision letter, one of them was that I couldn’t have been depressed because I was on a low dose of antidepressants.

Now, I am no medical expert. My only qualifications involve chairing a mental health charity cleaning up after public health failures, but we can all agree that this is not how depression works. A larger dose, does not in fact mean you are more depressed.

I tried to appeal that decision through a mandatory reconsideration, but was rejected too. It’s not surprising, given that 78% of welfare claimants get rejected for Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activities, and most are successful at tribunal.

This is a complete waste of taxpayers’ resources. I have been myself forced out of full-time work, partially due to the cuts in Access to Work. I was expected to pay for transport assistance to work out of pocket on minimum wage as a disabled person.

And the tribunals are a farce too. I have personally attended two tribunal hearings from the DWP for a friend. Both times, the DWP did not turn up, and instead we were left to explain to a baffled judge how disability impacts them. Of course they won.

I am now often asked by friends for help to write these disability forms, as local advice centres are completely swamped with vulnerable people needing help. I myself had to basically beg Mind’s advice centre for help as they had zero appointments available.

If you want to see some examples of government failure, just look at the r/DWPHelp subreddit. You can see how the DWP is rejecting people based on completing a undergraduate course, even though it has little relevance to a person’s disability.

I don’t see how someone trying to improve themselves as a person by going to classes once a week would indicate any fitness to work. This is designed to create a culture of fear where disabled people feel they need to go without an education.

Sufferers of complex conditions, such as fibromyalgia, get told that their conditions cannot be as bad as they are claiming due to lack of secondary care input, which, people are struggling to obtain as a result of consistent NHS senior mismanagement.

The DWP knows this, which is why they are hiding the inquiries to this day that show how the DWP is culpable in the deaths of many disabled people to this day. As it currently takes a minimum of six months to get a claim1 into tribunal, this system completely fails to take into account disabled people kinda need to live in the interim.

The Formal Complaint to the DWP.

I’ve now made Freedom of Information Access requests to the Department and Work and Pensions, which I expect a response to within the next month. I asked the DWP for any guidance relating to the Gender Recognition Certificate, as well as the current wait for people seeking a Work Capability Assessment. This should be public knowledge.

If indeed waits for the WCA have gotten this long, then that’s a problem in itself. And if the wait times are reasonable, but my case specifically is taking a long time, that would be institutionalised transphobia as this would be violating the Equality Act 2010.

I have made a formal complaint to the Jobcentre Plus, which I’m expecting to hear back from from the senior manager, as this situation should have never happened.

Hello, I would like to make a formal complaint in regards to how I was treated in the job centre today with a lack of basic respect, dignity, and humanity by the security guard at Wythenshawe.
I understood at the time inherently that things cannot be sorted immediately, but I was given zero opportunity to even explain what I needed, instead the job centre immediately resorted to an ambulance.
This public spectacle would have been preventable by literally allowing me to chat with someone. It is then not acceptable to say that I am trying to jump the system when the Universal Credit hotline has literally stated to me that I have been waiting too long to get assessed, and I found this extremely offensive.
It is unacceptable to call an ambulance for someone who is repeatedly pleading with to not call one as my issue is that I am struggling with the DWP processes and I am clearly having a mental breakdown because of it.
You have duties under the Equality Act and the Care Act to make sure I remain safe, and today’s situation was completely intolerable. The security guard’s actions did nothing to make me feel safe, and aggravated the situation where all it would have taken was some empathy for my situation.
I am willing to move past this with a formal apology from the service manager and changes in training; I will be escalating this further otherwise.
I also understand how overworked and understaffed this job centre is, and all my interactions with this job centre have been decent and kind so far, and I would like to continue to be treated in a dignified manner.
Thank you, Emily.

I’d like the senior manager of the Jobcentre Plus to watch the documentary I, Daniel Blake on the failures of the welfare system. Nine years later, it’s still relevant as the same failures are still present, with the DWP in full awareness they are failing people.

Just like the fictionalised account of Daniel Blake, I am encountering ‘computer says no’ problems in the system, and just like him, I am having to protest the system but I’m getting medicalised and criminalised. It’s a brilliant & horrifying take on the reality of being on welfare. There’s no nothing here to cut, unlike what Reform may say.

The Complaint to Mike Kane MP.

Once again, I have sent Mike Kane for Wythenshawe and Sale East an email. Sadly, I know already this email will not be taken seriously, as I have previously written to Mike Kane in regards to the upcoming disability cuts, where he attempted to justify the passage of the inexcusable Universal Credit Act 2025 bill on the 2nd July 2025.

Here’s a snippet of his promises in that previous email:

“I believe that those who can work, should, and that those who cannot, should be protected. That is why I back the Government’s record £1 billion investment in tailored employment support for disabled people. This comes alongside efforts to break down barriers to work and create healthier, more inclusive workplaces.

“Disabled people deserve the same opportunities as anybody else.”

“I was elected on a pledge to put the voices of disabled people at the heart of policy”

“It will support people back into work, protect those who cannot work and reduce anxiety for those currently in the system.”

-Mike Kane MP

Yeah, I don’t see that, Mike. He’s also a member of Labour Friends of Israel, and he’s ignored other disabled people who also wrote in about the welfare cuts. This departure from his morals and ethics is shocking, sudden and depressing to see, but not really all surprising given he’s implicit in Israel’s war crimes against Palestine. Great.

Here’s my letter I have sent. I expect him to reply to me in the next few weeks.

Date: 30th October 2025
Subject: Urgent Assistance Needed: Universal Credit, WCA & GRC
Dear Mike Kane,
I hope that my email finds you well. I am writing to you again regarding the Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment. I have been on Universal Credit for five months, and I am currently waiting for an assessment to this day. I am also having complications related to access due to my Gender Recognition Certificate, and training issues, and I have literally had a breakdown at the Jobcentre due to the stress of the situation. I’d like for you to personally intervene in my case.
For your convenience, as an disabled investigative journalist, I have written a full summary of my situation in my article which you can find on Queer Love Riot here. This email and your response, or lack of response will also be recorded on QLR. Not only is this work capability assessment delay impacting my finances, but I’m also unable to start self-employment as I won’t be able to get a work allowance or start any kind of further education as this depends on the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity status being in place. The system has broken down.
As you claim to have been elected on a pledge to put the voices of disabled people at the heart of policy, I would like you to prove this by resolving my issue, and by reducing my level of anxiety while navigating the currently broken welfare system. The longer my situation continues, the more likely I’ll suffer even more.
At the same time, can you please explain to me how, in your own words, cutting the payment for new claimants post-2026, will help disabled claimants back into work? I am struggling to survive on PIP and the base Universal Credit allowance. As the cost of living increases, more and more of the most vulnerable people are stuck in debt. Increasing the base allowance of Universal Credit by £6 a week will do nothing when Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activities are being cut by £49.61 a week, leading to a net loss. This will result in a new economic class of poorer disabled people, distinguished only by the date of their claim.
Disabled people need the money to survive. The £1 billion record investment in tailored support for disabled people is failing to materialise as Access to Work is being cut. I myself was forced out of employment due to these unjustified cuts.
I politely ask you to reconsider whether you want to be involved in cutting disabled people’s benefits. This would put you in the same direction as Reform, whose spokesperson Lee Anderson is currently proposing to cut benefits for people with anxiety and who has proposed giving three-wheel vehicles to disabled drivers.
If you want to advocate for disabled people in parliament, I urge you to submit a Private Members’ Bill to send a signal that you oppose these cuts, and to not implement further cuts in the form of adding taxes onto Motability vehicles. Continuing in this direction would contribute to the increasing radicalisation.
To fix the economy, one must fix the NHS mismanagement in the service, and resolving the housing crisis. To cut disabled people’s benefits in a time when inflation is 4.1% and growing, is a form of political recklessness with our lives.
I look forward to hearing from you and hearing a detailed response to how you will reverse these cuts and help disabled people, and I hope you will be in touch to resolve my issue regarding Universal Credit and my Work Capability Assessment.

Kind regards,
Emily Elżbieta Chomicz, investigative journalist

If you wish to write to Mike Kane about my disability case at the DWP, or the disability cuts in general, here’s the details you need in order to make a complaint yourself:

Mike Kane - Wythenshawe Sale and East Labour MP
Unit A, Etrop Court
Wythenshawe Town Centre
Manchester
M22 5RG
Phone: 0161 499 7900 / Email: mike.kane.mp@parliament.uk

The Maximus Complaint.

At the same time, I will be contacting Maximus to complain about the treatment I have received. Here’s the complaint I’ll be sending sent to the Customer Relations Manager; another form of privatising the system by reducing us down to “customers.”

Here’s a direct email to the Manchester head office for formal complaints: Lot1.CustomerRelations@haas.dwp.gov.uk

CLARIFICATION (30/10/2025 14:25): The previous version of the article stayed that you can only complain by post. This has now been corrected, as it was due to slightly unclear instructions on the complaints pack.

Date: 30th October 2025
Dear Maximus,
I am writing this formal complaint regarding the treatment I have received by Maximus in regards to my Work Capability Assessment.
As a severely disabled person dependent on welfare payments in order to live, I shouldn’t be expected to chase Maximus over phone and emails to figure out if my case is still in progress just because I have a Gender Recognition Certificate.
It is unacceptable for call centre staff to then proceed to repeatedly deny that they need to do anything differently as a result of the Gender Recognition Certificate. I have been also told in email threads to constantly ring this hotline for an update, even when I highlighted that this is impossible due to their case handling policies.
It is clear that there is absolutely zero process for handling this situation. This is straightforward indirect discrimination which violates the Equality Act 2010, as I am being treated differently as a result of gender reassignment. I firmly and politely request that additional training is put in place, and that these kinds of sensitive cases are picked up early so transgender people aren’t left in the dark.
The assessment waits are also unacceptable, as well as failing to communicate to the Jobcentre Plus that my case was in progress over a period of several weeks. This caused major confusion, and meant that the hard-working job coaches at Wythenshawe were not able to advise me in any way on what to do next.

I would like to know what plans, if any, Maximus has in order to reduce wait times for WCA and PIP assessments. I would also like a formal written apology for the emotional distress caused, which is documented extensively on my medical record.
Finally, can you please schedule my Work Capability Assessment to finally take place? The longer this situation goes on, the more of a farce it truly is.
Kind regards,
Emily Elżbieta Chomicz, investigative journalist

Conclusion & Queer Love Riot Updates.

This is clearly insane. I will be making complaints to the Independent Case Examiner at the Department for Work and Pensions if this continues, and I hope that you too make a complaint to your MP about the welfare cuts. Find your MP on this website.

If you want to see more political context for the state of welfare and public services in this country, I have another article where I write more about Reform UK's manifesto policies here. As you can expect by now from Reform, their policies are bloody awful.

For those of you who are regular readers, there are changes coming to Queer Love Riot, as I develop a brand new website as we will be moving off Substack, and a brand new audiobook version of Transition in Agony, by popular request!

As I believe in a simple and honest business model, you’ll get access by donating to Queer Love Riot to get high quality files for only £5, while the entire book will remain free to read, as every queer should be able to read my queer memoir about my life.

Here’s a developer’s sneak peak at what we’re designing. I hope that you’ll support our work; I believe in open access to knowledge, and would like to keep it free. You may see a bit of a reduction in articles for the next few weeks as I work on this.

If you have any thoughts on this article, please feel free to leave a comment below.