They Say I’m ‘Fit for Work’ – One Man’s Fight Against the DWP’s Cruel System
The system isn't broken—it's working exactly as designed. At Food & Solidarity, we see daily how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) deliberately pushes people into poverty, denies support, and grinds them down with endless bureaucracy. This isn't an accident. It's how the system was built to function.
Below is the testimony of Gin, one of our members. Despite severe health problems and his doctor's confirmation that he cannot work, the DWP insists he's "fit for work." His words expose the cold reality of a system that exists not to help, but to punish, exhaust, and abandon.
Gin's story is not a failure of the system. It is the system working as intended. But we refuse to accept it.
Trigger warning: Mentions of suicidal thoughts.
Transcript
At Food & Solidarity, we organise to defend each other when the system fails us. We are a community of people standing together—because when one of us is under attack, we all are. We defend and support each other with direct action, preventing evictions, forcing landlords to make repairs among other things.
Last year we distributed in excess of 3000 parcels to members, striking workers, and community members in crisis.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) forces people into endless cycles of assessments, appeals, and sanctions, pushing them deeper into poverty and ill health. But no one should have to fight alone.
This testimony is read on behalf of our member, Gintautas. He has worked hard all his life but now faces serious health issues. Despite this, the DWP are insisting he is "fit for work." His story is not unique—many of our members are caught in these brutal systems, which are designed to punish rather than support.
Gin’s words speak for themselves
“They say I am fit for work, I must do some kind of work.
I say I am not fit for work. My Doctor says I am not fit for work. And always they want you to prove it, again and again and again even though nothing has changed - I am not cured, I tell them this, my GP tells them this, but they know better! And so they say I am fit for work.
I am tired, I want them to leave me alone, how can I get well with this all the time? I need peace.
My blood pressure is up. See my hands - I can’t even hoover my flat! I’ve taken more pills in the last year than in the fifty-six before! I was a bin man, for ten years, fifteen, how can I do this work now? I have fluid on my shoulder, my hands - one is good, only one! My back is a problem, my blood pressure is a problem. Now, with all this, Depression too. And they know this. They know. My employment advisor knows this, but he still puts down that I can work, this is the system. I say What work can I do? You tell me what job I can do. Where is this job and I will do it. I can be the one who presses the button for the elevator with my one good hand in the Hotel of Dreams!
It makes you think things, I am not doing anything, no, but it makes you think about taking poison or hundreds of pills because it never stops - you will need to fill in this form, you will need to do a mandatory reconsideration, you will need to appeal, you will need to come to an appointment, you will need to give us a sick note, you will need to do work OR we will sanction you, and then what?! I will be sitting in the dark, with no electricity, and so on and so on until I am homeless. What is this system? When my doctor says I am not well enough, writes it on a note for me, and still they say you are fit for work. And how can I complain? How can I make them listen? Who is the boss I can speak to? How do you fight a system?! It is a system.
I am so tired, I want some peace, to get well, but they are not helping me they are making me worse, I am in the worst state and still they will not stop. This is not a system to help people. Do they think I am secretly a millionaire? Do they think I would not like to be well, to do a job, to have money? To not worry?
I am so tired, I want it all to go away, but it does not stop. It never stops.”
