Yesterday our help was needed for a man who lives alone in a one bedroom flat. He separated from his wife last October, but despite this she has been accessing and debiting his bank account without his knowledge, forcing him to shut his account down to prevent this from continuing to happen. He was in receipt of Employment Support Allowance as he suffers with depression, extreme anxiety and Chronic obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), however he failed his assessment and his benefits ceased being paid in February. Since then he has existed on two small crisis loans from his local council, but he has had his maximum and can’t have any more. Our agents are going to help him with appealing the decision but as it will take some time for the DWP to look at his case again he will be without money while he waits. We agreed to send him £150 so he can buy some food and pay some of his bills.