‘I tried to kill myself on a call to DWP over ten-week Universal Credit wait – and almost put my kids into care’

A DAD driven to despair by Universal Credit tried to kill himself while on the phone to the benefits office.

Dean Lovell-Payne, 52, was left unable to walk after a fall in June forced him to stop work and move his family into a cheaper home with no central heating. He took an overdose after almost three months without any benefits at all.

Dean, who is sharing his story exclusively as part of The Sun's Make Universal Credit Work Campaign, says he and his wife Paula even considered putting their youngest two children into care because they were so worried about not being able to afford food. 

When ambulance service worker Dean's wages stopped in July, he and his partner Paula, 51, and their three kids - who are 30, 17 and 15 - had no choice but to move to a cheaper home, while Paula became her husband's full-time carer. 

It was on a call with the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) Universal Credit helpline in September that Dean became so desperate that he took an overdose of painkillers.

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"I didn’t even hang-up the phone. I told the soulless b*stard exactly what I was doing," said Dean, who uses a wheelchair. 

'I'm a prisoner in my own home'

Dean spiralled into depression when he was moved onto Universal Credit and could no longer afford his rent. Forced to move to a house at the end of a dirt track with no disabled access, he became a virtual prisoner in his own home. 

“The access to the house is terrible," he says. “Sometimes I feel like a prisoner in here. The house is very, very, cold too. Half the month we don’t have any heating because we can’t afford to heat the house.”

He added: “I’ve worked all my life but am made to feel like I’m worthless just because I’m too sick to work. I feel helpless. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere to turn.”

When Dean applied for Universal Credit in July he informed DWP of his poor health and difficult living conditions, but was told that he would still have to wait five weeks for his first payment to be processed - standard for the Government's controversial new benefits system.

The Sun is campaigning to slash this waiting time to two weeks.

Dean said: “Five weeks came and went. We waited and waited and were reaching crunch time."

“Our money had long since run out and the end of the school holidays meant the knock-on effects of no universal credit were going to bite."

Without being confirmed as receiving Universal Credit, the couple couldn't get free school meals for their daughters and were barely able to feed them at home.

Paula said: "We're supposed to provide for our family but we can't. I feel like a failure as a mother because we can't do the things for our kids that we're supposed to."

Delays by the DWP meant Dean didn't receive a penny of his Universal Credit money until September - meaning the family had been without income for almost three months and had built up credit card debts just to get by.

If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or visit ’s website.

"We couldn’t get my prescriptions either and all of our standing orders were set to bounce within days," said Dean.

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