Thefamilyofaseverelydisabledteenagerwhohasthementalageo...

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The family of a severely disabled teenager who has the mental age of a five-year-old were left angry after benefits officers demanded the girl be put through a fitness-to-work assessment. Ellie McDonald, 19, suffers from the extremely rare genetic disorder called Chromosome 7 Deletion, which means she is unable to eat, sleep or walk without the help of her mother Louise.

In preparation for Ellie leaving her special needs school, her mother and her full-time carer applied for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to replace their child benefit payments. But the family were shocked to be told Ellie would need to be tested to rule out her being fit for work — a process Mrs McDonald branded "bureaucracy gone mad".

Now, since reports of Ellie’s situation came to light, the Department for Work and Pensions has said she is no longer required to do a Work Capability Assessment. The family, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, hit out at the government’s refusal to realise that Ellie, who cannot read or write and needs around-the-clock care, is entirely unfit to work.

They had been told they would have to wait up to a year to receive medical tests, in which time they would have missed out on around ￡200 a month they are entitled to. Mrs McDonald, 42, said, "Ellie is completely dependent on us — she is unable to do anything for herself and has been in care from birth."

"Two weeks before she left her special needs school we applied for Employment and Support Allowance as we would no longer be receiving child benefit."

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