Dorchester charity campaigner's benefit warning (From Dorset Echo)

Dorchester charity campaigner's benefit warning

4:00pm Thursday 8th July 2010 in

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CHARITY campaigner Ian Stuart from Dorchester has warned people not to take benefit cuts lying down.

Former professor Mr Stuart, who suffers from a life-threatening brain condition, had his housing benefit cut from £90 to £63.

But after an appeal, and enquiries by the Dorset Echo, West Dorset District Council realised it had made a mistake.

Now Mr Stuart, aged 47, of St Helen’s Road, is warning others to challenge any cuts they may face.

He said: “It’s great news that they have reinstated the housing benefit.

“But it worries me that a precedent has been set that they can send these sort of cuts to people who are not in the position to be so proactive.

“There may be other people in the same situation.”

Mr Stuart has suffered from cavernoma, a condition where clusters of abnormal blood vessels are found in the brain, for nearly 25 years.

His housing benefit was cut by nearly a third from £90 to £63 but the council then reinstated and increased it to £92.30.

Mr Stuart was a professor of drama and spent a decade teaching at the University of Southern California in the United States.

He returned home eight years ago when his condition started getting worse, causing his hands to shake and affecting his speech.

He founded the Cavernoma Alliance UK charity.

He has warned that genuinely disabled people could suffer if the government goes ahead with a war on benefit cheats.

He accepted that the government needed to look at benefits and disability allowances in some situations but that a march on the disabled and infirm would be disastrous Mr Stuart said: “It is inevitable that there have to be cutbacks.

“But there are many people who are worthy of this money and entitled to it.

“People should not take it lying down.”

He added: “What about the situation where there is a family and the husband has a got a condition that is life threatening and they rely on the DLA for subsistence?”

Stuart Dawson, revenues and benefits manager, said: “We have investigated Mr Stuart’s case and will be writing to him to inform him that his benefit has increased to £400pcm, £92.30 per week, an increase on his original payment.

“We will be contacting Mr Stuart to apologise for the error.”