After 40 years working as a miner and then a telecoms engineer, Dave had claimed Incapacity Benefit for three years, following a heart attack and several strokes. He had already been through one benefits assessment and appeal. The night before his assessment, he died of a massive heart attack, as he scoured the internet for ways to raise cash in case he lost his entitlement. His wife says being lumped in with ‘dole scroungers’, and the fear of financial hardship, had a devastating effect. His son says, “When the Government said they were going to get all these benefit cheats and Dave was called in for a medical, he felt like he was back to square one. It built up and he was in a terrible state by the day he died.”