58-year old Francis is a former railway track maintenance engineer. He has severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes severe breathing difficulties, restricts his movement and leaves him unable to go up a staircase without the aid of an oxygen tank. Called for repeated Employment and Support Allowance assessments, he says, “They should accept that people with a long-term illness have got a long-term illness and shouldn’t be made to prove it again and again. You’re only getting a couple of months between each form. They make you feel as if you’re jumping through hoops with all the different stages to go through to continue getting the benefits.”