Connor Donnelly, 18, from Mauchline, East Ayrshire, is wheelchair-dependent, blind, non-verbal, and can barely sit upright after being starved of oxygen at birth. Despite his profound disabilities, his parents Steve, 46, and Helen, 44, have been locked in a struggle with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to prove he cannot work since he turned 18 and finished school in May, while trying to claim Universal Credit.
Job centre demands impossible job searches
Because the family cannot take Connor to their local job centre—which lacks wheelchair access—they requested an in-person assessment at home. However, they claim they were instructed to continue searching for jobs on his behalf in the interim. Steve told the Daily Record: “Both myself and my wife are feeling embarrassed and hurt. With Connor’s disabilities, every day is a challenge. You’re having to fight for absolutely everything.”
“We explained his complex needs and it just fell on deaf ears. The woman on the phone was saying he needs to stick to his commitments and do this and that. I’m so angry at the fact they expected him to do job searches. We’re getting questions like ‘has he got a mobile phone? Has he got access to the internet? Has he got interview clothes?’ We’re saying ‘he’s in a wheelchair and can barely sit up unaided.’ What they were asking him to do is a physical impossibility and what we’ve been put through is an absolute nightmare.”
Financial and emotional toll
A single person under 25 receives £338.58 per month in Universal Credit. In Scotland, disabled individuals can claim Universal Credit for living costs while also receiving separate disability living assistance. If a health condition affects work ability, extra monthly additions may be available depending on assessment outcomes. Connor previously received the benefit while in full-time education at Willowbank School in Kilmarnock, but now as an adult, the requirements have hit the family “like a freight train,” Steve said.
Steve explained: “We had to go through the courts to get guardianship for him because he’s non-verbal and we’ve only got that for five years. We’ve already had a battle over his motability car and had to prove he was disabled enough to have a vehicle every year. His condition is not going to improve. As he’s getting older it’s getting more complex. It’s not as if he is going to miraculously be able to walk one day. It’s never going to happen. His mum has had to sit and fill out his motability forms every year in tears, noting down everything that’s wrong with him.”
Frustration with the system
Steve added: “That has been recently resolved but Universal Credit is still the issue and what’s happened with the job centre has just been a disaster. His mum is his carer. The job centre said ‘you can come in and sign on for him’. But is she supposed to leave him sitting at home? Currently, Helen is his appointee and she has had the commitment to do two hours of jobs searching a week for Connor. If anyone had actually seen him we wouldn’t have had to waste time doing this. There’s not a job out there that he could possibly do. We also have to provide sick lines to say he’s not fit for work until this gets sorted out.”
The family say they were originally told someone would come out to assess Connor at home but that has not happened. Steve said: “We sought help from the doctors to try and put this to bed but were hitting a brick wall. It’s not even the money aspect, it’s gone beyond that now. It’s about what they’re putting us through. The government seem to be bending over backwards to help others but we, who have worked all our days, are being treated like this.”
DWP response
It's understood Connor's file has now been updated to include a voluntary activity to contact his local council to seek places for social activities. The family said they were not aware of the update last night. A DWP spokeswoman said: “We understand this is a difficult situation. Connor Donnelly’s status was confirmed via telephone appointment, and he has not been required to attend an in-person appointment in relation to work. Appropriate work-related requirements were set and tailored to the claimant’s individual circumstances, and a further telephone appointment has been arranged about this.”
