'The clock's ticking': Terminally ill man waits two months for social security support

• ITV Channel's Lewis Andrews meets the Jersey man with terminal cancer who spent nearly two months waiting to hear if he would receive more social security support

A Jersey man is calling for terminally ill islanders to be treated with "a little more dignity, care, and speed" by the Social Security department.

Wayne Lawson feels as though he has "fallen through the cracks of bureaucracy" after it took him seven weeks to receive any kind of income support from Social Services.

Diagnosed with terminal cancer in October, the company Wayne worked for was liquidated just a week later.

Despite making immediate applications for both income support and impairment, it was almost two months before either claim was accepted - and he continues to wait for his impairment payment to be processed.

During this period, Wayne reports he had to fill out five 30+ page forms with information for three different people within the Social Security department.

Living off just £283 per week - a short-term sickness payment to support his cancer treatment - Wayne says the process has caused him significant emotional upset at a time when he should be focusing on his health, friends, and family.

Wayne reflects: "What you're trying to do is deal with your prognosis and your health issues. You're also dealing with your friends and family because they're suffering what I'm suffering and they're hurting.

"They're then watching me trying to run around and sort something out that I shouldn't have to deal with.

"There should be somebody within the system that says, 'Right, that person is terminally ill; I will deal with that.'

"When you're terminally ill, the clock's ticking."

Wayne adds that whilst his prognosis is one or two years, many are given only a few months to live at the point of receiving a terminal diagnosis.

He furthers: "I'm quite lucky because hopefully, I'll go one or two years, but if I wasn't [...] imagine you're on your death's door, if you've got four weeks to live, and you're having to spend that time battling with bureaucracy."

His friends and family have helped him get by as he's spent time in between chemotherapy sessions completing social security forms, but Wayne says he feels he's been failed by a system he's spent his life contributing towards.

Wayne adds: "I've always worked, I've always paid into the system, I've paid my taxes, I've paid my social security - and you have to battle to get the stuff you're actually entitled to."

After posting his story on social media this week, Wayne has had calls with social security officials to expedite his claims process.

Deputy Kristina Moore also raised Wayne's story as part of an emergency question in the States' Assembly on Wednesday 10 December.

In response, Social Security Minister Lyndsay Feltham told the States: "If the Deputy is aware of a case that she is particularly concerned about, I would like to hear about that case so that any matters can be resolved.

"I am in the middle of a review of income support guidelines. I am meeting with the relevant staff on a fortnightly basis.

"If something feels morally wrong, I want to know about it. I want things to be resolved."

The Minister told ITV News: "I am always concerned about the length of time processes take and I will always be concerned if people are having to wait to receive their benefits."

Wayne is now calling for the whole Social Security system to be reviewed.

He says: "My main aim here is not to worry about my own case but to worry about others.

"There are other people out there who are terminally ill, who are going through what I'm going through, who are afraid to put their heads above the parapet.

"Hopefully in two years' time, I'll still be sat here and I'll still be fighting.

"But people with terminal illnesses need to be treated with a little more dignity, care, and speed. Because time is not something that they've got."

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