Suzanne Gow, 41, is a former call-centre worker from Lanarkshire, who suffers from a severe depressive condition, anxiety, panic attacks and bulimia. Here she describes the impact of having her disability benefits stopped after missing an appointment for a work assessment, which she said she was not notified about. She is currently on unemployment benefit but is waiting to hear if an application to claim disability benefit again is successful.

She said: “I went to get my money out of the post office and there was no money there. I only get £72 a week so it is not like it is a lot.

“As a result of this I became very ill again – my anxiety became out of control and I became almost suicidal. I had to go and stay with my sister for a while.

“When I went back home again, I was trying to apply for Employment and Support Allowance again, but in the meantime was getting no money coming through.

“I had no money for the electricity meter, so I had to sell things I had bought for myself when I had been working and had money or had been given to me – like my iPod, all my DVDs and bags of clothes. I literally was selling everything I could find that wasn’t nailed down.

“I am lucky, I have got a family I am close to and who are supportive, and they were great at helping me out. But there was twice I was on the phone to the Samaritans in the middle of the night because it totally overwhelmed me.

“This could happen to anyone. I have worked my whole life and my plan is not to sit on benefits for the rest of my life, but sometimes I am just too ill to work.

“I have periods where I work and then periods when I am too ill to work. Before there has been the safety net of benefits to give me time to recover and get back to work.

“But now it feels like you are just constantly being dragged down by the very safety net that is supposed to help you.

“I see one of those brown letters (from the DWP) coming through my letterbox and my heart stops – I think what are they going to do to me now?”