A RECOVERING cancer sufferer faces being forced out of her home because of controversial changes to the benefits system that penalise claimants with empty bedrooms.
Frances Connor, 54, will lose around 14% of her housing benefit payment through the so-called "bedroom tax" because she has an empty room in her Glasgow flat.
Now Mrs Connor has had her case raised in the House of Commons by Margaret Curran, Labour's Shadow Scottish Secretary.
Mrs Connor says she faces the "nightmare" of losing her home in an area close to her family who support her. She currently lives in a ground-floor flat, which allows her easy access.
The spare bedroom is often occupied by her son when he needs to care for her.
Under reforms to the welfare system due to come into force in April, people with spare bedrooms will have their benefits cut to encourage them to downsize to smaller properties.
But Mrs Connor, who is unable to work because of side effects associated with the chemotherapy treatment she is undergoing, said: "Losing any amount of money from my benefits is too much.
"I live on £105 a week and that has to pay for my heating and electricity bills, the TV licence and all my food and other bills.
"It does not leave me with much at the end.
"It is a nightmare situation and I can't sleep because of the stress of it. I can't think of anything else. I'm waiting on a letter from the housing association telling me exactly how much I will lose and I am dreading it."
She is also worried about increases to her rent for her housing association flat, and increased council tax charges.
Mrs Connor, who worked as a carer until she contracted bowel cancer in 2009, approached her MP because of her fears for the future. Ms Curran, has called on Scottish Secretary Michael Moore to look into the case, asking why were ministers "making it impossible for a son to care for his mother"?
Mr Moore said he had the deepest sympathy with Mrs Connor's position and said ministers had put transitional arrangements in place to support "some of the most vulnerable in these circumstances".
The mother-of-one says she has worked since she left school, first as a machinist for 25 years and then in social care, visiting elderly and disabled people in their homes.
Her illness left her with a condition that affects her nervous system and leaves her unable to keep her balance for long periods. As a result, she relies on a wheelchair to get around.
Mrs Connor also has painful scar tissue from a series of operations related to her cancer, and spends her £50 disability living allowance on taxis to medical appointments and occasional hospital stays.
She said: "The condition I've been left with after chemotherapy is permanent and I can't stand up for long.
"I have family who live nearby and good neighbours who come in to help me. I don't know what's going to happen and I don't want to lose my home."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article