A WORDSLEY pub landlady is celebrating after her disabled daughter's benefits were reinstated weeks after being told she would no longer receive financial support.

Sheila White, landlady of the Samson and Lion, described the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) disability assessment as an "expensive, farcical exercise" after the sensational U-turn.

Her daughter Valerie Kelt, aged 44, was struck down with a brain tumour when she was just seven months old, leaving her dependant on her mother for life.

Valerie was left struggling to walk and with no short term memory, and in 2000 as part of a successful benefits claim, she was provide with Disability Living Allowance, a motability car and a carers allowance.

But when the DWP re-assessed Valerie in January this year as part of the Government's new Personal Independence Payment program, she was deemed able to complete all basic daily living and mobility tasks, before being told the heart-breaking news that her benefits were due to stop.

Sheila was left disgusted by the decision and took the matter to the DWP – bombarding them with letters, phone calls and emails – leading to the decision being reversed.

She said: "I wrote, screamed and shouted at them until they heard what we had to say. I went through all the assessment forms on the phone, and pointed out that what the assessor had said was ridiculous.

"They scored her as a zero on every single item, but they've reassessed her and have done a complete turnaround, going from saying she won't receive anything to now giving her the enhanced rates.

"It's all been a wasted exercise. A very expensive, farcical exercise."

Sheila is urging other people who have encountered the same issues with the DWP to contact her so she can give her advice as well as keep a log of similar cases.

"This is a small victory for myself and my daughter but we need to win the war," she said. "There are hundreds of people have been complaining that the current system is unfair and it's just going to get worse until the assessments are carried out properly.

"What I can tell people is not to go through the appeals procedure – it takes ages. I phoned direct to DWP and insisted that anything the assessor had reported wrongly was changed.

"People's lives are being ruined, whole families are put under enormous stress by a system which is flawed and should be seriously looked into."

A DWP spokesman told the News: "Since PIP was introduced more than 1.9 million decisions have been made, of these seven per cent have been appealed and three per cent have been overturned, meaning the vast majority have been upheld.

"We constantly review our processes to make sure they are working in the best way possible and there will shortly be a second independent review of PIP since it was introduced in 2013."

Sheila, who said she has still not been given a reason as to why the initial decision was made, added: "If benefit cheats are to be stopped then time and energy should be spent on finding the ones blatantly flouting it. Do not target obviously long term disabled.

"I will launch a full campaign against the government, I will chain myself to Number 10 if needs be.

"Someone has to do something to help these people and I will not stop fighting."