Universal Credit claimant takes her own life after having benefits cut

Exeter Coroner’s Court claimed the 43-year-old artist was struggling financially at an inquest on July 29.

Kingston’s sister Amy Delgado send an email claiming the 43-year-old tried to pull out “multiple” teeth because she could not afford treatment.

She also told Kingston’s GP that her sister had reported hearing voices amid concern about her suffering from serious mental health distress.

Kingston was signed up to free NHS Talkworks and put on different anti-depressants after being seen at her local surgery.

The mother-of-two was reported missing on July 13 but a body was found at Corbyn Head three days earlier.

Devon & Cornwall Police confirmed Kingston was heard shouting in her home on July 9.

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The cause of her death was multiple injuries from a fall from height.

Delgado told the coroner: "The circumstances leading to her death were progressive but I just feel the way that our systems are in place allows far too many people like my sister to fall through the net.

“She was not under the care of secondary mental health services and it was not through lack of trying."

She added: "It is clear she made this choice by herself [to end her life] but I still feel it was preventable in some ways if she had received the help she was meant to get."

Referring to her financial struggles, she said: "She was on Universal Credit and had nothing to live off."

Assistant coroner Nicholas Lane also concluded that Kingston could have benefitted from having more help.

"It seems that Susan saw a number of GPS at the surgery. It may well have been that there were concerns about her mental health but in terms of the consultations she had, there was nothing specific that obviously warranted a referral to secondary mental health services."

He added: "I accept she had a very difficult life and was struggling and by July 9 was experiencing a mental health crisis, but I don't accept it was obvious to medical professionals prior to that."

Describing her sister after her death, Delgado told DevonLive: "She genuinely struggled with Universal Credit and the decision to deduct the £20 uplift from it. She struggled with the cost of living and she struggled with her mental health.

"She was frightened and angry about the whole thing. She became very upset about Partygate and the decision to take away the £20 uplift.

"She felt she couldn’t get by on Universal Credit. She didn’t want to go to foodbanks because she thought other people deserved them more than she did."

The Government opted to revoke the pandemic-induced £20 Universal Credit uplift following the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions.