Now 37, Ms Pomroy-Smith is a campaigner for Disability Labour, a group affiliated with the Labour Party. She is disabled herself, suffering from Ehlers-Danlos (EDS), Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia (POTS) and Mast Cell Activation (MCAS) syndromes.
Ministers have shelved plans to restrict eligibility for the disability benefit after a Labour backbench rebellion, with any changes only coming after a review of PIP in the autumn.
During the manic episodes her father has, Ms Pomroy-Smith said she can receive 100 calls a day.
Emily Pomroy-Smith, aged two, with her father Keith Passingham (right) (Photo: Emily Pomroy-Smith)
Despite receiving the highest level of PIP, he still needs help from a support network, including his daughter, her sibling Theo, carers and a lodger, who had to call an ambulance during a recent manic episode.
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At 20, she left university to be her father’s live-in carer. Children under the age of 18 are classed as young carers, with councils obliged to assess their needs, but Ms Pomroy-Smith was frustrated with the lack of support she could access.
“The thing that frustrated me was that when I lived with him, I wasn’t entitled to carers allowance because I was working too many hours and yet I was responsible for him 24/7.”
Emily Pomroy-Smith, aged 11, with her father Keith Passingham, who suffers from bipolar disorder and was medically retired because of it at the age of 40 (Photo: Emily Pomroy-Smith)But he has twice been refused benefits. The first time he lost his payments was in 2013, when Mr Passingham was moved from receiving disability living allowance (DLA) to PIP.
The second time, in 2019, his PIP was refused after reassessment, when claimants are reviewed to determine if they still meet the eligibility criteria to claim PIP.
Emily Pomroy-Smith on her wedding day with her father Keith Passingham. She left university to be her father’s live-in carer when she was 20 years old (Photo: Emily Pomroy-Smith)
“We genuinely thought there’d been a mix-up because when we read it, the assessor referenced having done a physical examination – she hadn’t got out of her chair,” Ms Pomroy-Smith said.
“And she claimed that he walked into the room unaided. He had actually walked in with my brother supporting him.”
Keith Passingham with his grandson Logan (Photo: Emily Pomroy-Smith)
Ms Pomroy-Smith said she was frustrated with the Government’s proposed welfare reforms.
“There needs to be a real rollback; we need to go back to the drawing board,” she said.
“We are putting disabled people at the heart of a ministerial review of the PIP assessment to make sure it is fit and fair for the future, and we will work with them and key organisations representing them to consider how best to do this,” they added.
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