Laura Ripley receives £600 a month in benefits, weighs 22 stone after a gastric sleeve operation, and is deemed fit to work but has no plans to find a job
A 25-year-old unemployed woman who was given an £8,000 operation to help her lose 16 stone is complaining because, as well as her weight loss, her benefits have been reduced.
Laura Ripley, who has never worked, was given the operation on the NHS to help her slim down from 38 to 22 stone.
But the 25-year-old, who receives £600 a month in benefits, is unhappy because as a result of losing weight she can no longer claim disability allowance amounting to an extra £340 a month.
This, she says, means she cannot afford to eat healthily - causing her to pile the weight back on.
'I can't afford to buy WeightWatchers crisps and cereal bars any more so I eat Tesco's chocolate bars and packets of Space Invaders crisps, sometimes four of each a day', says Laura, who spends seven hours a day watching TV.
'People ask why I don't snack on an apple - they're cheap, but emotionally I don't always feel like an apple.'
The disability allowance money she used to receive was spent on gym workouts, healthy food and having her hair highlighted.
She adds: 'Without my disability allowance I'm left with just £210 incapacity benefit which I get because of my depression, and £100 income support I receive every two weeks and out of that I have to give them back £70 towards the cost of the £500-a-month flat I'm living in.'
Since the extra allowance stopped Laura has put on a stone in just three weeks and claims she is being treated unfairly.
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