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WATCH: Disabled cricketer blasts 'shameful' DWP after losing all benefits
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Jun 27, 2025
Amputee cricketer Shaun Rigby has told GB News he has "lost everything" after his disability benefits were scrapped by the Department for Work & Pensions.The DWP claimed a video taken of Rigby playing for his local cricket club showed that he was "not disabled enough".FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
I'm joined by the first amputee cricketer, Sean Rigby
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He's lost his disability benefits after being filmed playing for his local club
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Now, the Department for Work and Pensions claimed the video show that he wasn't disabled enough
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And I'm joined in the studio by that man, the amputee cricketer, Sean Rigby
0:20
Sean, thank you for coming down to join us in the studio here in Westminster
0:24
It's an incredible story. So you've got one leg. I understand you lost your leg when you were two
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when you were a kid, and you've played cricket healthily. You're a huge inspiration to people
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And you've had your benefits taken away. Tell us about it. Yeah, so I've played cricket since the age of seven
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Back in 2012, I went on the first England physical disability tour to Dubai
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Obviously an amazing experience. recently back in August last year I received a letter
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from the DWP to say that there was a report against me and I had to go for
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an interview under caution basically somebody reported me for playing cricket and taking my family to Disneyland
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Paris on holiday but the fact of the matter is you play cricket for England
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it's like you're trying to hide it you've fought through we can see a picture on the screen now
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of your, this is when you as a child, you've lost your leg, you have a very painful wound just below the knee, right
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you have a prosthetic limb, you have to take medication to be out and about, you are registered
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disabled legally you played cricket against the odds you played for your country and someone basically what dubbed you in Yeah basically yeah No reason why don know who don know why they would do it Yeah just received a letter through the post
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And just to quantify for our viewers and listeners, you've received benefits for your disability
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which is completely legal. You've only got one leg. You're not gaming the system
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How much money do you get? You get a mobility car, and that's all been taken away now
2:03
Yeah, so from 2016, I had standard rate daily living allowance. And then that was, funny enough
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awarded through a friend who actually works for DWP and checks the forms and said
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why don't you claim it? You're entitled to it. So he helped me fill the forms. Three years later, I had a face-to-face interview
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with an examiner coming to the house. And his exact words were, why am I here
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Your leg's never going to grow back. You'll get this for life. He then put the forms in for me to get the lower rate mobility
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which was granted, and his words, again, were, in years to come, things are not going to get better
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so when things do get slightly worse, just keep letting the DWP know that circumstances are changing
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and then come to a point where you might be entitled to the car, which I got back in late 2022
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and then they've took everything away now and said that I'm not entitled to any of it. And, Sean, just to be absolutely clear with our viewers and listeners
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you work. Yeah, I work full-time since 16. You work full-time since you're 16
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You play cricket for your country. You inspire people through what you do
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You're not like a leech off the state. You an amazing positive member of society And we hearing about this billion benefits bill and having to make cutbacks but how do you feel about the fact that they put the laser on you
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It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing to be part of the country. I say I don't know what more proof I have to give
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I've got arthritis in the knee because of the prosthetic limb. Obviously, they just don't class an artificial leg as an aid
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for some unknown reason, but crutches are classed as an aid. but an artificial limb's not
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I've got bulges in my lower spine, which are going to spinal surgery
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all because of the prosthetic limb. And have you a right to appeal
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Have you decided what you're going to do about this? Yes, so I called yesterday for the mandatory reconsideration
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I did that over the phone yesterday. That can take up to 16 weeks
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I've got a month to send as much evidence back to them again to prove for some or no reason why I feel that I'm entitled to it
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And then if it goes negatively again, then I have the right to appeal again
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I'm sure, Sean, you'll understand the fact that we have a ballooning benefits bill and we need to address that
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When we did an earlier item on the show, about 20% of Brits now claim they have anxiety
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and mental health issues. And I was challenging the veracity of some of those claims
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I mean, you're clearly disabled. Yeah, I'd say my mental health hasn't been brilliant myself
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but I've never claimed for that. I never gone to DWP and said oh this as well I just got on with life the best I can I got a young family a wife and cricket was just my time
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But I'd say it's all been taken away. Presumably, if you sat around and
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got depressed and didn't work and became morbidly obese, became diabetic, you get all the
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benefits of the world. But because you're a striver, because you don't want to be defined by
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your disability, because you play cricket, you're out and about, try and make the
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best of your life, do you feel that's as a consequence you've been penalised? Yeah, definitely
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As you say, I could sit at home seven days a week, do nothing, which the DWP obviously
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want people to do. But for some unknown reason, I get told by the health professionals, stay active
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It's good for your mental, physical health. And then I do that
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And DWP basically saying, no, don't do that. So it's just a strange one
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What's your message to the Prime Minister? You know, people like that, the Department of Work and Pension
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if they're making an example of people like you, what does it say about our country
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It's shameful. People like myself, who've obviously got a physical disability, it can't be faked
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I don't know why I'm having to go backwards and forwards to GPs
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to get evidence to say that I've got an artificial leg and the stress that I have to go through to live with that
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Yeah, it's a bit of a joke, to be honest. Let me shake your mic now and get it
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Thank you. It's an honour to have met you. Yeah, and you. Thanks for coming out to the studio. Thank you very, very much
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Well, we contacted the Department of Work and Pension. They declined to comment because there's an ongoing investigation
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