I FOUNDED the Association of Pension and Benefit Claimants (Community Interest Company) and we work to educate, inspire and present a positive image of those on welfare.

About a year ago we approached the Jeremy Kyle show to see if they would have us on the show or give us some support.

I felt if you are going to humiliate people in the way the show does by design, you have a kind of moral duty to help others.

To say: "Look these people got it wrong, but there are organisations helping those who need it."

I had a friendly chat with Mr Kyle’s staff but my idea was not taken up.

Had it been done so Jeremy Kyle would have had a better argument against his critics, that his show had an educational element and was not just bear baiting.

The irony is that Mr Kyle was rounded on over this one suicide after 14 years of airing this format.

Yet the government and Department for Work and Pension's policies have led thousands of suicides and related deaths.

There are claims of more than 120,000 people have died due to DWP policies and mistakes, though we believe that estimated figure may be on the low side.

We hear regularly from the DWP that "these matters are complicated" as another claimant takes their own life due to the stress of living on almost nothing.

There is no shortage of money. The National Insurance Fund is showing a large surplus of £2.5 billion.

The price of huge cuts in corporation tax and inheritance tax for the rich and record bankers bonuses in the City has been the deaths of the poorest in society.

Targeting the disabled, disproportionate and unfair sanctions and the "bedroom tax" have all added to the misery of those struggling under this government and their divisive policies.

Simon Collyer

Founder of the Association of Pension and Benefit Claimants

Avignon Close, Colchester