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Around 1,700 people have died waiting for reforms to ‘cruel’ benefit rules, charities warn.

Today marks six months since welfare chief Amber Rudd announced a review of the Special Rules for Terminal Illness.

Yet it is still ongoing, Ms Rudd has since quit her job and seat - and government work was held up by the election.

Now Marie Curie and the Motor Neurone Disease Association say 1,700 people have died waiting for a decision on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) since the reforms were pledged in July.

The estimate is based on previous Department for Work and Pensions figures which show 17,070 people died waiting for a PIP decision in five years.

People currently have a benefit claim fast-tracked if a GP agrees they are likely to die within six months. But charities say the rule is arbitrary, unworkable and “insensitive”.

Downton Abbey actor Jim Carter, an ambassador for Marie Curie, said: “People are being forced to prove that they have six months left to live or face long delays in getting access to benefits.

"When they do get benefits they can face stressful reassessment, even though they are dying.”

(Image: In Pictures via Getty Images)

MND Association chief executive Sally Light said the review "gave us some optimism" but "six months on, we are no further forward.

"People are still dying without the financial support they need and are entitled to. We need the Government to act on its promise now."

Ms Rudd announced the review two months before she quit the DWP, highlighting the pain of losing ex-husband AA Gill to cancer.

But at the time the Mirror understood the review had no end date, no formal terms of reference and no separate budget.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

The DWP last night insisted it has already made "positive changes", including a dedicated web page, and will be carrying out more research with claimants over the coming months.

A DWP spokesman said: "This evaluation of support for people nearing the end of life is an absolute priority for us.

“This vital work is well under way and we are working closely with medical professionals and charities like MND Association and Marie Curie.

“We are making positive changes and actively gathering all the relevant medical evidence needed to shape the proposals.”

Jo Lynton, 60, was able to get PIP for dying husband Mark swiftly after obtaining the 'six-month' form.

But she warned others cannot get the "magic piece of paper" adding: "The six-month rule definitely has to stop because it is unfair and unjust."

And Mrs Lynton said when they applied for Universal Credit she and Mark ran into delays - trying for 15 weeks before they became ineligible when he cashed in his pension.

IT consultant Mark, 54, from Bromsgrove, died from MND in July after a 22-week illness.

Mrs Lynton, who was his full-time carer, said: “Claiming benefits was horrendous. We were on hold for 50-60 minutes.

"I couldn’t be on hold for 50 or 60 minutes because my husband could choke on his own saliva.

"What was I supposed to do? Tell him to choke quietly as I’m waiting on the phone to get £50 a week?"

Mark was diagnosed on February 27 four days after his last day of work and was unable to drive within a week.

"I would just sit and cry because there was nothing I could do. We’ve paid in to the system and the one time we needed help, we couldn’t get it," she added.

"We still had a mortgage and all the bills to pay. It was so difficult. We were lucky we had a little bit of savings but other people have nothing."

The DWP said it awarded the full rate of PIP to Mr Lynton two days after receiving notice he was terminally ill.