http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=501109&in_page_id=1770

Wife 'cured' by prayer can't get benefits stopped because government
computer doesn't recognize miracles

By LUKE SALKELD

When June Clarke walked again after six years in a wheelchair, the committed
Christian put it down to the power of prayer.

But when she shared the good news with benefits officials, they refused to
stop her incapacity allowance - telling her their computer "didn't have a
button for miracles".

With the Government pledging to crack down on "sicknote Britain", it seems
remarkable the 56-year-old received more than �3,500 she did not even want.

Mrs Clarke, from Plymouth, slipped on a wet floor at her workplace in 2000.
She badly damaged her hip, pelvis and spine and had to give up work and draw
incapacity benefits as her symptoms worsened.

Her husband Stuart, 58, a pastor at Hooe Baptist Church, said that he prayed
every day after the accident that God would "bring my wife back".

The prayer seemed to be answered when his wife attended a Christian
conference in January last year.

Within hours, Mrs Clarke was able to fold away her wheelchair and stop
taking painkillers. When she realised she was permanently cured four months
later, she contacted the Government's Industrial Injury Department to put a
stop to her benefits.

But the department continued to give her �600 a month - and she ended up
being paid �3,600 in incapacity benefits for a period when she was in
perfect health.

"After I got healed in January 2006 I went to the doctor to check it out
with him," she said yesterday.

"He said wait six months.

"But after four months I felt uncomfortable taking benefits when I didn't
need them. I contacted the offices to ask to come off the benefits."

But officials told her that the system was unable to recognise an apparently
miraculous recovery.

Mrs Clarke had been awarded an allowance for life and the computer wasn't
programmed to allow the payments to end until her death.

"They said: 'We haven't got a button to push that says miracle'."

She then saw a government doctor, who was baffled about her recovery but
declared her fully fit.

The allowance was stopped and Mrs Clarke has since been able to repay the
money by working as a carer.

Mr Clarke said that he found the couple's battle with the benefits system
amusing, if frustrating.

"We would have loved to have used the money for a good cause," he said.

"But it wasn't ours to spend. It can't be often that a government department
gets a complaint about unwanted cash."

A spokesman from the Department for Work and Pensions said: "Each case is
treated individually. When a customer contacts us to say they no longer
require or need to claim benefits we ask for a letter of confirmation for
security reasons."

--
J Young
jyoungvisions@aol.com

Wife 'cured' by prayer can't get benefits stopped because government
computer doesn't recognize miracles