List of those for whom Welfare Reform and cuts were too much to bear

[isvicthere?]

There is a significant problem re attitudes to welfare in both major parties now.

The Labour party has been entirely taken over by aspirational middle class types, who inherently believe that the way out of poverty is to aspire to better things as they do, believing that they only have to remove the obstacles to success for everyone to achieve their potential. And that once this is done, if you are still poor it is your own fault for not being aspirational enough, In this they already think very much the same as Tories. It of course completely ignores the fact that someone has to work on supermarket checkouts, drive busses, sweep the streets, cut the grass, serve in pubs and restaurants, etc. These jobs are mostly not disappearing anytime soon. Anyone who successfully aspires to rise out of them merely creates a vacancy in the same shitty job they have just left. Short of tackling low pay and crap terms and conditions directly, encouraging aspriration merely moves poverty around. There will always be those in crap jobs and it is not their fault that the jobs are crap. And increased competition for the smaller number of better paid opportunities will in time simply allow pay here to fall too.

New Labour and Tory attitudes to welfare are class based. They are the attitudes of the affluent middle classes assuming that the poor are poor because of their own lack of effort, ie that it is their own fault that they are poor. Which in turn makes them assume that a great many welfare claimants are somehow undeserving and that it is right to be tough on them. A degree of snobbish class disdain is a factor here. That Tories have always thought like this is common knowledge. That Labour now does so too is shocking. And they regard the poor as stupid if they don't vote for them anyway. The poor's ever more evident disconnect from Labour is somehow not something Labour takes responsibility for. They seem incapable of understanding why, when their whole attitude is itself a big part of the reason. The Labour party, certainly at the parliamentary level, has become largely disconnected from the working classes it was formed to support. And the working classes are noticing, and responding to this by not unreasonably withholding their support from the party in ever growing numbers.

When I was in the party myself, I noticed these attitudes in spades amongst centrist types. Most of the working class elements amongst the membership were on the left, the very ones no longer welcome. There is a widespread assumption that the working class is mostly racist and thick. And it was commonly said that Labour was now a middle class party with an eagerness to abandon the working classes they derided. In short the typical Labour centrist holds the working classes in contempt, yet believes they are stupid for not voting for them anyway.

Such thinking feeds all too easily into Labour's negative attitudes towards welfare.

Excellent and wise post, dude. States the situation concisely and with far more punch than Steve Rayson´s "The fall of the Red Wall" book, which is rather ponderous and repetitive. Respect!

 

[srb7677]

Labour aren't in Government, the Tories are. The ENTIRE welfare system is of their making, right back to Job Seekers Allowance of the Thatcher years - introduced at £65pw. Universal Credit - of Iain D. Smiths creation, introduced in 2014 at £100pw and reduced to £70pw because they thought IDS was being too soft on people.
New Labour can be accused of being negligent in that they trusted the Civil Service too much - that all these things would be dealt with, managed properly. They stand accused of ignorance IMO as a management outfit of taking too much trust in the civil service for granted. New Labour worked off newspaper headlines as one of their principal means of garnering what was going on in the outside world. Welfare wasn't in the headlines EVER during the New Labour years.
Basically it was the same Tory welfare system operating at ground level.
New Labour didn't fix what they didn't know to be broken.

Long story short, the welfare system is still the same as it was in the 80's except with the ADDITION of Universal Credit, which is just as miserly as Thatcher.

Have you forgotten that the first food banks became necessary under New Labour? I can remember that being in the news. Along with all the talk about scroungers and the need to be tough on them, accompanied by sanctions.

And the abolition of Incapacity Benefit and introduction of work capability assessments run by ATOS was legislated into existence under New Labour. The Tories ran with this enthusiastically but they didn't create it. New Labour did.

 

[Cado]

I can't confirm or deny that the first food banks were under New Labour.

I'm just saying that the Benefit System that built it was an 80s build - it was a Tory Benefit System that precipitated the Food Banks - New LAbour didn't even Tweak things as a political movement. The DWP posting (as a minister) was/is a junior posting. For the 'HEAD' part of New Labour (Blair/Brown) they'd have never stop to consider the 'non-working' because in their day (the 60/70s) Social Security worked - Social Security is the DEpt that from the 50s (if not earlier) dealt with the 'non-working' - the DWP has succeed it under THatcher, she abolished SS in the early 1980s.

I'm not of an opinion that New Labour would have willfully employed ATOS to do things negatively, the Civil Service however within the DWP would be another kettle of fish. I think the Civil Service are 90% of the driving force within the DWP and they're almost communist. THey NEED you working, secondly they're useless.

THis country had a good welfare system up until Thatcher, the REgional Councils did it, there were approx 60 in England. The entire welfare package circa 1978 was £250. £60 in kind for your Council HOuse £180 or so for long term unemployment benefit. THe 'Dole' was around £60 to £70pw BUT that was supposed to be short term until you got your long term welfare.

To the Best of my knowledge - welfare, whilst not fantastic, gave you no problem with food/clothes/bills and going to the pub once a week.

Thatcher, the fascist and satanist, binned it all.

 

[existentialist]

I don't want to be too much at home to Mr Reproachful here, but this thread was really for individual examples of people brutalised by the welfare system, not general discussion on policy, for which there are other threads....

 

[Cado]

Okay, I'm all ears....

 

[friendofdorothy]

Saw on line recently that over 29300 people had had their disability benefits cut in the last few years and 1000 had died (saw it tweeted here: but thought Best for Britain sound a bit iffy? )

seems to be using similar figures from in press last year - 293,000 disabled people have DWP's decision on PIP payments overturned in court
Seven out of 10 win benefits challenges at tribunal

 

[Pickman's model]

.

 

[Dystopiary]

The body of a disabled man was discovered in his derelict home six months after his benefits were cut off by the DWP, a report says.

He was last seen alive by DWP staff at a jobcentre.

An independent review into his death, which also examined the failings of other public bodies that had dealings with him, criticised the failure of DWP and other agencies to investigate why he had not kept appointments.

The review into the death of the man, known only as E, was carried out on behalf of Telford and Wrekin Safeguarding Adults Board (TWSAB) and was obtained by Disability News Service (DNS) following a freedom of information request.

The circumstances of the man’s death have not previously been reported, DNS understands.

The man, officially known as "E" died sometime between October 2016 and early 2017, at the age of 43.

Disabled man’s body found six months after DWP cut off his benefits

 

[Dystopiary]

A disabled woman who was left traumatised by the daily demands of the benefit system took her own life.

The Disability News Service reports that Rebecca* would shake and cry every time she had to log onto her online universal credit “journal”, which she was forced to do every weekday to avoid having her benefits sanctioned.

Although she had been given a six-month “fit note” by her doctor that explained that she was not fit for work, she was still expected to have regular appointments with a work coach until her fitness for work could be assessed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) contractor Maximus.

DWP had been told of her mental distress, suicidal thoughts and fear of the department and the universal credit system.

Her mother, Debra*, who lived near her daughter’s home, said the idea of always having to be under the surveillance of DWP and its universal credit system left her in despair.

Rebecca told her mother: “They will always want to know where I am going, how much money I have got. They will always be in my life, they will always want to know.”

Rebecca's mother does not want her daughter's identity to be disclosed until the inquest. She has asked the coroner to investigate the role the DWP and universal credit system played in Rebecca's death

*not their real names

Woman took her own life after trauma caused by daily demands of universal credit

This is the stress they lay onto disabled and ill people:

She wouldn’t even allow her parents to pay the bill in case DWP saw the payment in her bank account and treated it as income.

 

[seeformiles]

A friend of mine killed himself 3 weeks ago. His note despaired the state of the world, the rise of the right, the cost of living and the increasing inability to cover his basic day to day costs esp, rent, heating and food. I know his mental health was not the best but it was almost like he’d lost faith in human nature itself. Whether this is the right place for this post I do not know but, at the funeral yesterday, watching his very elderly parents touch their child’s coffin for the last time was the most heartbreaking thing I’ve seen for a long time. Mrs SFM and I are in shock.

 

[CNT36]

A friend of mine killed himself 3 weeks ago. His note despaired the state of the world, the rise of the right, the cost of living and the increasing inability to cover his basic day to day costs esp, rent, heating and food. I know his mental health was not the best but it was almost like he’d lost faith in human nature itself. Whether this is the right place for this post I do not know but, at the funeral yesterday, watching his very elderly parents touch their child’s coffin for the last time was the most heartbreaking thing I’ve seen for a long time. Mrs SFM and I are in shock.

That's shit mate. RIP. Really shit.

 

[seeformiles]

That's shit mate. RIP. Really shit.

Thank you everybody - I mean that most sincerely. It really makes a difference.

 

[Dystopiary]

A friend of mine killed himself 3 weeks ago. His note despaired the state of the world, the rise of the right, the cost of living and the increasing inability to cover his basic day to day costs esp, rent, heating and food. I know his mental health was not the best but it was almost like he’d lost faith in human nature itself. Whether this is the right place for this post I do not know but, at the funeral yesterday, watching his very elderly parents touch their child’s coffin for the last time was the most heartbreaking thing I’ve seen for a long time. Mrs SFM and I are in shock.

What a horrible shock that must have been. I'm so sorry.

 

[Dystopiary]

The mother of Jodey Whiting, who took her own life after her benefits were cut, has won an appeal for a fresh inquest into her death.

Joy Dove, challenged a ruling given in June last year by two high court judges who refused to order a new inquest to investigate the role of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the death.

She took her fight to the court of appeal, where judges heard her case in January and on Friday ruled there should be a new inquest.

Lady Justice Whipple has ruled that a new inquest is "desirable in the interests of justice" and stated that the public has a legitimate interest in knowing whether Ms Whiting's death was connected to her benefits being abruptly stopped.

The lawyers or Ms Whiting's mother, Joy Dove, had said the the first inquest did not investigate “whether any acts or omissions of the DWP caused or contributed to Ms Whiting’s death.”

Fresh evidence of “multiple, significant failings” by the DWP was not before the coroner at the time of the first inquest.

Mother of disabled woman who killed herself wins appeal for new inquest

 

[Shechemite]

Thank you for flying the flag whilst I’ve been away Dystopiary

 

[cesare]

A lovely friend of mine of many years in Glasgow is starving to death. She accepted some groceries from me a few weeks ago cos she had no choice I had them delivered. But she has reached her limit and decided it's her time to die. She knows many people here. I don't know what to do, she won't let me send her food or money. Many of us know her on MATB. I'm so upset, I don't know what to do.

 

[cesare]

A lovely friend of mine of many years in Glasgow is starving to death. She accepted some groceries from me a few weeks ago cos she had no choice I had them delivered. But she has reached her limit and decided it's her time to die. She knows many people here. I don't know what to do, she won't let me send her food or money. Many of us know her on MATB. I'm so upset, I don't know what to do.

If anyone can help, please help. She's at her wits end and I can't help her.

 

[Dystopiary]

If anyone can help, please help. She's at her wits end and I can't help her.

I'm so sorry about you friend's situation. Wonder if this might be worth posting outside of politics as I think some people don't read it, plus this thread update might have got a bit overtaken by more fast-moving news so could've been missed.

 

[cesare]

I'm so sorry about you friend's situation. Wonder if this might be worth posting outside of politics as I think some people don't read it, plus this thread update might have got a bit overtaken by more fast-moving news so could've been missed.

Thank you so much. It's a good suggestion, I appreciate it. She's basically making a political decision (she wants people to contact their MPs etc) so I'm not sure whether to or not, I'll think on it and thanks again.

 

[GarveyLives]

The fiancée of the son of mentally ill Errol Graham, who starved to death after his benefits were stopped by the Department for Work and Pensions has brought a legal claim against the Government on behalf of his family, arguing that the Department for Work and Pensions' policy on terminating benefits is unlawful. The High Court hearing before Mr Justice Bourne is expected to conclude tomorrow, with judgement to be delivered at a later date:

Department for Work and Pensions breached equality law when benefits claimant starved to death, court hears

"An independent safeguarding review into the “shocking and disturbing” events leading to Errol Graham’s tragic and lonely death concluded that multiple failings by the Department for Work and Pensions, his GP practice, and social landlord meant that chances to save him were missed ..."

(Source: as stated in image)​

Errol Graham: Department for Work and Pensions ‘hid key evidence’ from inquiry into starvation death

Chances were missed to save man who starved in Nottingham, report finds

 

[Dystopiary]

A young disabled mother, Philippa Day, took her own life after the actions of the DWP and its contractor Capita left her with "delibitating anxiety." This is part of the findings of an inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Ms Day, aged 27.

The safeguarding review, commissioned by Nottingham City Safeguarding Adults Board, says that the interactions that Philippa – referred to as “Valentina” in the report – had with DWP and Capita as she tried to move from DLA to PIP had had a “profound impact” on her.


It highlights the stress caused by the high interest loans she had to take out when DWP stopped her DLA claim because the completed PIP form she posted went missing, and says it “significantly increased her episodes of self-harm and the risk of suicide”.


After her DLA award was eventually reinstated and backdated, Capita then insisted that Philippa had to attend a face-to-face appointment at one of its PIP assessment centres, even though it had access to substantial evidence of her mental distress and her need to be assessed at her home in Nottingham.

The review builds on evidence heard at an inquest into Philippa’s death, which found in January 2021 that flaws in the disability benefits system were “the predominant factor and the only acute factor” that led to her taking her own life, and highlighted 28 separate “problems” with the administration of the PIP system.

The review also described how Ms Day had also been let down by the criminal justice system for failing to stop "relentless" stalking, harassment and threats from her former partner, including physical and sexual abuse in her own home.

It is the second time in a fortnight that DWP has been criticised by a Nottingham safeguarding adults review following the death of a disabled person linked to DWP’s actions.


Last week, DWP was accused by a relative of “absolutely disgraceful” behaviour after confirmation that it hid vital evidence from a safeguarding review published earlier this month into the death of Errol Graham, who starved to death in 2018 after his benefits were wrongly stopped.

Disabled mum took her own life after actions of DWP and Capita ‘magnified’ anxiety

 

[Dystopiary]

Research has exposed how the DWP have weaponised time to avoid accountability for deaths related to the benefits system, which are described as "an outcome of slow violence".

It shows how the department’s use of delaying tactics has helped deny justice to the relatives of those who have lost their lives.


The research highlights a decade-long battle by Disability News Service (DNS) and others to uncover the records that DWP keeps on the deaths of disabled people claiming benefits.


It draws on the online Deaths by Welfare timeline, co-produced by disabled people and published in draft format last summer, to show how the department has spent years attempting to “invisibilise” its role in the deaths of claimants.

The article, Weaponising Time in the War on Welfare, was researched and written by Dr China Mills – who leads the Deaths by Welfare project at Healing Justice Ldn, and is a senior lecturer in public health – and [Disability News Service] editor John Pring.

The article, published in the journal Critical Social Policy, focuses on the secret reviews carried out by DWP into the deaths of claimants, now known as internal process reviews (IPRs).


It shows how, “despite being one of the main governmental tools to investigate deaths linked to the social security system”, the design of the reviews has made it almost impossible to hold the department to account for deaths linked to its policies, procedures and failures.


But redacted versions of the reviews – revealing their recommendations – did eventually show how the actions of DWP ministers, civil servants and private sector contractors have continued to be linked to the deaths of claimants, “making the disability benefits system deeply harmful and unsafe”.

Research exposes how DWP ‘weaponised’ time to avoid accountability for deaths

 

[GarveyLives]

Young man who died by suicide feared the Department for Work and Pensions would take disability benefits away (Note: This article contains details of self harm and suicide)

 

[Pickman's model]

The government are determined to boost the butcher's bill of claimant deaths People deemed unable to work ‘face having benefits reduced under DWP plan’

 

[Dystopiary]

(Source: as stated in image)​

Errol Graham: Department for Work and Pensions ‘hid key evidence’ from inquiry into starvation death

Chances were missed to save man who starved in Nottingham, report finds

There's important news regarding the DWP's treatment, and subsequent death, of Errol Graham.

An updated safeguarding review has found that the DWP should not have stopped Mr Graham's benefits.

It is the first time that any official inquiry has made it clear that DWP was wrong to stop the benefits of [Mr Graham] after he failed to turn up to a work capability assessment (WCA).

His employment and support allowance (ESA) was stopped in October 2017 when he failed to respond to attempts to contact him about his claim, which led to his housing benefit being stopped and his rent no longer being paid.

The following June, his body was found by bailiffs sent to evict him for non-payment of rent.

He was 57 years old and weighed just four-and-a-half stone.

A coroner later found that Mr Graham had starved to death.

It is just the latest example of DWP misleading public bodies and those investigating its activities – including coroners, judges, the National Audit Office and its own independent reviewers – about links between its policies and failings and the deaths of disabled people claiming benefits, as detailed on the Deaths by Welfare timeline.

DWP refused this week to say if it agreed with the additions to the safeguarding review; refused to apologise for withholding the 2014 report from the review; and refused to apologise for the actions it took that led Errol Graham to starve to death.

The linked article quotes Mr Graham's daughter in law, Alison Burton, who has fought for justice for him:

“If [the DWP] is committed to improving its services and protecting its claimants, as it claims every time, why be deceitful?

“All it says to me is they have no interest in improving their services.”

DWP was wrong to stop benefits of man who starved to death, inquiry finds

 

[Dystopiary]

Following the inquest into a man's suicide in March last year, a coroner has issued a report to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride, warning him to act to prevent future deaths.

An inquest into the death of Kevin Gale earlier this month heard from his psychiatrist, who expressed significant concerns about the way mental health service-users were supported with their universal credit claims within DWP.

It is believed to be the first time a coroner has sent a prevention of future deaths (PFD) report to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) relating to the flawed universal credit system.

A psychiatrist who saw Kevin Gale two days before he took his own life told the inquest they believed "his anxiety had been exacerbated by his universal credit application."

The psychiatrist had called DWP during the appointment but, the coroner wrote in the PFD report, “the call was not answered before the end of the consultation”.

Gale had been expecting a call from DWP the following day, and he spoke to the duty registered mental health nurse at 11am on 3 May.

The coroner reported: “He remained very anxious and his main concern was the application for Universal Credit.”

He took his own life at home the following day.

Whilst the full Prevention of Death Report is in the public realm, I won't link to it out of respect for Mr Gale and his loved ones as it contains his personal details, but this is the section of the report where the coroner addresses her concerns to Mel Stride:

CORONER’S CONCERNS
The evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you.

The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows:
Current DWP procedures may not be practical for those with mental health illness and can exacerbate symptoms. I heard evidence that:

1. The number of and length of DWP forms required to be completed can be overwhelming for someone with a mental health illness. This is perpetuated if the applicant cannot get help to complete the paperwork.
2. There are long telephone queues to speak to a DWP advisor.
3. Having to travel long distances for appointments can be detrimental for those with a mental health illness.

ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN
In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe the
DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS
For the attention of the Rt Hon Mel Stride MP Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Caxton House
Tothill Street London SW1H 9NA

has the power to take such action.

YOUR RESPONSE
You are under a duty to respond to this report within 56 days of the date of this report, namely by 2 January 2024.

I, the Coroner, may extend the period.

Your response must contain details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out the timetable for action. Otherwise you must explain why no action is proposed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RIP Kevin Gale. Sincere condolences to all who loved him.

Coroner tells DWP to act on universal credit safety after claimant’s suicide

 

[existentialist]

Following the inquest into a man's suicide in March last year, a coroner has issued a report to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride, warning him to act to prevent future deaths.





A psychiatrist who saw Kevin Gale two days before he took his own life told the inquest they believed "his anxiety had been exacerbated by his universal credit application."



Whilst the full Prevention of Death Report is in the public realm, I won't link to it out of respect for Mr Gale and his loved ones as it contains his personal details, but this is the section of the report where the coroner addresses her concerns to Mel Stride:

CORONER’S CONCERNS
The evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you.

The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows:
Current DWP procedures may not be practical for those with mental health illness and can exacerbate symptoms. I heard evidence that:

1. The number of and length of DWP forms required to be completed can be overwhelming for someone with a mental health illness. This is perpetuated if the applicant cannot get help to complete the paperwork.
2. There are long telephone queues to speak to a DWP advisor.
3. Having to travel long distances for appointments can be detrimental for those with a mental health illness.

ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN
In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe the
DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS
For the attention of the Rt Hon Mel Stride MP Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Caxton House
Tothill Street London SW1H 9NA

has the power to take such action.

YOUR RESPONSE
You are under a duty to respond to this report within 56 days of the date of this report, namely by 2 January 2024.

I, the Coroner, may extend the period.

Your response must contain details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out the timetable for action. Otherwise you must explain why no action is proposed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RIP Kevin Gale. Sincere condolences to all who loved him.

Coroner tells DWP to act on universal credit safety after claimant’s suicide

Of course, they won't do a damn thing.

At some level, this will be perceived as a self-resolving problem

 

[Dystopiary]

Following the inquest into a man's suicide in March last year, a coroner has issued a report to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride, warning him to act to prevent future deaths.

[snip]

The DWP has dismissed has dismissed the coroner's call to act on issues with the benefits system to prevent future deaths.

Kirsty Gomersal sent a prevention of future deaths (PFD) report to work and pensions secretary Mel Stride in November, following the inquest into Kevin Gale's death.

The inquest had heard how DWP’s actions were having a significant “debilitating” impact on service-users, particularly those trying to claim universal credit.

One witness said that mental health service-users at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust were often “living on pennies” and “can’t afford to feed themselves properly” because their benefit claims had been rejected, while their mental health was “often made worse by the DWP’s inefficiency”.

Another witness from the trust said the “debilitating” impact of DWP’s actions on people with mental distress was a “national issue”.

But in response to Ms Gomersal's report, the DWP have dismissed all of her concerns. Mel Stride himself didn't bother to respond.

It concluded: “Upon reviewing the full circumstances of this case, we are satisfied that appropriate support is already available to allow claimants with complex needs to access benefits.

“I trust that my response helps assure you of the measures DWP has in place, and on which it is committed to building, to meet your concerns.”

Although the coroner’s PFD report was addressed to the secretary of state, the response was written by a member of the department’s customer experience directorate.

It also did not appear to take into account that the coroner’s concerns were not based solely on Gale’s experience but on the evidence from witnesses from the mental health trust who raised concerns about many other service-users.

DWP dismisses coroner’s concerns over universal credit suicide

The Disability News Service reports on the DWP's history of dismissing the many concerns raised by coroners over the deaths of benefit claimants:

DWP has now been sent at least seven PFDs since the start of 2010, and in each report the coroner has called for significant action from the department to prevent further deaths.

But the DNS analysis has shown that only twice has the department promised to take anything more than superficial action in response to those PFDs.

And in four of the cases – including that of Kevin Gale – the department refused to accept that it had made any errors in the lead-up to the death of the claimant.

DWP’s 14-year history of dismissing coroners’ concerns over benefit claimant deaths

 

[Dystopiary]

The DWP has secretly weakened its own guidance on investigation into suicides of benefit claimants.

Four years ago, the department told the National Audit Office (NAO) that it would always carry out one of its secret reviews when it heard of a claimant’s death if they had died by suicide, even if there were no allegations that DWP’s actions had contributed to that death.

Since then, it has repeatedly insisted that it has “established procedures to investigate and learn lessons” in the “minority” of cases where deaths occur, but Disability News Service (DNS) has now established that it weakened its guidance a year after its pledge to NAO.

New figures obtained by DNS through a freedom of information (FoI) request show that on at least four occasions in 2022-23, the department failed to investigate when told of the suicide of a claimant.

This is damning.

Over the last 15 years, investigations by disabled people’s grassroots groups, journalists, academics and other organisations and campaigners have linked systemic DWP failings with hundreds, and probably thousands, of suicides of claimants.

But this week’s admission suggests that DWP has taken a significant backward step in addressing the serious and continuing risk to the lives of disabled people, particularly those who pass through its disability assessment systems.

DWP secretly weakened guidance on suicides, one year after public pledge

 

[Dystopiary]

A young disabled woman took her own life after her benefit claim was held up for months because of flaws within the application process. It was finally awarded just hours after her death.

Her mother has told the committee that the “mental health impact” of the “hurdles” in the application process “should not be underestimated”.

Her evidence again raises serious concerns about flaws and delays within the personal independence payment (PIP) system.

Young woman took her own life hours before DWP finally agreed long-delayed PIP claim