Coroner criticises benefits rules after vulnerable claimant’s death

Department of Work and Pensions offices in London. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

A coroner has criticised the Depart­ment for Work and Pensions (DWP) after a woman died from an overdose in the wake of a six-month official investigation that left her with soaring universal credit debts.

Fiona Butler, the assistant coroner for Rutland and North Leicestershire, wrote a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to the DWP highlighting its failures to respond to the victim’s mental health issues.