The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been ordered to improve its treatment of disabled benefits claimants after a number of claimants died while trying to claim benefits. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has responded to "serious concerns about failures" from the DWP to meet the needs of claimants with mental health impairments and learning disabilities.
It comes after years of campaigns and MPs having previously asked the EHRC to investigate "the deaths of vulnerable claimants by suicide and other causes between 2008 and 2020". The EHRC is drawing up a legally-binding agreement for a DWP “action plan” which it will have to implement regarding claimants with disabilities, the Mirror reports.
The exact details will only be announced when it is signed later this summer but the watchdog said it would be “focused on resolving issues for DWP customers" and offer "a fast, effective means of redress, and helps to avoid lengthy investigations."
Read more: Reviews into 150 deaths and serious harms of people claiming benefits
It comes two years after an audit report revealed the government had investigated 69 benefit claimants’ suicides since 2014, and could have investigated more. Campaigners have spent years demanding an inquiry into deaths of benefit claimants such as Jodey Whiting, who took her own life after her ESA was stopped in 2017.
Another ESA claimant, Errol Graham, starved to death weighing just five stone in 2018 after his benefits were stopped. The EHRC said it spent much of 2021 questioning DWP officials about concerns that its legal obligation to disabled benefit claimants were not being met.
The DWP has said it has not identified any systemic unlawful action by the department and would "continue to work collaboratively towards our shared goals with the Commission" including addressing its concerns. Despite the DWP outlining steps to address the “problems”, the EHRC decided further action was necessary.
Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, who has campaigned for an inquiry, said: “It is a step forward but it is just not good enough. I want them to go much further - a full independent transparent inquiry looking at the scale of the deaths, the responsibility round the culture of the organisation, and the policies that contributed to it.”
She added: “We don’t know the full scale of it - the NAO identified the 69 deaths and said this was the tip of the iceberg - we believe far more are dying without this being properly acknowledged. I’ve had people contacting me - brothers, sisters, parents - saying my relative died but they don’t want to go public.”
EHRC chief executive Marcial Boo said: “The EHRC is committed to stamping out discrimination against all disabled people, including those with mental health conditions and learning disabilities whose needs can be overlooked. Government bodies often deliver essential services to vulnerable people.
"They must meet high standards and make reasonable adjustments for those who need them. The EHRC will hold them to account if they do not. This agreement with DWP will build on the improvements already taking place for disabled benefits claimants. We are pleased that officials are working cooperatively with us to address our concerns, and we expect the binding legal agreement to be in place shortly. We will monitor its delivery.”
The EHRC announced the move through a ‘section 23 agreement’ under the 2006 Equality Act. Organisations enter them voluntarily but they are legally binding.
A DWP spokesperson said: “We are committed to providing a compassionate and responsive service to all our customers, and are constantly improving our processes to deliver consistently reliable and high quality standards.
“We have not so far identified any systemic unlawful action by the department. We will continue to work collaboratively towards our shared goals with the Commission, addressing their concerns and delivering for our customers.”
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