One month before Jodey Whiting took her own life, she received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) saying her employment and support allowance was being stopped. Ms Whiting, who was disabled, had been told that she had to attend a work capability assessment. At the time of the assessment, she was being treated for pneumonia. Her death was a grim indictment of the disregard the social security system shows to vulnerable people. Ms Whiting’s mother has now won an appeal for a fresh inquest into her death. It was not an isolated case: in 2020 the National Audit Office found at least 69 suicides linked to the DWP’s handling of benefits claims.
The government’s recent pledge to scrap the work capability assessment was a welcome admission of the cruelty of this assessment. What’s required is an approach led by the needs of disabled people and those with health conditions. About 2.2m people in the UK with ill health say they would like to work. Under the current assessment system, they receive too little support, while those unable to work are often assessed incorrectly, and forced to either look for work or face benefit sanctions.
