The DWP has admitted shredding reports on around 50 people who killed themselves following social security payments being withdrawn, promoting accusations of a “cover-up.” by some families who lost loved ones.
Officials at the DWP claim they shredded reports into suicides linked to benefit payments ,
made before 2015, being stopped, citing data protection laws.
However the data watchdog has rubbished the claims, insisting that there was no legal requirement to destroy the documents by a specific date. They added that a “public interest” exemption could have been used.
One benefit recipient, Tim Salter, who had been left partially-sighted following a previous suicide attempt and who was experiencing mental health issues, was found ‘fit for work’ and his welfare payments were severely cut, just nine months before his death in 2013.
The admission from the UK government department comes following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by the BBC. It revealed that at least 49 internal reviews carried out by 2015 had been shredded.
The harsh changes to the welfare system, introduced by the then-Work
and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith between 2010 and 2016, were
widely criticized following concerns they were linked to suicides among
claimants.
Stephen
Timms, chairman of the Commons work and pensions committee, threatened
ministers with an inquiry if he does not receive clarity on what
improvements can be made.Mr Timms said he was "sympathetic" to those who feared an internal cover-up, and speculated that the department was attempting to keep "hush-hush" any links between the deaths and decisions to stop benefits or deem the claimants fit to work.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the DWP should be looking to learn from past mistakes rather than disposing of evidence.
"I think families should be entitled to see these reports," said the Labour MP.
"The law does not specify five years or six years, and I think this kind of information should be held for longer.
"In any case, there's no reason why they should be destroyed. They should be kept and progress on implementing improvements monitored."
Mr Timms said one of the early things his committee will look at when it meets for the first time in this parliament is to agree on a letter calling for "clarification and improvements" from welfare ministers.
If the response is not deemed satisfactory an inquiry will be considered, he confirmed.
He told the BBC: "I think all of this raises very troubling questions for the department.
"For a long time they refused to address them at all. Now they're starting to address them but in a very secretive and unsatisfactory way.
"I think for a long time they were very reluctant to accept that what they were doing had contributed to these deaths at all.
"I think they are now being forced to own up to the fact. That is happening, but they're doing it very reluctantly and very slowly and trying to keep the thing as hush-hush as possible, and it's not good enough."
The news comes after Labour’s Debbie Abrahams fought back tears in the Commons on Monday as she read out more than 20 names of people who died after experiencing difficulties with the benefits system.
The MP said some died after “taking (his/her) own life after being found fit for work” or through illness after losing their benefits.
Leading a Commons debate on the death of people on social security benefits since 2014, Ms Abrahams told MPs: “These are people’s family members and we are failing them, we’re absolutely failing them. We mustn’t let this continue.”
She added: “This isn’t an exhaustive list but it shames us all, it shames the Government in terms of the inaction.
“I’ve raised this so many times over the last five years and there’s been no change whatsoever.”
Ms Abrahams accused the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of failing to have the right systems in place to learn from deaths linked to benefit issues, asking: “Do you not feel ashamed?” She also said: “It’s a scandal. These are British citizens who are dying as a result of policies implemented by this Government. “Everybody should be taking note.”
Ms Abrahams said she has asked for a full independent inquiry and wants a response by the end of the week, noting: “This is too serious to be ignored.”
Earlier, the former shadow work and pensions secretary said: “Over three-quarters of claimants who appeal their assessment decision telling them that they are fit for work have the decision overturned. “And that’s because these are poorly people.”
She went on: “Peer-reviewed research published by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health estimated that between 2010 and 2013 work capability assessment was independently associated with an additional 590 suicides, 280,000 cases of self-reported mental health problems and 725,000 additional anti-depressant scripts. “These assessments are not only not fit for purposes, they are actually doing harm.”
Ms Abrahams, before reading out the list, also referred in detail to three cases – including 57-year-old Errol Graham who died in 2018 weighing just 4.5 stone, eight months after his Employment and Support Allowance was stopped after he missed a work capability assessment.
She said: “His daughter-in-law Alison has been scathing telling me of the anger she and husband Lee feel. “She said that what was particularly shocking was how the QC acting on behalf of the Government during the inquest tried to intimidate not just the family but others as well, shouting at the police officer who found Errol’s body about what else he’d seen.
“In particular what offended them deeply was that … the police officer was asked had they found takeaway menus or any takeaway cartons. “It was quite clear at that inquest the DWP, … and the Government, was far from listening and trying to learn from this but they were seeking to blame, which is absolutely unforgivable.”
Ms Abrahams also highlighted the cases of Jodey Whiting, who took her own life after her disability benefits were stopped, and Liverpool resident Stephen Smith – with MPs hearing his “emaciated” body was “more reminiscent of someone from a concentration camp rather than 21st century Britain”.
The Commons heard he died of multiple organ failure after being found fit for work.
The individual cases are listed here exactly as they were described in the Commons by Labour MP Debbie Abrahams. Changes to phrasing have been made by Hansard which produces a written record of the Commons.
Errol Graham died weighing just five stone in 2018 after his ESA was stopped
Jodey Whiting took her own life in 2017, three days after last ESA payment
Stephen Smith died of multiple organ failure after being found fit for work
Jimmy Ballentine took his own life in 2018 after being found fit for work
Amy Nice took her own life in 2018 after being found fit for work
Kevin Dooley took his own life in 2018 after losing ESA
Brian Bailey died in July 2018, taking his own life after being found fit for work
Elaine Morrall died in November 2017, taking her own life
Daniella Obeng died in December 2017, again taking her own life
Brian Sycamore died in September 2017, taking his own life after leaving a note blaming the DWP after failing his work capability assessment
Mark Scholfield who died in July 2017, was a terminal cancer patient who did not receive any UC before he died in spite of his illness
Chris Gold who died in October 2017, was found fit for work following a stroke and was facing foreclosure when he died because he could not work
Lawrence Bond collapsed and died in the street in January 2017 after being found fit for work
Julia Kelly died in 2015, taking her own life after losing ESA for a third time
Ben McDonald took his own life in March 2015 after being found fit for work
Chris Smith who died in 2015, had cancer and was found fit for work despite a terminal diagnosis
Michael Connolly took his own life on his birthday in May 2014 after losing his ESA
David Clapson could not afford to power his fridge to store his insulin and died as a result in July 2014
George from Chesterfield died of a heart attack in May 2014, eight months after being found fit for work despite having had three previous heart attacks
Robert Barlow died of cancer in April 2014 after losing his ESA
David Barr died in September 2014, taking hiThere is a mass of anecdotal evidence out there that indicate vulnerable people are being put under intense economic and psychological pressure by the actions of the DWP and their 'Job-Centre' foot soldiers.s own life after losing ESA
Trevor Drakard took his own life in 2014
Shaun Pilkington died in January 2014
Terry McGarvey died in February 2014
DWP minister Mr Tomlinson said failings would be looked at by a Serious Case Panel.
But despite inquiries by outlets such as the Disability News Service, the DWP has repeatedly refused to release details of how this panel will work.
There is a mass of anecdotal evidence out there that indicate deeply vulnerable people are being put under intense economic and psychological pressure by the actions of the DWP and their 'Job-Centre' foot soldiers, .that sees individuals, who are desperately in need of support, not punishment, being tipped over the edge, often after benefits were withdrawn, leaving them stressed and penniless.
In what should be a national scandal, real lives have been lost because people could not see a future beyond the mess of their welfare payments. Every one of their deaths could and should have been avoided. While we must grieve for those lives, the starkest examples of the psychological fall-out of austerity, we should not forget. so many more who are suffering day-in, day-out. It’s yet more evidence that the welfare benefits system is unfit for purpose.
Shamefully, instead of taking all this into consideration, the Tory government’s punitive approach, (alongside that of the DWP) is not likely to cease any day soon. They will continue to fail the most vulnerable among us, withdrawing support from those who so need it most, leaving people out of pocket and unable to afford the basic essentials and putting many lives further at risk. We have a long time to go to claim we live in a compassionate society when we allow people to endure this systematic cruelty.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.
