'Dangerous' DWP needs 'deep-rooted change' to stop benefit claimants from dying, damning report finds

Deaths of benefit claimants “could have been prevented” by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) according to a damning new report released on Thursday (May 15).

The cross-party Work and Pensions Committee slammed the DWP’s “deficient” safeguarding practices following several high-profile deaths, including Errol Graham, who starved after his benefit payments were stopped, and Phillipa Day, who died by suicide after the DWP made 28 errors managing her case.

Two years in the making, the Safeguarding Vulnerable Claimants report has called for the DWP to have a legal duty to refer vulnerable claimants to other agencies that have a duty of care, with the secretary of state ultimately held accountable for the safeguarding duty.

It comes less than a month after Amnesty International UK published its own scathing report, which identified “severe human rights violations” at the heart of the benefits system. Last year, Britain’s human rights watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, launched its own investigation into the DWP’s treatment of disabled benefit claimants. The investigation is ongoing. 

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Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, 240 internal reviews were carried out by the DWP where claimants had died, including by suicide, or had come to serious harm.

However, the report concludes that the true scale of deaths and serious harm to vulnerable claimants is unknown and called on the DWP to systematically record all cases and publish this information annually.

The report added that a “deep-rooted, cultural change” was needed with a joined-up approach to rebuild trust and “put safeguarding at the heart of policy development”. 

Committee chair Debbie Abrahams said: “That people continue to face harm after dealing with the DWP is a self-evident failure of safeguarding in the system. Until recently, getting people back into work to cut costs had been prioritised over providing support and care for vulnerable people. We heard evidence that the process of engaging with the DWP itself too often led to mental distress. Where this led to not being able to get financial support, many had paid the ultimate price. 

“We’ve heard that while some have been lifted by the system when it works well, this can depend on claimants’ confidence that the system will help them. Too often, we heard their trust has been smashed by continual cost-cutting drives and an unhelpful media narrative. Many fear coming forward and expressing that they need additional support due to their circumstances and they fall deeper into vulnerability and despair as a result.” 

The report, which comes at a time when the government is pushing for wide-reaching benefit cuts, also recommended that the DWP should involve people with lived experience of the benefit system to help shape its safeguarding policy.

The report has been welcomed by disability and mental health charities. 

Mikey Erhardt, campaigner at Disability Rights UK, said it represented a “vindication” for all those who fought to “get the dangerous failures of the DWP towards claimants recognised”. 

He said: “The report’s demand for a statutory duty to safeguard claimants is something our movement has called for years, and we are pleased the report is clear on the need for it.

“The evidence is overwhelming: disabled people and those with long-term health conditions have been systematically harmed by a social security system that prioritises cost-cutting over care, suspicion over support, and bureaucracy over basic human dignity. For years, we have seen the devastating consequences of punitive policies that have forced people into impossible situations, pushing many into poverty, mental distress, and, tragically, even to their deaths.

“The detailed report underscores the latent risk faced by the 20 million people who interact with the benefits system in some form each year. It highlights how piecemeal and slow-moving the current action from the department is. Yes, the DWP acknowledges that their policies are dangerous, but they do little to address them.”

Erhardt continued: “We hope the report is a wake-up call for MPs that their vote in June on the green paper will come months, if not years, before the DWP has its own house in order. Disabled people and other groups at risk from DWP policy will be the ones who will bear the brunt of any further failure. These are not risks that MPs should feel are worth taking, with the consequences made clear in the report. 

“Clearly, the government should focus its time and effort on the points raised in this report rather than ploughing ahead with dangerous cuts as proposed in its green paper. The committee’s report clarifies just how dangerous this sort of decision-making is.”

The report has also concluded that the potential health impacts of all new significant policies must be assessed by the DWP’s chief medical advisor’s team. Currently, such health assessments are not carried out consistently on all major policy changes.

Alexa Knight, director at the Mental Health Foundation, said the recommendations in the report should be implemented “as soon as possible”. 

She said: “This report lays out in a striking fashion what many disabled and vulnerable people, and the organisations that support them, have been calling out for many years: the DWP routinely mistreats vulnerable benefit claimants, their system of sanctions and deductions worsens claimants’ mental health, and little is done to help people’s recovery. Ultimately, this has led to the deaths of individuals like Errol Graham and Phillipa Day.

“In recent months the government has announced that there is an intention to move the department towards taking a ‘trauma informed’ approach, which aims to understand the challenges that so many users of the welfare systems have faced in their lives. This, along with the other recommendations made by the committee in their report, should be implemented as soon as possible.”

Mental health charity Mind was among the organisations that provided oral evidence to the committee, highlighting the unique challenges facing people with mental health problems when they engage with the benefits system. 

Minesh Patel, Mind’s associate director of policy and influencing, said: “No one should be at risk of harm due to the benefits system. Sadly, as this report demonstrates, the UK government is simply not doing enough to minimise safeguarding risks, including for those with mental health problems.   

“People with mental health problems often tell us that the benefits system is a key source of anxiety for them, and how the interactions they have can cause them to experience poor mental health.  

“While the UK government has said that it is reviewing its safeguarding processes, this needs to come alongside genuine and meaningful reform of our benefits system so that people get the support they need to lead independent and fulfilling lives. This is where the focus needs to be, not on arbitrary cuts to benefits that will only push people into poverty and hardship.“  

Mark Winstanley, chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: “For too long, vulnerable people living with mental illness have suffered devastating harm and lost their lives due to failures in the benefits system. 

“If implemented, a statutory duty for the DWP to safeguard vulnerable claimants would be a crucial step toward real accountability, something we and other committed campaigners have advocated for. 

“Like our NHS, the benefits system was set up to support those in need, yet without legal safeguards a punitive and harmful approach has gone unchecked, with little transparency on whether lessons have been learned from past tragedies. 

“The government has pledged to renew its focus on safeguarding – this must include a statutory duty for the DWP to safeguard vulnerable claimants that prioritises the wellbeing of people affected by mental illness in every policy and decision.”

Evan John, policy adviser at the national disability charity Sense, said that research by the charity found that over half of disabled people with complex needs found their benefits assessment “humiliating”, and nearly half said it made their condition or impairment worse. He said the government needs to do “much more” to safeguard benefits claimants.

He said: “Sense would like to see the government use the recently launched review of the PIP assessment process to find ways to make the process less emotionally distressing, for example by relying more on medical experts and evidence from care or social workers.

“We also know many disabled people we support are feeling high levels of distress currently due to the government’s proposals to cut disability benefits. We are very worried that cutting benefits will lead to more disabled people being pushed into desperate poverty and coming to harm, and hope this report further encourages the government to reconsider these plans.”

Meagan Levin, policy and public affairs manager at Turn2us, said: “Far too many people face overwhelming distress when trying to access the social security system. This report shows that instead of support, people face delays and complexity that cause harm and deepen hardship. 

“Decades of cuts and stigmatising approaches have broken people’s trust. New plans to cut disability benefits only drag us further from the change that people need. 

“To rebuild trust, we urgently need to listen to people’s experiences and put safeguarding, dignity and compassion at the heart of the system. Like our NHS, our social security system should be there for all of us, especially when we need it most.”

Other recommendations in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Claimants report include inserting ‘victims of domestic abuse’ as a standalone category within the ‘additional support area’ in universal credit, which helps DWP staff to identify potentially vulnerable claimants. The category’s absence, the report said, was a “glaring omission” due to the unique needs of victims and survivors.

A DWP spokesperson said: “This government is committed to protecting the people who use our services and fixing the broken welfare system we inherited so it works for those who need it. 

“That’s why we are currently consulting on a new safeguarding approach, and our reforms will improve people’s lives and rebuild trust, by establishing an approach that genuinely supports vulnerable people.

“As we deliver our Plan for Change, we encourage people to have their voices heard through our consultation so we can build a safeguarding approach that works better for all.”

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