Revealed: DWP has lost more employment tribunals for disability discrimination than any other UK employer

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has lost more employment tribunals for disability discrimination in the past five years than any other UK employer, according to new analysis carried out by Big Issue.

Analysis of employment tribunal decisions and data from Good Jobs First’s ‘Violation Tracker’ has revealed that over five years, from 2020/21 to 2024/25, the department lost 20 of the 130 disability discrimination cases brought by its disabled employees. Decisions on the awards for 11 of these cases have been published and amount to more than £570,000 in payouts for the DWP.

The DWP is the second largest government department, employing 94,000 staff, one in four of whom are disabled. Employers with the closest total of disability discrimination cases lost to the department were Royal Mail and Tesco, both of whom have considerably larger number of employees. Similarly, a comparison across all the civil service shows that the DWP has significantly more cases and defeats in proportion to its number of disabled employees than any other department.

• UK’s ‘cruel’ benefits system is ‘ruining lives’ and ‘violating human rights’, Amnesty report finds
• Brits seem apathetic towards Labour’s disability benefit cuts. Where has all the empathy gone?
• DWP blew tens of millions in taxpayer cash on fighting disability benefit claims

These new figures show there has been little improvement since a 2020 investigation by BBC Panorama first revealed the DWP had more disability discrimination cases in total and more cases lost than any other employer. Fewer cases are now being brought per year, but the proportion of losses has increased from 12.5% to 15.4%.

“There are already too many cases going to employment tribunal, and if we didn’t support our members to reach out-of-court settlements the number would be even higher,” says the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) DWP group president Angela Grant. “This is unlikely to change for as long as the government puts pressure on our members to implement draconian policies with reduced staffing and pittance pay.”

The union has been consistent in raising the alarm about staffing concerns across the department. In 2023, it published a dossier with testimonials from more than 50 workers, which included disabled staff who spoke of having reasonable adjustments withdrawn, staff struggling to deal with the increasing mention of suicide by claimants, and some resorting to self-harm due to the pressures placed on them by this work.

“How can we have confidence the DWP will support the public when it doesn’t support its own workers? asks Grant. “Unless government starts to make better decisions, and DWP takes the pressure off staff, the system will continue to fail.”

The DWP is currently consulting on some of its proposed changes to the benefits system, which disabled people and campaigners have warned are ‘incredibly dangerous’ and will strip out an estimated £6.4 billion in financial support for disabled people and push 250,000 people into poverty by 2030.

The median annual award for all disability discrimination decisions during the period of analysis ranged from £14,100 to £17,200, while the DWP’s own figure was £16,242. However, in one case, a former employee was awarded £373,936.69, one of the largest awards made for disability discrimination since the Equality Act was introduced in 2010.

The claimant had a history of depression and anxiety, but instead of being supported in his role, was referred to as a “nutter” by a colleague and was instructed not to drive when carrying out his job despite there being no good medical reason for this. After attempting to challenge this decision through a grievance, he was “ambushed” by management with a meeting that lasted four hours and left him feeling suicidal at points.

No outcome of this grievance was ever communicated to the claimant, who then went on sick leave, and the situation only worsened as a new line manager implied she was fearful of even meeting with him in a neutral place due to concerns for her safety, ultimately prompting his resignation.

Speaking previously to local media, the claimant said that he loved his job and had hoped to continue working at the department until his retirement, but now feels that he is unlikely to be well enough to work again. “I will live forever with serious debilitating symptoms because of DWP managers’ treatment of me,” he said at the time.

“The one government department that should not have treated any employee with disability harassment is the DWP. Yet time and time again, DWP managers show themselves to be poorly equipped in dealing with employees with disabilities.”

Nabila Mallick, a leading barrister who represented the claimant during the tribunal, told Big Issue that this case served as a “good example of DWP’s appalling mistreatment of employees with mental health disabilities”.

“There is evidently a culture of trivialisation, mockery, and stereotyping of mental health impairments, creating an intolerable environment,” said Mallick. “At a time when DEI training is subject to contentious debate as to necessity, this case demonstrates why the absence of such training across all levels could result in permanent harm to employees.”

The Pathways to Work’ green paper, published by the DWP last month, is also consulting on what more employers should be required to do to support disabled people remain and succeed in employment as it notes that “significant numbers of employers remain unaware of their legal responsibilities or, if they are aware, of how to fulfil them”.

Although no proposals have been put forward on this, the document says the department is considering current legal duties on reasonable adjustments as well as enforcement powers that currently exist.

A DWP spokesperson said: “We are committed to being an inclusive employer, and one in four of our staff identify as being disabled or having a long-term health condition.

“We take any complaints seriously and have a range of staff wellbeing programmes in place as well as being proud to run the Disability Confident Scheme to support other employers to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.”

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.