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DWP fails to meet Information Commissioner deadline for possible benefit related deaths
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-68481692
It’s the details that are particularly chilling in this dreadful case.
“The DWP also failed to act on numerous requests, in light of the woman’s mental health risks, to communicate with her via her daughter. “This was a simple request and had been renewed by [the victim] during telephone calls and journal entries to the DWP,” the PFD report said. “The request which had been made in writing by [her] daughter sat in another DWP computer system for a period of four months but even when uploaded to the main DWP computer system was not acted upon.”
Instead, in the four weeks before she overdosed, the claimant received six communications from the DWP – two phone calls requesting detailed information, a universal credit online claimant journal log that she didn’t understand, and three separate letters which together increased the debt she owed the DWP by 75%.”
The Performance Review Team, mentioned in the PFD, appear to carry out reviews as part of DWP’s statistics gathering process: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/performance_review_team#incoming-2599783
Various contributions to this debate which are relevant to this thread: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-03-26/debates/5EF5C161-D930-46DC-9353-F972809EE4B6/DisabilityBenefits
In which the UN CRPD expresses concern about benefit deaths, among other things. I don’t think I’d seen this document previously, although I’d read accounts of the Committee’s conclusions. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRPD%2FC%2FGBR%2FFUIR%2F1&Lang=en
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/44445/documents/220916/default/
Sets out IPR process.
Also DWP’s response to concerns regarding changes to IPR criteria, as covered here: https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/dwp-claims-it-has-no-written-evidence-to-show-why-it-weakened-suicide-probe-guidance/
Via Disability News Service:
The equality watchdog has been accused of bowing to political pressure by failing to force the DWP to prevent further deaths of disabled benefit claimants, two years after promising to take legal action.
It is now more than two years since the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced it was drawing up a legally-binding “section 23 agreement” with DWP that would force it to act.
But every time EHRC has been challenged about its failure to act in the last two years, it has said it is legally prevented from commenting on any discussions it is having with DWP.
More: Two years since ‘toothless’ watchdog pledged to act on benefit deaths, and still no action