DWP may have 'broken law' over treatment of PIP and Universal Credit claimants

The Department for Work and Pensions is under investigation over treatment of ill and disabled people on benefits after claimant deaths. Britain’s human rights watchdog will investigate whether the DWP has 'broken the law' in its treatment of disabled benefits claimants.

Mark Winstanley, chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said that DWP failings have “destroyed countless lives”. “People severely affected by mental illness rely on the DWP for essential support, but time and time again we hear how people find it to be a punitive system which is extremely challenging to navigate at the best of times, but particularly when you’re unwell,” he said.

“We hope this investigation by the EHRC is the catalyst that finally leads to real change in how people severely affected by mental illness are supported by the state.” Welfare and disability activist Ben Claimant said the investigation was “welcome, albeit belated”.

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“The terrible, dehumanising treatment of claimants goes back years before 2021, with David Clapson tragically dying in 2013, for example,” he said to the Big Issue. “So I would urge EHRC to widen their investigation as currently it is focusing on 2021 onwards.”

“I think this is wrong, select committees allow this, so why not the EHRC? This will prevent a lot of individuals who have been treated badly the opportunity to provide important, personal testimony,’ he said. “It creates extra barriers and they should reconsider."

Tom Pollard, head of social policy at New Economics Foundation, also backed the investigation into the DWP, as he took to Twitter, now X, today. “For too long, the DWP has prioritised strictly policing the benefits system over upholding a meaningful duty of care toward ill & disabled people,” he wrote.

“The consequences are often harmful & sometimes tragic. This is an important & welcome inquiry from the EHRC.”