DWP whistleblowers expose 'dishonest claimants' using 'key phrase' to have cases waved through

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) whistleblowers have laid bare major holes in the welfare system helping to fuel Britain’s worklessness crisis. DWP staff have said that dishonest claimants for sickness benefits exploit the assessment system by using key phrases and claims of suicidal thoughts.

Speaking to Channel 4 Dispatches documentary presented by journalist Fraser Nelson, Sarah, a nurse who formerly worked as an assessor of benefits claims at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), said: “If at any point someone said that they were suicidal every day, it’s straight away in that high [category].

"So it’s down to the integrity of that person and sadly my opinion is that not everyone that is claiming is quite telling the truth which is sad but ultimately it’s going to happen.” She said: “You really feel for people who are going through that.”

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After reading through the forums, she added that there are people who are “lying”, which “discredits those that are actually really in need”. Michael Clouston, who assessed sickness benefits claims for the DWP for a private contractor, said: “You do six cases a day and if you did any more than that you would get £80 per case. If the claimant met the highest category then the assessment could be curtailed early which would allow them to fit in more cases per day."

"There would be people who would be in the double figures,” he said. Labour Party MP Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said: “We have long said that the work capability assessment isn’t working, you know it’s not working for people who are in the system and it’s not working for the public finances.

“I think what happens at the moment is that the system divides you into those who can work and those who can’t. Now there are people [who], because of such severe issues, cannot work but for many people actually, their health condition fluctuates, their physical health or their mental health.

"And our benefits system has got to recognise this.”