• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / Benefits and Poverty / Coronavirus: Government PIP figures provide fresh evidence of virus deaths
Debbie Abrahams speaking in the House of Commons

Coronavirus: Government PIP figures provide fresh evidence of virus deaths

By John Pring on 2nd July 2020 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Listen

New government figures have revealed that the proportion of disability benefit claimants who died in April was 15 per cent higher than the previous year, providing fresh evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on disabled people.

The figures, secured by Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, also show a rise of eight per cent in the proportion of personal independence payment (PIP) claimants who died in March, compared with March 2019.

The figures emerged only days after Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed disabled* females aged between nine and 64 were 11.3 times more likely to have died due to COVID-19 than non-disabled females in the same age group, while disabled males* between nine and 64 were 6.5 times more likely to have died than non-disabled males.

The ONS figures, reported by Disability News Service (DNS) and later followed up by The Times and other newspapers – but previously largely ignored by the mainstream media – prompted calls for an inquiry into the causes of the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on disabled people.

They also led to calls for the government to take urgent action to protect disabled people from COVID-19 in advance of an expected second wave of the virus.

Despite the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) releasing the PIP figures to Abrahams (pictured), it has refused to provide similar figures for claimants of universal credit, income support, jobseeker’s allowance, and employment and support allowance, the out-of-work disability benefit.

Ministers suggested they might still provide figures for deaths of universal credit claimants, saying that an answer would be “provided as soon as it is available”, but dismissed her request for figures on the other benefits as they claimed the information “could only be provided at disproportionate cost”.

Abrahams said this was an “appalling response” from DWP ministers.

She said it was this response that prompted her to ask health and social care secretary Matt Hancock this week to carry out an “immediate analysis” of the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people living in poverty.

She also called on Hancock to ask work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey to release the other figures she had requested.

Abrahams pointed to the ONS figures, which she said also showed age-standardised death rates for the “limited a lot” group were nearly 200 per 100,000 for men and more than 141 per 100,000 for women, compared with 70 and 36 per 100,000 for non-disabled men and women.

She told Hancock: “When poverty is factored in, it will show even higher death rates for disabled people.”

Hancock claimed he was “absolutely determined to address the questions and the impact of COVID” on disabled people and claimed that Abrahams’ concerns would be addressed in work being led by equalities minister Kemi Badenoch.

A spokesperson for the Government Equalities Office (GEO) said this work was linked to a Public Health England review of COVID-19 health inequalities, a report which was published last month but which – although it analysed factors such as deprivation, ethnicity, occupation and health conditions – did not include a single mention of disabled people or disability.

Asked if Badenoch would be looking at the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people living in poverty, and if she would ask DWP for data on disabled social security claimants who have died during the pandemic, the GEO spokesperson had not responded by noon today (Thursday).

Abrahams told DNS: “It’s just not good enough that DWP ministers dismiss my request for these data – they should know about the deaths of claimants in all circumstances to understand what this means for the social security system that is meant to be there to support them. I’m not letting this go.”

Meanwhile, last week’s DNS story has drawn an angry and frustrated response on social media.

@MrsHelenHurd1 said on Twitter: “Just because the media have conveniently lost interest doesn’t mean it is over.

“As a disabled woman I am terrified that the wilfully irresponsible behaviour of MSM [mainstream media] will kill us all, or was that the idea all along?

“What kind of a country have we become?”

One response on Twitter asked: “Where’s the public uproar?”

Another Twitter response, from @GoldenGraduate, said: “Not a shock at all, its been a cull from day one.”

Another, @AlexandraRants, said: “Yeah loads without the shielding status have been left with no choice but to risk going to the shops as supermarkets stopped offering priority slots to the vulnerable and only those with shielding status could get them.”

Dr Sally Witcher, chief executive of Inclusion Scotland, although tweeting in a personal capacity, said: “Is anyone surprised by this?

“It’s why we need good data on all the factors that increase risk and action to mitigate all of them.

“So far we’ve seen an over-riding focus on health status alone. It’s much more complex than that.”

*Those in England and Wales who described themselves in the 2011 census as being “limited a lot” in their daily lives 

**For sources of information and support during the coronavirus crisis, visit the DNS advice and information page

 

A note from the editor:

Please consider making a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of DNS and allow it to continue producing independent, carefully-researched news stories that focus on the lives and rights of disabled people and their user-led organisations.

Please do not contribute if you cannot afford to do so, and please note that DNS is not a charity. It is run and owned by disabled journalist John Pring and has been from its launch in April 2009.

Thank you for anything you can do to support the work of DNS…

Share this post:

Share on X (Twitter)Share on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on RedditShare on LinkedIn

Tags: coronavirus COVID19UK Debbie Abrahams DWP Matt Hancock ONS PIP

A photograph shows an audience raising their hands in a BSL sign. The words say: 'BSL Conference 2025. The future starts with us. Leeds 17-18 July. Be part of shaping the future of Deaf cultures and identities. Get 10% off with BDA10'

Related

Government ignores warnings of new DWP deaths, and UN intervention, as MPs pass universal credit cuts bill
10th July 2025
Urgent letter from UN to Labour government warns: We think your cuts continue Tory attack on disability rights
10th July 2025
Race against time to secure DWP deaths evidence before parliament passes new benefit cuts bill
10th July 2025

Primary Sidebar

On the left of the image are multiple heads of different colours - white, aqua, red, light brown, and dark green - all grouped together, then the words ‘Campaign for Disability Justice. Sign up to support. #OpportunitySecurityRespect’
A photograph shows an audience raising their hands in a BSL sign. The words say: 'BSL Conference 2025. The future starts with us. Leeds 17-18 July. Be part of shaping the future of Deaf cultures and identities. Get 10% off with BDA10'

Access

Latest Stories

Government ignores warnings of new DWP deaths, and UN intervention, as MPs pass universal credit cuts bill

Urgent letter from UN to Labour government warns: We think your cuts continue Tory attack on disability rights

Race against time to secure DWP deaths evidence before parliament passes new benefit cuts bill

‘Complete shift in thinking’ needed on education of disabled children, says ALLFIE

Minister ignored concerns from disabled advisers, months before publishing cuts bill

Frustration after government only issues partial ban on new floating bus stops

Report suggests five big ideas that could transform disabled people’s mobility

My new book shows exactly why we need the disability movement, says disabled author

‘Disastrous’ cuts bill that leaves legacy of distrust and distress ‘must be dropped’

Four disabled Labour MPs stand up to government over cuts to disability benefits

Advice and Information

Readspeaker
A photograph shows an audience raising their hands in a BSL sign. The words say: 'BSL Conference 2025. The future starts with us. Leeds 17-18 July. Be part of shaping the future of Deaf cultures and identities. Get 10% off with BDA10'

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2025 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web