Coroners are asked to do more to question role of DWP in deaths, as they receive crowdfunded book

Coroners across England and Wales have been asked to do more to question the role of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the deaths of benefit claimants before they carry out inquests.

The call came as senior coroners were each sent a copy of a book which investigates how DWP caused countless deaths of disabled claimants, following a crowd-funder in memory of one of the department’s victims.

The crowd-funder was launched last year after the death of 31-year-old Krissi Hunt (pictured), from Stockport, who took her own life in November 2023.

A coroner later concluded that DWP’s actions and failings contributed to a decline in her mental health and were among the factors that probably led to her decision to end her life.

Despite these findings, he did not send DWP a prevention of future deaths (PFD) report, which coroners have a duty to write after an inquest to individuals or organisations that they think can take action to prevent future deaths.

Krissi Hunt’s family, and the lawyers and welfare rights advisers who supported them through the inquest process, set up the crowdfunder as a memorial to Krissi, who was left in despair when DWP’s actions left her hundreds of pounds in debt.

The idea for the crowdfunder came from barrister Ciara Bartlam, from Garden Court North Chambers in Manchester, who had stepped in to represent the family at the inquest, after the last-minute intervention of Greater Manchester Law Centre (GMLC) and solicitors Leigh Day.

The funds have been used to send a copy of The Department*, and a covering letter, to all 74 senior coroners across England and Wales.

The letter tells senior coroners that it hopes the book will “improve understanding of the impact of DWP decision-making, and the need for urgent change” and that it will encourage more of them and their colleagues to send PFD reports to DWP after deaths like Krissi’s.

GMLC says in the letter that it sees “countless examples of the DWP treating people in such a way as to make them question whether their life is worth living” and that its clients “have often told us that they have been driven to suicidal thoughts”.

The letter calls on coroners to take steps before an inquest begins to question if the deceased person had been known to DWP, had received or been denied benefits, or was subject to sanctions before they died; and to consider whether they need to seek evidence on these issues.

It also calls on the coroners to investigate links between DWP failings and suicides, adding: “Many coroners may not yet appreciate the fatal impacts that the DWP’s actions can have on vulnerable people, whose deaths may have been avoided without excessively punitive sanctions, wrongful accusations of fraud, or excessive and intimidating bureaucracy.”

And it calls on coroners to complete a PFD report if they find DWP’s actions contributed to a death.

Jenny Barrow, whose husband was Krissi’s step-father and herself has a long-term health condition, said it was “very good to know” the book had been sent out to senior coroners.

She said: “It is vital that all coroners understand the serious harms many people who claim benefits have and can experience through the Department for Work and Pensions’ punitive policies and a lack of effective safeguarding measures within their own departments and contractors.

“These harms can negatively impact disabled people’s physical and mental health and contribute to suicidal ideation.”

She said DWP had continued to cause harm to claimants in vulnerable situations since Krissi’s death, including Tamara Logan, whose death led to a PFD report by a coroner in January.

Barrow said it was “vital that all coroners ensure they fully investigate whether and how the DWP were involved in someone’s life prior to their death.

“We must have urgent change within the DWP to prevent the known harms to people’s lives.

“We desperately need all coroners to commit to completing prevention of future deaths reports if DWP were identified to have contributed to a person’s death.

“It is still shocking and upsetting that such a report was not completed after Krissi’s inquest.

“Therefore, we do not know if the DWP has addressed its significant failings because their written response in March 2026, that took seven months, stated that there is ‘no specific policy that governs how we respond to Coroners’ findings or publish any action taken’.”

She added: “Sadly we have no faith in the DWP’s internal process review to make the changes that are needed and only had sight of this document as we went through the inquest process.

“Bereaved families deserve transparency about the learnings and actions that the DWP has taken to safeguard disabled people following inquests.”

A GMLC spokesperson added: “Copies of The Department have been sent to coroners across the country.

“Though we are still awaiting responses, we hope that some of them read the book to gain a richer insight into the lived experiences of benefits claimants let down by the benefits system.

“Coroners have powers to make recommendations to improve institutions that may have failed particular individuals before their deaths.

“We believe that the experiences and statistics explored in John Pring’s book could provide especially useful context for coroners when preparing prevention of future deaths reports.”

It was only due to Krissi’s family’s persistence that the coroner examined the role in her death played by DWP and other agencies.

Coroner Andrew Bridgman concluded last year that DWP’s actions and failings had contributed to the decline in her mental health.

Among the factors that probably led to her decision to end her life, he found, were DWP’s decision to mistakenly impose a £50 fine on her for working too many hours under the permitted work system; its wrongful insistence that she repay a week’s employment and support allowance, despite numerous and distressing calls she made over many months to try to convince the department of its errors; and more than £800 in housing benefit Stockport council was asking her to repay because of DWP’s errors.

The coroner also pointed to Krissi’s history of self-harm; her diagnoses of long-term mental health conditions; a relapse into drug misuse; the stress of returning to work for the first time in 13 years in a physically demanding job as a care worker; the need to repay a £345 DWP loan; and being left penniless.

But he failed to send a PFD report to DWP or to examine in depth the role played by DWP’s threat to stop her personal independence payment claim if she failed to attend a face-to-face assessment, having twice failed to attend assessments in the days before she took her own life.

*The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence, DNS editor John Pring’s book on the years of deaths linked to DWP, is published by Pluto Press

**The following organisations are among those that could be able to offer support if you have been affected by the issues raised in this article:  Mind, Papyrus, Rethink, Samaritans, and SOS Silence of Suicide