Crowdfunder in memory of Krissi Hunt could educate coroners on links between DWP and claimant deaths

Lawyers and a bereaved family behind a crowdfunding initiative hope it will highlight to coroners across the country the links between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and countless deaths of benefit claimants.

They set up the crowdfunder as a way of remembering 31-year-old Krissi Hunt (pictured), from Stockport, who took her own life in November 2023 after she was left in despair when DWP’s actions left her hundreds of pounds in debt.

Her family, and the lawyers and welfare rights advisers who supported them, want to raise enough funds to send a copy of John Pring’s The Department* – a book which investigates and explains how DWP’s actions have led to countless deaths of disabled claimants over the last 30 years – to every coroner in the country.

They believe many coroners fail to understand the fatal impact that DWP’s actions can have on claimants, who can be thrown into despair by the loss of their disability benefits, the imposition of benefit sanctions, wrongful accusations of fraud, or months of harassment from DWP’s bureaucracy.

This lack of understanding means that inquests often fail to probe these factors in the deaths of benefit claimants.

The team behind the crowdfunder hope that reading The Department will inform coroners about the potential for violence within the DWP bureaucracy and the need to investigate potential links between claimant deaths and the social security system.

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 into Krissi’s death, after the last-minute intervention of Greater Manchester Law Centre and solicitors Leigh Day.

Bartlam told Disability News Service: “If we manage to get a copy of the book out to every coroner, at least we are starting a dialogue.

“It’s not a criticism of this coroner, who took time to understand what had gone wrong and how that had impacted Krissi, but what we see time and time again is that coroners do not understand not only the intricacies of welfare benefits but the extent of safeguarding responsibilities on different organisations.

“What I have noticed in inquests is the extent to which local authorities, partner organisations and statutory services all have a safeguarding responsibility, and understand it really well, but they just don’t implement it really well.

“DWP had no problem accepting they had a safeguarding policy for vulnerable claimants, and accepting that key decisions they made could have had a negative impact on a vulnerable person’s mental state and cause them to feel suicidal.”

Jenny Barrow, whose husband was Krissi’s step-father and herself has a long-term health condition, said: “From being involved in Krissi’s inquest, it is evident that all coroners must read John’s book.

“Our family is so grateful to Greater Manchester Law Centre for arranging the crowdfunding, and we want to ensure that all coroners understand how harmful our social security system can be for so many people who claim benefits, and especially those who are vulnerable.

“If we had not raised our concerns about DWP with the coroner, they would not have been called to give evidence at Krissi’s inquest and their failings would have remained hidden.

“So while we urgently call for and need to ensure people can access the benefits they need and for safeguarding measures to be in place across all of the DWP departments and their contractors, we want to ensure that prior to an inquest, a coroner will question if a person had been known to the DWP, had received, stopped or been denied benefits, or was subject to sanctions before they died, and whether there is a need to seek evidence on these matters.

“As painful as it is for our family and Krissi’s friends to learn about the failings of DWP through a public inquest, we must ensure there is accountability for the harms she endured, and push for change.”

Dan Manville, welfare rights supervisor at the law centre, said: “Krissi’s passing was an avoidable tragedy.”

He said they had decided to launch the crowdfunder because they feared many coroners across the country were not aware of the links between DWP and the deaths of benefit claimants, and they hoped that reading the book would help their understanding of those links.

He said: “As a welfare rights worker for many years, I’ve seen countless examples of DWP treating people in such a way as to make them question whether their life is worth living and clients have often told me they’ve been driven to suicidal thoughts.

“I am lucky that our work is here to prevent more deaths.”

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

Coroner Andrew Bridgman concluded last month 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 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.

Barrow said she was still “haunted” by the way in which DWP wrongly punished Krissi when she first started work after 13 years, which she said showed its “disregard for her wellbeing”.

She also stressed the importance of legal representation for families when fighting to uncover the truth about DWP’s actions at an inquest.

She said: “Prior to having legal representation, we were struggling to navigate and understand the legal process of an inquest.

“Without the expertise of our barrister Ciara to advise us as a family, examine evidence and represent us at the inquest, including the questioning of DWP’s witness, we doubt the coroner would have made the same conclusions.

“We feel so grateful to have had a legal team behind us, including Leigh Day and Greater Manchester Law Centre, and realise there is a need to ensure other bereaved families are able to have legal representation.”

*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