DWP claims it has no written evidence to show why it weakened suicide probe guidance

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) appears to have destroyed all written records that would have shown why it weakened guidance on when to investigate suicides of benefit claimants.

DWP previously said it had no documents about the decision that were considered by any of its directors, claiming this was because the discussions on the move were “operational in nature as opposed to policy based”.

But it has now admitted that it also has no documents held by the team that made the decision in April 2021 to weaken the rules on when to carry out an internal process review (IPR).

The previous year, DWP had told the National Audit Office (NAO) it would always carry out one of its secret reviews when it heard of a claimant’s death if they had died by suicide, even if there were no allegations that DWP’s actions had contributed to that death.

But since April 2021, after weakening the rules, DWP now only carries out an IPR following the suicide of a claimant if there is already an allegation that DWP’s actions “may have negatively contributed to the customer’s circumstances”.

After Disability News Service (DNS) asked for documents held by the team that made this change, through a freedom of information request, the department replied: “Following a search of our records, we have established that the information requested, which relates to the change in criteria for Internal Process Reviews, is not held by this Department.”

Labour’s Debbie Abrahams, who has led parliamentary efforts to secure justice for DWP’s victims and push for an independent inquiry into the countless deaths linked to its failings, said the department’s actions were “yet further evidence of the DWP’s failure to treat the deaths of social security claimants with appropriate sensitivity and rigour”.

She said: “This news will be both horrific and frankly unsurprising to the campaigners for justice on the deaths of social security claimants for many years.

“The Department for Work and Pensions have admitted that the criteria to investigate all suicides following the NAO 2020 report were changed in 2021 and given both the importance and sensitivity of such a decision, it is deeply disturbing and administratively unforgivable that this was not properly recorded.”

She highlighted how DWP admitted five years ago that it was unable to find documents which would have shown if it had shared vital information relating to suicides linked to the work capability assessment with the independent reviewers of the assessment process.

The minister for disabled people at the time, Justin Tomlinson, had earlier misled Abrahams about evidence uncovered by DNS that proved the information had not been shared with one of the reviewers, Dr Paul Litchfield.

Abrahams said this week: “This is a pattern of behaviour.

“It is unforgiveable that yet again, the Department for Work and Pensions, the highest-spending government department, has once again failed in basic record-keeping.

“I will be following this up with the National Data Guardian.”

She said the admission “also exposes that DWP’s internal culture have led them to make decisions over claimant deaths in such a cavalier manner”, and that it placed a question-mark over DWP’s commitment to safeguarding claimants.

She said: “We deserve far better and as a member of the work and pensions select committee I will continue to push for this, including as part of our ongoing safeguarding inquiry.”

Figures obtained through another freedom of information request have shown that on at least four occasions in 2022-23 – as a result of the new rules – the department failed to carry out an IPR when told of the suicide of a claimant.

For more than a decade, DNS has been revealing how DWP has covered-up evidence of links between its actions and the deaths of claimants, and how it has repeatedly tried to delay evidence of those links being released.

DWP refused to comment.

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