MPs forced to abandon DWP safeguarding inquiry after Sunak’s election call

MPs have been forced to abandon a 10-month inquiry into safeguarding arrangements at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), just weeks before they were due to report its findings, because of the prime minister’s decision to call a general election.

Last week’s surprise decision by Rishi Sunak meant the Commons work and pensions committee did not have time to finalise its report.

The inquiry was launched last July and followed countless deaths of disabled benefit claimants linked to DWP’s actions and failings over more than a decade.

For the last 10 months, the committee has investigated whether DWP has a duty to safeguard “vulnerable people”, and if it does not, whether it should.

It was the first serious public investigation into safeguarding at DWP since reports of deaths first began to emerge in the early years of the 2010 Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

But Sir Stephen Timms, the committee’s chair, told DWP ministers Mims Davies and Viscount Younger in a letter that it had not been possible for the committee to agree a report before parliament was dissolved.

He wrote: “We hope that the evidence we have gathered will be of interest to our successor Committee, the next Government and to the individuals and organisations outside of Parliament and Government who are interested in the matters covered by this inquiry.”

He told Disability News Service (DNS) yesterday (Wednesday) that the committee had not reached the stage of having a draft report to consider by the time the election was called.

He said: “It is very disappointing that we haven’t been able to complete the work.”

Another committee member, the SNP’s David Linden, told DNS that he was “incredibly hopeful” that the committee “could pick up where we left off” with the inquiry’s evidence once it has been set up with new membership as part of the next parliament.

The committee has also published some evidence it gathered during the inquiry, including the results of a survey of DWP staff, which found that two-thirds of them still do not have enough time to deal with safeguarding concerns “carefully” and “correctly” (see separate story).

The survey results also show that more than two-fifths of DWP staff do not believe they receive adequate safeguarding training, while a similar number said DWP’s safeguarding guidance for frontline staff was not clear, comprehensive and easily accessed.

*The Department, DNS editor John Pring’s book on DWP and how its actions led to countless deaths of disabled people in the post-2010 era, will be published by Pluto Press in August. Visit the DNS website for a 50 per cent discount 

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