benefit deaths

Benefits and Poverty

Hundreds of white flowers lying on grass

April 27, 2017

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Government admits failing to record actions after benefit suicide inquiries

The government failed for more than three years to keep a record of what actions it took – if any – after carrying out secret reviews into the suicides of benefit claimants, Disability News Service (DNS) can reveal. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted to the information commissioner that from February

Benefits and Poverty

March 16, 2017

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‘Fitness for work’ test has led to deterioration in mental health, say researchers

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Disabled activists have welcomed “timely” new research that concludes that the government’s “fitness for work” process has caused a deterioration in many people’s mental health which they have failed to recover from, and has even led to thoughts of suicide. The research, Mental Health And Unemployment In Scotland, was carried out by academics at

Benefits and Poverty

March 9, 2017

43

Maximus ‘admits’ using brutal and dangerous suicide questions

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One of the outsourcing giants paid to assess disabled people for their eligibility for benefits appears to have admitted that it is standard practice – approved by the government – to ask claimants with mental health conditions why they failed to take their own lives. A leading clinical psychologist has warned this week that

Activism and Campaigning

Marie Rimmer talks to Roy Bard, surrounded by police officers, cameras and protesters

March 9, 2017

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Activists bring ‘no more benefit deaths’ message to Westminster

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Disabled activists have explained why they took to the streets around parliament to protest at the government’s latest cuts to disability benefits. The protest, organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and the Mental Health Resistance Network (MHRN), brought traffic to a standstill outside the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, a day before the

Benefits and Poverty

March 2, 2017

2

Information commissioner questions DWP’s ‘highly unusual’ failure on benefit deaths

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The information commissioner has questioned why the government failed to keep track of whether it had implemented recommendations on improving the safety of “vulnerable” disabled people that had been made in its own secret reports into benefit-related deaths. Elizabeth Denham said the failure of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to keep track

Benefits and Poverty

Jonathan Bartley smiling, in front of a tree

February 9, 2017

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Green Party calls on government to launch benefit deaths inquiry

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The Green Party has written to work and pensions secretary Damian Green to demand an independent inquiry into benefit claimants whose deaths have been linked to the failings of his department. The letter has been signed by the Green Party’s co-leader, Jonathan Bartley, its disability spokeswoman, Mags Lewis, and Linda Burnip, co-founder of Disabled

Benefits and Poverty

February 9, 2017

7

Mother of ‘fit for work’ victim calls for ministers to face criminal charges

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The mother of a disabled man who starved to death after he was found “fit for work” and lost his out-of-work disability benefits has called for ministers to face criminal charges. Jill Gant says work and pensions ministers should be tried for misconduct in public office for failing to take action that could have

Human Rights

February 9, 2017

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National DPOs forced to withdraw report sent to UN over benefit deaths evidence

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Three national disabled people’s organisations have withdrawn a report they submitted to the United Nations, after admitting that it failed to speak out strongly enough on links between the government’s welfare reforms and the deaths of benefit claimants. The report will now be toughened up and resubmitted to the UN’s committee on the rights

Benefits and Poverty

September 8, 2016

2

Benefit claimants die as DWP staff keep failing to follow suicide guidelines

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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has refused to consider an inquiry into its repeated failure to prevent the deaths of benefit claimants, despite the release of damning new information from nine secret reviews. Key information from reviews into the deaths of nine benefit claimants had been requested by Disability News Service (DNS)

Benefits and Poverty

August 25, 2016

3

DWP hides seven secret benefit suicide reviews

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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is refusing to publish nine secret reviews into the deaths of benefit claimants, despite finally admitting that seven of them relate to people who took their own lives. DWP only released the information after Disability News Service (DNS) lodged a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

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