Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to
ensure that guidance to frontline staff on how to treat
vulnerable disability benefit claimants is followed.
(Con)
The DWP has a range of methods in place to ensure that front-line
colleagues follow the guidance correctly when supporting
vulnerable customers. These include quality checking of calls
with claimants, examining notes and other actions, as well as
checking the technical aspects of a case. DWP staff also have
clear escalation routes in place to help colleagues support
vulnerable customers. These include referral to vulnerable
customer champions and advanced customer support senior leaders,
who can help where additional support needs are identified.
(LD) [V]
My Lords, I welcome that reply as far as it goes, but what we
need to know now is what measures the Government have in place to
identify vulnerable disability claimants who have died, some by
suicide and some by serious harm in which the DWP or its
contractors may be implicated.
(Con)
We feel very sad about anyone who takes our DWP welfare and is
made sick or, sadly, dies; our hearts go out to them. However, we
have made a range of improvements, increasing staff awareness of
the vulnerability of claimants and how to respond to that.
Training now includes mental health awareness, unconscious bias
training and how to manage specific vulnerabilities such as
homelessness and domestic abuse.
(Lab) [V]
Does the Minister agree that the problems relating to welfare
benefits are less to do with staff guidance and more to do with
the low levels of benefits, along with the inflexibility of the
system? Does she accept that however well trained front-line
staff are, they cannot compensate for a system that Disability
Rights UK has described as unfit for purpose?
(Con)
I am sorry, but I do not agree with the noble Baroness. Over the
past 18 months we have invested heavily in welfare. The most
important thing we do is to look after our vulnerable customers
and make sure that they get the welfare they are entitled to.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, front-line staff will deal not only with people with
disabilities but those suffering with mental health conditions.
Many of these conditions may not be obvious to staff. What
training do front-line staff receive on mental health conditions?
(Con)
My noble friend is correct that this is also about mental health
conditions. Since 2018, the DWP has provided training on
supporting vulnerable customers. That training goes out to all
new staff in service delivery. We have also been rolling out
further training on mental health behaviour and relationships.
This is supported by comprehensive guidance covering a range of
different complex needs. For disability benefits assessments,
health professionals will have undergone comprehensive recent
training on functional disability and mental health conditions.
Mental health function champions provide additional expertise to
those teams within the assessment centres.
(LD)
My Lords, there is a history here of the first interview not
going well and not establishing the underlying problem. What
training—training is not the right word—what freedom is given to
the initial interviewer to say, “I do not understand everything
that is going on here”, and to be able to call for help? Will
this be taken as a benefit and not something that is simply
slowing down the system?
(Con)
I know that the noble Lord understands these systems very well.
All health professionals receive comprehensive training in
disability analysis, which includes an evaluation of how medical
conditions affect claimants in their day-to-day activities, as
well as awareness training in specific conditions. He probably
knows that with regard to autistic spectrum disorder, staff are
working with the Autism Alliance to develop further training
specifically to help people who find those first interactions
with the system very difficult. We are also putting clear
markings on assessments when they are first made in order to
identify those people with vulnerabilities.
(Con)
My Lords, I am interested in the work of the Serious Case Panel.
Is my noble friend able to give me an update on the work of this
panel and its progress?
(Con)
My Lords, the Serious Case Panel was established only last
year—2020. It has now met five times and it is going to meet very
soon—later this month. The panel does not investigate individual
cases; it considers themes arising from a range of sources,
including internal process reviews and front-line feedback, which
is important. It also agrees recommendations for organisational
learning, where needed, and will assign a director-general for
committee accountability for delivering these recommendations
within the department. It may be useful for noble Lords to know
that the panel’s terms of reference and minutes from all its
meetings can be seen on GOV.UK.
(PC) [V]
My Lords, I declare my registered links with Mencap. Does the
department have any staff members specifically trained to
communicate with people suffering from learning disabilities? If
so, does the department take proactive steps to make known to
such people, and to their carers, that this facility does in fact
exist?
(Con)
My Lords, yes, we do. We have mental health function champions.
The assessment of mental, cognitive and intellectual function is
an integral part of all disability benefit assessments. Health
professionals have undergone comprehensive training in the
functional assessment of disabilities and that includes mental
health conditions.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, we have a systemic problem. The NAO found that at least
69 suicides could be linked to problems with benefit claims and
that the DWP had failed to investigate many of those cases
properly or learn from them. The Minister mentioned the Serious
Case Panel. I have looked at those minutes and I am sorry to say
that they are so brief and redacted as to be pretty much entirely
unrevealing. How can the House be assured that every
recommendation from an internal process review will in future be
implemented?
(Con)
There are three different panels here. We have the internal
review panel, which looks, as the noble Baroness said, into
specific cases. Then there is an internal process review group of
senior officers and leaders in the DWP who will look at the IRP
actions and feed into the wider organisation. That is important.
Then we have the Serious Case Panel, which considers systemic
themes and issues coming from IPRs and learns from them and acts
on them.
(Con)
My Lords, what training and support have Her Majesty’s Government
put in place for staff who may be dealing with people with
suicidal thoughts or plans?
(Con)
My noble friend raises an important issue. Comprehensive guidance
is available to all work coaches and case managers on how to deal
with threats of self-harm. This guidance applies to all methods
of communication, including the online journal. When a threat of
self-harm is identified, agents follow a six-point plan and I am
happy to let my noble friend have that. The plan helps them take
the right action, at the right time, to ensure that the customer
receives the support they need.
(GP)
My Lords, the Minister has given us an extensive account of
mental health training. I am sure she is aware of the Z2K
#PeopleBeforeProcess report which looked at PIP payments. One of
the respondents to the survey behind that report said that the
assessor
“noted in the report that I couldn’t have mental health problems
as I wasn’t rocking back and forward.”
How does the Minister account for that statement and many others
in that report in the light of the training she outlined?
(Con)
All I can say to the noble Baroness is that that is obviously
unacceptable. The DWP will look at that report and take action.
