A new legal duty should be placed on the Department of Work and
Pensions (DWP) to fix its “deficient” safeguarding practices
following the tragic deaths of some of its customers in recent
years, according to a new report by the cross-party Work and
Pensions Committee.
In their report, Safeguarding Vulnerable Claimants, MPs called
for the DWP to have a duty to refer vulnerable claimants to other
agencies that have a duty of care, with the Secretary of State
held accountable for the safeguarding duty.
This new legal obligation is the key recommendation which
underpins the importance of the shift in DWP culture the
Committee believes is needed. It is part of a broader set of
recommendations to drive the “fundamental” cultural change needed
to repair “sorely damaged” public trust.
Instead of a “piecemeal” approach, the Committee wants to see a
comprehensive, joined-up approach to safeguarding, which is part
of policy development, implementation and review, and involves
everyone in the department.
Other recommendations include inserting ‘victims of domestic
abuse' as a standalone category within the ‘Additional Support
Area' in Universal Credit, which helps DWP staff to identify
potentially vulnerable claimants. The category's absence, the
report said, was a “glaring omission” due to the unique needs of
victims and survivors.
The potential health impacts of all new significant policies must
be assessed by the DWP's Chief Medical Advisor's team as part of
this cultural change, the report concluded. Currently, such
health assessments are not carried out consistently on all major
policy changes.
Committee Chair said, “That people
continue to face harm after dealing with the DWP is a
self-evident failure of safeguarding in the system. Until
recently, getting people back into work to cut costs had been
prioritised over providing support and care for vulnerable
people. We heard evidence that that the process itself of
engaging with the DWP itself too often led to mental distress.
Where this led to not being able to get financial support, many
had paid the ultimate price.”
“We've heard that whilst some have been lifted by the system when
it works well, this can depend on claimants' confidence that the
system will help them. Too often, we heard their trust has been
smashed by continual cost-cutting drives and an unhelpful media
narrative. Many fear coming forward and expressing that they need
additional support due to their circumstances and they fall
deeper into vulnerability and despair as a result.”
“This has to change. And the Committee was heartened by the
evidence the Secretary of State gave to the Committee on this
last November.”
“Is this a system that is going to help people find their way
back into sustainable work? Is this a system that will humanely
support those who never can? Both need to happen.”
“Deep-rooted cultural change of the DWP is desperately needed to
rebuild trust and put safeguarding at the heart of policy
development.”
“Introducing a statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable claimants
for the Department is a fundamental part of this. It will help to
focus minds from the top-down, ensuring that safeguarding is
everyone's business; improving accountability, and ensure
proactive identification of vulnerability and the consistent
application of the best protective practices.”
The report is the culmination of two years of work by the current
and predecessor Committees. It was originally launched after
safeguarding concerns were raised involving several high-profile
deaths of claimants, including those of Errol Graham, Phillipa
Day, Jodey Whiting and Kevin Gale.
There were 240 Internal Process Reviews by the DWP between
2020-21 and 2023-24, but the full scale of harm is likely to be
much higher. An Equality and Human Rights Commission
investigation launched in 2024 into the DWP's treatment of
disabled people and people with long-term mental health
conditions remains open.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- You will find an embargoed copy of the report on this
email. Once published, the report will go live on the following
URL: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmworpen/402/report.html
- Committee Chair will be available for interview live on
Thursday 15 May. Limited pre-record slots available on Tuesday
12 May and Wednesday 13 May.
- Evidence provided anonymously from people with lived
experience at roundtable events can be found in the annexes to
the report.
Addendum
Table error:
On page 67, table 4, the column for ‘customer death' in 2020-23
includes a typing error, and should read 13, instead of 18.
This error does not affect the quoted figures in the press
release of the total numbers of IPRs which stand at 240 for the
period 2020/21 to 2023/24 from the tables below provided by DWP
and the Departments latest 2023/24 figure of 53 accept.
