One year on: Is the DWP treating vulnerable claimants any better?

Wednesday 10 June 2026, 09.30, Committee Room 16

Has the DWP improved its treatment of vulnerable claimants? A year on from its report calling for safeguarding to be central to the Department's work, the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee will hear from experts on progress towards better treatment of claimants by the DWP.

The Committee's 2025 report called for the Government to introduce a legal duty of care towards claimants and a fundamental cultural shift within the department to prevent cases of serious harm or deaths of vulnerable customers.

Among other things, witnesses will be asked whether the Department for Work and Pensions has fixed its culture, including any evidence of a change in its conditionality regime and the sanctions that come when people fail to meet it.

Witnesses

From 09.30

• Daphne Hall, Vice-Chair, National Association of Welfare Rights Advisors;
• Professor Michael Preston-Shoot, Joint Convener, National Association of Adult Safeguarding Boards;
• Caroline Selman, Senior Research Fellow, Public Law Project;
• Rick Burgess, Co-chair of the DPO Forum England, Facilitator at the Greater Manchester Disabled People's Panel (appearing virtually).