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Overhaul benefit system to protect vulnerable claimants, urge MPs
- A group of MPs from multiple parties has urged that the government agency responsible for welfare benefits be legally required to better protect vulnerable claimants, following several tragic deaths linked to failures in the benefits system.
- This demand follows multiple failures in the DWP’s handling of vulnerable people, including the deaths of claimants such as Errol Graham in 2018 and Philippa Day in 2019 after benefit errors and cut-offs.
- The MPs' report recommends creating a statutory duty for the DWP to refer vulnerable claimants to agencies with care responsibilities and to add 'victims of domestic abuse' as a standalone Universal Credit category.
- The report states there have been at least 240 internal reviews since 2020-21 involving serious harm linked to the DWP, and Committee Chair Debbie Abrahams calls current safeguarding a 'self-evident failure'.
- The MPs warn that introducing this statutory safeguard would improve accountability and culture at the DWP, but recognize it would be a significant undertaking amid ongoing government reforms and consultations.
14 Articles
14 Articles
DWP requires ‘deep-rooted cultural change to stop more benefits deaths’
At least 240 internal reviews have been launched since 2020 into cases of serious harm where there has been an allegation that the DWP’s actions may have contributed to a person’s death or harm, the report found.
DWP 'could have prevented' tragic deaths of benefit claimants, MPs' report says - The Mirror
The Work and Pensions Committee said the DWP provides a 'lifeline to millions of people' but when mistakes are 'it is possible that the severest consequences can arise'
MPs Call for DWP To Have Statutory Duty to Safeguard Claimants
According to a new report by the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee, a new legal safeguarding duty should be placed on the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to fix its “deficient” safeguarding practices following the tragic benefit related deaths of some of claimants in recent years. In their report, Safeguarding Vulnerable Claimants, MPs called for the DWP should be obligated to refer vulnerable claimants to other agencies that have a…
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