Tip of the Iceberg?

Deaths and Serious Harm in the Benefits System

The benefits system is designed to be a safety net for people across the country who find themselves unable to work or in need of financial support. It is one of the cornerstones of our society and exists for all of us when we might need it.  Our latest report looks at ___________________.

Many people supported by benefits live with a mental health condition. Almost half of adults receiving an out of work benefit have a common mental health disorder and many live with severe mental illness, including 7.3% identified as having psychosis, compared with 0.2% of people not on benefits. People on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are particularly affected, with one in eight screening positive for bipolar disorder and almost half have made a suicide attempt at some point. 

It follows that the mental health impact of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) policies and processes should be at the forefront of everything the Department does. However, our research has found that many people like Clive and his family are being let down to an unimaginable degree. The DWP’s processes and actions have been found to negatively impact people’s wellbeing, causing severe anxiety and distress, creating financial hardship, worsening existing mental health conditions, and in very tragic cases, leading to death. 

The causes of these deaths, particularly suicides, are complex. There is no single reason why a person may choose to end their own life, with a range of factors playing a role. However, suicide is not inevitable - it is preventable - and the DWP can play a vital, unique role in suicide prevention. This includes improving its practices and more importantly, understanding and responding to the systemic drivers behind tragic cases of death, self-harm and mental health crises. 

As well as suicide and self-harm, we know that there are also cases of vulnerable people, including those living with severe mental illness, who have experienced extreme financial hardship after having their benefits stopped. No one’s life should be at risk because they cannot afford to eat. 

Our research has found that these issues occur across the benefits system. If they could be solved by small incremental changes, identified and delivered internally by the Department, then we expect they would and should have been fixed by now. Instead, new data shows that the number of cases being investigated is rising, with 124 internal investigations of deaths or serious harm conducted in the last two years – almost triple the rate from 2012 to 2019. 

Key findings 

• Recent data covering the last two years shows that the DWP conducted 124 Internal Process Reviews into death or serious harm3. This represents an almost three-fold increase (176%) of IPRs compared to the period of February 2012 to July 2019. We do not currently know how far this reflects increased levels of harm or how far it shows that serious cases were previously not being investigated. 
  
  
• There are a wide range of issues across the benefit system that have resulted in deaths, as well as causing self-harm and mental health crises. 
  
  
• Benefit deaths and serious harm reported in the media or investigated internally by the DWP may be the tip of the iceberg, with gaps in the way that cases are identified and academic evidence linking DWP processes to widespread mental health harm including death by suicide. 

• The DWP’s current process for investigating cases of death or serious harm are not independent. They lack external oversight and it is unclear whether they have recommended, far less delivered, systemic policy or culture change within the DWP. 

Our recommendations 

We call on the government to: 

• Establish an independent inquiry into benefit related deaths and cases of serious harm 
• Set up an independent body to investigate future cases of death or serious harm in the benefits system. 

Let us not mince our words. There is strong evidence to suggest that a government department has played a part in the deaths of over a hundred people. Our concern is not simply that a system which is supposed to protect people has failed, though that would be bad enough. It is that the process for investigating those failings is not fit for purpose. It is a situation that has continued for years, and which puts people at grave risk every day.

Read the report.