DWP staff make thousands of potentially fatal errors a month on disability claims, official reports reveal

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff are making thousands of potentially fatal errors every month when dealing with the benefit claims of disabled people, information released by the department has shown.

Two reports released by DWP under the Freedom of Information Act show that its civil servants are repeatedly putting the lives of disabled claimants at risk, particularly in relation to universal credit claims and the department’s fraud and “compliance” work.

The reports analysed whether DWP staff were meeting 17 customer support standards (CSS), which were designed to “improve the experience of customers with complex needs and significantly reduce instances of serious cases by providing the right support at the right time”.

The documents were obtained through a freedom of information (FoI) request by welfare rights expert Owen Stevens, from Child Poverty Action Group.

The standards include having to identify if a disabled person will need extra support with their benefit claim; providing reasonable adjustments; and following the department’s six-point plan, which tells staff what actions to take when claimants say they intend to self-harm or take their own lives.

The reports show that, of a sample of 1,653 universal credit cases checked in one month last year, there were errors made in meeting the standards in nearly 20 per cent of them (328).

There were also errors made with five per cent of the counter-fraud and compliance cases that were checked (36 out of 807).

Among the repeated errors made by DWP staff were failures to record a claimant’s support needs, to follow guidance and instructions, and to fulfil the access needs of disabled claimants, such as providing them with a hearing loop or large print versions of documents.

When it comes to accessibility, the reports show widespread errors in complying with the standards, with mistakes made in 97 of the 1,653 universal credit claims checked (six per cent), 51 of 895 retirement services claims (six per cent), and 22 of the 411 working-age and disability benefits claims checked (five per cent), mostly relating to employment and support allowance.

Formal checks against how DWP civil servants are meeting the standards were introduced in May 2023 through random samples of claimants who have had contact with the department.

The reports also show that DWP civil servants are continuing to make errors in following the six-point plan.

Disability News Service (DNS) has previously reported how DWP staff had to be repeatedly reminded what to do under the six-point plan, following secret reviews into as many as six suicides linked to the benefits system between 2014 and 2019. 

The new reports show DWP staff made six-point plan errors in eight of the sampled cases checked.

DWP insists that the results detailed in the reports cannot be “scaled up” because they are just a “snapshot in time from a small sample” and that different benefits cannot be compared because they have “different sample sizes and prevalence to vulnerability”.

But if they were scaled up, they would show that DWP staff are making thousands – and possibly tens of thousands – of serious errors every month, with many of them potentially putting the lives of claimants at risk.

The fatal impact of such errors was demonstrated two years ago by the death of Nazerine Anderson, from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.

Among the errors made in her case, DWP was repeatedly told of her mental distress and suicidal ideation, but her work coach failed to record her “vulnerability” on her profile, while also failing to record updated information about her repeated visits to hospital on the relevant part of the system. 

The survey, carried out last April across the range of benefits provided by DWP, examined a sample of nearly 4,000 claims.

Across those cases, 1,309 separate standards should have been met by DWP staff, but the survey found that on only 814 occasions (62 per cent of the time) did they follow the process correctly.

A DWP spokesperson said it was “misleading” to suggest the information showed DWP staff making thousands of potentially fatal errors every month.

They said: “In the unlikely event an error occurs, we have safeguards in place to resolve them swiftly and take action to reduce the likelihood of it re-occurring including feeding learnings into all staff training and guidance, regardless of staff experience.

“Millions of people rely on our welfare system every year and it is vital that it can be accessed by all who need it, which is why we will work closely with disabled people to reform the current system so that it provides the support they need and genuinely helps people back into work.”

The survey results add to mounting concerns about DWP’s failure to protect disabled claimants with significant support needs.

Last May, DNS reported how a survey by the Commons work and pensions committee found two-thirds of DWP staff did not have enough time to deal with safeguarding concerns “carefully” and “correctly”, despite years of deaths of benefit claimants linked with DWP’s actions and failings.

And in December 2023, a dossier of evidence submitted by the PCS union to DWP showed the department to be a failing organisation in a “state of crisis” and facing a “near collapse” of its benefits systems, with staff accusing DWP of “deliberate neglect” and revealing that claimants in vulnerable situations were “falling through the gaps” in the system.

DNS has also reported on three deaths linked to failings in the universal credit system over the last three years, including that of Nazerine Anderson, and DWP’s admission that it carried out 31 secret reviews in 2023-24 into suicides, other deaths, attempted suicides and cases of serious harm involving claimants of universal credit.

The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence, DNS editor John Pring’s book on the years of deaths linked to DWP, is published by Pluto Press

Credit for this article goes to the Disability News Service