Disabled man self-harms in public and dies after losing PIP, but DWP silent on 30 years of safeguarding failures
A disabled man who was plunged into poverty after his disability benefits were removed died hours after self-harming in public, apparently in protest at his treatment by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Afolabi Ojerinde, who was 48, was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital, south Manchester, after the incident but died of his injuries the following day, 5 September 2023.
Reports from an inquest into his death suggest that his mental health had deteriorated in the months leading to his death, after he lost his job and DWP stopped his personal independence payment (PIP).
This caused him to fall into arrears on his rent, and he was then forced to appear in front of magistrates, further worsening his mental health.
His death has echoes of many other tragedies, dating back nearly 30 years, that have been linked to fatal DWP errors, including those of Dermot Comiskey*, who took his own life in early 1997, weeks after his benefits were stopped; Timothy Finn, who starved to death in October 1998 after his benefits were stopped; and Errol Graham, who starved to death in 2018 after his benefits were removed.
All three were disabled people who were left with no money because of the failings of DWP or, in Comiskey’s and Finn’s cases, the Benefits Agency, which later became part of DWP.
DWP refused this week to say if it will examine the death of Afolabi Ojerinde through one of its secret internal process reviews, and refer it to its serious case panel.
It also refused to say if ministers were concerned that such fatal safeguarding failures were still taking place nearly 30 years after the death of Dermot Comiskey.
And it refused to say if such safeguarding failures showed it was not the right time to be publishing a green paper that reports suggest will further cut spending on disability benefits and increase the use of benefit sanctions (see separate story).
Instead, a DWP spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mr Ojerinde.
“Supporting claimants is a priority across the department, with support in place to ensure customers are treated with dignity and respect, and those with complex needs are given the support they need.”
Afolabi Ojerinde was described during last month’s inquest as a “warm and welcoming” and “dignified” man who “had no money for a very, very long period of time”.
He had been diagnosed with “a psychotic disorder” and was said to have “delusional beliefs” that the government was interfering in his life.
The inquest heard that those responsible for his mental health had been focusing on the “real life factors” – such as the loss of his PIP – that had been worsening his situation.
Just days before he died, he told them that his PIP had been removed.
The coroner, Zak Golombeck, said – according to a report in the Manchester Evening News – that, “as part of his delusional disorder or paranoid schizophrenia, [he] had concluded that this was as a result of government intervention in his life”.
His consultant psychiatrist said he believed he may have harmed himself as a final act against those he believed were conspiring against him.
In a narrative conclusion, Golombeck stated that this action was “likely as an act of protest of what he perceived to be interference by the government or state”.
As with many other deaths linked to DWP over the last 15 years, the coroner had not named DWP as an “interested party” for the inquest, and so no DWP civil servants appear to have been asked to give evidence.
The coroner did write a prevention of future deaths report – and copied it to DWP – but it was focused on safety concerns around the public location where Afolabi Ojerinde had self-harmed, rather than DWP’s actions in removing his benefits.
Credit for this article goes to the Disability News Service
No responses yet