DWP are being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission because the chair, Kishwer Faulkner suspects, the department may have broken the equality law. Find out in this post why this happened and what the investigation will involve.
The Uk’s Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has often found itself at the centre of thousands of employment tribunals and lawsuits from both claimants and employees on how they treat disabled and ill people but now the Equality and Human Rights Commission in London has found such concerns over the treatment of disabled claimants by DWP that a huge investigation into DWP has now been launched.
Who is doing the Investigation on DWP?
The chair of the Equality and Human Rights committee, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, Kishwer Falkner is leading the Investigation on the DWP and this has come about because of the ‘systematic failure of disabled people’ as stated by Anna Morell of Disability Rights UK.
Cases where claimants have taken their own lives such as Jodey Whiting, a mentally ill mother who had her benefits incorrectly cut in 2017 and Errol Graham, another claimant also struggling with mental health, who was found starved to death in his own flat where he live alone as a grandfather, after having his benefits stopped by the Department of Work and Pensions clearly more than highlight the lack of duty of care and potentially negligeant behaviour from DWP, where processes are ignored and bad decisions have sadly been the main reasons behind the need for such an investigation that found multiple cases of suicide of claimants was linked to errors and problems in benefit claims.
In particular, the Equality and Rights Commission will be looking at the processes employed by DWP to conduct health checks on claimants, including the ‘fit for work’ test and how claimants are assessed for disability benefits such as the limited capability for work benefits, personal independence benefit and disability living allowance.
What will the Investigation look at?
‘The focus of the investigation will be whether the DWP has failed to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people with learning disabilities or long-term mental health conditions during health assessment determinations.’
This investigation can not come soon enough state a lot of DWP claimants amid Rishi Sunaks Green Paper Project, which specifically targets those claimants on long-term health fit notes and disability claimants by attempting to reform DWP’s disability benefits system. The same system involved in so many claimant deaths and disability tribunal claims, where DWP have made errors or simply disregarded requests made by disabled claimants or those suffering with ill health.
The Green paper, has started to be rolled out in the Uk in 15 different counties in the UK and has removed many duties previously performed by medical professionals, now replaced by DWP Workwell and Health Coaches.
Disability Campaigners and claimants argue that DWP are a department known for not putting peoples well being and health first but instead employs tactics that humiliate, degrade and undermine peoples human and disability rights when assessing disability claims. Arguing that DWP should not be allowed to replace professionally trained medical staff in assessing claims when decisions can lead to loss of benefits, causing extreme hardship unfairly putting vulnerable people at risk with so many already lethal consequences.
Both long term ill and disabled claimants have concerns over how the DWP in these counties plan to take control of issuing fit notes in a bid to reduce what Rishin Sunak, the Uk’s prime minister called the UK’s ‘Fit Note Culture.’
What do the Investigators want to know?
Patrick Butler, Social Policy Editor at The Guardian covering updates and news in this investigation on DWP states that the equality and Human Rights committee want to hear from past and future employees of DWP, whistleblowers who worked for the department or private contractors who carried out benefit assessments, such as Maximus, Atos and Capita. (Patrick Butler, The Guardian, 22/05/2024).
This is how you contact them.
An online form can be found here.
Phone: 0161 829 8100
Email: correspondence@equalityhumanrights.com
