Investigative probe initiated by parliamentary committee concerning the safety measures of DWP following reported claimant fatalities.
New Inquiry Launched into DWP's Support for Vulnerable Claimants
The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee has announced a new inquiry into the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and its support for vulnerable benefit claimants. The inquiry, led by Stephen Timms, the chair of the work and pensions committee, will aim to ensure mistakes that affect vulnerable people are not repeated by the DWP.
The inquiry comes in response to years of controversy over deaths and suicides of disabled people whose benefits were cut or stopped. Vulnerable claimants may struggle with DWP processes and claim requirements due to age, disability, or risk of abuse or neglect.
The inquiry will focus on processes to ensure benefits are accessible for claimants and will review failures in safeguarding by the DWP. It will also investigate if the DWP should have a statutory duty when it comes to safeguarding vulnerable claimants.
The DWP has measures in place to support and protect vulnerable people, such as Internal Process Reviews (IPRs), but currently has no statutory safeguarding duty. The number of IPRs carried out by the DWP to investigate allegations of inadequate case handling that may have resulted in serious harm more than doubled in the three years from July 2019.
The inquiry will not repeat earlier facts about the number of IPRs or the published reports by the National Audit Office. Instead, it will look at the DWP's approaches to harm prevention for vulnerable claimants and examine the DWP's responsibilities and accountability.
The inquiry will follow up on the progress made by the DWP in the last three years regarding the protection of vulnerable claimants. It will also hold a one-off evidence session on how the DWP learns from serious cases, as it did in July 2020.
The organization with the right to conduct more than twice as many internal process audits in the last three years to investigate potential inadequacies in case handling that may have caused serious harm, and to assess whether the DWP should change its safeguarding approaches for vulnerable benefit claimants, is not explicitly identified in the provided search results. However, such responsibilities typically fall to an internal audit or ombudsman-type body within or overseeing the Department for Work and Pensions.
The DWP has been accused by disability activists of covering up reviews into the impact of its policies and procedures. There have been individual cases highlighting issues around safeguarding and the actions of the DWP. The inquiry will aim to address these concerns and ensure that the DWP is taking the necessary steps to protect vulnerable claimants.
The inquiry is a crucial step towards ensuring that the DWP is providing the support and protection that vulnerable claimants need. It will provide insights into the DWP's current practices and identify areas for improvement, ultimately striving to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future.
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