Safeguarding inquiry launched following Oldham MP's social security claimant deaths campaign
Date published: 26 July 2023
Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams
Following a long-standing campaign from Select Committee member and Oldham East and Saddleworth MP, Debbie Abrahams, the Work and Pensions Select Committee have now launched an inquiry into safeguarding following the deaths of hundreds of social security claimants since 2019.
The inquiry, which was approved by the Committee last week, will focus on the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) insafeguarding vulnerable claimants.
Ms Abrahams has been campaigning for several years for an inquiry into the deaths of social security claimants.
In June she led another adjournment debate in the Commons about the failures of the DWP that she insists led to the death of Errol Graham, including not disclosing the evidence they had from a Work Capability Assessment in 2014, which showed how ill he was.
Errol was found dead in June 2018 when bailiffs came to evict him from his home.
He weighed just four and a half stone.
After missing a fitness for work assessment in and not responding to the DWP, they halted his social security support - Employment Support Allowance and housing benefit payments – and he subsequently starved to death.
Last week, in response to written questions from Ms Abrahams asking for an update on the number of claimants who had died that the DWP were investigating, the Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work revealed that a further 47 claimants had died between July 2022 and June 2023.
This is in addition to 140 people who the Department recorded had died between July 2019 and June 2022.
However, these deaths are believed to be the tip of the iceberg according to the Oldham MP, with the National Audit office report in 2020, estimating that the actual number of deaths could be far higher.
Following the news of the launch of this inquiry, Ms Abrahams said: "After years of pushing the Government for an independent inquiry into the deaths of social security claimants, the Work and Pensions Select Committee have agreed to an inquiry investigating safeguarding arrangements at the DWP, a significant step forward.
"Fundamentally, this will ask 'Does the DWP have a duty to safeguard vulnerable people, and if it doesn't should it?’
"The Committee will be inviting coroners and lawyers who have been involved in the inquests and court cases concerning the deaths of people who died while they were in receipt of benefits or shortly afterwards.
"But we will also be inviting families of loved ones who have died to provide us with evidence in writing and in person.
"I would urge everyone who has a story which may not have been heard to get in touch - their loved one’s death should not be an unrecorded statistic.
"I'm very grateful to all members of the Committee for agreeing to this inquiry, including Nigel Mills MP for helping to draft the Terms of Reference for this."
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