Tragedy of mum-of-four 'found dead in her own hat and scarf in her freezing flat after her benefits were cut'

An MP is looking to have an independent inquiry into the deaths of people who saw their benefits cut or were declared 'fit for work' through the government.

The Department of Work and Pensions has carried out at least 150 reviews after people claiming benefits died or found serious harm. Debbie Abrahams, an MP in Greater Manchester, said she believed the reviewed cases could be 'only the tip from the iceberg' as she urged the DWP to be more open with the outcomes of its reviews, and to hand over evidence of wrongdoing to the police.

One of the cases reviewed was those of Cheshire mum-of-four Elaine Morrall, who died in 2021 aged 44. Elaine, from Runcorn, Cheshire, was reportedly found in her freezing flat wearing her scarf and coat. According to her mum Linda, she couldn't manage to place the heating on after her benefits have been stopped multiple times including when she missed a universal credit interview because she was in intensive care, reports the Liverpool Echo.

The Warrington Coroner's Office said in 2021 that matter didn't go to inquest as her death was ruled to have been because of 'natural causes.' Now, an investigation completed by the BBC Shared Data Unit has unearthed DWP records showing the situation was among 144 internal reviews completed by the DWP between 2012 and 2021.

Other cases reported by the BBC Shared Data Unit to become among them incorporate a 49-year-old man found dead each day after he received a text message telling him to go to the Job Centre. He'd previously sent his partner of 13 years a text saying, “I give up” and the inquest returned a verdict of suicide. They also incorporate a 42-year-old man found dead in woodland this year. An inquest heard his fears over losing his incapacity benefits and concerns about his health led the father-of-two to take their own life.

DWP reviews take place if you find a 'suggestion or allegation' that it is actions had a negative impact.

Investigations are also held once the DWP thinks lessons could be discovered its processes and a claimant has died or suffered serious harm including by suicide or attempted suicide, or when it has been named being an 'interested party' at an inquest, or the DWP is asked to participate in a Safeguarding Adults Board.

The DWP won't reveal the identities of the people or cases subject to these internal reviews. However, the information unit sifted through press reports naming 82 individuals who died after a little alleged DWP activity such as termination of benefits over the same period of time.

Mental health vulnerabilities were a contributing element in 35 of these people's deaths. A number of these individuals took their very own lives, or were even discovered after you have starved to death.

Others died within days of being found fit to work, through the Government's Work Capability Assessment (WCA) process, which determines if claimants have entitlement to sickness or out-of-work benefits.

They likewise incorporate a mentally ill 57-year-old man, Erroll Graham, of Nottingham, who reportedly starved to death in 2021 after his benefits were cut. When his body was found, Mr Graham weighed four-and-a-half stone.

His family lost a high lawsuit against the DWP, but submitted a credit card applicatoin for permission to attract the Court of Appeal in April.

Alison Turner, fiancée of Mr Graham's son, said: “There's lots of ignorance around mental health. The DWP won't believe that many people are born this way. I dread the system because it stands.

“The DWP doesn't be aware of very first thing about how to speak with them; all they might require may be the simplest adjustment, to visit a step further so when people are not engaging with them, you will see someone who can speak for them: a relative or their GP who could speak for them.

“It wouldn't cost the DWP almost anything to pick up the phone. That's all it would decide to try help them speak when they can't speak on their own. It's like we're asking an excessive amount of but it is disgusting."

Since 2021, four Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports have been issued to the DWP by coroners following inquests into the deaths of advantages claimants.

Coroners have a statutory duty to issue these reports if they believe action should be come to prevent a future death.

One of these tragic cases was those of single mum Philippa Day, 27, from Nottingham, who took a fatal overdose in 2021 after her benefit payments were cut.

Ms Day was discovered collapsed at her home beside instructions rejecting her request for an at-home benefits assessment, and died after 8 weeks inside a coma.

Ms Day's sister Philippa said: “I think there will be many more that will be unrecorded. I'm not surprised. I would not have confidence in the internal review process. I don't think the DWP understands disability, vulnerabilities or chronic illnesses.

“It's not a person-centred or a person-led approach, it's very administrative and it is clear they haven't consulted disabled people or disabled activists and it is clear the DWP gets worse. There should be an entire overhaul of the DWP. The process [for benefit claims] must change and so perform the people involved.

“There's a culture of a lack of empathy in the call handlers to the civil servants and everything must change; you can't teach people how you can feel.”

Labour's Ms Abrahams said within the Commons this week: "My problem is the amount of people who are dying after being found fit for work."

She called around the secretary of state to commit to publishing internal investigations on anyone who has died, in addition to holding an 'independent inquiry'.

She also told the BBC there must be an independent inquiry in to the scale and number of deaths allegedly associated with DWP activity.

“These deaths have definitely not received the attention they should have. I believe that those that you've collated are just the tip from the iceberg" she said.

“There's all too often an assumption that these deaths come from natural causes. That there continues to be such a lack of openness and transparency to enable us to properly examine reports on all deaths is really a disgrace.

“There needs to be a completely independent inquiry investigating why these deaths are happening and the scale of the deaths must be properly understood.

“Then there needs to be a completely independent body established to investigate any future deaths. It must be taken out of both your hands of the DWP.”

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Thérèse Coffey maintains the DWP, 'does not have an obligation of care or statutory safeguarding duty'.

But human rights specialist Tessa Gregory, partner at Leigh Day said there was a 'dissonance' between your DWP's legal stance and it is role in some instances providing the sole income for vulnerable people.

She said: “When DWP decision making goes wrong it may, as we have experienced in too many cases have devastating and sometimes fatal consequences, so it is vital that decisions are taken with full regard to some person's disability.

“The case for reform is apparent as we really need a benefits system which serves to aid, rather than endanger, the lives of vulnerable individuals.”

Ken Butler, welfare rights adviser at the charity Disability Rights UK, said people had their benefits cut and suffered 'fear and anxiety' because of 'poor and inaccurate medical assessments' completed with respect to the DWP by the private contractors Capita, the Independent Assessment Services (formerly called Atos) and Maximus.

He added: “Even if it is legally factual that the DWP does not have a statutory duty of care, surely it would be better for this to operate on the basis that it does?”

A DWP spokesperson said: “We support huge numbers of people a year and our priority is they get the benefits to that they are entitled promptly and get a supportive and compassionate service. In the majority of cases this occurs but when, sadly, there's a tragic case we take it very seriously.

“In those circumstances it's absolutely right we feature out an interior review to see if the right processes were followed and identify any lessons learned to inform future policy and service.”