The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is launching an investigation into the DWP’s treatment of claimants with mental health conditions or learning disabilities at WCA and PIP assessments.
There was outrage when, over two years ago, the EHRC backed out of an undertaking to investigate DWP-related deaths and instead tried to reach a legally binding agreement with the department over the way it treated claimants.
The agreement was supposed to be signed off in the summer of 2022, but it seems the DWP ran rings around the EHRC and no agreement was ever signed.
The EHRC has finally lost patience with the department’s time wasting and have now announced a probe into whether successive DWP secretaries of state have committed unlawful acts under the Equality Act 2010.
However, there is considerable dissatisfaction about the narrow scope of the enquiry and the fact that individual claimants will not be allowed to provide evidence.
The investigation will look at whether the DWP has failed to make reasonable adjustments for claimants with learning disabilities or long-term mental health conditions during PIP assessments and work capability assessments.
The EHRC has launched a call for evidence covering the period from January 2021, or earlier “if relevant, necessary and proportionate”.
Evidence will be accepted from:
- Whistleblowers
- Charities, third sector and advocacy organisations
- Welfare benefits advisors
- Legal professionals
- Medical professionals
- Academics and researchers
Shockingly, the EHRC will not accept evidence from individual claimants or from relatives or carers. This is in spite of the fact that many claimants with mental health conditions or learning disabilities may be very isolated and may not have had support from advice agencies or legal professionals in the first place.
There is also no obvious reason why the inquiry isn’t looking much further back, given that campaigners have been highlighting DWP-related deaths of benefits claimants for at least the last ten years.
The DWP are clearly unhappy about the investigation. DWP secretary of state Mel Stride told MPs “While I do not believe an investigation is necessary, we at the department do of course take the EHRC’s concerns seriously.”
You can read more about the inquiry here
