“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti
So here we go again.
Another promise; another consultation; another warm-sounding pledge from the Department for Work and Pensions that it will start “genuinely supporting vulnerable people.”
This time it’s coming from a Labour government instead of the Tories who caused so much harm over the last 15 years, but don’t let that lull you into false security — this is the same Labour government that, just weeks ago, announced plans to cut £5 billion from Personal Independence Payments.
Up to 1.3 million disabled people may lose the vital support on which they rely.
Many of those affected, already battling complex mental health conditions, have reportedly considered suicide just from the threat of these changes.
So, now, are we really supposed to believe that this same government — and this same DWP, full of the same civil servants who have pushed so many others to their deaths — will lead a cultural transformation to “safeguard” the people it is currently preparing to cast aside?
We’re more than halfway there! Thanks to amazing supporters, we’ve raised £33 toward this month’s £50 goal to fund independent research and reporting.
If you value fearless political journalism that holds the powerful to account, please chip in today. Even £2 helps keep Vox Political running strong.
👉 Support us here: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
How many times have we heard this?
This Site has been documenting DWP-related deaths since 2013, and the pattern never changes – although the numbers do.
A tragedy is exposed. Ministers express “regret.” The DWP announces internal reviews, tweaks its guidance, promises to “learn lessons.”
Then the media moves on. The procedures are ignored. The lessons are forgotten. And claimants keep dying.
The latest intervention — a report from the House of Commons’ cross-party Work and Pensions Select Committee — is shocking not for what it reveals, but for what it confirms:
At least 274 deaths have been internally investigated by the DWP since April 2015 (remember those changing numbers I mentioned? Only a few weeks ago, we were discussing DWP reviews of around 600 suicides, with 100,000 people having died within six months of being thrown off-benefit. But let’s stick with these Work and Pensions Committee figures for now).
Another 58non-fatal cases of serious harm have also been reviewed.
In each case, the DWP’s own Internal Process Reviews suggested its actions (or inactions) may have contributed to suffering or death.
These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Many others go uninvestigated — or unacknowledged.
This is not a “broken system.” It’s a system functioning exactly as designed: to prioritise cost-cutting over care, suspicion over support, and bureaucracy over humanity.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Familiar names, familiar failures
The committee’s report considers Errol Graham, who starved to death in 2018 after his benefits were wrongly stopped. When his body was found, he weighed just four-and-a-half stone. His family received no warning, no outreach, no sign that anyone at the DWP had ever asked whether he was safe.
Philippa Day took her own life in 2019 after a “disturbing” series of benefit errors. A coroner later ruled that those errors were not just bureaucratic, but fatal.
And Kevin Gale died by suicide in 2022 while applying for Universal Credit. Diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, Kevin was overwhelmed by the very process that was meant to support him. The inquest noted that the endless forms, long telephone waits, and pressure to attend distant appointments were “not practical” for people with mental illness — and, in fact, actively harmful.
Let’s be clear: these are not isolated tragedies. When I wrote my open letter (that hardly anybody used), I mentioned:
Mark Wood, who starved to death after being declared fit for work
Michael O’Sullivan, who died by suicide after his ESA was cut. A coroner directly blamed the DWP
Jodey Whiting, who took her life after missing a work capability assessment due to medical issues; she was sanctioned regardless
as well as Errol Graham.
Their fates are symptoms of a sick system that treats vulnerable people as problems to be managed — or eliminated.
Here: watch the video clip I made of the open letter. It’s packed with information about this ongoing disaster:
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
A change in government, not a change in culture
The Work and Pensions Select Committee is calling for “deep-rooted cultural change” and a legal duty of care — a statutory obligation that would hold ministers accountable for the welfare of benefit claimants.
That’s welcome. But here’s a strange thing: This Site has been demanding that the DWP must accept it has a duty of care to the sick and disabled people in its power since 2014, if not even before then – that’s 11 years of relentless ill-treatment that the Department has carried out in spite of its responsibilities.
That’s why I say: without genuine structural reform — and accountability for past and ongoing harm — these latest promises will mean nothing.
The civil servants, case managers, and policy enforcers who presided over these fatal failures are still in post.
Many were present in 2008, when (as I understand it) the earliest stages of this punitive welfare regime were implemented.
They continued their work under successive Conservative governments.
And now, under Labour, they’re being tasked with fixing the system they helped sabotage.
Even the DWP’s latest statement — delivered under Labour — includes the now-standard claim that it is “fixing the broken system we inherited.”
From whom, exactly?
The last lot of DWP ministers, perhaps — but not the permanent officials who have been pulling the levers of this sprawling bureaucracy all along.
A consultation no-one requested
According to the government, it is now “consulting on a new safeguarding approach”. Haven’t we heard that phrase – or something like it – many times before?
So we know now that consultations don’t save lives. Food, housing, support, and compassion do.
And it is hard to believe this consultation will do anything meaningful while Labour is also preparing to take lifeline support away from more than a million people.
Many of those now facing PIP cuts have expressed suicidal ideation — before any assessments have even taken place. The fear alone is enough to push people to the brink.
That’s not safeguarding. That’s state-inflicted trauma.
We’re more than halfway there! Thanks to amazing supporters, we’ve raised £33 toward this month’s £50 goal to fund independent research and reporting. Let’s close the gap this week! Help us hit £50 and power the next investigation.
If you value fearless political journalism that holds the powerful to account, please chip in today. Even £2 helps keep Vox Political running strong.
👉 Support us here: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
Fixing the barn door after the chickens came home to roost?
At the top of this article, I suggested that the Work and Pension Committee’s demands might be “fixing the barn door after the chickens came home to roost” – and that’s putting it mildly.
When I was discussing my plan for this article with a friend, they suggested it was more like fixing the barn door after the chickens have been slaughtered inside the barn.
Yes, a statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable claimants is needed.
Yes, cultural change is essential.
But we’ve been here before. And if history teaches us anything, it’s that without transparency, accountability, and independent enforcement, the DWP will continue to do what it has always done: dismiss, delay, and deflect.
Meanwhile, the people who rely on the benefit system for survival — the sick, the disabled, the mentally ill — are once again forced to prove their pain, justify their existence, and “jump through hoops” just to eat.
This is not support.
It is not protection.
It is not reform.
It is the continuation of a policy culture that sees human life as a line item.
And until that changes, the DWP will remain what it has become: an institution of government-sponsored cruelty.
Vox Political needs your help! If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers) you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Labour’s DWP safeguarding plan: fixing the barn door after the chickens came home to roost?
So here we go again.
Another promise; another consultation; another warm-sounding pledge from the Department for Work and Pensions that it will start “genuinely supporting vulnerable people.”
This time it’s coming from a Labour government instead of the Tories who caused so much harm over the last 15 years, but don’t let that lull you into false security — this is the same Labour government that, just weeks ago, announced plans to cut £5 billion from Personal Independence Payments.
Up to 1.3 million disabled people may lose the vital support on which they rely.
Many of those affected, already battling complex mental health conditions, have reportedly considered suicide just from the threat of these changes.
So, now, are we really supposed to believe that this same government — and this same DWP, full of the same civil servants who have pushed so many others to their deaths — will lead a cultural transformation to “safeguard” the people it is currently preparing to cast aside?
We’re more than halfway there! Thanks to amazing supporters, we’ve raised £33 toward this month’s £50 goal to fund independent research and reporting.
If you value fearless political journalism that holds the powerful to account, please chip in today. Even £2 helps keep Vox Political running strong.
👉 Support us here: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
How many times have we heard this?
This Site has been documenting DWP-related deaths since 2013, and the pattern never changes – although the numbers do.
A tragedy is exposed. Ministers express “regret.” The DWP announces internal reviews, tweaks its guidance, promises to “learn lessons.”
Then the media moves on. The procedures are ignored. The lessons are forgotten. And claimants keep dying.
The latest intervention — a report from the House of Commons’ cross-party Work and Pensions Select Committee — is shocking not for what it reveals, but for what it confirms:
At least 274 deaths have been internally investigated by the DWP since April 2015 (remember those changing numbers I mentioned? Only a few weeks ago, we were discussing DWP reviews of around 600 suicides, with 100,000 people having died within six months of being thrown off-benefit. But let’s stick with these Work and Pensions Committee figures for now).
Another 58 non-fatal cases of serious harm have also been reviewed.
In each case, the DWP’s own Internal Process Reviews suggested its actions (or inactions) may have contributed to suffering or death.
These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Many others go uninvestigated — or unacknowledged.
This is not a “broken system.” It’s a system functioning exactly as designed: to prioritise cost-cutting over care, suspicion over support, and bureaucracy over humanity.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Familiar names, familiar failures
The committee’s report considers Errol Graham, who starved to death in 2018 after his benefits were wrongly stopped. When his body was found, he weighed just four-and-a-half stone. His family received no warning, no outreach, no sign that anyone at the DWP had ever asked whether he was safe.
Philippa Day took her own life in 2019 after a “disturbing” series of benefit errors. A coroner later ruled that those errors were not just bureaucratic, but fatal.
And Kevin Gale died by suicide in 2022 while applying for Universal Credit. Diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, Kevin was overwhelmed by the very process that was meant to support him. The inquest noted that the endless forms, long telephone waits, and pressure to attend distant appointments were “not practical” for people with mental illness — and, in fact, actively harmful.
Let’s be clear: these are not isolated tragedies. When I wrote my open letter (that hardly anybody used), I mentioned:
Mark Wood, who starved to death after being declared fit for work
Michael O’Sullivan, who died by suicide after his ESA was cut. A coroner directly blamed the DWP
Jodey Whiting, who took her life after missing a work capability assessment due to medical issues; she was sanctioned regardless
as well as Errol Graham.
Their fates are symptoms of a sick system that treats vulnerable people as problems to be managed — or eliminated.
Here: watch the video clip I made of the open letter. It’s packed with information about this ongoing disaster:
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
A change in government, not a change in culture
The Work and Pensions Select Committee is calling for “deep-rooted cultural change” and a legal duty of care — a statutory obligation that would hold ministers accountable for the welfare of benefit claimants.
That’s welcome. But here’s a strange thing: This Site has been demanding that the DWP must accept it has a duty of care to the sick and disabled people in its power since 2014, if not even before then – that’s 11 years of relentless ill-treatment that the Department has carried out in spite of its responsibilities.
That’s why I say: without genuine structural reform — and accountability for past and ongoing harm — these latest promises will mean nothing.
The civil servants, case managers, and policy enforcers who presided over these fatal failures are still in post.
Many were present in 2008, when (as I understand it) the earliest stages of this punitive welfare regime were implemented.
They continued their work under successive Conservative governments.
And now, under Labour, they’re being tasked with fixing the system they helped sabotage.
Even the DWP’s latest statement — delivered under Labour — includes the now-standard claim that it is “fixing the broken system we inherited.”
From whom, exactly?
The last lot of DWP ministers, perhaps — but not the permanent officials who have been pulling the levers of this sprawling bureaucracy all along.
A consultation no-one requested
According to the government, it is now “consulting on a new safeguarding approach”. Haven’t we heard that phrase – or something like it – many times before?
So we know now that consultations don’t save lives. Food, housing, support, and compassion do.
And it is hard to believe this consultation will do anything meaningful while Labour is also preparing to take lifeline support away from more than a million people.
Many of those now facing PIP cuts have expressed suicidal ideation — before any assessments have even taken place. The fear alone is enough to push people to the brink.
That’s not safeguarding. That’s state-inflicted trauma.
We’re more than halfway there! Thanks to amazing supporters, we’ve raised £33 toward this month’s £50 goal to fund independent research and reporting.
Let’s close the gap this week! Help us hit £50 and power the next investigation.
If you value fearless political journalism that holds the powerful to account, please chip in today. Even £2 helps keep Vox Political running strong.
👉 Support us here: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
Fixing the barn door after the chickens came home to roost?
At the top of this article, I suggested that the Work and Pension Committee’s demands might be “fixing the barn door after the chickens came home to roost” – and that’s putting it mildly.
When I was discussing my plan for this article with a friend, they suggested it was more like fixing the barn door after the chickens have been slaughtered inside the barn.
Yes, a statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable claimants is needed.
Yes, cultural change is essential.
But we’ve been here before. And if history teaches us anything, it’s that without transparency, accountability, and independent enforcement, the DWP will continue to do what it has always done: dismiss, delay, and deflect.
Meanwhile, the people who rely on the benefit system for survival — the sick, the disabled, the mentally ill — are once again forced to prove their pain, justify their existence, and “jump through hoops” just to eat.
This is not support.
It is not protection.
It is not reform.
It is the continuation of a policy culture that sees human life as a line item.
And until that changes, the DWP will remain what it has become: an institution of government-sponsored cruelty.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
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