DWP denies destroying documents that would have shown why it weakened rules on secret suicide reviews

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has denied destroying documents that would have revealed why it watered down guidelines for investigating cases of benefit claimants who have committed suicide, following an investigation by the Information Commissioner.

Repeated searches by DWP officials – in response to a request from the Information Commissioner’s Office – failed to turn up any documents related to the decision.

DWP says it is now impossible to explain “how the decision to change the criteria was made”.

Disability News Service (DNS) has been trying since March to obtain internal DWP documents that would show why the rules on when internal process reviews (IPRs) should be carried out were changed in April 2021.

In 2020, DWP told the National Audit Office that it would always conduct one of its secret investigations if it learned of a claimant’s suicide, even if there were no allegations that DWP’s actions had contributed to that death.

But since April 2021, after weakening the rules, DWP now only enforces an IP action following a claimant’s suicide if there is already an allegation that DWP’s actions “may have adversely contributed to the circumstances of the customer”.

As a result of this decision, far fewer internal process assessments were carried out.

In 2022-23 there were 89 referrals from DWP for an IPR, but only 60 met the new criteria, while in 2023-24 there were 75 referrals and only 53 met the criteria.

DNS had asked DWP, through a freedom of information request, for all documents relating to the decision to weaken the criteria used by the team that implemented the change.

After the department claimed it had no such documents, DNS filed a complaint with the information commissioner.

In its response to the commissioner, DWP said it had searched its IT systems, with “file-by-file checks” of “each of the directories in which recorded information would be likely to be held”, as well as “full site metadata”. searching for data”.

A second “independent” check was carried out by “an experienced IPR team member”.

None of these audits produced a single document on the decision to weaken the criteria.

The information commissioner, John Edwards, told DNS this week: “DWP confirmed that it was not aware of any specific information that had been destroyed or deleted relating to the request.

“DWP explained that this was confirmed in discussions with colleagues responsible for the IPR team during the period covered by the request.”

When the Commissioner at DNS raised concerns that this information “should have been recorded and retained”, DWP told him: “Many decisions are made every day in an operational context, often without being officially recorded in specific documents.”

It added: “It is also worth noting the events that occurred at the time in question. The department continued to focus on supporting citizens during the pandemic and this may have influenced the decision-making process.”

DWP said it could not confirm whether any information relating to the decision to weaken intellectual property rights had ever emerged.

But it added that “if it was created during the relevant period, we can confirm that it was no longer held when the original request was received.”

The company also told the commissioner that “due to a lack of documentation, staff turnover and the time elapsed since the period in question” it could not explain “how the decision to change the criteria was made”.

Edwards ruled this week that, on the balance of probabilities, DWP does not have the documents DNS was looking for.

He said he “understands why the complainant believes information was retained” but “cannot determine whether information should be retained, but only whether, on a balance of probabilities, it was retained at the time of the request”.

DWP has a long history of concealing and delaying release of embarrassing information about the deaths of claimants, and destroying incriminating documents.

The Ministry: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds of People and Concealed the EvidenceJohn Pring’s book about DWP-related deaths and the years of cover-up by the department, is published by Pluto Press

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