Hard times

News in Brief

Deaths linked to benefit claims may have doubled in the last two years, according to information obtained by Disability News Service through freedom of information requests.

The department for work and pensions (DWP) carries out secret inquiries, which they call internal process reviews (IPRs), into deaths and other serious and complex cases linked to DWP activity. There were nine IPRs involving the death of a claimant between October 2014 and January 2016. There was a jump to 33 death-related IPRs between April 2016 to June 2018.

This is an increase from 0.6 to 1.27 death-related IPRs a month.

Topics: Disability