21 May 2018

DWP “has no record” of whether it showed documents about deaths related to work capability assessments to a reviewer.

What: DWP claims in a freedom of information response that it has no record of whether it showed vital documents linking the WCA with the deaths of benefit claimants to Dr Paul Litchfield, who published the final two independent reviews of the WCA in December 2013 and November 2014. The documents include at least seven peer reviews that mention the WCA, and two PFD reports, written by coroners following the deaths of Stephen Carré and Michael O’Sullivan. The existence of the documents was only revealed publicly in the years after Litchfield’s final report was published.

Why significant: Consistent DWP failure to retain and pass on evidence of links between its policies and claimant deaths