30 August 2016

New reviews into deaths of people claiming benefits show DWP staff keep failing to follow suicide guidelines.

What: DWP finally releases redacted versions of nine peer reviews and internal process reviews carried out between August 2014 and April 2016 (peer reviews were renamed internal process reviews at some point in 2015). Staff failure to follow DWP’s six-point plan suicide guidance was “a recurring theme” across the reviews.

Why significant: The number of peer reviews and internal process reviews appears to have fallen since the first batch of peer reviews was released to Disability News Service in 2014, but it is not clear why (the number will rise sharply in future years). The need to repeatedly warn staff about the six-point plan is also a recurring theme that will re-emerge in future years.