The DWP has been slammed for using its own staff to review the death of a grandfather who starved after his benefits were stopped.
A Serious Case Panel will probe the case of Liverpool FC fan Errol Graham, 57, who weighed just 5 stone and had two tins of fish in his cupboard when bailiffs found his body in June 2018.
Earlier this week, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced the panel “includes independent members to help scrutinise and establish any lessons.”
But officials later clarified this meant “they will be independent of the case, not necessarily the department”. The panel will consist of civil servants from across the DWP and be chaired by a director.
The DWP also refused to say if the review will be shared with Mr Graham’s relatives.
The decision was slammed by Errol Graham’s family, a mental health charity and a campaigning MP.
His daughter-in law Alison Turner said the decision was “not acceptable” and “adds insult to injury”, adding: “It’s useless. It does not offer the families anything. They all work for the DWP so it’s not independent. They are going to look after the interests of the DWP.”
(Image: Errol Graham)
Ms Turner said she fears a “deliberate cover up”. “If it’s independent that means I’m entitled to see it,” she said. “Now they can sit there and say it’s merely for scrutinising in the department and it’s not something they have to hand over to the family.”
She claimed the DWP’s statement that the panel included “independent members” was “deceiving” the public. She demanded an investigation by non-DWP employees with expertise, including psychiatrists.
Ayaz Manji of mental health charity Mind said: “How can it claim to be able to independently scrutinise cases of people whose lives have been made worse by seeing their benefits cut off without reason?”
He added: “The system is in need of dire independent regulation – and independent should mean independent. Otherwise, we’re worried that we will sadly see far too many more cases like Mr Graham’s.”
Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, who has demanded an independent inquiry into deaths of benefit claimants, said: “It’s deeply concerning that the DWP has claimed there will be ‘independent’ members of the Serious Case Panel when in fact they will all be DWP staff.
(Image: Evening Gazette)
“Ministers should immediately publish terms of reference for the Panel, details of its membership and how any recommendations made following the deaths of claimants will be monitored to ensure they’re acted upon.”
She demanded other deaths like those of Jodey Whiting, who took her own life, are looked into.
Labour’s Shadow Minister for Disabled People Marsha de Cordova said ministers must immediately set up an independent panel for Mr Graham’s case and a broader inquiry into other deaths.
She said: “There is nothing independent about a panel made up of DWP senior civil servants. It is vital there is proper scrutiny of this tragic case.”
Mr Graham had his Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and therefore his Housing Benefit stopped in October 2017 after he failed to attend a fit-for-work test.
(Image: Parliament TV)
DWP staff carried out two safeguarding visits on October 16 and 17 and had no answer at his door – but his ESA ended from October 10. He was found by bailiffs eight months later.
An inquest found he died of starvation. Assistant Coroner Elizabeth Didcock said: “I cannot say on a balance of probabilities that the cessation of Errol’s ESA led directly to his death.
“But I do think the sudden loss of all income, and the threat of eviction that followed from it, will have caused huge distress and worry, and significant financial hardship.”
She added: “It is likely that this loss of income, and housing, were the final and devastating stressors, that had a significant effect on his mental health.”
(Image: PA Archive/Press Association Images)
The Serious Case Panel was created last September with the help of a £36m fund. Revealed in the small print of a spending review, the money’s remit was to “ensure DWP decision-making is accurate”.
However, precious few details about the panel or how it will work have been published. It’s understood it is still being established and its terms of reference have not yet been finalised.
A DWP spokesman said earlier this week: “This is a tragic, complex case and our sympathies are with Mr Graham’s family. We take this very seriously and have referred this to our Serious Case Panel, which includes independent members to help scrutinise and establish any lessons.”
Asked to address concerns about the panel’s independence, and whether the review would be shared with Ms Turner, the spokesman said he had nothing further to add.
