Rights watchdog starts inquiry into disability benefits assessment

The treatment of chronically ill and disabled people by welfare officials, including benefits decisions subsequently linked to the deaths of vulnerable claimants, is to be formally investigated by Britain's human rights watchdog.

- Patrick Butler

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it will examine whether ministers at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have acted unlawfully by failing to protect claimants with learning disabilities or severe mental illness.

Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, a long-term campaigner on the issue, said: "I welcome the EHRC's decision to use the full force of its powers and officially launch an investigation into the DWP and the tragic deaths of vulnerable welfare claimants." The focus of the inquiry will be on health checks that assess individuals' eligibility for disability benefits such as personal independence payment, and "fit for work" tests that qualify claimants for the disability elements of universal credit.

Kishwer Falkner, the chair of the EHRC, said: "We are extremely worried about the treatment of some disabled benefits claimants by the DWP. We suspect the department may have broken equality law. We have decided we need to take the strongest possible action and that's why we've launched this investigation." Campaigners have for years argued that benefit assessments are poorly designed, punitive and degrading.

As a result vulnerable claimants are at risk of unfairly losing benefit entitlements, causing hardship and in extreme cases lethal consequences.