Partner of ‘distraught’ ESA claimant says DWP drove him to his death
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been blamed for causing the death of a disabled man whose partner had warned he was too ill to undergo an upcoming benefit assessment that had left him “distraught” and “devastated”.
It is just the latest death to be linked to ongoing and widespread flaws in the benefit system, following years of concerns raised by disabled activists and grieving relatives, and has concerning similarities to the death of Philippa Day, whose high-profile inquest ended last week.
Philip Pakree, who died on Boxing Day, had been told he probably needed a heart transplant, while he also had multiple mental health conditions, and had grown increasingly distressed as the date of the “fitness for work” re-assessment approached.
He was already claiming employment and support allowance, in recognition of the barriers he faced due to personality disorder, depression, anxiety, borderline schizophrenia, adjustment disorder, asthma, a serious heart condition, and a long history of self-harm and suicide attempts.
When he was first told, last October, that he would need to undergo a telephone work capability assessment (WCA), he had to be admitted to Royal Derby Hospital several days later with breathing difficulties and heart failure.
His partner, Elizabeth Nicholson, said: “There was a distinct downturn in his health. He told me: ‘They do this to me every time.’”
He was later told the assessment would take place on 4 December, but outsourcing giant Maximus – which carries out WCAs on behalf of the government – eventually agreed to cancel it after Nicholson sent them a letter from his consultant cardiologist that detailed his multiple health conditions.
Maximus had also been sent a note from Nicholson, in which she warned of her “grave concerns for his physical and mental health” and of his state of confusion due to low sodium levels and which said he was not currently well enough to be assessed.
But just 19 days later, on 9 December, Maximus sent another letter to Pakree, telling him he would have to make himself available for a WCA, again by telephone because of the pandemic, on New Year’s Eve.
Nicholson, who lived with her partner in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, said: “Phil was nearly hysterical. It made his mental and physical health so poor it was beyond belief.
“He was devastated, he was absolutely devastated. He said he would be better off dead.
“He wasn’t sleeping. He was getting obsessed that people were talking about him and believed that DWP were part of the SS.”
She said she could see him “going down and down” as 31 December approached.
She called Maximus to beg the contractor to reconsider, but a call handler said her partner would have to take part in the assessment or it would “affect his benefits”, telling her: “It’s been delayed once, we are not delaying it again.”
Nicholson said the attitude of the call handler was lacking in empathy and understanding and “completely and utterly disgusting”.
They moved into a bungalow on 23 December, because the mobility problems caused by his heart condition meant he could no longer cope with the stairs in their house.
Nicholson said it was the imminent assessment, rather than moving, that caused the stress that killed him.
He told her on Christmas Day, the day before he died: “I hope I don’t wake up, because I don’t want this.”
Early on Boxing Day, she found that he had died in his sleep. He was 49 years old.
Although he is believed to have died of natural causes, she said: “As far as I am concerned, the DWP killed him.”
Last week, similar concerns were raised about the pressure placed by the assessment system on benefit claimants with mental distress, at the end of the inquest into the death of 27-year-old Philippa Day.
Although her death was linked by a coroner to the personal independence payment (PIP) assessment system, and not the WCA, significant concerns were raised about the process for changing where, when and how assessments are carried out, and how that information is communicated to the claimant.
Nicholson said this week that the harassment her partner had faced over the WCA was the culmination of 18 months of problems with his disability benefits.
In August 2019, a paramedic working for another DWP private sector contractor, Capita – which was implicated in the death of Philippa Day – had produced an inaccurate and misleading report after he had attended a face-to-face PIP assessment.
Pakree had been receiving disability living allowance for seven or eight years, receiving the higher rate for mobility, and the middle rate for care, after being given a lifetime award.
He described in his claim form how he experienced constant anxiety, paranoia, could not eat without support, had to stop two or three times for two or three minutes at a time to walk just 50 metres and could not use public transport “because of my fear of crowds or of misinterpreting conversations overheard which are not about me”, and how he “will not bother to eat unless encouraged to do so by someone else”.
But the Capita assessor awarded him zero points, leading to DWP finding him ineligible for PIP, a decision that was rubber-stamped in December 2019 after a mandatory reconsideration.
He had to wait until July last year for a tribunal to hear his appeal.
A letter from Derbyshire County Council’s welfare rights team to the tribunal described how the “mental and physical health issues that Mr Pakree has have a debilitating effect on every aspect of his life”, how he “struggles with even the most basic tasks and needs assistance with almost all of the daily tasks required of him”, and how he had “attempted suicide on numerous occasions”.
The tribunal found him entitled to PIP at the enhanced rate for both mobility and daily living, dismissing the findings of the Capita report and the conclusions of the DWP decision-maker, and instead awarding him 13 points for daily living and 14 points for mobility.
Nicholson said she was appalled at the way her partner had been treated by DWP over the last 18 months of his life.
She said: “I would like people to know that this is what is happening.
“It is my opinion the DWP are totally responsible for this and they have robbed us of a much-loved man.”
Maximus refused to apologise for the treatment Pakree received, or to say what changes it would make to protect other claimants.
But a Maximus spokesperson said in a statement: “We wish to offer our sincere condolences to Mr Pakree’s family for their loss.
“Mr Pakree was referred for reassessment by DWP and he was invited to attend a telephone assessment following a review of his case by a healthcare professional.
“The purpose of a telephone assessment is to ensure that the correct advice is given to a DWP decision maker.
“We rescheduled Mr Pakree’s original assessment at his request.”
But Nicholson stressed that she had not asked in her letter for the appointment to be “rescheduled” and had instead told Maximus that she had “grave concerns” for her partner’s current state of health and that he was currently unable to cope with a telephone assessment.
The Maximus spokesperson refused to confirm that a Maximus call handler had told Nicholson in mid-December that the assessment could not be delayed for a second time.
He also refused to allow Disability News Service to listen to a recording of that call.
DWP refused to apologise for the treatment Pakree received or to say if it would finally make changes to the system that would prevent other such deaths.
But a DWP spokesperson said in a statement: “We understand this is a difficult time and our sympathies are with Mr Pakree’s family.
“Assessments help us ensure people get the support they are entitled to.
“Decisions are made using all the information available to us at the time and we will ask for further evidence if it’s disputed, to ensure the correct decision is made.”
4 February 2021
Urgent action needed on pandemic harm caused to disabled people, say researchers
Urgent action is needed to “rectify the harm caused to disabled people” during the COVID-19 crisis and to learn lessons for subsequent waves of the virus, and other future pandemics, researchers have warned.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine suggest in a new paper that many disabled people felt “abandoned and forgotten” during the pandemic, while their rights had been “compromised” by the government.
And they say that the state’s response to the pandemic has “exposed and magnified existing structural failings and inequalities”, while disabled people “appear to have been an afterthought in the response to COVID-19”.
The paper is based on in-depth interviews with nearly 100 disabled people and organisations in England and Scotland about the impact of COVID-19 and the measures taken to control it.
The new research, Disabled People in Britain and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, was led by two leading disabled academics, Professor Nick Watson and Professor Tom Shakespeare.
Among their findings, they conclude that social care “was not working as it should be prior to the pandemic – and has been exposed even more during it”.
Interviewees told how they had been forced to rely increasingly on their families and other informal carers for support because of the suspension or closure of large parts of the social care system.
In some areas, the research paper says, social care assessments were suspended for up to four months, and in some parts of the country social services appeared to have been “largely absent”.
One of the disabled people the research team spoke to described how his support had been reduced from 12 hours a week to one short weekly phone call.
Another disabled interviewee, Hannah, said: “‘They’re just not answering their phones.
“Social work and that, you’re not allowed to have their email address so you’re literally… you’ve got to just sit and hope for the best that they phone you, as simple as that.
“There’s only so much anybody can take… People don’t realise like how much harder it is for people that are severely isolated, mental health or disabilities it’s been a nightmare, it really has.”
The researchers also heard that routine physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy sessions had been cancelled, particularly affecting younger disabled people.
And they were told that provision, repair and servicing of assistive products and daily living aids had been “severely affected” by the pandemic.
The researchers conclude that the flexible approach of voluntary sector organisations had been a “life saver” for some disabled people, and had contrasted with the failings of statutory agencies, although some described how they had received “exceptional support from individual health, social care and educational workers”.
Others spoke of how communication about the pandemic, including the easing-off of restrictions, had been “very badly handled” by the state, with many “unsure what they could and could not do, and what was safe for them and what was not”.
The paper adds: “The messaging as to which people needed to shield and which did not have continued to be unclear.”
Among their calls for urgent action, the researchers say the needs of disabled people must be “fully considered” in future responses to the pandemic.
And they say that “at a minimum and as a matter of urgency, local authorities should make it clear that social care packages will be fully reinstated and resources will be invested to address the backlog in social care assessments”.
They also call for financial support for voluntary organisations, urgent action to help disabled children catch up with their education, and priority to be given to the provision, repair and service of assistive products and daily living aids.
In the longer term, they say, there needs to be an “overhaul” of the social care system, so it becomes “responsive and human”, with secure funding.
They add: “Policymakers and social care providers must work collaboratively with disabled people and their organisations to address their needs during the rest of this pandemic and after and in anticipation of comparable future crises.”
They conclude: “Post-pandemic social change is required to enable disabled people not only to regain what has been lost through the pandemic, but also to gain full citizenship rights in the United Kingdom.”
*For sources of information and support during the coronavirus crisis, visit the DNS advice and information page
4 February 2021
Pressure mounts on Tomlinson as second DPO letter raises disability strategy concerns
The minister for disabled people has been told by 10 user-led organisations of their “serious concerns and disappointment” about his efforts to engage with disabled people on the government’s proposed national disability strategy.
The letter from 10 members of the Our Voices* group of disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) raises concerns about Justin Tomlinson’s “disjointed and somewhat chaotic approach” and the lack of time given to disabled people to influence the strategy through his new national survey.
It will add to growing pressure on Tomlinson, following similar concerns expressed last month by other DPOs who said they were “shocked and dismayed” by the government’s failure to engage with them.
The 10 DPOs, led by Disability Rights UK, have called on the minister to postpone the release of the strategy – currently planned for the spring – until the summer.
They say this week in their letter that the minister’s new national disability survey is “unfocused” and asks “broad questions about the experiences of disabled people” without any reference to the broad themes used in other recent attempts at engagement.
They say there is no possibility that the results of the survey could be translated into “meaningful insight” on what should be in the national strategy, and that it includes “no mention of the strategy at all” and “in no way supports genuine co production”.
They also tell Tomlinson that they are reluctant to encourage their members to take part in the survey as it is “not clear how it will support the development of the strategy”.
The letter also raises concerns about the length and accessibility of the survey and its intrusive nature.
The Our Voices group add concerns about Tomlinson’s decision to cancel the last two meetings of his new DPO Forum, just as he was supposedly seeking the views of disabled people and their organisations to feed into the strategy.
And they say they are concerned that Tomlinson has instead been consulting closely with large charities not run by disabled people, through the Disability Charities Consortium.
It adds: “Our organisations truly represent disabled people and our lived experience is sadly underutilised by government.
“We should be the first contact government make to understand the views and experiences of disabled people, with other organisations such as disability charities bringing their perspective, but not being the first port of call.”
The letter says the deadline for survey replies to feed into the strategy – 13 February – is also a “serious issue”, and they tell Tomlinson that it is “imperative that more time is allowed”.
They say the disability strategy must “reflect the lived experiences of disabled people” but that they have been “left with grave concerns about whether this will be achieved with the current approach being taken”.
The Cabinet Office had not responded to a request to comment on the letter by noon today (Thursday).
*Our Voices is a group of chief executives and policy leads of 14 DPOs – DR UK and 13 of its members – which have “come together, since the start of the pandemic, to promote the interests of disabled people and to provide mutual support to each other”.
Lynne Turnbull, its acting chair, and chief executive of Disability Positive (the new name for Cheshire Centre for Independent Living), said: “The group has been a terrific way to collaborate with other disabled people’s organisations on issues affecting disabled people during the pandemic, as well as working together to find solutions.”
The 10 members that signed the letter are Disability Rights UK, Disability North, Disability Peterborough, West of England Centre for Inclusive Living, Wheels for Wellbeing, Living Options Devon, Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, Disability Sheffield, Breakthrough UK and Disability Positive
4 February 2021
Company implicated in benefit death of disabled mum secures ‘gold standard’ DWP award
A private sector contractor has been announced by the government as a “gold standard” employer of disabled people, just as a coroner was implicating the company in the decision of a young disabled mum to take her own life.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has told fellow members of its discredited Disability Confident scheme that the personal independence payment (PIP) section of the multinational Capita group has been awarded “Disability Confident Leader” status.
The announcement that DWP has awarded Capita PIP membership of the highest level of its much-criticised disability employment scheme came as a coroner was ordering the company to take urgent action to prevent further deaths of PIP claimants.
Capita bragged that its PIP business – which carries out PIP assessments on behalf of DWP – “supports hundreds of thousands of people with long-term health conditions or a disability through our work for the Department of Work and Pensions”, and that it had “inspired the rest of Capita to become a truly disability inclusive employer”.
But last week, Gordon Clow, assistant coroner for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, concluded that Capita had helped cause the death of 27-year-old Philippa Day, from Nottingham.
He found multiple “deficiencies in the benefit system’s ability to process PIP claims without causing unnecessary distress to claimants”, including problems with the training provided to Capita’s disability assessors.
Philippa’s unconscious body was found by her sister and father on 8 August 2019, just days after she had been told by Capita that she would need to attend one of its assessment centres for a face-to-face appointment to decide her PIP claim.
They found her lying on her bed at her home in Nottingham. On the pillow next to her was the letter from Capita telling her she would have to attend the appointment.
Capita had been told of her history of significant mental distress and self-harm, mental health inpatient admissions, and that she was agoraphobic, and that she would be unable to cope with attending the assessment centre.
But despite its role in Philippa Day’s death, the company has been claiming that its PIP business has “led the way on disability inclusivity in Capita”.
Asked by Disability News Service (DNS) why it believed its PIP business should be held up as an example for other employers of disabled people when it had been held partially responsible by a coroner for the death of a young disabled mother, and whether it would relinquish its Disability Confident Leader status, the company refused to comment.
Asked by DNS why it believed that Capita PIP should be held up as an example for other employers, and whether it would reconsider the Disability Confident Leader award, DWP also refused to comment.
DWP’s website states that Disability Confident Leaders like Capita PIP are expected to support and encourage other employers and “share good practice”.
The discredited scheme aims to encourage employers to “think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people”.
Four years ago, DWP declared itself a Disability Confident Leader just days before being found guilty of “grave and systematic violations” of the UN disability convention.
Last year, a BBC Panorama investigation revealed that DWP had lost more disability discrimination cases at employment tribunal than any other employer in Britain in the three years since 2016.
*The following organisations are among those that could be able to offer support if you have been affected by the issues raised in this article: Samaritans, Papyrus, Mind, SOS Silence of Suicide and Rethink
4 February 2021
Hospital facing court action after banning assistance dog
A hospital trust is facing legal action after it refused permission to a disabled nurse to bring her assistance dog with her to an outpatient appointment during the pandemic.
Wheelchair-user Bethann Siviter was visiting Birmingham City Hospital last August, but she was forced to leave assistance dog Taska at home, and instead rely on support from her husband, who himself is clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.
Now she is taking legal action against the hospital for discriminating against her under the Equality Act, and breaching the Human Rights Act, with the help of discrimination law expert Chris Fry.
She is arguing that the hospital, part of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, failed to make a reasonable adjustment for her in the run-up to her pain management appointment on 8 August 2020.
The clinic, which she has been attending since 2009, had previously reluctantly agreed to allow her to bring Taska with her for her appointments, but withdrew that permission for the 8 August visit because, she was told, it was being held in “a sterile ward”.
This, she says, was not the case, as she and her husband were allowed to enter the ward in the clothes they were wearing, while she was allowed to continue using her wheelchair.
She said: “The worst part was my anxiety. I didn’t sleep from Tuesday until the Saturday of the appointment. I couldn’t stop crying.
“I felt my dignity and independence had been torn away from me. I was told if I didn’t like it, I could cancel the appointment and seek treatment elsewhere.”
Siviter – who had to stop working in January 2020 because of ill-health – believes that Taska was a much lower risk than her husband, her own outer clothing, and her wheelchair.
She knows of a friend, who has asked not to be named, who has also been banned from bringing her assistance dog onto the ward.
Siviter said: “If it was just me that would be one thing, but it’s not just me.
“As a former NHS nurse, I feel really bad having to take action against the NHS, but as a nurse it is my responsibility under my code of conduct to make sure the public are treated properly, and in this case I am the public.
“My feeling is that their ignorance about assistance dogs caused them to panic.”
Fry said they may seek a judicial review of the trust’s actions if Taska is not allowed to attend Siviter’s next appointment, which is due later this month.
David Carruthers, acting chief executive of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are sorry that Ms Siviter was unhappy with the adjustment that we made when she attended City Hospital for treatment.
“We are continuing to liaise with her over her concerns and will update her on the matter.”
The charity Canine Partners, which trained Taska, declined to comment on the legal action but said it understood “how distressing it would have been for Bethann when her assistance dog, Taska, was unable to accompany her during a medical appointment”.
A Canine Partners spokesperson said: “Canine Partners assistance dogs are constant companions that provide very tailored and specific physical and emotional support for owners like Bethann, every day.
“Canine Partners recognises that it has been an incredibly challenging and unprecedented period for the NHS, and that the strict procedures being followed during the pandemic may have created some uncertainty in this area.
“Canine Partners and our colleagues at Assistance Dogs UK would be willing to work with Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust to develop an assistance dog access policy that ensures there is clarity going forward.”
Siviter said Taska, now 11, had transformed her life, reduced her anxiety – she is also autistic – and led to people being more patient with her, while reducing her pain and preventing falls by carrying out tasks for her.
Between 2011 and 2014, she was accompanied by Taska during her work at another Birmingham NHS trust.
It was thought at the time that Taska was the only assistance dog working with an active NHS nurse.
And in 2014 Taska spent 12 days with her while she was being treated on a surgical ward at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham.
Siviter said: “They were wonderful to us.”
Now she is hoping that the legal action will “open doors for other dogs like Taska”.
As well as an apology, she wants the trust to produce a “proactive and inclusive” policy on assistance dogs that does not arbitrarily restrict them, and to pay her damages.
She is also still waiting for a response to a complaint she lodged with the trust last August.
The Centers for Disease Control, the USA’s health protection agency, has said that, based on “the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low”.
*For sources of information and support during the coronavirus crisis, visit the DNS advice and information page
4 February 2021
Companies warned over ‘price fixing’ of goods and services for disabled students
A government department has sent warning letters to companies that provide goods and services to disabled students, after receiving allegations of price-fixing.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has sent “advisory letters” to “a number of firms” reminding them of their legal duties.
CMA was passed allegations that some suppliers had colluded over setting prices for services and equipment, which would be a serious breach of competition law.
The department declined this week to provide any details of how many companies it had written to, or which goods and services were affected.
But the allegations concern equipment and services funded through the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) system, which is managed by the Student Loans Company (SLC) on behalf of the UK and Welsh governments.
CMA said it was concerned that SLC “may have paid over the odds for certain goods and services because some suppliers agreed prices before providing quotations”.
This could have increased prices and reduced the amount individual disabled students had available through their DSA to obtain equipment such as computer software or a voice recorder, or services such as personal assistance.
CMA said it had not yet made a legal finding as to whether competition law has been broken, but it said it would “keep this sector under review”, with the possibility of further action if its concerns were not “fully addressed”.
Disabled Students UK (DSUK), a grassroots organisation led and controlled by disabled students, said the “warning of the price-fixing of disabled students’ supplies is yet another clear indication that urgent and meaningful action needs to be taken in supporting disabled students”.
It called for oversight of the system that was led by disabled people, as the “lack of oversight and accountability allows provision of inadequate services to continue”.
It said it would be “sadly no surprise” if price-fixing was taking place because “time after time we hear of students who are provided inadequate or unsuitable equipment from unqualified suppliers”.
A DSUK spokesperson said: “Services being provided by independent companies are meant to be led by student choice, the aim being that companies that provide good service get more business, with disabled students being able to turn down or move from unsuitable suppliers.
“However, this is not happening as disabled students cannot in practice compare and choose between suppliers.”
DSUK said this had not been helped by government reforms that led to the closure of DSA-QAG, the charity that previously checked the quality of DSA suppliers.
It added: “This latest issue of price-fixing is an extra concern given that the Disabled Students’ Commission* has already cited difficulties in accessing DSA and delays in the implementation of reasonable adjustments.
“Support for disabled students needs to be at the core of our education system, not seen as an optional extra that can be marketised and therefore give rise to these predatory companies which seek to take advantage.
“While we appreciate that SLC will be making changes to improve transparency and limit anti-competitive behaviour, these changes need to be guided by the needs of disabled students and ensure that the heavy administrative burden already on disabled students, uncovered by the Arriving at Thriving report, is not further increased.”
Piers Wilkinson, former disabled students officer with the National Union of Students and now higher education policy and partnerships lead for the disabled-led social enterprise Diversity and Ability, said DSA was an “essential support tool for many disabled people to access higher education, and quality provision has to be the top priority for SLC, the Department for Education and DSA providers”.
They said that disabled students had to be “at the heart” of any service provided through DSA.
They said: “The combination of insufficient attempts to audit the quality of DSA services and an administrative model that prioritises cost as a key deciding factor ultimately places disabled students in the middle of a damaging free market crossfire.
“Yes, the CMA should be worried about price-fixing, but they should also be worried that disabled students are receiving support that, in many cases, is not fit for purpose.
“Any price tag, be it high or low, is money poorly spent if the student doesn’t leave feeling enabled.”
Fazilet Hadi, head of policy at Disability Rights UK, said: “It would be scandalous if there had been price fixing on the part of suppliers of goods and services to disabled students and it is good news that the Competition and Markets Authority has raised this issue.
“Price fixing would not only take money from public funds, it would also mean that disabled students had less buying power from their disabled students’ allowance.”
A spokesperson for the Office for Students (OfS) – the independent regulatory body for higher education in England – said the CMA findings were “worrying for disabled students” and suggested that the Disabled Students’ Commission “may wish to consider how it could influence future practice”.
But OfS declined to comment further as it said the issue fell outside its “regulatory remit”.
The Student Loans Company has told CMA that it is making changes to how it procures goods and services for disabled students through the DSA system.
It claims this will “increase transparency of pricing and increase competition thus limiting the potential for any anti-competitive behaviour” and will also “improve the customer experience” for students receiving DSA.
An SLC spokesperson said: “SLC takes these allegations of anti-competitive behaviour within the DSA supplier base extremely seriously, as the extensive nature of our reforms demonstrate.”
Michael Grenfell, CMA’s executive director of enforcement, said: “Healthy competition is the cornerstone of getting the best deal so we are concerned if companies might be doing something to threaten that.
“It is particularly troubling in this case if the interests of disabled students are affected, and if public funding is hit.
“We trust that the letters we have issued, and today’s announcement, send a clear message.
“Any suppliers engaging in price fixing with competitors, or other illegal collusion, need to review their practices and make changes now.”
*An independent group set up by OfS to “challenge universities and colleges in England to improve support for disabled students”
4 February 2021
Coffey dodges MP’s questions over death of Philippa Day
The work and pensions secretary has refused to answer questions from an MP about the death of a young disabled mother which was blamed by a coroner on flaws in the disability benefits system.
MPs on the work and pensions committee yesterday (Wednesday) had their first opportunity to question Therese Coffey about how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) treated 27-year-old Philippa Day, following the end of a lengthy inquest into her death.
The evidence session came exactly a week after the coroner highlighted 28 separate “problems” with the administration of the personal independence payment (PIP) system that helped cause her death in October 2019.
Gordon Clow, assistant coroner for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said last week that flaws in the disability benefits system were “the predominant factor and the only acute factor” that led to her taking her own life.
Yesterday, Labour’s Debbie Abrahams told Coffey that the coroner’s 58-page report was “absolutely scathing” about the way her department had handled Philippa Day’s benefit claim.
But Coffey told her that, because DWP had been told the family intended to take legal action against the department, she would be unable to answer questions about the case.
It is not the first time she has used this excuse to avoid answering questions about the death of a claimant.
Last July, Coffey repeatedly told members of the same committee that she could not answer their questions because of ongoing legal actions being taken by the families of other claimants who have died, such as Jodey Whiting and Errol Graham.
Meanwhile, Disability News Service has today reported yet another death of a disabled claimant linked closely to DWP’s benefits system (see separate story).
Yesterday, Coffey made no expression of regret or apology to the family of Philippa Day, saying only that it was “a very sad situation”.
She said the department had not yet received the coroner’s prevention of future deaths report, which DWP will have to respond to, but she told Abrahams: “I do take these matters seriously.”
She said that was why she had taken steps to strengthen the department’s serious case panel, which first met in September 2019 while Philippa Day was lying in a coma in a Nottingham hospital.
Coffey said: “It’s now meeting quarterly, working on themes, and those are the sort of approaches that I hope we will try and get the systemic changes and improvements on how we handle this on an ongoing basis.”
Asked by Abrahams if the measures she had taken would “prevent other Philippas”, she said: “I think that we are seeing, through the serious case panel and some of the actions taken, definitely there are changes about improving more generally aspects of that…”
Coffey had to ask the DWP’s permanent secretary, Peter Schofield, to provide examples of the “actions taken”.
He said steps had been taken over the last two years to improve the way DWP identifies on its system that a claimant needs additional support and to ensure that more senior civil servants were informed before removing the benefits of someone with additional support needs, both of which were key areas highlighted by the inquest.
Schofield also said that every disability benefits centre now has a “vulnerable customer champion, who colleagues can approach if they have concerns about a vulnerable customer”.
He said DWP had been “talking to Capita” – the outsourcing giant also implicated in the death of Philippa Day – and Atos, which also provides PIP assessments, about changes they are making on “revisiting decisions” and how to decide if a face-to-face assessment is required, both key issues raised by the coroner.
And he said DWP had improved its mental health training – another concern raised by the coroner – and was looking to make further changes.
*The following organisations are among those that could be able to offer support if you have been affected by the issues raised in this article: Samaritans, Papyrus, Mind, SOS Silence of Suicide and Rethink
4 February 2021
Hancock faces court action over accessible shielding information
The high court is set to hear a disabled woman’s claim that the government breached equality and human rights laws by failing to provide her with accessible shielding information during the pandemic.
Sarah Leadbetter, from Narborough, Leicestershire, who is blind and also clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19, was not sent any information about shielding in a format that was accessible to her.
Now she has won permission for a judicial review of the government’s failure, with the case set to be heard by the high court within weeks.
A judge ruled that it was arguable that health and social care secretary Matt Hancock’s failure to provide accessible correspondence breached his department’s duties under the Equality Act 2010, failed to comply with NHS England’s Accessible Information Standard, and discriminated against Leadbetter under the Human Rights Act.
Leadbetter, who has a genetic condition that affects her immune system and is in remission from cancer, only found out she was on the list of shielded patients when her mother read a letter she had been sent.
She relies on her mother to read out her letters but, because of her own health problems, it can sometimes be weeks before she can do so.
Leadbetter did not know she had received any of the four letters about shielding that were sent to her during 2020 until she was told about them by her mother.
And she did not receive an email that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said had been sent to some people in the shielding category.
Her lawyers say DHSC has turned down a request to provide shielding information to visually-impaired people in their preferred format.
DHSC has apparently argued that its failure to do so is not unlawful because receiving hard copy letters creates no substantial disadvantage to people with visual impairments, while it would be too difficult logistically – and not reasonable or proportionate – to provide them with information in their preferred formats.
Leadbetter said: “The issues I face are not unique to me, they are commonplace among blind and partially-sighted people. We feel as if we are treated like second-class citizens.
“Information that is easily accessible to sighted people is not made available to us in a format that we can access.
“So we lose our privacy about very personal medical information because we need someone else to read it for us.
“I have not been provided with any accessible information regarding shielding during the pandemic, which is has caused me a great deal of anxiety and puts my health at risk.
“I believe this is unlawful and I want the DHSC to take its responsibilities to sight-impaired people seriously.”
Her solicitor, Kate Egerton, from Leigh Day, said: “Clearly, not being able to access information about shielding puts people’s own health – and that of their families – at significant risk.
“Also, the DHSC has also failed to explain why it would be too difficult to provide accessible information to people who are shielding, particularly when the Accessible Information Standard has explicitly required this in relation to information regarding people’s health for a number of years.
“We are pleased that the court has decided that Sarah’s case is arguable and has ordered that a hearing be listed on an urgent basis.”
DHSC declined to comment on the legal action as it was an ongoing case.
But a DHSC spokesperson said in a statement: “The government remains focused on protecting the most vulnerable in our society, and have been committed to supporting disabled people throughout this pandemic.
“We have issued guidance for the clinically extremely vulnerable with information on how they can keep themselves safe during the restrictions, and this, along with a wide range of public health guidance, has been made available in a variety of formats, including easy read, British Sign Language and audio.
“Letters detailing shielding advice for the clinically extremely vulnerable are also available in a range of formats and languages, and are also sent by email where an individual has registered an email address with their GP practice.”
But Leadbetter says her GP and NHS trust do not have her email address because they will not correspond with her by email.
Leigh Day believes that DHSC is failing in its duties under the Accessible Information Standard, and its reasonable adjustment duty under the Equality Act, to “proactively identify those with communication needs arising out of their disability, record those needs and then ensure accessible correspondence is sent to the recipient”.
*For sources of information and support during the coronavirus crisis, visit the DNS advice and information page
4 February 2021
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
