When she was minister for Disabled People in 2017, Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt wrote to disabled claimant Michael O’Sullivan’s family, telling them that a review into his death had not been carried out because “much of the DWP documentation” had “been destroyed”.
She added that this had taken place in accordance with DWP’s “records management policy [where] most benefit records are destroyed fourteen months after a claimant’s death”. But what Mordaunt failed to tell the family was that the DWP’s new Benefits Document and Data Retention Guide, in place at the time Michael died, stated that documents relating to claimant suicides should be kept for at least six years!
The email and letter are part of a huge quantity of documents relating to the death of Michael O’Sullivan that have been drawn together over the last decade by his family. They show that senior civil servants at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) destroyed vital documents about his case – in breach of the department’s own rules – months after a coroner linked his death with DWP’s “fitness for work” test.
The decision, taken some time in 2014 – probably 14 months after his suicide in September 2013 – meant DWP was not able to carry out an in-depth investigation into the circumstances around his death, known at the time as a peer review.
Most of his records were destroyed even though a coroner Mary Hassell had concluded earlier that year – in a ground-breaking ruling that later received significant media coverage – that the “intense anxiety” that triggered Michael’s suicide had been caused by his being found fit for work by DWP following a work capability assessment (WCA).
Disability News Service (DNS) reported earlier this year how the O’Sullivan family had concluded beyond any doubt – following their decade-long investigation – that DWP was responsible for their father’s death.
Read the full story in Disability News Service.
The Department, DNS editor John Pring’s book on DWP and how its actions led to countless deaths of disabled people in the post-2010 era, will be published by Pluto Press on 20 August. Visit the DNS website before publication for a 50 per cent discount
Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software
Sir Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) can be seen driving a large bulldozer with DWP documentation concerning Michael O’Sullivan’s death piled into the front scoop. He is heading towards a large pit in which a fire is burning, destroying other DWP documents. A copy of a headline from Disability News Service lays upon the ground in front of IDS. It reads ‘Coroner hears that documentation regarding the death of disabled claimant is destroyed by DWP!’ A male figure from the DWP is standing on the edge of the fire pit and is saying: “I just knew that you’d have the answer to our problem Sir Iain!” IDS replies: “Works every time – if they can’t find the evidence then they don’t have a case!”
Crippen Cartoons 