Department for Work and Pensions must be transparent about suicide claims

A study published this week has suggested that almost 600 suicides could be linked to the fitness for work test

Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Getty)

Campaigners for disabled and ill people have long argued that the Government’s efforts to get claimants off long-term benefits and into work have had an appalling impact on personal wellbeing. A study published this week in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health now suggests that almost 600 suicides could be linked to the fitness for work test.

The research, which compared short- and long-term trends in mental health, came to the damning conclusion that, even when other socio-economic and geographic factors were taken into account, 590 “additional” suicides could be related to work assessments carried out on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions between 2010 and 2013.

The department has dismissed the findings as “wholly misleading”, emphasising that no conclusions can directly be drawn about employment assessments and suicide rates.

At this stage, with the limited evidence we have, that is no doubt the case. However, it is spurious for Iain Duncan Smith to dismiss what little independent research has been done into this complex and sensitive area without producing his department’s own findings. It is not the first time that such a potential link has been raised.

A year ago, the DWP was pushed by mental health and disability charities to publish the results of its investigations into suicides linked to benefit cuts or changes, after an FoI request lodged by the Disability News Service revealed that 60 “peer reviews” into deaths had been carried out since February 2012. Such reviews take place when a suicide, or alleged suicide, is “associated with” the DWP. Last year, more than 250,000 people signed an online petition to force the department to reveal how many people died within six months of their benefits being stopped. The DWP blocked that release, too.

Mr Duncan Smith may be right that campaigners are wildly overestimating the causal link between two sets of figures. But until the DWP is more transparent and releases its own intelligence, it should not be surprised if its criticisms of others’ work in the area are dismissed.