Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential causal link between social security sanctions and the deaths of vulnerable claimants.

The Department has not made an assessment into any potential causal link between social security sanctions and the deaths of vulnerable claimants.

The Department does not collect information on the cause of death of an individual.

If information is received that a DWP claimant has died and it is alleged that DWP activity may have contributed to this, we would carry out an internal review to establish whether anything should have been done differently.

A decision to impose a sanction is not taken lightly, and claimants are given the opportunity to provide a ‘good reason’ for not complying before the decision is made.

Safeguarding measures are in place to protect vulnerable ESA recipients if there is a failure to meet a requirement. Either a DWP visiting officer undertakes a Home Visit or a Work Programme provider must make face to face contact to ensure individuals fully understand what they have been requested to do and the consequences of failing to do what is required of them.