A secretive report commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)—long concealed from public view—has at last come to light, exposing a disturbing truth: too many benefit claimants are dying, including by suicide, and this report, though brief, is shocking in its implications for a supposedly “supportive” welfare state.

The DWP: a secret report, released

Titled Complaints, Suicides and Other Matters, the nine‑page study was quietly initiated in February 2020 under then‑Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey, who explicitly ordered that its findings remain unpublished—an instruction that reeks of deliberate cover‑up. The fact that it centers on suicides linked to DWP actions reveals a department aware of profound failings—and yet determined to hide them.

This revelation comes not through forthright transparency, but only after Disability News Service (DNS) pursued the document doggedly—finally securing it via the Information Commissioner’s Office, following the DWP’s refusal even to acknowledge that a freedom-of-information request had been lodged. DNS’s efforts highlight a brazen resistance from the department to accountability.

Within the report, author Baroness Lucy Neville‑Rolfe—then also a director at DWP contractor Capita, itself implicated in deaths and safeguarding failures—warns that “too many” claimants are dying as a result of systemic shortcomings, and concludes that a “culture of learning from mistakes” is urgently needed. Yet the DWP, historically more comfortable with obfuscation than reform, buried this admission instead of acting on it.

Between July 2019 and June 2020, the DWP conducted just 43 internal process reviews into suicides and other deaths linked to its actions—a minuscule fraction of the actual toll, as external experts acknowledge. Despite this, the report acknowledges that the number of suicides, while small in absolute terms, is significant given the scale of DWP operations.

Avoidable deaths and a culture of hate

Shockingly, although the report stresses that with “robust, simple systems and well‑trained staff,” many of these “very bad cases” might be avoided, it remains unclear how—or whether—any of its recommendations have been taken forward. That is despite ministers and senior officials purportedly supporting cultural reforms, according to the report itself.

This secrecy appears especially egregious given that in January 2020, just a month prior to commissioning the report, DNS had spotlighted the case of Errol Graham, a Nottingham man who starved to death after his benefits were halted—a fatal failure by the very department now investigating itself.

A DWP spokesperson offered a tepid defence this week, stating that “we continue to learn from serious cases and improve our services,” including “more effective internal process reviews” and better support for “our most vulnerable customers.” But without transparent evidence of meaningful change, such rhetoric is utterly hollow.

In stark contrast, DNS’s perseverance in uncovering this suppressed report exemplifies rigorous journalism—and a steadfast commitment to public interest. DNS, run by disabled journalist John Pring, has repeatedly held the DWP to account where other outlets may have remained silent. Its efforts underscore the urgent need not only for reform—but for openness.

This episode is a damning indictment of a department that would rather conceal its failings than learn from them. The DWP must now be subject to a full public inquiry – and the department itself razed to the ground, before it kills anyone else.

Featured image via the Canary