A whistleblower has spoken of her horror after learning how a disabled woman took her own life following pressure from the universal credit system, a few weeks after she warned such tragedies could happen.
Last week, Disability News Service (DNS) reported how Rebecca*, a disabled woman left traumatised by the daily demands of universal credit, took her own life just four days after being told she would need to attend a face-to-face meeting with a work coach.
But Rebecca’s death, in April, took place just a few weeks after a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) whistleblower had warned that harsh new policies that were forcing more disabled people to attend weekly face-to-face jobcentre meetings could lead to claimants taking their own lives.
The whistleblower, Jane*, described how she and her colleagues were being “bullied and harassed” into forcing claimants with significant mental distress into attending work-related meetings.
Many of them had been waiting months for a work capability assessment – just like Rebecca – and would eventually be found not fit for work and placed in universal credit’s limited capability for work-related activity group.
Jane said in March that she was “very concerned” that DWP’s new, even stricter, approach “might lead to more people taking their own lives”.
Just a few weeks later, Rebecca took her own life.
Now, after hearing of Rebecca’s suicide, Jane has told DNS that she feels “sick to the stomach”, although not surprised, and she warned...
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