A coroner has criticised the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after a vulnerable woman died from an overdose while under investigation for universal credit overpayments. The assistant coroner for Rutland and North Leicestershire, Fiona Butler, issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report highlighting multiple DWP failures to respond to the woman's declining mental health.
The woman, who had a 20-year history of anxiety and depression, experienced a sharp deterioration in her mental health in October 2022 after the DWP began investigating her universal credit payments. She was diagnosed with adjustment disorder, with a consultant psychiatrist identifying the DWP performance review as the trigger stressor.
Butler's report found at least six missed opportunities for DWP staff to record the woman's vulnerability on their computer system, despite her being tearful and distressed during phone calls. The DWP also failed to act on repeated requests to communicate through her daughter, leaving a written request sitting in another computer system for four months.
In the four weeks before her overdose, the woman received six communications from the DWP, including letters that increased her debt by 75%. She took the overdose six days after the last correspondence, suffering irreversible liver damage and dying in hospital the following month.
Butler concluded that the DWP's plans for changes lacked evidence of how staff would be trained to handle vulnerable individuals. The case follows a similar coroner's warning three months earlier that DWP procedures may exacerbate mental health symptoms.
A DWP spokesperson expressed condolences and said the department would review the coroner's report. The case raises concerns that proposed benefit reforms risk repeating the failures seen in universal credit.
