The government will introduce regulations on Tuesday to stop killers and serious sex offenders from claiming Universal Credit while detained in hospital, a move welcomed by victims' families as "long overdue".
The change follows public outrage that criminals including Nottingham knifeman Valdo Calocane, who fatally stabbed Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates in 2023, was permitted to claim benefits while under a hospital order.
Families welcome the change
Barnaby's mother Emma Webber said: "This is long overdue, and simply the right thing to do. It was a disgrace that Calocane and offenders like him have ever received taxpayers' money. A hospital bed does not erase the egregious crimes committed, nor the destruction they have caused. Closing this loophole finally delivers some basic accountability that victims deserve."
Linda Westcarr, whose daughter Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche was strangled by former boyfriend Gogoa Tape in 2024, called the change a "moral responsibility". Tape, sentenced under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act, will also lose his entitlement.
What the regulations change
Under current laws, criminals detained for treatment under a Hospital Order can be paid over £800 a month in Universal Credit. The government estimates the change will save tens of millions of pounds a year.
It builds on an existing ban on prisoners transferred to mental health hospitals from claiming. Grace's father Dr Sanjoy Kumar said: "On the principle of fairness alone, we do not see why taxpayers should fund benefits while they are incarcerated."
Campaigners and officials respond
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said: "For too long these violent criminals have had their living costs paid by the taxpayer twice over, while their victims and families paid the price. That ends today because victims and taxpayers deserve a system that is fair and supports only those who genuinely need it."
Julian Hendy, from campaign group the Hundred Families, said: "This is a very welcome move and something we've been campaigning on for nearly a decade. Paying thousands of pounds of state benefits to mentally disordered offenders on hospital orders who have committed the most serious of crimes cannot be justified. It is unjust and morally wrong."
Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was given an indefinite hospital order after admitting three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He killed Barnaby, Grace and Ian in random knife attacks before attempting to kill three other strangers using a stolen van.
