DWP admits its benefits helpline is driving disabled people to self harm
Posted by Gerard on October 7, 2025, 10:24 am
"The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has had to admit that delays on one of its benefits helplines could be contributing to a rise in claimants harming themselves. Mind you, they’ve only done it because they’ve had to, and of course, they haven’t admitted this publicly.
DWP begging for help with a problem they caused In the last few weeks, the DWP has sent out an urgent appeal to stakeholder groups, including advice agencies and charities, asking for their help to solve “pain points” experienced by Employment Support Allowance (ESA) Claimants who have to deal with distressing delays and waits when they call the DWP for help.
The email to stakeholders, shared by Benefits and Work, said:
We are interested in identifying the pain points faced by ESA customers communicating with DWP, particularly issues surrounding telephony and the pain points our customers face when contacting DWP by phone.
The department reports that the number of calls they are receiving, particularly from worried ESA claimants, is increasing rapidly, creating “unresolved backlogs”. However, they can’t seem to put two and two together at that place because they also say:
the link between backlog management, operational decisions, and customer behaviour isn’t fully understood
I dunno man, mentally and physically disabled people having to suffer through agonising waits to speak to someone who’s supposed to help, while every single day they’re told by the media and politicians that they’re all useless scroungers? Nah, I can’t figure it out either.
Claimants in danger while the DWP lies about customer satisfaction The DWP also scarily admitted that far more calls require an intervention, and that it’s their fault:
Additionally, 6 Point plan intervention during these phone calls are rising across all service lines, potentially due to delays impacting the customer experience.
The six point plan is a series of steps DWP staff are required to follow if a claimant tells the operator that they intend to harm or kill themselves. The plan includes grabbing a colleague to support them in the call, finding out information from the caller to gauge the level of risk they are in and then providing referral advice or calling the emergency services.
However, as Benefits and Work points out, this appeal to stakeholders is in direct opposition to the DWP customer experience survey results, which the department posted on 25 September.
The findings of the survey were, as ever, wholly positive bordering on delusional – with an astounding 80% of customers (apparently) saying that it was easy to use DWP services. 80% also said they were satisfied with the time it took DWP to tell them the outcome of their new claim or change of circumstances. With an incredible amount of backlogs, this seems absolutely ridiculous.
Begging stakeholders for (unpaid) help The survey, of course, makes no mention of distress and especially nothing about how many claimants want to kill themselves after the way they’re treated on the phone, but would a public survey mention that? Instead, they’re pretending the DWP is hunky-dory while they’re begging stakeholders for help.
The email continues:
We believe that our shared clients’ experiences are crucial to shaping a better system. Their stories of dealing with DWP processes will help us identify not only practical pain points but also the emotional toll that service delays can have on their lives. We are especially interested in capturing their feelings, anxieties, and any challenges they’ve faced when interacting with these systems.
The department has asked stakeholders for an incredible amount of unpaid labour here. They want to know what claimants are telling the advice lines and charities about:
Experiences of contacting ESA/New Style ESA telephony service lines. Any difficulties or frustrations they’ve had when interacting with ESA. Any barriers or challenges faced when liaising with ESA. Their feelings, anxieties, or positive experiences with these systems and services. Suggestions on how these processes could be made more accessible, user-friendly, and emotionally supportive. The scale of this problem is even worse than the DWP cares about While, seemingly, this is a positive thing that the DWP are trying to find new ways of supporting claimants, the fact that they’re keeping it so secretive whilst pushing out bullshit about how satisfied customers are is troubling. There’s also the fact that at every turn the DWP is against claimants and does not work in their best interests
We don’t yet know the scale at which delays are causing ESA claimants to harm themselves, but if it’s bad for claimants who are still on ESA, imagine what it must be like for those having to deal with the disastrous and cruel DWP whilst they’re being forced to migrate over to Universal Credit. You can also guarantee that with the increase in media-fueled benefits hate, the scale at which it’s unreported will be even higher.
One thing’s for certain, it must be fucking bad if the DWP are actually seeking help for it, because the department is responsible for an untold number of deaths that they have for many years tried to cover up.": https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/10/06/dwp-benefits-helpline/
Labour is trying to prove mental health is over-diagnosed so it can cut DWP benefits further
"Not content with ruining trans people’s lives, Wes Streeting has turned his attention to disabled people, too. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has ordered a review into the increase in mental health and neurodivergent conditions, to decide whether they are over-diagnosed.
Streeting played a significant part in getting the current welfare cuts pushed through in government. Back in March, he said “there’s too many people being written off” and that there was an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions. He also fully backed the cuts to PIP, which were squashed due to a backbencher rebellion.
Streeting appoints dangerous professor to lead bullsh*t mental health review Benefits and Work reported that the review was announced in the Health Service Journal, and that even more worryingly, a highly controversial figure will play a huge part in it. The review will be vice chaired by the professor the Times dubbed “the most hated doctor in Britain”, Sir Simon Wessely.
The Professor of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at Kings College is widely disliked due to his research, which led to the societal belief that ME/CFS is primarily a psychological condition. This work and his subsequent media appearances, during which he spouted this rubbish, meant it became harder for people with ME/CFS to be believed and have their pain taken seriously.
It also made it much more difficult for them to advocate for their own care and put many in danger. On top of this, the shift in attitudes it caused meant it was harder for people with ME/CFS to gain support at work and claim benefits.
Last year the Canary’s Hannah Sharland reported that Wessely was one of the reasons that ME campaigners were denied an inquiry into the treatment of people with ME who are left to die in hospitals. Wessley had managed to weasel his way onto the Judicial Appointments Board, the body which appoints tribunals and inquiries.
Wessely also played a part in the PACE trials and was a big force behind CBT and entrenched GET becoming the main treatments for ME/CFS. he also holds an astonishing amount of power within the medical world. As Sharland points out, he was president of the Royal College of Psychiatry and the Royal College of Medicine. The Queen and King’s College London (KCL) awarded Simon Wessely the first Regius Professor in psychiatry, a special title bestowed by a monarch. In 2017, Theresa May asked him especially to reshape the Mental Health Act, he now also sits on the NHS board.
Not a surprise from a government that wants disabled people dead However, his appointment hasn’t come as a surprise to disabled people. For a long time now the government have been working hard to sow distrust of benefits claimants into the public consciousness – the latest line being that it’s too easy to claim for mental health and neurodivergent conditions.
Just last Wednesday, as the Canary reported, Keir Starmer ramped up the hatred of benefit claimants with mental health conditions. Starmer told Radio 4 last week that “there is a moral case” for changing who is eligible for out-of-work disability benefits and that in particular he was “concerned” about how many young people were out of work with mental health conditions.
He said:
I have to say I’m particularly concerned about young people. In this regard, there are about a million young people who are on benefits, not all for mental health issues, but quite a number for mental health issues.
I think that is wrong and I don’t just say that because of the spending implications, I say it because if you are on benefits in your 20s, it is going to be extremely difficult to get off benefits for the rest of your life, it is not good and there’s a million young people in that position so there is a moral case for changing that.
As Benefits and Work pointed out, one of the main criticisms made after Labour failed to push through benefit cuts at the beginning of the year was that ministers had failed to create well-researched arguments for reducing PIP eligibility. It’s clear that reports like this will lay the groundwork for doing just that.
"In just a single week this month, the UK’s new Universal Credit Act has triggered two separate interventions from the United Nations. That is no small thing. UN special rapporteurs have written to the UK government, questioning how the act complies with international human rights standards.
Just days later, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, told the Human Rights Council that disabled people in the UK “will be disproportionately affected by planned cuts to health benefits.”
With Labour Conference wrapped up, these international warnings should have been a wake-up call for party leaders: disabled people’s rights cannot wait, and urgent action is needed now.
For disabled people and their organisations, this international concern is not news. It is confirmation of what they have been warning for years. The UK has already faced stinging criticism from two UN human rights committees, both of which accused successive governments of eroding protections and presiding over grave and systematic violations of disabled people’s rights.
Respecting human rights isn’t only about preventing abuse, it’s also about disabled people having access to adequate housing, healthcare, education, and social support without fear of cuts or discrimination.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty The message from Geneva to Liverpool could not have been clearer: the world is watching. But the question is, are our leaders listening?
The Universal Credit Act is not an abstract policy. For millions of disabled people up and down the country, it is the difference between being able to pay for heating or not, between independence and reliance, between dignity and degradation.
In Greater Manchester, disabled people’s organisations have been calling for years for the UK to meet the standards set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Local leaders have been receptive, but without the convention being brought into domestic law, progress is limited.
And here lies one of the most troubling political decisions of recent years: Labour’s abandonment of its pledge to enshrine the UNCRPD into UK law. With Labour Conference having just taken place, party delegates and leaders missed an opportunity to signal that disabled people’s rights are not negotiable. Labour should recommit to legal protections for disabled people immediately.
When Keir Starmer dropped that commitment in 2023, it was framed as pragmatism, a desire to focus on what was “deliverable.” But for disabled people, the consequences are far from abstract. It meant losing the chance for a legally binding guarantee that their rights would be upheld in the face of hostile welfare reforms. It meant their calls for justice could continue to be ignored without consequence. And it sent a message that disabled people’s rights were negotiable, something to be traded away in the political balancing act.
Of course, international condemnation matters. When the UN singles out the UK for failing to meet basic human rights standards, it undermines the government’s ability to present itself as a global leader on rights. It generates headlines, it sparks debate, and it forces uncomfortable questions onto the political agenda. But the truth is that external criticism, no matter how damning, will not by itself change lives.
So what would real action look like? First, it would mean a full cumulative impact assessment of austerity and welfare reform policies, something successive governments have avoided because they know what it would reveal: that disabled people have often borne the brunt of cuts and changes, time and again.
Second, it would mean reforming universal credit so it upholds dignity. Third, it would mean taking rights seriously, giving disabled people not only protection under the law, but also a meaningful voice in shaping the policies that govern their lives.
This is like the grooming scandals; why intervene when state policy since the 70s has been to take money off the working class? Taking the money and then spending it on the consequences doesn't make sense. If poverty, destitution and abuse doesn't send you mad, there's something wrong with you and that doesn't alter the fact that the state has chosen to steal your money and won't give it back. The last working-class hero in England. Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016 Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018 Jasper the Ruffian cat ??? - 4 November 2021 Georgina the cat ???-4 December 2025
Re: DWP admits its benefits helpline is driving disabled people to self harm
'We are interested in identifying the pain points faced by ESA customers communicating with DWP, particularly issues surrounding telephony and the pain points our customers face when contacting DWP by phone.'
Is it just me or does anyone else find the use of the phrase 'pain points' chilling? It doesn't say they want to identify them so that they can stop them. Is it too cynical to suppose that managers want to 'identify' these points that drive claimants to self-harm so that they can use them to force desperate people to give up trying to get government help?
Typical middle management bullshit, years ago it was hotspots. Pain points also imply that there are points that are not pain points so all that's needed are minor modifications of the status quo.The last working-class hero in England. Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016 Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018 Jasper the Ruffian cat ??? - 4 November 2021 Georgina the cat ???-4 December 2025
Re: DWP admits its benefits helpline is driving disabled people to self harm
Thanks, thought it might be something like that. I've not yet had to navigate the benefits system but if my dealings with HMRC, banks, insurance, utilities and other large, faceless orgs is anything to go by it all seems designed to make you want to pull your hair out or smash your head against a wall. I don't want this pain 'managed' - I want it taken away all together!
Quite right.The last working-class hero in England. Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016 Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018 Jasper the Ruffian cat ??? - 4 November 2021 Georgina the cat ???-4 December 2025
on October 7, 2025, 10:24 am