Terminally ill welfare claimants are being asked by benefit assessors when precisely they are expected to die, according to evidence seen by Frank Field, the newly elected chairman of the work and pensions select committee
Field has written to the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, asking for an explanation. He told the Guardian:
“There is absolutely no need for this level of intrusive and painful questioning by DWP officials. If I have had two such cases in my constituency in recent weeks; I dread to think how often this is happening around the country.”
The two individuals were claiming for a personal independence payment (PIP) under the “special rules terminally ill” procedure. Both had submitted DS 1500 forms signed by their doctor – forms that need to be signed if the patient is regarded as suffering from a terminal illness.
In a letter sent to Duncan Smith on 30 June, Field writes:
“My constituents tell me that despite submitting a DS 1500 form drawing attention to a terminal illness, they have been asked directly to their face whether they think they will soon die and by what date they expect to be dead. In one case my constituent’s mother was asked by when she expected her daughter to die and in front of her daughter.”
He continued:
“This has left my constituents feeling understandably very upset. They tell me they are appalled by the hardness of the questioning and its intrusiveness.
Read the Guardian article