University researchers say they have revealed the United Kingdom’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) deliberately inflicted psychological damage on benefit claimants between 2010 and 2015.
Public Servants who worked at the DWP during that time spoke on the condition of anonymity with the researchers.
Their interviews shed light on the extent of ‘institutional violence’ inflicted on welfare claimants, the researchers say.
Study authors, Jamie Redman and Delroy Fletcher, from Sheffield Hallam University, were told how top-down pressure on staff acted as a “moral anaesthetic” which made invisible the needs and interests of benefits claimants.
One interviewee, who had worked at a Jobcentre Plus (JCP) branch, described how staff would treat claimants with disrespect in an attempt to reduce the number of people claiming benefits.
“Staff pushed them until they either just cleared off because they couldn’t take the pressure, or they got sanctioned,” the interviewee claimed.
Another JCP worker revealed that some staff sought to antagonise claimants in the hope that they would feel pressured into dropping their claims.
The researchers were also told how managers pressured DWP staff into pushing disabled people into work.
One work program provider said: “[I had] a lovely guy who I really felt for who had mental health issues and the day after I had to reluctantly mandate him to something, he attempted suicide.
“I also had another lady who we pushed into work and it made her that ill she had a fit in her new job and was admitted to hospital,” the program provider said.
The paper describes how the Government and the media created a hostile environment for benefits claimants.
Responding to the allegations, a DWP spokesperson said the findings did not reflect “the compassionate support offered by our Jobcentres day in, day out”.
“Providing the best possible customer service and care is at the heart of what we do,” the spokesperson said.
“We don’t want to sanction anyone and no one is sanctioned unless they fail to meet their agreed claimant commitment without good reason,” they said.
London, 3 April 2021
