Early day motion · EDM 953 · 17 Mar 2025

Independent advisory panel on Department for Work and Pensions-related deaths

Tabled by John McDonnell (Labour) 25 signatures

The motion

That this House is alarmed by the continued use of the fatally flawed work capability assessment, adopted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to limit the access of disabled people to long-term disability benefits and that is linked to a growing public mental health crisis and suicides; is concerned that the chronically ill and disabled community are living in fear of DWP as they are threatened with additional cuts to the welfare budget, guaranteed to cause more human suffering on a vast scale; highlights the devastating consequences of these punitive policies, which have forced people into poverty, mental distress, and, tragically, even to their deaths; and calls on the Government to establish an independent advisory panel with full powers to investigate DWP-related deaths and suicides caused by the DWP's failed systems.