Tags
'ad hoc', allowance, benefit, death, Department, die, DWP, employment, ESA, figure, FOI, Freedom of Information, IB, Incapacity, mortality, Pensions, release, request, Samuel Miller, SDA, Severe Disablement Allowance, statistic, support, work
Should we be pleased that the Department for Work and Pensions has finally graced a Freedom of Information request about the number of people who have died while claiming incapacity benefits (including ESA) with a response?
No.
Disability campaigner Samuel Miller was the recipient of this kindness, bestowed only after he called in the Information Commissioner to demand it.
Needless to say, it doesn’t provide the information that was requested; it doesn’t even conform to the dates in his request.
Mr Miller had asked: “Can you please provide me with the number of Incapacity Benefit claimants who have died so far in 2012 only? I wish to bring to your attention that http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2012/incap_decd_recips_0712.pdf is outdated, as it only provides mortality statistics up to November 2011.”
This referred to the now-infamous ‘ad hoc’ statistical release of mid-2012 which showed that an average of 73 people whose assessments were not complete or who had been put in the Work-Related Activity group of ESA had died every week between January and November 2011.
It was an update of this figure – derived from ‘Table 3’ of the ‘ad hoc’ report – that Mr Miller wanted, but the DWP has not given him that. He got an update of ‘Table 1’, entitled ‘IB/SDA and ESA off-flows with a date of death recorded at time of benefit off-flow”.
This covers the period of the financial year 2011-12, and therefore misses out eight months of the period with which Mr Miller’s request was concerned.
It covers all Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and ESA claims for that period and does not differentiate between them, so it is impossible to work out the number of ESA claimants who died between December 2011 and March 2012, which is the extent of the new period covered.
It also registers a drop in deaths from the previous financial year – from 41,750 to 39,860 – against a rise in the number of people losing benefit – from 728,740 to 949,330. If we were to try to use these figures, we would be claiming an average of 764 deaths per week (down from 800 the year before).
The DWP would be able to say there had been a drop in the number of deaths, and would have been able to ask why we have been complaining.
But these figures are an evasion.
As already mentioned, they are not relevant.
They do not cover the period following November 2011 to the end of 2012, and they do not differentiate between claimants who were receiving as much support as the state could give, and those the state said should be fit for work within a year or were still being assessed.
The new figures are, to be blunt, useless.
The DWP would claim that it has provided the information Mr Miller wanted but this is not true. His request was made in November 2012, for up-to-date statistics, and even the material provided to him only runs to the end of March in that year.
Mr Miller has put in a new request seeking figures for WRAG and Support Group deaths for 2011-12. Unfortunately he appears to have missed out the statistics for those who have died during assessment. If he receives a response (and I doubt it), it will again run to the end of March 2012 only, and will not give us an average we can compare with what we got from the ‘ad hoc’ release.
My opinion is that the DWP will continue to guard these numbers jealously until ministers are forced to give them up.
Let’s all hope this happens after my information tribunal takes place, sometime between now and mid-May.
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Mike Sivier's blog 
rtu isn’t playing ball with these figures yet daily more die has of his policys dying it seems is the way forward denying us our rights perhaps when its really out in the open whot and how many have died he will be shown up his party and their policys are just like the Nazi regime but its us who pay the bill
Reblogged this on sdbast.
Reblogged this on Still Oaks and commented:
This dishonest bunch are working on new way to thwart those seeking the truth..
http://foidirectory.co.uk/government-to-launch-consultations-on-changes-to-foi-act-to-make-sure-it-is-not-abused/
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog.
If the figures were good the DWP would shout them from the rooftops in order to confound its critics. The only possible explanation for DWP reticence and obfuscation is that the department has a lot to hide and that only when the truth is dragged out of them will the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth finally be known.
A friend of mine with a shattered elbow and low blood pressure / heart trouble took a Government Disability test recently –
He took the X-Rays of the damaged joint as proof. The medic decided he was fit for JSA and to seek work – So my friend asked for his name and job title, also some sort of workplace code he could refer to – when asked why he wanted this info – He replied –
‘ So my wife can sue you in court for every penny you have when I die from standing at some s***** job for too long. ‘ This worked – the Quack swiftly announced that he would re -schedule another exam soon. Just thought I’d share this with you guys.
They aren’t going to give up the figures as they know it would cause uproar – until they are forced to give the numbers then they’ll carry on denying anything and everything – just the same as they have for 4 years!
Reblogged this on Jay's Journal and commented:
Someone ought to drag the figures from IDS and the DWP by force!
Brilliant strategy! Good luck Mike, let’s hope you really can get to the bottom of this numbers obfuscation.
Sadly these are real people with friends, families, lives and are no different from the elite. In fact, probably living more real lives than the 1%.
Reblogged this on kickingthecat.
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I think the only way to get a true figure is to start at the beginning.
Every death has to be registered so if we knew how many deaths in the country under the last government and the same for our present, lying, thieving, murdering, un elected leaders then it would give a starting point to break things down into groups.