A crowdfunder set up by Disabled activists originally aimed to raise enough money to buy a copy of the book for every Labour MP, but it was so successful that they will now deliver a copy to all 650 MPs on Monday, as the House of Commons returns from the summer recess.
The activists from across the UK, including actor-activists Cherylee Houston (Coronation Street) and Lisa Hammond (Eastenders 2014 – 2018), will meet outside Caxton House, the Westminster-based HQ of DWP, at 11.15am on Monday.
They will be joined by relatives of those who have died or taken their own lives as the direct result of disability benefit cuts and whose tragic stories are covered in the book. Between them, dressed in black, they will carry the books to Parliament. They decided to launch the crowdfunder because the new Labour government will soon be introducing a series of reforms to disability benefits.
Activists believe it is vital that MPs are aware of DWP’s history, which stretches back more than 30 years to its previous life as the Department of Social Security (DSS). The book details how the actions of the DSS and DWP over those years eventually led to countless deaths.
The project has been led by Disabled activists, including Black Triangle, the UK Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations’ Coalition, and supported by allies and the families of those who have lost their lives.
Among the organisations supporting the campaign are Disability Rights UK, Inclusion Scotland, All Wales People First, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, Inclusion London, Recovery in the Bin, DPAC Northern Ireland and the radical working-class media organisation The Canary.
John McArdle, co-founder of Black Triangle Campaign, whose idea it was to launch the crowdfunder, said: “The Department provides a casebook of how not to run a social security system. The current disability benefit assessment system is making people even sicker.
“Pushing Disabled people into work that medical experts say we cannot do won’t address labour shortages and more disability benefit cuts, as the government has planned, are not a common-sense strategy for ‘fixing the foundations’. Long term-costs to the economy increase exponentially by failing to provide a stitch in time and save lives. There are alternative fiscal policies that could be adopted which won’t lead to more DWP created avoidable harm and death.
“Instead, Deaf and Disabled people and our organisations call upon the government to sit down with us to co-produce a safe and efficient disability benefit system that provides a genuine safety net to those who need it.”
Ellen Clifford, from the UK Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations’ Coalition, who has helped lead the project, said: “The success of the crowdfunder shows how important it is to people outside the Westminster bubble that our elected politicians finally address the grave injustice of DWP attacks on Deaf and Disabled people. Across the UK, there is growing concern about the impact of yet more cuts. It is apparent that lessons from the past are being deliberately ignored.”
Versuchka Selbach, Managing Director of Pluto Press said: "We are very proud to be publishing John's book. It is an exceptional work of investigative journalism that is both heart-breaking and shocking. We are also extremely honoured to be participating in this action to ensure that all MPs get a copy of the book. These stories can't be ignored any longer."
The book is strongly evidence-based, and relies on documents from the 1990s and early 2000s that have been unearthed from the National Archives, as well as more recent coroners’ reports, academic research and government documents, and the research and testimony of Disabled activists and relatives of those whose deaths have been linked to DWP’s actions.
The activists have reminded the MPs in a letter that will accompany the books that the UK government was found guilty of ‘grave’ and ‘systematic’ violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2016, thanks almost entirely to the actions of the DWP. The UN committee on the rights of Disabled people found earlier this year that no significant progress had been made in correcting those breaches.
They and other Disabled activists – and the book’s author, John Pring, editor of Disability News Service – continue to call for an independent inquiry into the deaths linked to DWP’s actions over the last 15 years, for a police investigation of misconduct in public office by senior civil servants and DWP ministers, and for compensation for the families of those who have died.
It is certain that the new government will be announcing reforms to personal independence payment, benefit sanctions, universal credit and the work capability assessment in the coming months. All these areas of DWP policy have been strongly linked to tragic deaths of claimants, and they believe this will continue to happen if the government does not take the necessary steps to build a new, safer culture within DWP. They hope the MPs – or a member of their staff – will read the book before deciding their position on the reforms.
In the covering letter sent with the books, McArdle and Clifford say: ‘It is certain that the new government will be announcing reforms to personal independence payment, benefit sanctions, universal credit and the work capability assessment in the coming months.
‘All these areas of DWP policy have been strongly linked to tragic deaths of claimants over the last 15 years, and we believe this will continue to happen if the government does not take the necessary steps to build a new, safer culture within DWP.
‘All we ask is that you read this book before deciding your position.’