Stockton mother calls for public inquiry into DWP failings

The mother of a disabled woman who took her own life after her benefits were incorrectly stopped has called for a full public inquiry into failings of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Jodey Whiting, from Stockton-on-Tees, was housebound with chronic physical pain and died in 2017, just two weeks after her Employment Support Allowance (ESA) was denied because she was deemed fit for work.

Her mother Joy Dove has now met Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, in the House of Commons.

“Jodey was always just a name and a number to them – she was just one of millions and that must stop,” she said. The DWP said it had since made “significant” improvements.

The first inquest into her daughter’s death lasted just 37 minutes, but Dove spent eight years campaigning for a rare second inquest which revealed the DWP’s failings in her case.

The hearing in Middlesbrough heard the 42-year-old mother had killed herself after her benefits were incorrectly stopped.

She left notes saying she had no food, could not pay bills and was in “debt, debt, debt”.

An Independent Case Examiner (ICE) report into the decision to remove the benefits found a number of mistakes had been made and that her payments should not have been withdrawn, and recommended the DWP pay £10,000 to her family.