Watchdog warns true number of cases where claimants took own lives as a result of DWP actions could be far higher
The Department of Work and Pensions has investigated 69 suicides of benefit claimants in the past six years and said this could be a small fraction of the total number of such deaths, a government watchdog has said.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said it is unlikely this figure represents the true number of benefit-related suicides, in part because the DWP did not until recently actively seek information from coroners and other sources about such cases.