The Department for Work and Pensions has been accused of blocking a whistleblower who repeatedly raised the alarm about carer’s allowance from giving evidence to an independent review of the scandal-hit benefit. The DWP staffer was told by a senior official it was inappropriate to share with the review their knowledge of the inner workings of a system that has become notorious for its often cruel treatment of unpaid carers.
Exactly the sort of thing a review would need to know in order to be effective, in other words.
The review will examine how hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers ended up with huge debts and in some cases a criminal record for mostly minor and accidental breaches of carer’s allowance benefit earnings rules. Approached by the Guardian last month with evidence that officials had rejected requests from individual staff members to make submissions to the review, the DWP said there was “no blanket ban” and it wanted “everyone” to contribute.
Liars all…
However, when the whistleblower, Enrico La Rocca, subsequently reapplied for permission he was told by the DWP’s personnel department that it would not be appropriate for him to give evidence.
And why?
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) general secretary, Fran Heathcote, criticised the DWP for blocking frontline officials from testifying. She said: “It made no sense at all to stop our members at DWP giving evidence to the review. These are the very people the review should be hearing from.” She added: “They are the workers delivering the services and have the evidence the review needs to hear. Stifling their testimony looked like they had something to hide.”
They almost certainly do.
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