“Could I just say that being new into the department, I am already aware, having seen some correspondence, that I’ve had to sort of look at and sign off, on some absolutely tragic cases and I think it’s absolutely appalling that this can, or cases can lead to people taking their own lives. I mean that’s absolutely dreadful and we must look at all ways in which we can avoid that or have systems, processes which do not lead to that…”
DWP RESPONSE FROM MINISTERIAL COMMUNICATIONS CONTINUES TO DENY CMS CAUSAL FACTORS BUT IGNORED THE QUESTION OF VISCOUNT YOUNGER’S HONEST CONTRADICTION. See our letter to Baroness Sherlock OBE here and the response below it:
“Thank you for your further email of 6 September to the Minister for Lords. Government Ministers receive a high volume of correspondence and they areregrettably unable to respond personally on every occasion. I have been asked torespond on the Minister’s behalf, and I apologise for the delay in doing so. You have raised a number of points which I shall address in turn.
Civil Service Narrative and Ministerial Integrity
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) considers the welfare of its parents as amatter of the highest importance. If parents express that they intend to harm themselves, the CMS’s caseworkers are well prepared to attend to these situationsthrough well managed, sensitive, processes. It is the CMS’s priority to handle these cases in a sensitive manner and ensure that vulnerable parents get the help and support they need to use the service safely. The Department will continue toevaluate its procedures for supporting vulnerable parents.
CMS officials provide advice to Minsters on departmental issues.
Transparency
The CMS does not recognise figures that seek to make a correlation between it and the suicide of paying parents. Furthermore, it is not aware of any evidence suggesting any direct link between child maintenance and parental suicide. Sadly, a small proportion of people going through emotional crisis in their lives, such as relationship breakdown, will take the tragic step of ending their own lives.
The CMS recognises that conflict between parents exacts a severe emotional price on both parents and their children, that is why the Government is looking into waysto reduce this level of conflict and support all parents to have better relationships within separated families.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) continues to work on increasing transparency on its Internal Process Reviews (IPRs) and the learning it takes from these serious cases, in a way that protects the personal and sensitive information it can include. Alongside publishing information on more recent IPRs, it also plans to publish some historical information so it can demonstrate publicly the improvements it has made to its services following what it has learnt from serious cases.
The CMS has plans to publish information on its IPRs and it will be published in a way that does not disclose the sensitive, personal or confidential information that can surround these cases. Further details can be found on the Government website
Caseworkers use a Complex Needs Toolkit with clear steps to support vulnerable clients including those at risk of suicide or self-harm as well as those who are facing domestic abuse.
Parent’s needing mental health support can also contact the following services:
Samaritans offers free, confidential support at 116 123, and SHOUT provides a text service by messaging 85258. For urgent care, parents can call NHS 111 and select option 2. Mental Health Matters offers regional services across the UK, including helplines and crisis support, which can be accessed via its service finder at: .
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