Coroner finds that DWP failings contributed to decline in mental state of Kristie Hunt, 31

Kristie, who was in receipt of disability benefits, lived in the Stockport area and died on 26 November 2023 following an overdose on 23 November 2023.

She was known to family and friends as Krissi and was a bright, vivacious young woman who cared deeply about other people and aspired to be a nurse, Assistant Coroner Andrew Bridgman was told at the three-day inquest held at Manchester South Coroner’s Court which concluded on Wednesday 30 April 2025.

Krissi was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder in 2013 and was in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in the months before she died due to the impact of her condition on her ability to carry out day-to-day living tasks. Krissi was very capable in many ways but needed support to maintain her health and to keep on top of things, such as her finances.

Before 2023, Krissi had been unable to work for 13 years due to the impact of her mental health condition. In June 2023, Krissi started part-time work as a fundraiser.

On 26 June 2023, Krissi informed the DWP that she had started work but that she would not be working more than 16 hours or earning more than £167 per week. At the time, as long as Krissi worked less than 16 hours and did not earn more than £167 per week, she would still be entitled to ESA.

The day after Krissi’s phone call to the ESA team, the DWP counter fraud team – a separate department – received a notification from HMRC that Krissi had started work. The team wrongly assumed that Krissi had not informed the DWP that she had started work because the previous call had not been properly documented and sent her a fraud letter and permitted work form to complete within 14 working days.

On 12 July 2023, an officer in the counter fraud team analysed information from HMRC which suggested that Krissi had received three payments from her employer between 23 June 2023 and 7 July 2023, one of which was £50 higher than the payment Krissi had actually received and seemed to push Krissi’s income over the permitted work limit. The officer found that Krissi had been paid more than the permitted work allowance for that period and decided that Krissi was not entitled to ESA for one week in June 2023. This generated an overpayment of around £149. At the same time, the officer issued a Civil Penalty charge of £50 because they wrongly thought that Krissi had failed to inform the DWP that she had started work.

The following week, Krissi was paid £90 which brought her average income below the permitted work limit (even without the £50 deduction).

The DWP accepted at the inquest that the Civil Penalty charge should never have been issued and that the overpayment should have been rescinded because Krissi’s average income over the five-week period was within the rules for permitted work. However, neither charge was actually rescinded until July 2024, eight months after Krissi’s death, and only at the instigation of her family who sought a mandatory reconsideration and review into the DWP’s dealings with Krissi. Instead, until the end of October 2023, Krissi was continually told by the DWP that she needed to repay an ESA overpayment and Civil Penalty charge.

The Coroner found that the impact of the DWP’s failing in July 2023 was ‘compounded’ by a further error which affected Krissi’s housing benefit.

On 7 August 2023, the DWP sent housing benefit a letter entitled ‘NOTIFICATION OF CESSATION OF BENEFIT’.

The DWP wrote that Krissi’s claim for ESA had been stopped for one week in June 2023. The Coroner found that this was problematic for two reasons. Firstly, the letter should never have been sent because Krissi’s earnings should have been recalculated by mid-July at the latest. Secondly, that the local authority mistakenly interpreted the DWP’s letter as meaning that Krissi’s ESA claim had stopped entirely and wrongly told Krissi that she had been overpaid £828 which would need to be repaid.

It was not clear what happened with the housing benefit overpayment in the end and whether the debt still existed at the time Krissi took the overdose on 23 November 2023. Nevertheless, the Coroner found that the DWP’s failures in respect of the ESA overpayment and Civil Penalty charge contributed to the decline in Krissi’s mental state on the balance of probabilities along with a number of other factors, including harassment from her next-door neighbour and the strain of beginning full-time work with an intense shift pattern at a care home in September 2023.

During Krissi’s final call with the department about her ESA claim on 30 October 2023, she was noted to be confused and tearful throughout, yet she was not even asked whether she was okay.

Although these factors contributed to the decline in Krissi’s mental state, the Coroner said it was not possible to say whether they contributed to her decision to take an overdose specifically on 23 November 2023. Mr Bridgman concluded that Krissi died by suicide.

One issue that did not feature in his findings or conclusion was the evidence that was heard in relation to Krissi’s PIP claim, which was being reviewed at the time of her death. Krissi had been told that, unless she attended a PIP reassessment, her benefit would be stopped. Krissi was unable to attend one meeting on 16 November 2023 because of work and could not attend a further meeting on 22 November 2023 for the same reason. Combined with the stress of attending an interview at work on 22 November 2023 about her laptop charger which had been stolen, Krissi’s family strongly feel that the pressure of the PIP review process is likely to have negatively impacted her mental state.

Colin Barrow, Krissi’s stepdad said:

"Knowing Krissi, she would have felt the pressures of the DWP reported debts. Even with the positive aspects of her new job she would have been in a panic.  She would have thought her flat would be in jeopardy. But she continued with her new job and looking positive. All the stresses she experienced close to her death would have been too much for her and she would have put on a brave face that she wanted people to see especially at work."   

Jenny Barrow, Krissi’s stepmum said:

"We are still coming to terms with the tragic and sad loss of Krissi as a family. All the related inquest matters have been emotionally difficult for us spanning over a year. However, without the expert, kind and compassionate involvement of Leigh Day and our barrister who were introduced to us via Greater Manchester Law Centre, both so thankfully involved at a later stage, we would never have had such a detailed investigation and representation at the inquest as a family about Krissi’s death.

“We cannot comprehend the safeguarding failings across many of the agencies involved with Krissi brought to light over the three days of the inquest which included her housing provider and no mental health review. We are shocked with the absence of any related prevention of future death reports by the coroner.  

“With regards to the safeguarding failings of the DWP, we believe a prevention of future death report was paramount because it is of serious concern that Dr Gail Allsopp, (the DWP’s Chief Medical Officer) has stated it is important for the DWP to make changes. Therefore I have significant concerns regarding the safeguarding of people in receipt of DWP benefits, especially those with poor mental ill health."   

Krissi’s family are represented by Leigh Day partner Leanne Devine, who said:

“The desperately sad deterioration in Krissi’s mental health was contributed to by failings at the Department of Work and Pensions. This is clear from the coroner’s findings at the inquest into Krissi’s death. Krissi sadly took her own life shortly after.

“No family should have to hear that DWP failings contributed to a spiral in their loved one’s mental health, yet in our legal work we hear this kind of narrative again and again.

“For that reason it is incredibly disappointing that Krissi’s family were not granted legal aid for legal representation at her inquest, despite the fact that all of the other parties including the DWP were legally represented and funded by the public purse.

“Krissi’s family, including her stepdad Mr Barrow and his wife Mrs Barrow, were central in pushing for a full and rigorous investigation of the issues surrounding Krissi’s death. It is through their tenacity that the events leading to Krissi’s tragic death have been fully investigated.”

Leanne instructed Ciara Bartlam of Garden Court Chambers.

Krissi’s family are fundraising via Crowdfunder for copies of John Pring's book 'The Department' to be sent to every coroner's office in England and Wales in her memory. 

Leigh Day represented the family of Philippa Day at the inquest into her death in January 2021, at which the Coroner identified 28 errors by the DWP and found that systemic failings had contributed to Philippa’s death.

Leigh Day represent Joy Dove who in 2023 secured a fresh inquest into the death of her daughter Jodey Whiting. The second inquest into Jodey’s death is due to be held at Teesside and Hartlepool Coroner’s Court in early June 2025.

In 2020-2021, Leigh Day represented the family of Errol Graham (who died after his benefits were cut off) in judicial review proceedings challenging the DWP’s safeguarding policy on the termination of benefits on the basis that it was unlawful and in breach of human rights laws.