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

7 May 2025

Garden Court North’s Ciara Bartlam represented Kristie’s family at Manchester South Coroner’s Court (pictured) in Stockport. Credit: Alastair Wallace / Shutterstock.

Failings on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) contributed to the decline in the mental state of Kristie Hunt, who took her own life aged 31, the Coroner found at the inquest into her death.

Kristie, who was in receipt of disability benefits, died on 26 November 2023 following an overdose on 23 November 2023.

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

Garden Court North Chambers’ Ciara Bartlam represented Krissi’s family throughout the inquest.

Krissi’s story

Krissi was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder in 2013. From then until the months before she died, Krissi was in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) 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. The ESA team 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 these payments was listed as £50 higher than the payment Krissi had actually received, which appeared 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).

At the inquest, the DWP accepted 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 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, nor 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 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 the 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 stolen laptop charger, Krissi’s family strongly feel that the pressure of the PIP review process is likely to have negatively impacted her mental state.

Jenny Barrow, Krissi’s stepmother, 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.”

Colin Barrow, Krissi’s stepfather, 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.”

Leigh Day partner Leanne Devine 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.”

Ciara was instructed to represent Kristie’s family by Leanne Devine of Leigh Day.

Additional media

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

For further information, please contact Alex Blair, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers: ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk