SCOTTISH campaigners against disability benefit cuts have accused the UK Government of “grave and systematic” violations of the human rights after figures revealed suicide attempts have doubled since the onset of welfare reforms.

The official statistics from the government’s own Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey record the number of people who tell researchers they have attempted suicide in the last year. In 2007, 21 per cent of incapacity benefit (IB) claimants told researchers they had attempted suicide – the year before people started to be reassessed and moved over to IB’s replacement, employment and support allowance (ESA). By 2014 that figure had more than doubled to 43 per cent. Campaigners say there is no other credible explanation for the dramatic change.

The figures were revealed by John Pring, of the Disability News Service blog, who described the figures as “staggering”.

John McArdle, co-founder of the Scottish Black Triangle Campaign for disability rights, said: “Work capability assessments (WCA) discriminate against sick and/or disabled people and violate their fundamental human rights. [It is] a human catastrophe for disabled people.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said “Suicide is a very complex issue, so it would be wrong to link it solely to someone’s benefit claim. WCAs ensure people get the level of support they need, rather than just writing them off as happened in the past. We continually review the WCA, and have already introduced a number of changes.”