Could disability benefit claimants sue Serco or Hewlett-Packard Enterprise over software screw-up?

Disability News Service reports that appallingly software is causing problems for disability benefit claimants, and that the blame belongs to the private sector contractor involved.

'Appallingly bad' software may cause lost PIP (Personal Independence Payment) letters, says whistleblower(1)

Vital letters that tell disabled people they have to transfer to the government’s new disability benefit are being lost in the system, leading to them losing financial support for months on end, according to a whistleblower.Rebecca*, who has asked to remain anonymous, works for Serco, the company paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to run the helpline that deals with all new claims for personal independence payment (PIP).Rebecca has told Disability News Service (DNS) that she believes the missing letters are probably the result of the “appallingly bad” PIP CS software designed for DWP by another private sector outsourcing giant, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (motto: Tomorrow Belongs to the Fast)

Meanwhile, there are loads of 'ambulance chasing' law firms advertising their wares on TV over the PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) fiasco, asserting that banks have set aside millions of pounds to deal with the fallout of that fiasco. And though the TV-advertised ambulance chasing law firms dealing with medical negligence cases say nothing about how much the government has set aside for dealing with medical negligence cases, the Telegraph has revealed that the government has set aside 1/4 of the NHS budget for that fiasco.(2) (How is that for government investment in career development?)

So how about claimants affected by this screw-up suing those involved?

Links

1. http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/appallingly-bad-software-may-cause-lost-pip-letters-says-whistleblower/
2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11402075/NHS-sets-aside-quarter-of-its-budget-for-medical-negligence-claims.html