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You are here: Home / Archives for work capability assessment

work capability assessment

Errol Graham: Vigil will push for change and justice, after tragic death

By John Pring on 6th February 2020 Category: Activism and Campaigning

Errol Graham: Vigil will push for change and justice, after tragic death
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Campaigners will tomorrow (Friday) take part in a vigil in Nottingham to highlight how the actions of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) led to a disabled man starving to death after his out-of-work benefits were withdrawn. Disabled activists and […]

DWP: The case for the prosecution

By John Pring on 2nd December 2019 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP: The case for the prosecution
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The first death was on New Year’s Eve 2011, a divorced woman in her early 50s who was found dead at her home in Scotland after taking her own life. She would later become known as Ms DE. She has never […]

Lobby aims to persuade MPs that DWP must First Do No Harm on assessments

By John Pring on 24th January 2019 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Lobby aims to persuade MPs that DWP must First Do No Harm on assessments
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Disabled activists are hoping to use a parliamentary meeting next month to persuade more MPs that action must be taken to prevent further deaths caused by the government’s much-criticised fitness for work test. The First Do No Harm lobby on 13 […]

Ideas to replace WCA with new assessment framework win some support

By John Pring on 13th December 2018 Category: Activism and Campaigning

Ideas to replace WCA with new assessment framework win some support
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Disabled activists have delivered a generally positive response to fresh ideas on how to replace the hated fitness for work test with a new assessment framework that would restore “dignity and respect” to those unable to work full-time. The ideas were […]

DWP softens ‘threatening’ tone of universal credit agreement after claimant’s death

By John Pring on 30th November 2018 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP softens ‘threatening’ tone of universal credit agreement after claimant’s death
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been forced to soften the “threatening” tone of the agreement that claimants of universal credit are forced to sign to receive their benefits, following a secret review into the death of a claimant. […]

Four opposition parties demand DWP answers over WCA deaths ‘cover-up’

By John Pring on 19th July 2018 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Four opposition parties demand DWP answers over WCA deaths ‘cover-up’
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Two opposition parties are writing urgent letters to work and pensions secretary Esther McVey – while a third is demanding an investigation – about a possible cover-up over documents linking the “fitness for work” test with the deaths of benefit claimants. […]

Atos assessor told gay man he was ‘defective’ and needed to be cured by God

By John Pring on 14th June 2018 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Atos assessor told gay man he was ‘defective’ and needed to be cured by God
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A doctor working for the government contractor Atos told a gay disabled man she was assessing for his entitlement to disability benefits that his sexuality meant he was “defective” and that God needed to fix him like a “broken” car. Atos […]

Ministers’ silence over why WCA legislation is missing from Queen’s speech

By John Pring on 29th June 2017 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Ministers’ silence over why WCA legislation is missing from Queen’s speech
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Work and pensions ministers have refused to explain why plans for new social security legislation were dropped from last week’s Queen’s speech. Disability News Service reported last week how a Tory election promise to “dismantle” the work capability assessment (WCA) through […]

Election 2017: Mordaunt dodges questions over ‘misleading’ WCA pledge

By John Pring on 1st June 2017 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Election 2017: Mordaunt dodges questions over ‘misleading’ WCA pledge
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The Conservatives have refused to comment on an apparently misleading public pledge by the minister for disabled people that another Tory government would “dismantle” the work capability assessment. Penny Mordaunt was speaking at a disability hustings event in Westminster that was […]

‘Fitness for work’ test has led to deterioration in mental health, say researchers

By John Pring on 16th March 2017 Category: Benefits and Poverty

‘Fitness for work’ test has led to deterioration in mental health, say researchers
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Disabled activists have welcomed “timely” new research that concludes that the government’s “fitness for work” process has caused a deterioration in many people’s mental health which they have failed to recover from, and has even led to thoughts of suicide. The […]

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Image of front cover of The Department, showing a crinkled memo with the words 'Restricted - Policy. The Department. How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence. John Pring.' Next to the image is a red box with the following words in white: 'A very interesting book... a very important contribution to this whole debate' - Sir Stephen Timms, minister for social security and disability. plutobooks.com and the Pluto Press logo.

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