the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
The government is to push ahead with “nightmare” cost-cutting plans to tighten the work capability assessment, which will save the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) nearly £1.3 billion a year by 2028. Confirmation of the changes to the assessment were made […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been ordered to release a secret report that describes the impact of its errors on “vulnerable” benefit claimants, which it admits could have a “negative” impact on its reputation. The report contains “worst case […]
Disabled campaigners have questioned government plans to tighten the benefit sanctions regime and even end access to free prescriptions for some claimants, at a time of mounting evidence of a deeply flawed universal credit system and fatal safeguarding failures. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt […]
New research has exposed the financial hardship and emotional harm caused by charging working-age disabled people for their care and support. It is believed to be the first time that research has focused solely on how care charges impact on working-age adults […]
Senior figures in the rail industry have been unable to point to a single train company that is even close to “getting it right” when it comes to providing an accessible service to disabled passengers. Iain Stewart, the Conservative chair of the […]
A new government bill should lead to streaming services having to meet strict quotas on providing programmes with audio description, subtitles and audio description for the first time, but disabled journalists say the legislation should do more to tackle inequality. MPs this […]
Disabled activists have called for action to address the discrimination and disablism faced by disabled students and pupils, and to enforce the laws that should be protecting them. They were speaking at the launch of UK Disability History Month (UKDHM), which this […]
A coroner has warned work and pensions secretary Mel Stride he needs to act to prevent flaws in the universal credit system leading to further deaths, following the suicide of a disabled man who became overwhelmed by the application process. It is […]
A “deeply troubling” government report that ministers kept hidden for four years has revealed significant flaws at the heart of the universal credit system and how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) supports “vulnerable” claimants. The report, produced in autumn 2019, […]
The attitude of the former disability minister to engagement with disabled people during the early months of the pandemic has been described as “scandalous” and “tokenistic”, days after he gave evidence about it to the Covid inquiry. Justin Tomlinson, who was minister […]
The human rights watchdog has struggled to explain why its major report on Britain’s “equality and human rights landscape” has ignored key breaches of disabled people’s rights by the UK government. The Equality and Human Rights Monitor report*, published today (Thursday), is […]
The human rights watchdog has failed to follow through on threats to take legal action against the government over its efforts to cut the number of disabled people inappropriately detained in secure hospitals in England. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) […]
What is known publicly about the harm caused by the benefits system – including deaths by suicide linked to the actions of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – is just “the tip of the iceberg”, MPs have been told. Experts […]
A committee of MPs has called for any further cost-of-living payments made by the government to disabled people to be increased in proportion to the extra disability-related costs they face. The Commons work and pensions committee concluded in its new report that […]
The information commissioner has told the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to release vital information about its decision to scrap the work capability assessment (WCA), which the watchdog says will impact millions of disabled people. DWP has refused to release its […]
Whistleblowers have raised serious concerns about safeguarding failures by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that put the lives of benefit claimants at risk. Disability News Service (DNS) reported last week how conditions at Oxford jobcentre became so stressful that 15 […]
The government has failed to include any proposals to address the inequality faced by disabled people in its list of legislation that it plans to introduce over the next year. In what is likely to be the last king’s speech before a […]
A disabled activist has launched a legal attempt to force the government to carry out a fresh consultation on its plans to tighten the work capability assessment, which she believes will force many disabled people into poverty, or even destitution. Ellen Clifford […]
New figures show that nearly three-quarters of all discrimination-related enquiries to the government-funded equality helpline have come from disabled people, with this proportion rising every year. The figures, obtained by Disability News Service through a freedom of information request, show that 72 […]
Three women who have lost loved ones to state violence have described how they were able to spend years fighting for justice, while coping with the grief caused by the flawed and dangerous police, mental health and social security systems. Anna Susianta, […]
A series of embarrassing online access fails has again left a high-profile campaign facing accusations that it allows businesses to parade their supposed commitment to accessibility and inclusivity, while failing to put those promises into practice. This week saw the sixth annual […]