Disability News Service

Successive chairs of the Conservative party snubbed a request from their own equalities minister, after she asked them to explain how they intended to support more disabled people to become MPs and councillors. Penny Mordaunt (pictured) wrote last April to the chair […]

The coroner who heard an inquest into a man who starved to death after his benefits were wrongly removed is to press the government for information about a promised review into how it protects “vulnerable” claimants. Dr Elizabeth Didcock, Nottingham’s assistant coroner, […]

A discredited US company that earns hundreds of millions of pounds a year through benefit assessment and employment support contracts has lost the right to run large parts of a care inspection scheme, following repeated concerns about its performance. Maximus, which has […]

The number of disabled people on the main out-of-work disability benefit who are being sanctioned by the government for failing to meet strict conditions has fallen close to zero, following years of criticism of the harsh regime. Department for Work and Pensions […]

The performance of one of the government’s disability benefit assessment contractors has worsened over the last year and has remained well outside a government target it has never met, new figures have revealed. They show that the proportion of personal independence payment […]

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been failing to track recommendations made by its own secret reviews into benefit-related deaths, it has told the spending watchdog, three years after claiming it had corrected the same failings. The “appalling” revelation that […]

Disabled campaigners have welcomed the human rights watchdog’s decision to begin legal action against the government over its repeated failure to address the “distressing and horrific” treatment of people with learning difficulties and autistic people in mental health hospitals. The Equality and […]

A coroner who heard the inquest into a man who starved to death after his benefits were wrongly removed has been urged to act on information showing the government failed to pass her evidence linking its actions with other deaths. The family […]

The MP leading the race to be Labour’s next leader has become the first candidate to back calls by disabled people’s groups for the introduction of free social care, funded by national progressive taxation. Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, said […]

A disabled student has been left “isolated” and “segregated” by her university’s failure to make her lectures accessible to her. Sarah-Marie Da Silva, a first-year zoology student and a wheelchair-user, has been trying since her first day on the course to persuade […]

The human rights watchdog has launched an inquiry into how schools are monitoring the use of restraint on their pupils. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) inquiry will discover whether primary, secondary and special schools in England and Wales are collecting […]

Labour leadership candidate Lisa Nandy has backed calls for an independent inquiry into deaths linked to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and has pledged to fight for “truth and justice” on behalf of those who died. One of four candidates […]

One of the front-runners to be Labour’s next leader has pledged to work in partnership with disabled people to develop party policy, if she wins the contest. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary and seen as the leading candidate for those on […]

The front-runner in the contest to be the next Labour leader has refused to answer key questions about his policies on disability equality. As with all four remaining leadership contenders, Sir Keir Starmer was sent six questions nearly two weeks ago about […]

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 allies […]

Leading actors and writers have called on the film-making industry to move far more quickly to improve access and opportunities for disabled talent. Among those calling for change was disabled BAFTA-winning screenwriter Jack Thorne, who said the pace of change within the […]

It began with “a simple desire to reclaim the laughter associated with Tourettes Syndrome”, but as an activist-art project celebrates its 10th anniversary, its co-founder believes that a decade of government austerity has left her career more precarious than ever. The work […]

Ministers have given the transport industry permission to use inaccessible vehicles for rail replacement services for another three months. In December, it emerged that the government was allowing the industry to continue to use older buses and coaches that do not comply […]

The family of a man who starved to death after his out-of-work benefits were wrongly stopped have backed calls for a criminal investigation into former ministers and senior civil servants they believe are responsible for his and other deaths. Last week, Disability […]

The minister for disabled people has refused to apologise for his “heartless” response to the deaths of two disabled people that have been closely linked to the failings of his own department. Justin Tomlinson was asked in the House of Commons on […]