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A disabled mother-of-two has accused the government of “financial blackmail” and discriminating against claimants of legacy benefits*, after she was told she could only claim vital financial support for her baby’s nutrition if she agreed to transfer onto universal credit. Allie Bennett-Cox, […]
Five disabled peers have explained why they helped defeat government plans that would have eroded the right to protest. The five crossbench and Liberal Democrat peers were among those members of the House of Lords who delivered a series of defeats to […]
Disabled activists have warned that it is only a matter of time before the government’s failure to address the “unprecedented” social care crisis results in the deaths of service-users. They spoke out after new figures from the Association of Directors of Adult […]
Labour has failed to explain how it would respond to the independent living crisis and calls for an end to care charging if it won power, despite its leader announcing a new “five-point plan for the transformation of social care”. Keir Starmer’s […]
A disabled university lecturer says her job was put at risk by the failure of the Department for Work and Pensions to deal with a huge backlog in Access to Work (AtW) applications. Daisy Higman, a freelance voice teacher and theatre-maker, says […]
MPs are to use their parliamentary powers to force the publication of a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) report that found disabled benefit claimants had widespread “unmet needs”. The action follows the repeated refusals of work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been told its support for “vulnerable” benefit claimants is “inadequate” and must be re-examined, after a review found it failed a man with learning difficulties who was repeatedly exposed to family violence. The safeguarding […]
The government has already broken at least six promises it made in last summer’s much-criticised National Disability Strategy, responses by various departments this week have confirmed. Analysis of the strategy, published last July, shows that at least six of the actions it […]
Rail operators believe that only “major” government funding will solve the accessibility problems at stations across the country, a new report published by the Department for Transport (DfT) has revealed. The report, written by the independent research organisation NatCen on DfT’s behalf […]
An ombudsman has heavily criticised the government for refusing to rectify the injustice caused by its treatment of more than 118,000 disabled benefit claimants who have been denied compensation following a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) blunder. The ombudsman’s criticism came […]
Government plans to expand the number of trials and other criminal hearings carried out remotely through video and telephone links will expose disabled defendants to widespread discrimination and injustice, campaigners have warned. Disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) and criminal justice campaigners said this […]
An attempt to legalise assisted suicide by hijacking the government’s heath and care bill has raised serious concerns among disabled activists. The Conservative peer Lord Forsyth, a former secretary of state for Scotland, has tabled an amendment to the bill that could […]
At least three major retailers appear to have taken action over their own brands of a top-selling type of sweet after pressure from a disabled activist who has linked its name to disability hate speech. Dr Erin Pritchard, a lecturer in disability […]
New figures released by the government show how nearly all “fitness for work” assessments are now being carried out on the telephone, or simply by examining paperwork. The figures show that three-quarters (73 per cent) of completed work capability assessments (WCAs) were […]
A coroner has called on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to make urgent policy changes, after it ordered a disabled patient to leave hospital to visit a jobcentre despite being severely ill with a condition that later killed him. The […]
A disabled woman has won permission from the high court to challenge the legality of a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) scheme that allows utility companies to “help themselves” from claimants’ benefits to pay off debts. Helen Timson said she “cried […]
The crossbench peer leading parliamentary efforts to end the ban on assisted suicide appears to be trying to use the government’s health and care bill to make a parallel bid to introduce legalisation. Baroness Meacher’s assisted dying bill is awaiting its committee […]
A minister has agreed to offer transport providers yet another series of “ludicrous” exemptions from transport access laws, two years after the regulations were supposed to have come into force. The government has told senior figures in the rail, bus and coach […]
The government’s failure to spend enough money on specialist employment support for disabled people is unacceptable, MPs have been told by policy and research experts. Members of the Commons work and pensions committee were told the government was “not doing enough” to […]
The UK government failed to ensure that serious faults exposed by an accessibility audit were fixed in time for the start of the Glasgow COP26 climate change conference, an official document released to Disability News Service (DNS) has revealed. The access audit, […]
Disabled activists have said they are prepared to break the law, and even go to prison, if the government succeeds in bringing in new legislation that will crack down on the right to protest. Dolly Sen and Ellen Clifford were speaking at […]