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Disabled activists have attacked the care watchdog for supporting an “abhorrent” government policy that will again see older and disabled people who have been infected with coronavirus being discharged from hospitals into residential homes. Early in the pandemic, hospital patients were discharged into […]
The UK statistics regulator has refused to criticise work and pensions ministers even though they have repeatedly breached its code of conduct by misleading parliament about the impact of universal credit (UC) on disabled people. Ministers including work and pensions secretary Therese […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has had to send out a panicked message to staff after its IT system mistakenly ordered benefit overpayments owed by thousands of claimants to the government to be written off. Last month, following a COVID-related […]
Autistic people have told the care regulator about the “undignified and inhumane” care they have been subjected to in mental health units, including the frequent and traumatising use of segregation and restraint in England. They spoke to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) […]
The Labour party has refused to explain why it watered down strong criticism of the government by its own shadow disability minister. Last week, Disability News Service revealed that an email mistakenly sent to Disability News Service by a member of Vicky […]
Police chiefs have refused to explain why the number of cases of disability hate crime being passed to prosecutors has fallen for the fifth year in a row. It is the second year running that the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) has […]
Tributes have been paid across the disability arts community following the death of disabled dancer and actor David Toole, a founder member of Candoco Dance Company. Among his career highlights were a solo performance at the opening ceremony of the London Paralympics […]
A disabled campaigner is on hunger strike in response to the failure of his local authority and the NHS to provide him with the support package he needs to “just live as a human being”. Jimmy Telesford said his experience in Lambeth, […]
Powerful criticism of the government’s performance on COVID-19 and disability employment by Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people was significantly watered down by her own party, Disability News Service (DNS) can reveal. An email mistakenly sent to DNS yesterday (Wednesday) by a […]
The government’s repeated claims that its policies have transformed the employment prospects of disabled people over the last seven years have been challenged by academics who suggest their figures are simply the result of a statistical quirk. Disabled activists have been left […]
A Deaf campaigner is set to take legal action against both the government and the Labour party after they both failed to provide British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters at televised coronavirus briefings this week. Katie Rowley, who is pregnant, said it was […]
The number of cases of disability hate crime prosecuted in court has plunged by nearly 40 per cent in just one year, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) figures have revealed. The fall appears to be the result of a steep fall in the […]
The government’s updated guidance for those who are “clinically extremely vulnerable” (CEV) to COVID-19 has been criticised for its lack of detail and clarity, and its failure to announce new support for those who are particularly at risk from the virus. The […]
New research will seek crucial evidence of the “serious crisis” facing disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) across England. Inclusion London has secured £80,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund to research the state of England’s “chronically under-resourced, fragmented and precarious” DPO sector. It […]
Disabled activists have paid tribute this week to Sian Vasey – a much-loved, “multi-layered activist” who played a “pivotal role” in the disabled people’s movement for more than 40 years – who died last week. A stream of messages on social media […]
The recession associated with the pandemic is likely to be having a disproportionate impact on disabled employees, just as it did in the last recession, according to academics. They have examined the impact on disabled people during the recession of 2007 to […]
Five of the nine regional networks created by ministers to “amplify” the voices of disabled people have not held a single meeting, nearly two years after the government announced they were being set up. The aim, the government said, was to “bring […]
A “considerable proportion” of people in Scotland who receive social care support at home have had that support cut or removed completely during the pandemic, according to a new report by the country’s human rights watchdog. This week’s report by the Scottish […]
Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey has failed to sign up to her own much-criticised disability employment scheme, Disability Confident, her department has admitted. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has also admitted that Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who launched the […]
The family of a disabled woman who died in the Grenfell Tower fire are taking legal action to force the government to protect other residents who need assistance in evacuating from high-rise blocks of flats. Last year, the Grenfell inquiry said the […]
Black disabled people must speak out about the oppression they continue to face, and they need new funding that goes “direct to the grassroots”, campaigners said this week. The Disabled Black Lives Matter event was held to celebrate Black History Month, and […]