Disability News Service

The performance of police forces across the country in providing justice for victims of disability hate crime is not good enough and must improve, the organisation representing senior police officers has finally admitted. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) admitted its failure […]

NHS bodies have this week been unable to point to any evidence that plans have been drawn up to protect people who need electricity to run lifesaving medical equipment in their homes, in the event of power blackouts this winter. It is […]

New figures have revealed the steadily-worsening state of adult social care, and how disabled people are increasingly reporting concerns about the quality and safety of services, seven weeks after the government last had a minister for social care in post. As the […]

Campaigners have questioned why Conservative ministers and MPs rejected a proposal that would have forced the government to take “reasonable steps” towards making all rail stations in England accessible to disabled people. The proposed amendment to the government’s levelling-up and regeneration bill […]

The new minister for disabled people has deleted a social media post in which she bragged about the millions of pounds being spent on her department’s new disability employment website. Claire Coutinho posted a tweet last week which included a video of […]

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has finally published figures that show how many universal credit claimants are being found “fit for work” through the work capability assessment process. They show that DWP is consistently finding more disabled people claiming universal […]

By Tom McDonough A protest outside York council has been hailed as an important step in disabled people’s year-long fight against the decision to ban blue badge-holders from their city centre. Reverse the Ban, a coalition of disabled-led organisations and allies, held […]

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) watered down key parts of a plan drawn up to prevent suicides and learn lessons from claimant deaths, while under the leadership of deputy prime minister Therese Coffey, Disability News Service (DNS) can reveal. During […]

Government departments and power companies have been unable to show any detailed preparations they have made to protect people who need electricity to run lifesaving medical equipment in their homes, and which could be affected by blackouts this winter. Neither the Department […]

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted repeatedly breaching the Equality Act, after a disabled man was left needing hospital treatment three times for suicidal thoughts caused by months of failures by universal credit advisers and jobcentres. A legal document […]

Disabled people are being “forgotten and effectively abandoned”, forced to rely on foodbanks, and having to cut back on how much they eat, because of the cost-of-living crisis, according to new research by 15 disabled people’s organisations in Greater Manchester. Disabled people […]

Greater Manchester’s mayor has praised the work of disabled people’s organisations that has exposed the “severity” of the cost-of-living crisis, even before the onset of winter. The survey by Greater Manchester Disabled People’s Panel* found one in five disabled people could not […]

The Welsh first minister has paid tribute to the work of Disability Wales as it celebrated its 50th anniversary yesterday (Wednesday), and he re-affirmed his government’s commitment to putting the social model of disability at the heart of its work. Disability Wales […]

A disabled activist has told MPs and peers that the government’s draft mental health bill is “starting from the wrong position” and needs to focus instead on supporting people with mental distress to live in the community. Simone Aspis, manager of Inclusion […]

The government is facing questions over its apparent failure to prepare for the impact of possible power blackouts this winter on disabled people who need electricity to run lifesaving medical and independent living equipment in their homes. National Grid ESO, which controls […]

The number of disability hate crime cases passed by police forces to prosecutors plummeted by a fifth last year, despite the number of allegations reported by disabled people rising by more than 40 per cent. Police forces across England and Wales passed […]

Disabled people’s organisations and allies have offered strong support for a user-led plan to build a social security system that treats all benefit claimants with “dignity, fairness and respect”, and replaces the government’s “chaotic” universal credit. The plan has been drawn up […]

Disabled campaigners have dismissed Labour’s claim that a review of its adult social care policy is being co-produced with disabled people. Despite promises from Labour that disabled people would work in partnership with the Fabian Society, the thinktank commissioned to carry out […]

A user-led organisation has warned MPs and peers that the government’s planned mental health reforms do not go far enough and have failed to engage with disabled activists who have been pushing for a more rights-based approach. Mary Sadid, policy manager for […]

A disabled activist has warned that proposed changes to the law that are supposed to prevent autistic people from being unfairly detained in hospital could lead to many of them ending up in prison instead. Alexis Quinn, who is autistic herself, told […]