the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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) […]
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. […]
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 […]