The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) looks set to face a cut to its budget of at least 40 per cent, according to government figures. The Government Equalities Office (GEO) announced this week – as part of the government’s spending […]
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Government spending review: Social care looks set for further cuts
Councils look set to be forced to make further large cuts to their adult social care budgets, despite the government announcing an extra £2 billion a year to protect social care services. Disability organisations said the extra money would be swallowed […]
Government spending review: Confusion over school ‘personalisation’ move
Confusion has surrounded possible government plans to extend the use of personal budgets to support for disabled children at school. In documents released as part of this week’s spending review, the Treasury said the government wanted to “significantly extend” the use […]
EHRC raises major concerns over government’s benefit reforms
The equality watchdog has raised serious concerns about major elements of the coalition government’s benefit reforms. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it was “concerned” about the “quality” of the work capability assessment (WCA) the controversial new test used […]
Remploy manager used disablist nickname
The failure of Remploy bosses to stop a senior manager referring to a member of staff by a disablist nickname showed the company’s “total lack of respect” for its disabled employees, according to a senior union official. An employment tribunal heard […]
‘Information revolution’ could lead to online access to care records
Disabled people could soon have online access to information about their care that is held by social services departments, as part of an “information revolution” planned across adult social care and the NHS. In a consultation document laying out the principles […]
Activists plan ‘medication strike’ over spending cuts
Mental health service-users are holding a one-day national “medication strike” this week to protest about government cuts to spending on benefits for disabled people. The action will take place on Tuesday 26 October and is being coordinated by the campaigning network […]
Stay of execution for ILF but DPTAC will go
The government has given a stay of execution to the Independent Living Fund (ILF) – despite fears that it was about to be abolished – but has confirmed that it will scrap its accessible transport advice body. The decision to abolish […]
CPS launches review after Manchester’s dual hate crime controversies
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is to review how it dealt with two high-profile crimes against disabled people, after police and prosecutors were criticised for failing to treat them as disability hate crimes. Both the cases were investigated by Greater Manchester […]
DPOs ‘need resources’ to tackle hate crime
Disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) are “overburdened” and struggling to fight the battle against hate crime because of a lack of funding, according to a prominent disabled activist. Ruth Bashall, a leading campaigner on disability hate crime, said disabled people and DPOs […]