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A Tory peer has accused work and pensions secretary Esther McVey of making a series of untrue statements about the Motability car scheme to fellow MPs. Lord Sterling, who co-founded Motability in 1977, has told McVey in a letter that he […]
Government ministers are facing criticism after organising a “round table” event on the future of working-age social care without inviting any disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) to attend. The failure to invite DPOs emerged after the disabled crossbench peer Baroness [Jane] Campbell […]
Campaigners are calling on the government to scrap a policy that prevents disabled people with complex healthcare needs receiving the benefits they need to stay mobile if they are living in residential homes. Little-known regulations apparently state that recipients of NHS […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is facing claims that it has been running a discriminatory benefit sanctions regime, following the publication of new research. Academic Ben Baumberg Geiger has found that more than 900,000 disabled claimants of the mainstream […]
Businesses are responding to high-profile environmental campaigns to stop using plastic straws without considering the needs of disabled people, disability rights activists have warned. The Scottish user-led political campaign group One in Five fears that “knee-jerk” promises to ditch single-use plastic […]
Disabled campaigners are seeking to persuade the Welsh government to introduce a new scheme that would see service-providers displaying stickers that show how accessible they are. Bridgend Coalition of Disabled People (BCDP) wants shops, restaurants, transport providers, pubs and other service-providers […]
The disability benefit assessment system is being undermined by a “pervasive culture of mistrust”, fuelled by widespread claims that assessors are deliberately trying to prevent disabled people receiving the support they are entitled to, according to a committee of MPs. The […]
Disabled campaigners have welcomed a report by MPs on disability benefit assessments, which they say highlights “serious multiple failures”, but many believe it should have done more to highlight the serious “preventable harm” caused by the system. The report by the […]
Ministers have quietly dumped their promise to test a gentler approach to dealing with claimants who breach strict benefit conditions for the first time. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) agreed in October to trial handing out warnings instead of […]
A senior opposition MP is to write to the minister for disabled people to ask how she plans to penalise government contractors Atos and Capita, following last week’s “devastating” revelations about their “shocking” failings in delivering disability benefit assessments. Stephen Lloyd, […]