the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
One of the 11 new “sector champions” selected by a minister to tackle the issues disabled people face as consumers has already used the appointment to rethink his own strategy on inclusion, he has told Disability News Service. Robin Sheppard (pictured), […]
Ministers should be held accountable for the “extraordinary” rise in self-harm in prisons, including nearly 120 suicides last year, MPs and peers have been told. Members of the joint committee on human rights, who were hearing evidence from four prison reform […]
A disabled woman who lost her disability benefits because of a controversial reassessment process took her own life just two days after being told her appeal had failed. The body of Susan Margaret Roberts (pictured) was discovered by a care worker […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has denied there is any dishonesty among the healthcare professionals who carry out its benefits assessments, even though Disability News Service (DNS) has now collected 100 cases where such allegations have been made. Disabled […]
A council leader has admitted that one in five of the disabled people whose care packages were reassessed by the discredited outsourcing company Capita have had their support cut. Simon Letts, the Labour leader of Southampton City Council (SCC), also admitted […]
Campaigners have published a withering 237-page attack on the government’s work, health and disability green paper, accusing ministers of creating a “smokescreen” to disguise their intention to cut support and force sick and disabled people into inappropriate work. The response from […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is facing questions over why it failed to release the results of a pilot project that was supposed to correct a fatal flaw in its “fitness for work” test. DWP had promised a judge […]
Some of the country’s most controversial and discredited outsourcing companies are set to win contracts under the government’s new programme to find jobs for disabled people and other marginalised groups. The 11 organisations that have been successful in the bidding process […]
The equality watchdog has been operating without a disability commissioner for the last month, because of delays in recruiting a successor for Tory peer Lord [Chris] Holmes. A replacement for Lord Holmes (pictured) was supposed to be in place by mid-January, […]
The sister of a disabled man who died after being left destitute by having his benefits sanctioned has launched a high court legal challenge over a coroner’s refusal to hold an inquest into his death. David Clapson (pictured), who had diabetes, […]