The computer system used for new personal independence payment (PIP) claims has crashed twice in a week, just days after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) insisted it was “working as it should”. On both occasions, last Wednesday (11 May) […]
Benefits and Poverty
COMMENT: Long-awaited peer reviews suggest ministers failed to act after deaths of ‘vulnerable’ claimants
After 21 months of smokescreens excuses, obstruction and secrecy, work and pensions ministers have finally been forced to publish some of the conclusions reached by their own civil servants about the mistakes that led to 49 benefit claimants losing their lives. […]
Crabb’s mixed signals on fresh disability benefit cuts
The new work and pensions secretary has sent out mixed signals on whether he wants to make further cuts to spending on disability benefits. Stephen Crabb, who was appointed after the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith in March, was giving evidence […]
It is ‘not value-for-money’ to collect vital PIP stats on 20-metre rule, says DWP
Two disabled peers have criticised ministers for refusing to collect figures that would demonstrate the impact of a key element of new benefit rules that will see tens of thousands of people losing their Motability vehicles. The Liberal Democrat peer Baroness […]
‘Appallingly bad’ software may cause lost PIP letters, says whistleblower
Vital letters that tell disabled people they have to transfer to the government’s new disability benefit are being lost in the system, leading to them losing financial support for months on end, according to a whistleblower. Rebecca*, who has asked to […]
Hundreds of thousands of disabled people in ‘destitution’, research suggests
Hundreds of thousands of disabled people are living in destitution, the first piece of research to look at extreme poverty in the UK suggests. The study, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found that in 2015 there were 1.25 million people […]
DWP ‘is deliberately misleading’ benefit claimants over PIP deadline
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is facing claims that it is deliberately misleading benefit claimants into thinking they have no right of appeal if they miss the deadline for applying for the new personal independence payment (PIP). There are […]
Revealed: DWP’s secret, ‘financially devastating’ proposals for benefits appeals
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has drawn up secret plans for sweeping reforms that would make it far harder for disabled people to appeal against having their benefit claims turned down. The heavily-redacted document was sent to Disability News […]
Secret DWP proposal to scrap ESA ‘substantial risk’ rules ‘would breach right to life’
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has proposed scrapping two benefit regulations that offer vital protection to disabled people facing the controversial “fitness for work” test. In response to a freedom of information request, DWP has sent Disability News Service […]
Tribunal rules DWP must release information from secret benefit deaths reviews
Disability News Service (DNS) has won its appeal against the Department for Work and Pensions’ refusal to publish information from 49 secret reviews it conducted into the deaths of benefit claimants. The decision of the information rights tribunal to allow the […]