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A disabled MP has called on ministers to reveal the source of an article that claimed social security claimants in mental distress could soon be forced to undergo talking therapy – or have their benefits removed. The idea was floated by […]
The number of disabled people living in poverty is about one million higher than official figures, according to a new report. The authors of the report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) told the all-party parliamentary group on disability this week […]
Work and pensions ministers are facing acute embarrassment after losing their main excuse for refusing to assess the overall impact of their welfare cuts and reforms on disabled people. Ministers have repeatedly insisted that such a cumulative impact assessment (CIA) would […]
A disabled campaigner has asked a court to rule that a government consultation on plans to tighten eligibility for its new disability benefit was unfair and unlawful. The judicial review has been brought by disabled activist and blogger Stephen Sumpter, while […]
Disabled activists held a vigil outside the Royal Courts of Justice this week as legal efforts to force the government to reduce the discriminatory impact of its controversial “fitness for work” test approached their conclusion. The long-running case has been taken […]
A new user-led report aims to focus blame for the “national scandal” of the work capability assessment (WCA) away from the government contractor Atos Healthcare and towards the “culture of contempt” that lies at the heart of the test. Assessing the […]
Disabled activists have criticised the government’s policy of turning up unannounced at the home of social security claimants to check their benefit payments are correct. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) insists that such visits have been government policy for […]
The work and pensions secretary has admitted that the huge delays facing thousands of disabled people applying for the government’s new disability benefit are “unacceptable”. Iain Duncan Smith was responding to criticism from his Labour shadow that the implementation of personal […]
An MP has called for Atos to be stripped of the right to bid for government contracts, after an inquiry concluded that it appears to have used “potentially misleading” information to win disability assessment contracts worth nearly £400 million. Fiona Mactaggart, […]
The entire system of disability benefits and other support should be swept away and replaced with a single funding stream and assessment process, according to a new discussion paper published by a disabled consultant and activist. Simon Stevens said that witnessing […]