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Disabled activists have responded angrily to controversial claims made in evidence to MPs by three senior executives from the company that carries out the government’s “fitness for work” tests. They are furious that the Atos Healthcare executives were again attempting to […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been forced to spend £170,000 paying consultants to help clear up the mess caused by the chaotic implementation of its new disability benefit. The introduction last year of personal independence payment (PIP) – […]
Disabled people are facing “confusion, anxiety and stress” because of the “misrepresentation” that helped a company to win a £184 million disability assessment contract, according to a Labour MP. The claims have been made by Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart, who has […]
The Tory peer who heads the equality watchdog’s disability committee has faced tough questions over whether the hostile rhetoric of his party’s ministers has helped to fuel hate crime. Lord [Chris] Holmes, a commissioner with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, […]
Plans to slash spending on disabled people’s social security are in disarray, after government figures appeared to show that its new personal independence payment (PIP) is easier to claim than disability living allowance (DLA), the benefit it is replacing. Chancellor George […]
Two grandparents who care for their disabled grandson and have been hit by the “bedroom tax” are to continue their fight for justice, despite a high court defeat. Paul and Susan Rutherford, who are both disabled, care for 14-year-old Warren in […]
The government and its contractor Atos Healthcare have strongly denied claims by an alleged whistleblower that civil servants ordered assessors to make it harder for disabled people to claim the coalition’s new disability benefit. Scores of disabled campaigners saw an email […]
Disabled activists have accused the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of “deplorable” behaviour, after it tried – and failed – to delay legal attempts to reduce the discriminatory impact of its controversial “fitness for work” test. A tribunal decided this […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted that it failed to interview two whistleblowers who made serious allegations of fraud by a private sector provider within the government’s specialist work programme for disabled people. DWP supposedly launched an investigation […]
The former government adviser who carried out three independent reviews of the controversial work capability assessment (WCA) has told MPs that the test is “not working” and must be made more “humane”. Professor Malcolm Harrington also made a string of damaging […]