A disabled benefit claimant is set to lodge a complaint with the information commissioner after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) sent him highly confidential medical details belonging to another benefit claimant. The man was sent the report, written by […]
Benefits and Poverty
‘Fit for work’ suicide man’s sister tried to take her own life after DWP ordeal
The sister of a man driven to suicide by the “fitness for work” system tried to take her own life after being “treated like a criminal” by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over her benefit claims. Eleanor Donnachie believes […]
Nurse and her GP husband lodge complaint over ‘lies’ told by Capita PIP assessor
A benefits assessor working for the outsourcing company Capita repeatedly “lied” in her report, after carrying out a face-to-face assessment of a disabled nurse which was observed by her husband, a retired GP. The disabled woman and her husband have asked […]
Lib Dem conference: Bid to scrap WCA approved, despite calls for more radical reform
Liberal Democrats have voted for a new social security policy that will scrap the “fitness for work” test and all benefit sanctions, despite many disabled party members calling for a more radical approach to welfare reform. The vote at the party’s […]
FoI reveals EHRC chair’s ‘conflict of interest’ over welfare reform inquiry
The equality watchdog’s new chair, who is set to lead an investigation into whether Tory welfare reforms breached disabled people’s human rights, worked for the government on key contracts at the heart of those reforms, Disability News Service can reveal. David […]
ESA figures show ‘very disturbing’ drop in number placed in support group
“Very disturbing” new government figures show a steep fall in the proportion of disabled people being found eligible for out-of-work disability benefits. Disabled campaigners fear the figures show the government is cutting spending on disability benefits “below the radar”, after being […]
Disabled researcher’s book exposes ‘corporate demolition of welfare state’
A string of activists, academics, politicians and journalists have welcomed the publication of a new book by a disabled researcher which exposes how successive governments have planned the “demolition of the welfare state”. Mo Stewart has spent eight years researching the […]
Benefit claimants die as DWP staff keep failing to follow suicide guidelines
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has refused to consider an inquiry into its repeated failure to prevent the deaths of benefit claimants, despite the release of damning new information from nine secret reviews. Key information from reviews into the […]
DWP hides seven secret benefit suicide reviews
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is refusing to publish nine secret reviews into the deaths of benefit claimants, despite finally admitting that seven of them relate to people who took their own lives. DWP only released the information after […]
Government ‘has stripped Paralympians of their Motability vehicles’
Paralympians heading to Rio next week have lost their Motability vehicles after being reassessed as part of the government’s programme of benefit cuts and reforms, a member of the ParalympicsGB team has revealed. Some Paralympians have spoken previously of the importance […]