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The government has threatened to remove Access to Work funding from a high-profile disabled consultant, because he cannot prove he is self-employed, even though he has been working for himself for the last 16 years. Simon Stevens was presented with a […]
Local authorities across the UK have cut spending on making their workplaces accessible for disabled employees, as a result of the coalition’s spending cuts, according to new research. The study found that previous “generally good” practice among 33 local authorities examined […]
The government’s welfare reform minister is facing calls to be sacked after suggesting that some disabled people should be allowed to work for less than the minimum wage. Lord Freud, seen as one of the architects of Conservative welfare reform policy, […]
A disabled campaigner has criticised the government’s failure to apologise for the “discrimination and punishment” she faced on the Work Programme. Catherine Hale warned that Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) decision-makers appeared to be adopting a “sanction first, ask questions […]
A shadow minister has pledged that a Labour government would do more to help disabled people into work, but warned that changes to the system of employment support would have to be “incremental”. Her comments and those of other shadow ministers […]
The government has published a new plan that it hopes will see more disabled people achieving senior positions in the Civil Service. The Talent Action Plan includes measures designed to remove the “obstacles” which have limited the number of disabled people, […]
A disabled campaigner had more than £70 a week of her disability benefit stripped from her for three months because she could not attend a back-to-work workshop that a government assessment had already concluded would be inaccessible to her. Catherine Hale […]
The government’s Access to Work (AtW) programme is plagued by “penny-pinching”, administrative incompetence, and “rude” and “intimidatory” communication that is causing disabled people “immense distress”, leading campaigners have told a committee of MPs. The Commons work and pensions committee was hearing […]
A Deaf youth worker says endless problems with the support he is supposed to obtain through the government’s Access to Work (AtW) scheme have made it impossible to focus on his job. Matt Talbot runs a youth forum for young disabled […]
One of the companies responsible for assessing disability benefit eligibility failed to make its own workplace accessible for a disabled employee for more than three years, and then sacked her when she became too ill to work. Sharon Dickens is the […]