the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
Deaf and disabled people are set to march on Downing Street on Saturday (26 September) to protest at government cuts to the Access to Work scheme. Activists from across the country will gather first outside the Houses of Parliament at noon, […]
The controversial US outsourcing giant brought in to deliver “fitness for work” tests for the government is facing allegations that it discriminates against disabled staff, and has sacked hundreds of nurses shortly after tempting them to leave the NHS. Maximus only […]
The number of disabled people who are unemployed has risen for the second quarter in a row, according to new government figures. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) used the publication of quarterly labour market statistics to point to the […]
The minister for disabled people has risked ridicule after announcing that Swansea has become the country’s first “Disability Confident City”, despite being unable to explain why it was chosen. The announcement was timed to coincide with a Disability Confident conference that […]
One in four disabled civil servants still feels discriminated against at work, four years after Disability News Service revealed “disturbing” levels of discrimination, bullying and harassment across the civil service. Last year, the government published a new talent action plan that […]
Four of the country’s nine specialist residential training colleges for disabled people are facing an uncertain future after the government announced a huge shake-up of specialist employability support. The contracting process, completed in less than 15 working days after years of […]
Government plans to restrict how much support any individual can receive through the Access to Work (AtW) scheme are a “huge concern” and will damage efforts to encourage Deaf people to become teachers, lawyers and politicians, campaigners have warned. They spoke […]
The parliamentary ombudsman is dealing with more than 40 complaints about the management of the government’s Access to Work (AtW) scheme. It is just the latest evidence of serious failings within AtW, despite reassurance from ministers that administrative problems and delays […]
Ministers have failed to implement recommendations made nearly two years ago by their own advisers on how to improve the Access to Work (AtW) employment programme, including a vital call to double the number of people using the scheme. The recommendations […]
A minister has been accused of trying to cover up an embarrassing fall in the number of disabled people in work, after he issued a misleading press release about the government’s “jobs miracle”. Mark Harper, the Conservative minister for disabled people, […]