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Thousands of disabled people could have had their benefit claims stopped unlawfully, campaigners believe, after a judge found that letters sent out by government contractors were failing to stress the serious consequences of failing to attend a face-to-face assessment. Upper tribunal […]
A new business that charges benefit claimants £100 to record their disability assessments has been accused of exploiting disabled people’s fears about social security reforms. Disability News Service (DNS) was contacted this week by the Liverpool-based business, which says it provides […]
A company paid to assess disabled people’s fitness for work was put under “immense pressure” by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to find claimants ineligible for out-of-work disability benefits, official records have revealed. DWP has insisted for years that […]
Labour’s shadow chancellor has joined disabled campaigners in backing calls for a criminal probe into the actions of former Tory ministers and senior civil servants, following the publication of a five-year investigation into the deaths of disabled benefit claimants. The 12,000-word […]
The equality watchdog is considering taking action to tackle discrimination in the way decisions are made in the social security system, it revealed this morning. Although the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has not provided any further details, it released […]
Disabled activists have responded to the government’s continuing failure to deal with the dishonesty and inaccuracy of the disability benefit assessment process by launching schemes to ensure that claimants can record their own assessments. Grassroots groups of disabled activists launched two […]
The brother of a disabled man who was denied disability benefits when he was dying has launched a petition calling on the government to scrap the outsourcing of all face-to-face assessments to private contractors. James Oliver, from Hastings – the constituency […]
The amount of time that nurses and physiotherapists spend carrying out face-to-face disability benefit assessments can vary hugely, depending on where the test takes place, according to analysis of new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures. Although the figures do […]
The proportion of disability assessment reports completed by government contractor Atos that were found to be significantly flawed has soared by more than 40 per cent in the last two years. The percentage of substandard Atos* personal independence payment (PIP) reports […]
More than a third of disability assessment reports completed by a government contractor have been found to be significantly flawed, according to secret government files. The proportion of substandard personal independence payment (PIP) reports completed by outsourcing giant Capita has risen […]