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You are here: Home / Archives for benefit assessments

benefit assessments

Disabled people’s trust in PIP assessments is ‘severely lacking’, says Tory MP

By John Pring on 7th September 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Disabled people’s trust in PIP assessments is ‘severely lacking’, says Tory MP
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A Conservative MP has told his own government that disabled people’s trust in the disability benefits assessment process is “severely lacking”. Elliot Colburn was introducing a debate on three parliamentary petitions that between them have been backed by tens of thousands […]

DWP tried to prevent Atos winning £338m assessment contract, court documents suggest

By John Pring on 10th August 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP tried to prevent Atos winning £338m assessment contract, court documents suggest
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) tried to prevent its most controversial private sector contractor winning a five-year £338 million contract to provide disability benefit assessments, court documents suggest. Most of the successful bidders for five regional contracts to provide […]

DWP admits: We’re too slow, too inaccurate, too costly, and claimants don’t trust us

By John Pring on 29th June 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP admits: We’re too slow, too inaccurate, too costly, and claimants don’t trust us
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted to the public spending watchdog that its system of disability benefits assessments is too slow, too expensive and too inaccurate, and too many claimants do not trust how it makes decisions. The […]

DWP hands hundreds of millions more to firms linked to claimant deaths… but not Atos

By John Pring on 1st June 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP hands hundreds of millions more to firms linked to claimant deaths… but not Atos
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The government has awarded five-year disability assessment contracts worth more than £560 million to the outsourcing giant Capita, on the same day that a safeguarding review linked the company to the death of a young disabled mum. Last week, the safeguarding […]

MPs call on DWP to report on deaths linked to benefit assessments

By John Pring on 20th April 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

MPs call on DWP to report on deaths linked to benefit assessments
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) must publish regular reports to show how many deaths of disabled people are linked to the disability benefits assessment system, a committee of MPs has concluded. The call comes in a report by the […]

Call for urgent inquiry into ‘covert surveillance’ in benefit assessments

By John Pring on 20th April 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Call for urgent inquiry into ‘covert surveillance’ in benefit assessments
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MPs are calling for an urgent government investigation into the use of “covert surveillance” of disabled people by the private sector companies paid to assess eligibility for disability benefits. It comes in a report by the Commons work and pensions committee, […]

DWP assessment firms ‘still producing shocking levels of sub-standard reports’

By John Pring on 19th January 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP assessment firms ‘still producing shocking levels of sub-standard reports’
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Contractors likely to be bidding for new five-year contracts to test eligibility for disability benefits are still producing a “shockingly high” number of sub-standard assessment reports, nine years after they first won contracts to carry them out. An audit of assessment […]

Benefit claimants back up MP’s claims of assessment secret tricks

By John Pring on 28th July 2022 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Benefit claimants back up MP’s claims of assessment secret tricks
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Disabled people have backed up an MP’s claims that government contractors are deliberately putting lifts out of order and attempting other “covert” attempts to trick claimants waiting to be assessed for their disability benefits. Last week, Conservative MP Dr Ben Spencer […]

DWP contractors carry out secret tricks on disabled claimants, Tory MP has been told

By John Pring on 21st July 2022 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP contractors carry out secret tricks on disabled claimants, Tory MP has been told
Listen

Private sector contractors are deliberately putting lifts out of order and removing cups from beside water coolers as part of “covert” attempts to trick disabled people waiting to be assessed for their benefits, MPs have been told. Conservative MP Dr Ben […]

DWP ignored ‘hugely alarming’ research that linked WCA with 600 suicides, MPs are told

By John Pring on 23rd June 2022 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP ignored ‘hugely alarming’ research that linked WCA with 600 suicides, MPs are told
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ignored leading academics after they published “hugely alarming” research that linked the work capability assessment with 600 suicides in just three years, MPs have been told. The failure is just the latest evidence to […]

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Shadow minister says parents don’t ‘game’ SEND system… but Kemi says disabled adults do ‘game’ the benefits system

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Image of front cover of The Department, showing a crinkled memo with the words 'Restricted - Policy. The Department. How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence. John Pring.' Next to the image is a red box with the following words in white: 'A very interesting book... a very important contribution to this whole debate' - Sir Stephen Timms, minister for social security and disability. plutobooks.com and the Pluto Press logo.

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