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Not a single organisation that responded to a consultation by the last government was in favour of replacing a monthly cash payment for disability benefits with vouchers or one-off grants, civil servants have finally admitted. Documents obtained through a freedom of […]
Waiting-times faced by disabled people trying to use a benefit enquiry line are even higher than previously thought, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted. Disability News Service (DNS) revealed last week that the “average speed of answer” for […]
Waiting-times on a benefit enquiry line have continued to rise, despite the minister for disabled people promising that his department was recruiting extra staff to bring them down. In April, Tom Pursglove (pictured) admitted that the average waiting time in March […]
Disabled people trying to contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to pass on urgent information about their disability benefit claims are facing delays of more than an hour before their calls are answered. Even when the calls are answered, […]
Disabled activists who have spent years raising concerns about universal credit have warned of its cruelty and how the system “hounds” claimants into complying with strict rules. They spoke out this week as Disability News Service (DNS) reveals how a disabled […]
Backlogs in the disability benefit assessment system are having significant knock-on effects on disabled people’s ability to live independently, new evidence has shown. It is showing how lengthy delays in reviewing people’s personal independence payment (PIP) claims are having a substantial […]
New disturbing evidence has emerged that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has introduced harsher rules designed to force more disabled people with significant mental distress to attend frequent face-to-face jobcentre meetings. Last week, a work coach told Disability News […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) may have acted unlawfully after potentially depriving tens of thousands of benefit claimants of thousands of pounds each in back-payments, campaigners believe. Now, after taking legal advice from a leading social security barrister, the […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted an “extraordinary” failure over nearly a decade to carry out any detailed calculations on how universal credit will affect different groups of disabled people. DWP has always admitted there would be winners […]
A system that allows barristers who are paid by DWP to prosecute benefit fraud cases to also sit as judges on tribunals that decide social security appeals is “unquestionably wrong” and a “direct conflict of interest”, say welfare rights experts. The […]