The first death was on New Year’s Eve 2011, a divorced woman in her early 50s who was found dead at her home in Scotland after taking her own life. She would later become known as Ms DE. She has never […]
DWP: The case for the prosecution
Department for Work and Pensions
Minister hid judges’ criticism of McVey from MPs, hours after shock appointment
The minister for disabled people has refused to apologise for misleading MPs about a court of appeal judgment that was highly critical of her new boss, Esther McVey, just a day after her appointment as the new work and pensions secretary. […]
Disability Confident will be ‘trivially easy’ for employers to abuse, research suggests
The government’s scheme aimed at encouraging employers to take on disabled staff is “trivially easy to abuse” and allows organisations to describe themselves as “Disability Confident” even if they do not comply with anti-discrimination laws, new research suggests. Disability Confident was […]
Ministers set to force work-related activity on everyone in ESA support group
The Department for Work and Pensions is considering forcing all sick and disabled people on out-of-work disability benefits to take part in “mandatory” activity, its new green paper has revealed. The suggestion of compulsory activity is revealed in a single line […]
DPOs criticise DWP for excluding them from green paper launch
Grassroots disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) have criticised the government’s decision to exclude them from an event held to launch its new work, health and disability green paper. The event for “stakeholders” was hosted by the disability charity Scope at its London […]
Professors’ silence after DWP waters down their guidance on preventing WCA suicides
A leading psychiatrist who helped the government draft guidance that protected mental health service-users who were threatened with forced work has refused to criticise major changes to the guidelines that have risked the lives of thousands of benefit claimants. Disability News […]
DWP forced to release reports revealing its secret thoughts on the media
Documents the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) tried to keep hidden for more than a year have revealed some of the tactics civil servants have used to manipulate media coverage on welfare reform. The “DWP media evaluation” reports have been […]
Ministerial duo face questions after misleading MPs over PIP
Two ministers have refused to apologise after they both misled MPs about the impact of the government’s new disability benefit on disabled people. In the space of just 20 minutes, work and pensions secretary Damian Green and minister for disabled people […]
‘Fit for work’ suicide man’s sister tried to take her own life after DWP ordeal
The sister of a man driven to suicide by the “fitness for work” system tried to take her own life after being “treated like a criminal” by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over her benefit claims. Eleanor Donnachie believes […]
Nurse and her GP husband lodge complaint over ‘lies’ told by Capita PIP assessor
A benefits assessor working for the outsourcing company Capita repeatedly “lied” in her report, after carrying out a face-to-face assessment of a disabled nurse which was observed by her husband, a retired GP. The disabled woman and her husband have asked […]