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The first secretary of state has been caught exaggerating the government’s spending on disability benefits while standing in for Theresa May at prime minister’s questions. Damian Green (pictured), who was work and pensions secretary until earlier this year, is already facing […]
The four candidates to be the next leader of the Labour party have revealed their thoughts about disability issues such as benefit sanctions, the “fit for work” test, and Labour’s record in government. Concerns among many disabled activists were raised when […]
The prime minister has become the third senior Conservative figure in a week to refuse to say in front of television cameras whether his party plans to tax key disability benefits after the general election. David Cameron was asked by SNP […]
The government has admitted that more than 30 secret reviews carried out following the deaths of benefit claimants called for improvements in how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) operates locally and nationally. The “appalling” statistic has added to pressure […]
The Conservative party has refused to say if controversial proposals to cut the out-of-work disability benefits of people with obesity or addictions if they refuse treatment could also be applied to those with mental health conditions or other impairments. The prime […]
Ministers have admitted releasing yet more inaccurate information about their secret inquiries into the deaths of benefit claimants. Last year, the Department for Work and Pensions stated, in a Freedom of Information Act (FoI) response, that it did not hold any […]
The combination of the recession and the coalition’s austerity programme is likely to have been responsible for hundreds of suicides in England, a researcher at Oxford University has suggested. Dr Aaron Reeves, a sociologist at Oxford University and part of a […]
A minister has admitted that it is not government policy to warn health or social services when “vulnerable” service-users have had their benefits “sanctioned”. The admission by the Conservative employment minister Esther McVey comes just weeks after her department admitted to […]
An agreement between the leading political parties over devolving further powers to Scotland “falls far short” of what was demanded by disabled people, say campaigners. The Smith Commission which reported last week, secured an agreement backed by the five parties represented […]
Disabled activists have condemned the government’s latest refusal to order a major reform of its controversial “fitness for work” assessment. Four months ago, the Commons work and pensions select committee called for “fundamental redesign” of the much-criticised process used to determine […]