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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 […]
A disabled widow has accused the government of subjecting her and her late husband to “inhumane and cruel” treatment, after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) argued that it was not responsible for supporting them. Laurel Duut’s husband Peter died […]
A disabled peer has warned her own government that tightening social security rules even further could lead to more deaths of benefit claimants, days after Disability News Service (DNS) revealed there had been 60 secret reviews into such tragedies. Last week’s […]