the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
Disabled activists say government-funded research, which concludes that the programme to reassess people on incapacity benefit through the work capability assessment (WCA) was linked to 590 suicides in just three years, is both “damning” and “timely”. Campaigners, doctors and psychiatrists have […]
In the run-up to the general election, civil servants sketched out plans to charge claimants a fee if they tried to appeal to a tribunal after being found ineligible for benefits, Disability News Service (DNS) can reveal. The policy proposal was […]
Disabled activists are calling on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to release secret reports which could prove whether it has been engaging in a propaganda campaign to demonise disabled people in the media. DWP has told Disability News Service […]
Disabled activists have called for ministers to face a criminal investigation, over their apparent failure to hand a crucial coroner’s report about the discredited “fitness for work” test to their own independent expert. Earlier this week, a Disability News Service (DNS) […]
The sister of a disabled man who died just three months after being found fit for work and then having his benefits sanctioned says the government’s discredited work capability assessment (WCA) system was partly responsible for her brother’s death. Luke Alexander […]
Disabled activists have explained why they needed to hold the government to account over its “sickening” and “degrading” cuts by protesting outside this week’s Conservative party conference in Manchester. The protest, organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), saw disabled people […]
Disabled activists have asked why the government is refusing to answer key questions about severe cuts to the support packages of former users of the Independent Living Fund (ILF). Both the Department of Health (DH) – which is responsible for social […]
A national disabled people’s organisation is to provide disability equality training workshops to staff from the controversial US-owned company that won the government contract to assess people’s “fitness for work”. Disability Rights UK (DR UK) will provide training to about 1 […]
Government contractor Atos Healthcare claims it has no idea if a former surgeon whose flawed assessment of a disabled man helped trigger his suicide is still testing people with mental health conditions for their eligibility for disability benefits. Disability News Service […]
Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has been accused of lying to his own party conference about the success of his campaign to encourage employers to be more “disability confident”. Duncan Smith (pictured) told last year’s conference in Birmingham that more […]