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You are here: Home / Archives for Dr Jay Watts

Dr Jay Watts

Government research shows activists were right to warn of impact of DWP work advisers on mental distress

By John Pring on 28th May 2026 Category: Employment

Government research shows activists were right to warn of impact of DWP work advisers on mental distress
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New government research has proved disabled activists were right to warn that receiving employment advice on top of NHS talking therapy would push many people with mental distress further away from the jobs market. Mental health system survivors, anti-cuts activists and […]

Psychologists’ charity fails to raise concerns over job coaches in surgeries, weeks after £640K DWP contract

By John Pring on 23rd October 2025 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Psychologists’ charity fails to raise concerns over job coaches in surgeries, weeks after £640K DWP contract
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The national charity representing psychologists failed to speak out about the serious risks caused by placing work coaches in GP surgeries, just weeks after it was awarded a £640,000 contract by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). There was alarm […]

Prime minister ‘should be ashamed’ after he fails to provide evidence for latest ‘fit for work’ attack

By John Pring on 20th February 2025 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Prime minister ‘should be ashamed’ after he fails to provide evidence for latest ‘fit for work’ attack
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The prime minister has failed to produce any evidence to back up “baseless” and “poisonous” claims in a newspaper article that large numbers of young disabled people are pretending they are not fit enough to work. Sir Keir Starmer made the […]

MPs join activists and families in call for public inquiry into years of DWP deaths

By John Pring on 12th December 2024 Category: Benefits and Poverty

MPs join activists and families in call for public inquiry into years of DWP deaths
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MPs have joined disabled activists and bereaved families in calling for a public inquiry into the years of deaths linked to the actions of ministers, senior civil servants and advisers at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Disability News Service […]

Badenoch’s ‘sinister’ comments on mental health and autism raise fears about future Tory disability policies

By John Pring on 17th October 2024 Category: Politics

Badenoch’s ‘sinister’ comments on mental health and autism raise fears about future Tory disability policies
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Disabled people have reacted with alarm to “stigmatising”, “damaging” and “inaccurate” comments about mental health and autism by Kemi Badenoch, the right-wing Conservative MP who could soon be the next leader of her party. The comments were made in a pamphlet […]

Police still being used in ‘punitive’ NHS mental health schemes, says report

By John Pring on 2nd May 2024 Category: Human Rights

Police still being used in ‘punitive’ NHS mental health schemes, says report
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Police are still being used as part of “punitive, exclusionary and discriminatory” NHS schemes in England that criminalise mental distress, an 18-month investigation has found. The Criminalising Distress report calls for an end to all such practices and the immediate removal […]

Watchdog receives hundreds of complaints over Telegraph’s ‘toxic’ benefits article

By John Pring on 8th June 2023 Category: Activism and Campaigning

Watchdog receives hundreds of complaints over Telegraph’s ‘toxic’ benefits article
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A press watchdog has received hundreds of complaints about a “toxic” article by the Daily Telegraph which asked its readers to calculate how much disabled people on out-of-work benefits were contributing to the country’s “tax burden”. The Telegraph wrote that millions […]

Disability minister faces resignation calls after posting ‘dangerous’ and hostile video

By John Pring on 27th April 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Disability minister faces resignation calls after posting ‘dangerous’ and hostile video
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The minister for disabled people is facing calls to resign after posting a hostile and “dangerous” post on social media that warned benefit claimants his department would “track you down” and “bring you to justice”. Tom Pursglove and the Department for […]

NHS England’s StopSIM ‘betrayal’ is ‘ticking time bomb’ on co-production

By John Pring on 16th March 2023 Category: Human Rights

NHS England’s StopSIM ‘betrayal’ is ‘ticking time bomb’ on co-production
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NHS England has been warned that its actions could “plunge co-production into crisis”, after it went back on a promise to publish a mental health policy that disabled campaigners had been working on for 15 months. Grassroots groups and disabled activists […]

Citizens Advice signed ‘gagging clause’ in exchange for £21 million from DWP

By John Pring on 9th February 2023 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Citizens Advice signed ‘gagging clause’ in exchange for £21 million from DWP
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A national advice charity signed a £21 million contract which included a “gagging clause” that prevented it bringing the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) “unfairly” into “disrepute”, an official document has finally confirmed. Citizens Advice signed the Help to Claim […]

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Image of front cover of The Department, showing a crinkled memo with the words 'Restricted - Policy. The Department. How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence. John Pring.' Next to the image is a red box with the following words in white: 'A very interesting book... a very important contribution to this whole debate' - Sir Stephen Timms, minister for social security and disability. plutobooks.com and the Pluto Press logo.

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