the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
The Liberal Democrats have ruled out scrapping universal credit (UC) if they win power at the next general election, but they have agreed to scrap all benefit sanctions. At their annual conference in Bournemouth this week (pictured), members overwhelmingly endorsed the […]
The government’s own social security advisers have called for “urgent” action to stop jobcentre staff forcing claimants of universal credit (UC) to take medication or attend medical appointments in return for receiving their benefits. The social security advisory committee (SSAC) included […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) appears to have secured funding to set up an independent panel to examine cases where its own failings have led to the deaths of benefit claimants. Although DWP refused to provide any details on […]
Grave concerns have been raised about what appear to be “discriminatory” and “pernicious” actions by a police force that has admitted passing information about disabled protesters to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Campaigners, including the human rights organisation Liberty, […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted that it has no idea how many of its 19 “disability champions” are disabled people. The disability sector champions – covering areas such as banking, gaming, arts and culture, media, music and […]
The amount of time that nurses and physiotherapists spend carrying out face-to-face disability benefit assessments can vary hugely, depending on where the test takes place, according to analysis of new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures. Although the figures do […]
Two charities that will receive £51 million in government funding to provide advice and support to claimants of universal credit (UC) signed gagging clauses that prevent them bringing the Department for Work and Pensions “unfairly” into “disrepute”. Both Citizens Advice (CA) […]
Striking – but unexplained – new official figures show there has been a large fall over the last year in the proportion of disabled people who are unemployed. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that the percentage of disabled […]
A retired Paralympian organising a mass participation disability sports event has defended accepting sponsorship from a company that spent years lobbying the government to make the out-of-work disability benefits regime harsher and more stressful. Unum has signed up as one of […]
The proportion of disability assessment reports completed by government contractor Atos that were found to be significantly flawed has soared by more than 40 per cent in the last two years. The percentage of substandard Atos* personal independence payment (PIP) reports […]