the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
A senior figure in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) loudly “joked” about disability equality and reasonable adjustments as he waited to give evidence to a committee of MPs, Disability News Service can reveal. The incident has raised fresh concerns […]
The government’s Access to Work scheme is plagued by multiple failings, including lengthy delays – which risk disabled people losing their jobs – poor communication, and an inaccessible process, a committee of MPs has concluded. The Commons public accounts committee found […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is now telling disabled people who need support through the Access to Work scheme that it could take 37 weeks to make a decision on their application, senior civil servants have told MPs. They […]
There is not a single public charging point for electric vehicles across the whole of the UK that meets the government’s own accessibility standard, a report by a committee of MPs has found. The Commons public accounts committee said disabled drivers […]
The most senior civil servant in the Department for Education (DfE) has told MPs that educating disabled pupils in mainstream schools is usually much cheaper and produces “similar or better outcomes” than using special schools. Susan Acland-Hood, DfE’s permanent secretary, told […]
The government tried this week to persuade the UN that it has made “progress” since being found guilty of “grave and systematic violations” of the disability rights convention, just as MPs prepared to undermine one of its key claims. A delegation […]
Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people has angered activists after failing to express concern about safeguarding flaws at the heart of the universal credit system, including a suicide linked by a coroner to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Vicky […]
Hundreds of thousands of disabled people in England may have “slipped through the net” and missed out on vital support in securing food, medicines and basic care in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by […]
The government has been accused by MPs of a “reckless and negligent” approach to the social care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. A report by the Commons public accounts committee contrasts the government’s early actions to protect the NHS with its […]
Disabled people will be paid more than £100 million extra in backdated benefits owed by the government, after a U-turn by work and pensions secretary Esther McVey on the eve of a court hearing. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) […]