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The minister for disabled people has denied lying to an influential committee of MPs about the government’s much-criticised disability employment scheme. Sarah Newton’s claims about Disability Confident were exposed yesterday (Wednesday) just as her boss, work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, […]
Nearly 7,000 employers that signed up to the government’s much-criticised Disability Confident jobs scheme have promised to provide just 4,500 new jobs for disabled people between them, less than one per employer. The figures emerged as the minister for disabled people, […]
The minister for disabled people is calling on her own government to take “urgent action” to address concerns about the dangers of “shared space” street developments. Sarah Newton called for action in letters she wrote to both the minister for transport […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) looks set to have to carry out six separate trawls through the records of disabled people unfairly deprived of benefits because of serious errors by senior civil servants. The minister for disabled people, Sarah […]
The government’s decision to stop regular benefit reassessments for some people with “the most severe, lifelong conditions” shows that replacing disability living allowance (DLA) with personal independence payment (PIP) was a waste of time and money, it has been claimed. Sarah […]
The minister for disabled people has been caught misleading MPs – again – as she tried to defend her government’s repeated breaches of the UN disability convention. It was the second time in five months that Sarah Newton (pictured) has misled […]
The government’s decision to extend the contracts of two discredited companies that carry out disability benefit assessments has been branded “appalling”, “shocking” and “a complete con”. The move has also been criticised by the Scottish government. Sarah Newton, the minister for […]
Campaigners have raised serious concerns about government plans to video-record all face-to-face assessments for personal independence payment (PIP). The move, which will begin with a pilot project, before being rolled out across the country, was announced this week by the minister […]
Tens of thousands of “fitness for work” benefit claims could have been decided by civil servants on evidence from assessment reports that should have been rejected because their quality was “unacceptable”, government figures suggest. The concerns about the way Department for […]
Every one of the country’s biggest companies should ensure they have a “disability champion” on their board by 2020, according to a new report co-authored by a leading disabled social entrepreneur. The report also calls on the boards of Britain’s biggest […]