the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
Disabled people who have taken part voluntarily in a government employment support programme have been more likely to find jobs than claimants who were forced into the scheme, research has found. An updated research report on the programme, carried out on […]
The government’s failure to spend enough money on specialist employment support for disabled people is unacceptable, MPs have been told by policy and research experts. Members of the Commons work and pensions committee were told the government was “not doing enough” […]
A disabled job-seeker who signed up to the government’s new Work and Health Programme was banned from using the toilet, washing his hands or accessing drinking water. Ryan*, from north London, was attending a voluntary programme run by the charity Shaw […]
The decision of some disability charities to sign contracts that prevent them criticising the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is proof that they cannot be trusted to speak up on behalf of disabled people, according to grassroots activists. Last week, […]
Disability charities that sign up to help deliver the government’s new Work and Health Programme must promise to “pay the utmost regard to the standing and reputation” of work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, official documents suggest. The charities, and other […]
The Department for Work and Pensions has refused to name the charities and other organisations being paid millions of pounds to help deliver its new disability employment programme across England and Wales. All six of the new Work and Health Programme […]
Disabled activists have called on the charity Mind to explain how seconding a senior member of staff to work for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over the last year has affected mental health service-users. In an open letter to […]
Ministers have backed down – at least temporarily – from plans to force all sick and disabled people on out-of-work disability benefits to take part in compulsory work-related activity. There was an outcry among disabled campaigners last year when the government’s […]
Campaigners have published a withering 237-page attack on the government’s work, health and disability green paper, accusing ministers of creating a “smokescreen” to disguise their intention to cut support and force sick and disabled people into inappropriate work. The response from […]
Some of the country’s most controversial and discredited outsourcing companies are set to win contracts under the government’s new programme to find jobs for disabled people and other marginalised groups. The 11 organisations that have been successful in the bidding process […]