Category Archives: Disability

UK’s Tory government to explain to the UN why it violates disabled people’s rights

A cartoonist’s view of government sickness and disability assessments [Illustration: Andrzej Krauze].

This is a heads-up – and a diary marker:

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Hunt’s Budget cold-shoulders society’s poorest, says disability organisation

Jeremy Hunt’s Budget failed to offer support to millions of disabled people, despite mountains of evidence on their economic and social hardship, according to Disability Rights UK.

Perhaps he hadn’t been lobbied for it by Conservative MPs who had in turn been lobbied by groups (possibly of Tory donors).

The only exception – described as “meagre” by the organisation – was a six-month continuation of the Household Support Fund, money that allows local authorities to make discretionary payments to people in need. It is now set to close when next winter starts.

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The Disability Poverty Campaign Group (DPCG), of which Disability Rights UK is a member, had called on the Chancellor to help Disabled citizens struggling with household bills and inadequate social support.

In a statement, the organisation said:

DPCG asked that action was taken to increase social security to meet the essentials of life including food, energy and medication and the extra costs of disability; invest in public services to enable Disabled people to receive health services, educational support, and social care; and to ensure that housing and transport were accessible and affordable.

We were, alongside others representing the poorest and most excluded in society, deeply concerned by the Government’s failure to acknowledge or address growing levels of poverty and to invest in grossly underfunded public services such as social care and educational support to Disabled children and young people.

With the Government set to be questioned by the United Nations on 18 March on its record on achieving equality for Disabled people, this Budget is yet more evidence of its lack of commitment to improving our life chances.

Source: DR UK Statement on Spring Budget: ‘Government Turns its Back on the Poorest in Society’ | Disability Rights UK


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#NoMoreBenefitDeaths day of action March 4 – and EVERYONE can get involved

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Woman took her own life hours before DWP agreed long-delayed PIP claim | Disability News Service

It’s 11 years – possibly more – since This Site started campaigning for an end to the senseless deaths of sick and disabled benefit claimants… and they are still dying due to Tory ignorance and cruelty:

A young disabled woman took her own life nine months after submitting an application for a disability benefit, which was finally awarded just hours after she died, an inquiry by a committee of MPs has been told.

The Commons work and pensions committee has been told how the 24-year-old’s claim had been held up for months because of flaws within the application process.

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Her mother has told the committee that the “mental health impact” of the “hurdles” in the application process “should not be underestimated”.

Her evidence again raises serious concerns about flaws and delays within the personal independence payment (PIP) system.

Following her death, DWP identified numerous errors in how her claim had been dealt with, according to the statement.

Disability Rights UK [has] called for a public inquiry to “learn the truth about what has happened in cases of benefit related deaths and serious harm”.

Source: Young woman took her own life hours before DWP finally agreed long-delayed PIP claim – Disability News Service


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Disability Action Plan is launched – and nobody believes a word of it

The verdict: but then, we always knew the Tories’ Disability Action Plan wouldn’t be worth the paper it was written on, didn’t we? [Image by Disability News Service, I believe.]

The Tory government launched its Disability Action Plan on Tuesday, after a 12-week consultation period.

Here is an eloquent response:

This Writer certainly doesn’t believe a Tory government has any interest in changing the lives of sick and/or disabled people for the better.

The Tories have killed far too many such people since 2010 for anybody ever to take such a bald-faced lie seriously.

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But let’s give the Tories the benefit of the doubt and see what other organisations connected with disabled people have to say. Here’s some more background courtesy of Disability News Service:

Disabled people’s organisations have dismissed the government’s new Disability Action Plan as a series of “empty promises” that fail to address the “dire situation” disabled people are facing.

The plan, and its 32 “practical actions”, was launched by disability minister Mims Davies on Tuesday… All 32 actions appear to be low or zero budget measures, and there are no striking new policies, and apparently no new legislation or spending commitments before the general election.

The plan is intended to run alongside the longer-term National Disability Strategy, which was heavily-criticised by a cross-party committee of MPs last year.

And here’s the commentary:

Disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) … described it as “weak” and said it failed to address key cost-of-living concerns, while ignoring the need for urgent action in areas such as social care, accessible housing and government reforms that are set to tighten the work capability assessment (WCA).

Rick Burgess, a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, said: “This is a plan about what non-disabled political actors are willing to offer to disabled people, it is not based in our rights or the social model. It is not what we need, rather it is what a disablist government think they will grudgingly offer.”

(This Writer knows Rick of old; he knows what he’s talking about.)

Svetlana Kotova, director of campaigns and justice at Inclusion London, described the plan as “a list of research, evidence and engagement, either on issues which are not a priority or where solutions have been known for a while.

“At a time when disabled people are struggling to make ends meet, hate crime on the rise, the new punitive welfare reforms are looming, care packages are cut, employers’ attitudes are not improving, when there is a shortage of accessible housing and parents of disabled children have to spend months in arguments and complaints to get minimal support, it is hard to see how any actions in the plan would make a tangible difference where it is most needed.

“We want the government to recognise that making significant improvements in our lives needs ambition and funding. We don’t see any of that in the plan.”

One member of the steering group of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) described the document as a “disability inaction plan”.

Linda Burnip, a DPAC co-founder, said it was hard to comment on the action plan because of how little it offered.

She said it offered a “plan for councils to build accessible playgrounds but apparently no extra money for that, nothing about housing, transport, social care, accessibility generally, healthcare, or aids and adaptations people need to live independently”.

Professor Peter Beresford, chair of Shaping Our Lives, said: “This is a government which … expects us to forget its terrible track record and sign up to the empty promises of its latest Disability Action Plan, to build up our hopes and get involved as if it is to be trusted.

“Shaping Our Lives will take the government’s disability prospectus seriously when and only when it begins seriously to address the DPO forum’s programme of demands to secure older and disabled people’s rights.

“Sadly, we seem as far away from that as ever.”

(I know Linda and Peter of old, too; these are the people you should trust when they say what needs to be done – not the Tory government).

Read the DNS article for more if you like; the main point is clear:

This “Disability Inaction Plan” is not worth the paper it was written on or the many weeks (beyond the 12 of the consultation) that it took to prepare. Disable people will continue to suffer.


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Tories force disabled people into court for no reason (?) as 50,000 overturn PIP refusal with no new evidence

As seen on Twitter: but the Tory-run DWP may well praise such a move for achieving the end aim in the fastest possible way.

It is a common belief that under the Tories, the Department for Work and Pensions automatically refuses every new claim for Personal Independence Payment.

Now, that belief seems to have been borne out by the revelation that 50,000 disabled people who were forced to take the DWP to a tribunal managed to reverse the refusal decision without having to provide any new evidence at all:

Figures show 50,000 people seeking Personal Independence Payments (PIP) had an initial refusal overturned at tribunal without the need for new evidence.

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Just under 30,000 won their appeal based on oral evidence that could have been obtained by the DWP.

Fewer than 1,000 successful appeals were based primarily on new written evidence given to the Government.

Since PIP was introduced in 2013, almost three-quarters of all appeals lodged against DWP decisions have either been won at the hearing or “lapsed”, when the Government concedes prior to a hearing.

According to Government figures, 235,300 [decisions] have been overturned in favour of the claimant in tribunal, since 2013. A further 71,920 people were awarded the payment they wanted after the appeal “lapsed”.

The article (link below) seems to concentrate on the apparent fact that the government could avoid lengthy, expensive and pointless appeals if it handled applications properly in the first place – but This Writer doesn’t think that’s the problem.

No – I think there is an intention simply to cause applicants a hassle in the hope that they will give up and try to manage without the benefit.

And that creates an additional question, because people with disabilities are prone to mental illnesses like depression, making it hard to find work, claim other benefits, and make ends meet.

They are far more likely to fall into despair and suicide, or die due to complications connected with their disabilities.

Do the Tories – and by extension the DWP – want to drive people to their deaths in order to enjoy a false benefit saving?

Source: DWP under fire as 50,000 overturn disability benefit decisions without new evidence


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DWP is fighting the release of secret reports on benefit claimants – again

If you’re wondering what happens to the money the government saves by cutting off the benefits that people need and deserve, it seems the DWP uses it to fend off legal demands for it to publish reports on the harmful consequences of doing so.

According to Disability News Service, the department has been ordered to publish two such reports and is likely to spend multiple thousands of pounds trying to keep them out of the public domain.

Why would it do that, if there was nothing questionable in their contents?

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Here’s DNS:

The first report was a written assessment of how the government’s decision to abolish the work capability assessment (WCA) would impact millions of disabled people and other groups protected under the Equality Act.

Under the plans, disabled people who cannot work will only be able to qualify for a new health element of universal credit if they also receive personal independence payment (PIP), disability living allowance, or, in Scotland, adult disability payment.

But this would also mean that it would be left to DWP’s over-worked work coaches – who will usually have no health-related qualifications – to decide if a disabled person should carry out work-related activity.

DNS had told the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) that although the WCA has been “closely linked to the deaths of hundreds of disabled people”, the plans to scrap it could lead to further deaths of claimants.

The second report describes the impact of DWP errors on “vulnerable” benefit claimants, which it has admitted could have a “negative” impact on its reputation.

The report contains “worst case scenario” information that DWP has calculated about the impact of its errors on claimants, which it appears keen to keep hidden from the public, and probably includes estimates of how many claimants have been harmed by its errors.

DWP has argued that this information was only intended to be considered by its serious case panel and that “some of the information, if presented in its current format, could have a negative reputational impact on DWP”.

Between 2013 and 2015, I spent two years campaigning for information on the number of people who died after being denied Employment and Support Allowance to be released.

The Information Commissioner’s Office eventually ruled that the data must be published – but the DWP said it only had information on deaths within two weeks of a decision.

This still showed 2,400 people had died over a period between 2011 and 2014 – after the DWP had decided that they were perfectly healthy and did not deserve the benefit they were claiming.

Why did they die, then?

It seems the currently-disputed reports are on similar lines – discussing the harm that may happen to patients if the government goes through with current plans, based on the experience of what has happened in the past.

That is why it is so important for them to be published; they may contain information on harm the DWP knows it has caused.

If DWP bosses know their policies and decisions have caused undue harm, why are they pushing ahead with them – or worsening them?

Source: DWP set to waste thousands fighting release of two secret reports – Disability News Service


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More than 100,000 eligible disabled children can’t access free school meals

Ian Byrne: he’s campaigning to ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities get the free school meals to which they are entitled.

It isn’t so long since Ian Byrne was MP of the year – and Keir Starmer’s Labour Party was trying to get rid of him.

Now he’s on a new campaign – and once again he’s on the right side of history:

Thousands of children with special educational needs and disabilities are missing out on the free  school meals they are eligible for due to their disability or sensory needs. This is despite the law  being clear that most should be offered an alternative such as a supermarket food voucher.

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Disabled children and their families are already more likely to be living in poverty due to the  difficulties of juggling care and work. Research shows they have also been disproportionately affected  by cost-of-living pressures and the pandemic. Contact found that 85% of families missing out on the  free school meals entitlement reported that this has increased pressure on their weekly budgets. The  families of children with conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy and autism are all too often missing out  on the equivalent of £570 a year worth of financial help. This is causing many to fall into debt and  needing to turn to foodbanks, which is completely unacceptable and unnecessary.

Contact calculates that more than 164,000 disabled children are unable to access their free school  meals, despite meeting the Government’s eligibility requirements. This is truly shocking. Access to  food is a basic human right. I am campaigning for universal free school meals as part of the Right To  Food campaign but in the meantime we must ensure the current system is fair and equal and that it  actually delivers in practise what it claims to.

Research carried out by Contact in March 2023 with 1500 families found that there are different  reasons that disabled children cannot currently access their free lunch. These include:

– 60% can’t eat school meals due to their health condition, dietary requirements or sensory  processing difficulties

– 22% are off school due to a long-term medical condition or illness

– 18% are not in school as they have an education package provided by the council or are  waiting for a suitable school place

– 6% attend a school without a canteen

Many parents are incorrectly being refused a food voucher as a reasonable adjustment. Others are  being asked to travel miles to pick up a food parcel that doesn’t include food their child can eat. Families should never have to face this battle.

It must be made clear that schools and councils need to provide an  alternative, ideally a supermarket voucher, to disabled children who cannot access a free school meal  in the regular way.

Source: Ian Byrne MP: More than 100,000 eligible disabled children are unable to access the free school meals. The government must act. – Left Foot Forward: Leading the UK’s progressive debate


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Rishi Sunak shows his true colours – scraps ‘Minister for Disabled People’

[Image: Black Triangle Campaign].

The leader of the Tory government has decided that there is no more need for a minister looking after the interests of people who are disabled.

Rishi Sunak’s decision flies in the face of what is needed; disabled people are in more danger now than they have ever been.

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But here it is:

“Retrograde” is right. Here’s what they’re saying:

[Scope] director of strategy, James Taylor, who described the move as appalling and retrograde, added: “What kind of message does this give to Britain’s 16 million disabled people? That in the middle of a cost of living crisis we are now less important?”

Mims Davies has been appointed minister for disabled people, but she remains a parliamentary undersecretary of state rather than becoming a minister of state, which Labour described as a “downgrade” of the post.

Vicky Foxcroft, the Labour MP and shadow minister for disabled people, said it was “outrageous it took the government so long to finally agree to appoint a minister for disabled people”.

She said: “When they finally do, they have demoted the role to parliamentary undersecretary of state and the role was previously minister of state. Disabled people deserve better than this.”

And here’s what the rest of us are saying:

A general election is coming. It might be next May, it might be next December. Or January the following year. But it is on its way.

16 million disabled people might change the fortunes of every political party taking part in that election.

All they need is the will to do it – and this might give it to them.


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‘Am I Being Unreasonable’? Mumsnet user demands eugenics against disabled kids

So much for that bastion of respectability, Mumsnet, it seems.

In fact, it seems the site has lost its shine after building a reputation for transphobia, but now it seems to have added disablism to its sins.

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Here’s what was said – and let’s enjoy the responses too:

Indeed, what next? A visit by Aktion T4 – the van with the Zyklon-B?

Let’s have some more responses:

India Willoughby stated: “Mumsnet is NOT a parenting site anymore. It’s a staging ground for bigotry and extremism, where the most awful things are said. Go look. The transphobia in the ‘Feminist’ section is stomach turning. Here a poster questions the value of educating disabled kids.”

Rachel added: “Less Mumsnet, more EugenicsNet now! This is really heartbreaking, OF COURSE disabled children deserve an education and the opportunity to learn and play with others, uncover their talents and learn social skills, regardless of what they go on to do!”

It seems this sort of thing has been happening on Mumsnet for a while.

It would be nice to have a comment from Mumsnet’s organisers.

This Site has requested one, and will publish it if it is forthcoming.


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