Concern after DWP admits it has not signed benefit deaths legal agreement
The equality watchdog has been told to take “urgent” action over its failure to persuade the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to sign a legally-binding agreement that would force it to improve its treatment of disabled benefit claimants.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced plans in April for a voluntary agreement that would commit DWP to an action plan aimed at “resolving issues for DWP customers”.
The watchdog was seeking the agreement after countless deaths of disabled benefit claimants linked to DWP’s actions over the last decade.
EHRC said in April that the “section 23” agreement was likely to be signed “by summer 2022”.
It said then that this followed concerns raised by campaigners “about the deaths of DWP customers in vulnerable situations” and an examination into whether DWP was “making reasonable adjustments to its processes for people with mental health conditions and learning difficulties, as required under the Equality Act 2010”.
But more than six months later, the commission has told Disability News Service that the agreement has still not been signed, and that discussions are “ongoing”.
EHRC had refused to follow through on earlier plans for an inquiry into the deaths and decided to seek the section 23 agreement instead.
The decision to drop the inquiry led to EHRC being accused of failing disabled people and becoming “an extension of government”.
Its announcement in April of an imminent section 23 agreement – in place of the inquiry – was first placed in doubt two months later by work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey.
She told the work and pensions select committee that the agreement had “not yet been agreed with EHRC” and that her department was “awaiting further elements from the EHRC to some extent on why they have made the claims that they have”.
Now, two work and pensions secretaries and more than six months later, there is still no agreement in sight.
Mark Harrison, a steering group member of Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance, said: “It is clear now that there is no agreement between the EHRC and DWP, so the EHRC now needs to act to hold DWP to account for its violations of the Equality Act using their legal powers.
“Failure to do so will confirm what disabled people’s organisations fear: that they are no longer an independent or an effective human rights body and are not fit for purpose.
“Too many disabled people have died unnecessary deaths to delay further.”
Bob Ellard, a steering group member of Disabled People Against Cuts, said: “EHRC and the DWP need to get some urgency into these discussions; all the time they delay, the lives of more disabled and non-disabled benefit claimants are at risk from shoddy DWP practices.
“This time, delay is not good enough; they need to get this sorted.”
Imogen Day, whose sister Philippa’s death was caused by systemic flaws in the personal independence payment system, said: “I am disheartened to hear that no agreement has been signed.
“I will continue to push for a full independent inquiry into benefit-related deaths.
“The reluctance of the DWP to voluntarily enter into an agreement with the EHRC is baffling and speaks to the insular nature of the DWP.”
She added: “The voluntary agreement was already a step down from having an inquiry.
“It is disappointing that it seems that the voices of claimants, disabled people and bereaved families has not been heard and the seriousness of the long-standing deaths and issues has not been taken into account.”
DWP declined to say this week why no agreement had yet been reached, or whether it expected to sign an agreement.
But a DWP spokesperson said: “We are committed to providing a compassionate and responsive service to all our customers, and are constantly improving our processes to deliver consistently reliable and high quality standards.
“We are engaging constructively with the EHRC to this end.”
10 November 2022
Minister’s answers suggest disability benefits white paper has been delayed
The new secretary of state for work and pensions appears to have postponed plans to publish a crucial white paper on disability benefits.
The decision to delay the white paper is likely to be a result of the chaos within the government over the last few months, with repeated sackings and appointments of new ministers as the Conservative party dumped two prime ministers in a matter of months.
Although the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) this week refused to confirm the white paper* had been delayed, replies to written parliamentary questions show a crucial change in the language of ministers when discussing the document, following the appointment of a new secretary of state, Mel Stride.
Late last month, the then minister for disabled people, Claire Coutinho, was telling Labour MPs Judith Cummins and Tulip Siddiq that the white paper would be published “later this year”.
But Coutinho’s replacement, Tom Pursglove, is now telling Labour MPs such as Vicky Foxcroft, Rachael Maskell and Kate Osamor that the white paper will be published “in the coming months”.
Foxcroft told Disability News Service (DNS) yesterday (Wednesday): “The government has been all over the place.
“From changing prime minister to demoting the minister for disabled people, and then U-turning on that demotion – it’s utter chaos.
“Their now illegal National Disability Strategy is a shambles, with commitment after commitment missed or withdrawn.
“Rather than restarting the process of properly consulting disabled people, the DWP have continued to challenge the high court’s decision.
“Now we have even less transparency, from the publication date of the white paper to numerous reports the DWP refuse to publish.
“The government needs to get a grip and deal with the challenges disabled people face. If they can’t, we should hold a general election now.”
When DNS asked DWP to confirm that the white paper had been delayed, and to explain why this decision had been taken, a spokesperson declined to answer those questions.
But she said in a statement: “DWP published ‘Shaping future support: The health and disability green paper’ last year, which explored how the welfare system can better meet the needs of disabled people now and in the future.
“The white paper will be published in the coming months.”
A DWP consultation on the green paper closed 13 months ago, after more than 4,500 responses from individuals and organisations.
Disabled people’s organisations and others raised serious concerns about the green paper, including its suggestions that ministers wanted to cut future spending on disability benefits and merge personal independence payment (PIP) with universal credit.
The green paper said ministers wanted to “explore making bigger changes to the benefits system” that would mean the system was “more affordable in the future”.
It also suggested that ministers could create a “new single benefit” to simplify the application and assessment processes, which would likely mean merging PIP – which contributes towards the extra costs of disability – with income-related employment and support allowance and universal credit.
Following publication of the green paper, ministers continued to hint at a fresh push to force disabled people into work, a possible merger of PIP and universal credit, and the need to cut spending on disability benefits.
*White papers are documents that describe the government’s proposals for future legislation
10 November 2022
Climate change conference must stop excluding disabled people, says new UK coalition
Disabled activists have called on the UN’s COP27 conference to stop excluding them from discussions and solutions around climate change.
They say it is vital that disabled people are included in COP27 – currently being held in Egypt – and future COP events as “equal partners”.
And they warn that laws, policies and programmes that aim to address climate change are failing to consider the needs of disabled people or the impact on them of proposed changes.
The letter was put together by a new coalition headed by Disability Rights UK (DR UK), and follows a round-table event attended by disabled activists from Britain, New Zealand, Egypt and Northern Ireland.
In their letter, the new coalition tell the COP27 conference that they are “deeply concerned” about global warming and the absence of disabled people from decision-making on climate change.
They say that disabled people are disproportionately impacted by disasters – such as Hurricane Katrina, the Grenfell Tower fire and the Covid pandemic – and would be disproportionately affected by rising global temperatures.
They say in the letter that solutions to address climate change – including banning cars from certain streets and building inaccessible charging points for electric vehicles – have often discriminated against disabled people.
They point out that disabled people’s organisations must be funded to carry out the “crucial role” they should play “in all aspects of climate response planning, implementation, and evaluation”.
They add: “Representatives from the global Disabled community must be at the table when environmental solutions are being developed and implemented, to prevent societal barriers to our inclusion increasing rather than reducing.”
And they call on the UN to ensure that all COP, political and climate events are designed to be accessible to disabled people.
They add: “It is vital that Disabled people are part of the world-wide work to address climate change and develop solutions for an inclusive and sustainable world.”
One of the coalition members, disabled climate activist Pauline Castres, told Disability News Service (DNS) yesterday (Wednesday): “At COP conferences and all year long we are an afterthought at best and seen as an obstacle and intentionally side-lined at worst.
“Yet we cannot resolve the pressing issues that underpin climate inaction without addressing the exact same issues that suffocate our community: relentless austerity measures, short-termism and profits-driven economies, underfunded and understaffed workforces, and lack of accountability of those holding political and economical power.
“Disabled people must lead climate conversation and by that I mean disabled people’s organisations (DPOs).
“The international climate and disability space is starting to fill up with non-user-led disability charities when we need DPOs, including from the Global South, leading those conversations.
“But, like in the UK, many DPOs across the world are struggling to find sufficient funding to survive and expand.
“This COP, like previous COP conferences, has been hijacked by big polluters like Coca-Cola, one of the biggest plastic polluters in the world, when disabled people who need straws to survive have been made to feel ashamed for using single-use plastic straws, which merely represent 0.025 per cent of overall plastic pollution, according to National Geographic.”
The formation of the new coalition follows a series of reports by DNS about last year’s COP26 conference in Glasgow, which saw disabled climate activists describe the failure of the UK and other governments to include disabled people in key parts of the Glasgow climate change agreement as “beyond disgraceful”.
Despite campaigners repeatedly highlighting through the COP26 conference how climate change was having a disproportionate impact on disabled people across the planet, the final text (PDF) of the UN agreement mentioned disabled people only once.
The repeated omissions from key areas of the text appeared to breach the UN’s own Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which makes it clear in article four that governments should “closely consult with” and “actively involve” disabled people through their own organisations when making decisions on issues affecting them.
This omission of disabled people came after the UK government admitted that there had been widespread and serious access failings at the conference in Glasgow.
10 November 2022
Disabled-led arts organisations welcome funding, but Arts Council admits it must do more
Disabled-led arts organisations have welcomed millions of pounds in annual funding awarded by the Arts Council, although new figures suggest that progress in expanding investment may have stalled.
Arts Council England (ACE) has awarded funding to 32 disabled-led organisations, with the total funding awarded just two per cent of the total allocated through the 2023-26 Investment Programme.
It’s not clear whether this is an increase on the last set of awards, which were announced in 2017 to cover four years of funding and then extended for a year because of the pandemic.
Although 35 disabled-led organisations were awarded funding in 2017, ACE said this could have been an over-estimation because of a dispute at the time about the way the question defining a disabled-led organisation was phrased.
The total funding awarded by ACE to disabled-led organisations is £7.25 million a year, and again it is not possible to compare that accurately with the last announcement in 2017, which saw £7.029 million a year handed to disabled-led arts organisations.
The number of black, Asian and ethnically diverse-led organisations awarded funding has risen from 53 to 148, when compared with 2017, and now makes up 8.4 per cent of the total investment over the next three years, compared with two per cent for disabled-led arts organisations.
In all, ACE awarded funding to 990 organisations.
In 2014, after a fall of 30 per cent in the number of disabled-led arts organisations funded through the national portfolio programme, and a fall of nearly 15 per cent in their annual funding, ACE pledged to take action.
There has since been an increase in the number of disabled-led arts organisations that receive funding awards, from 23 in 2014 to 32 this year, but the increase is far lower than the increase in the number of black, Asian and ethnically diverse-led organisations awarded funding, which has risen from 52 in 2014 (PDF) to 148 this year.
An ACE spokesperson told Disability News Service (DNS): “We are committed to seeing further progress in terms of funding disability-led investment.
“We recognise that while progress has been made, an increase in leadership roles for example, there is more we can do over the coming years.
“We hope to publish an equality action plan in the coming year setting out some of what we will do in response to key issues identified, including the continued under-representation of disabled people.”
The total funding of £446 million per year by ACE is made up of £351.8 million from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, £0.5 million from the Department for Education and £93.9 million from the National Lottery.
ACE figures show that six of the 32 disabled-led organisations with awards will receive an annual investment of up to £100,000; 17 will receive between £101,000 and £250,000; and eight will receive between £251,000 and £500,000.
Just one disabled-led organisation – Graeae Theatre Company – will receive more than £750,000 (£769,000 a year), which sees its award increase from about £575,000 a year.
Graeae was among those disabled-led arts organisations celebrating their own success but also expressing empathy for those that lost out.
Jenny Sealey, who this year celebrates 25 years as Graeae’s chief executive and artistic director, said: “Graeae is unbelievably happy that we can continue nurturing the skills and creativity and provide artistic platforms for an ever-growing cohort of Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists.”
But she added: “We are mindful that not everyone has had good news, so it is bittersweet.”
Disability Arts Online (DAO), which like Graeae receives a significant increase in funding – from about £100,000 a year to nearly £150,000 – said: “We are delighted that this critical funding will enable us to continue nurturing our thriving community, alongside delivering impactful talent and sector development work, underpinned by exceptional creative content.
“The DAO team were particularly humbled by the fact that our hard work over our first five years as an NPO* has been recognised through a successful additional request for funds.
“These will specifically support an ambitious digital exhibition programme led by a disabled curator employed within our team.
“We recognise that today hasn’t brought good news for every organisation applying and that some sector colleagues are now having to consider what this means for their future.
“We will continue to strongly advocate for a fully representative arts sector that values diverse and intersectional voices.”
Dr Ju Gosling, artistic director of Together! 2012, which saw its award increase from about £60,000 to more than £105,000 a year, said she was delighted to be funded again, following the decision – due to the pandemic – to transition to becoming an online-only organisation.
Together! 2012 will receive an increase in funding that will allow it to employ an apprentice and a trainee artistic director.
But she said that, as a relatively new London-based disabled people’s organisation, Together! 2012 had been disadvantaged in comparison with longer-established London-based arts organisations and those outside the capital, even though it is based in Newham, in east London, which has the lowest level of cultural engagement in the UK.
She said: “In terms of the figures overall, disabled people make up 20 per cent of the population, and accessible booking systems, venues and performances are still very much in the minority.
“So we are still significantly disadvantaged in terms of public arts funding as a result of these decisions.”
Together! 2012 is due this evening (Thursday) to accept an East London Community Heroes Award for the year’s “outstanding initiative in art and culture”. Its free annual Disability History Month festival runs from 22 November to 8 December.
Jess Thom, co-founder of Touretteshero, which receives its first national portfolio award from ACE – £370,000 a year – said: “I’m excited that Touretteshero is set to join Arts Council England’s national portfolio and for what it will make possible, both for us as an organisation and for the communities we’re part of.
“We’re really pleased that many other fantastic disabled-led companies were successful too, particularly during such a turbulent and unpredictable time politically, socially and economically.
“We’re keen to continue working with ACE to ensure that disability culture and leadership is nurtured and expanded across the country.”
*National Portfolio Organisation – part of ACE’s national portfolio funding programme
10 November 2022
Public health bosses ‘not aware’ of any government blackout plans
The government has again failed to show how it will protect disabled people who need electricity to run lifesaving medical equipment in their homes if there are power blackouts this winter, despite serious concerns being raised by public health experts.
The Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) has told Disability News Service (DNS) of its concern that some people who rely on power for heat and critical medical equipment in their homes “may suffer as a result of disruption to those services” if supplies are temporarily cut over the winter.
ADPH has told DNS that it is not aware of any “national contingency plans” that have been put in place by the government.
This follows concerns raised by one integrated care board, which told DNS that no national guidance or support around the issue has been sent to the NHS in England by the Department of Health and Social Care.
Despite the disabled peer Baroness [Sal] Brinton being told that a Cabinet Office minister was now coordinating the government’s preparations for possible winter blackouts, the Cabinet Office passed DNS’s questions to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
BEIS has repeatedly failed to provide anything but the vaguest of briefings about what will happen to those who rely on medical equipment in their own homes.
BEIS again failed to comment by noon today (Thursday).
Baroness Brinton said last week: “It’s evident to me that everyone in government and health thinks this is someone else’s responsibility, which is exactly why nothing is happening.”
This is now the fifth consecutive week that DNS has attempted – unsuccessfully – to obtain evidence that plans to protect disabled people will be in place in the event of three-hour blackouts this winter.
The power-cuts are said to be unlikely but possible.
In a statement to DNS, Professor Jim McManus, president of ADPH, said: “It is absolutely vital that, in order to protect vulnerable members of our communities, directors of public health are able to work with the NHS, local government departments and voluntary organisations to identify people who may be at risk of harm should the National Grid’s worst-case scenario be realised.
“We are concerned that if power supplies are temporarily cut in the coming months, some people who rely on power for heat and critical medical equipment in their homes may suffer as a result of disruption to those services.
“Currently, we are not aware of any national contingency plans and unfortunately, any local or regional planning is limited by restrictions on data sharing between agencies.
“Directors of public health are ready to work collaboratively at a national, regional and local level to help develop a coherent, effective plan to protect those people who will be affected most.”
Last week, the disabled crossbench peer Baroness [Jane] Campbell told DNS that she was alarmed at the apparent failure to plan for the impact of possible widespread winter power cuts on people who rely on medical equipment at home.
She said: “It does concern me greatly both on a personal level, as someone who depends on electricity to literally survive, and on behalf of my fellow disabled people in similar circumstances.”
Charities that represent people with long-term health conditions have also told DNS that they are concerned about the lack of information coming from the government and other organisations.
Even local resilience forums, the multi-agency networks set up across England and Wales to ensure each area is prepared for emergencies, have been unable to provide evidence that suitable plans are in place.
So far, the only clear advice for disabled people who rely on equipment in their homes such as ventilators, dialysis machines, or fridges to keep medication cold, is that they should sign up to their energy provider’s Priority Services Register.
They may then be given advance notice of a power cut, could have priority support for emergency cooking and heating facilities if their electricity is cut off, and may be signposted to charities such as Red Cross for “hot meals and drinks”.
Any other support they might be able to secure is not yet clear.
Those with concerns have been told to “seek advice from their local health service provider”.
10 November 2022
Police admission of failure on disability hate crime ‘is not enough’
Disabled campaigners have called for action to address systemic failings in the criminal justice system and serious failures of police leadership that have led to an “alarming” fall in the number of disability hate crime cases being prosecuted.
Since 2016-17, the number of prosecutions of disability hate crime in England and Wales has fallen from 1,009 in a year to just 345.
The key reason for the fall is a huge drop in the number of disability hate crime cases being passed by police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for charging decisions, which has fallen from 924 in 2014-15 to just 243 last year.
In recent weeks, Disability News Service (DNS) has published interviews with the disability hate crime leads of both CPS and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, with both admitting that they need to improve their organisation’s performance.
Now, two leading disabled campaigners with expertise in disability hate crime have responded to those interviews.
Dr David Wilkin, an honorary fellow at the University of Leicester’s School of Criminology, and author of a book on disability hate crime on public transport, said it was “not enough for the NPCC to admit a failure”.
He said: “Failings of police leadership were responsible for the Stephen Lawrence mis-investigations, responsible for the Fiona Pilkington tragedy and continue to be responsible for reported misogyny and other offences within some police forces.
“It is not enough that police leaders admit failure – would it not be better for them not to fail in the first place?
“We have around 30 years of experience of dealing with hate crime in the UK, it’s nothing new.
“But still, our police leaders don’t seem to get it, don’t seem to perform, and don’t seem to be able to offer change.”
Wilkin, a coordinator of the Disability Hate Crime Network, told DNS: “I cringe at the thought of yet another ‘lessons learned’ speech following a disabled person being attacked.
“Perhaps it’s time to reflect on how we choose leaders within the police?”
Wilkin added: “We have reached a position where, for whatever reason, police are failing disabled people in the reporting of hate crimes.
“Whilst academics like myself are urging disabled people to report these offences, there seems little point if the police do not investigate, package these up and send them to the CPS for prosecution.
“The police are the entry point to the criminal justice system for those requiring justice – and why shouldn’t they have it?
“They are citizens, taxpayers, they live in fear, in isolation and within severe constraints.”
Wilkin said hate crimes remained “an obstacle to an everyday liveable life for many disabled people”.
He added: “They are entitled to justice and for the police to be blocking the pathway to this is unacceptable.”
Louise Holden, hate crime partnership manager at Inclusion London, said she believed the national failure by both police forces and CPS suggested “systemic issues” that must be addressed.
She said: “As with any crime, a victim needs to have confidence that they will be taken seriously, that the crime will be properly investigated, and that enough evidence is gathered to lead to a successful conviction.
“These are all things that people would expect to be happening, but we are finding that although there has been an improvement in police flagging of disability hate crime, there is not the evidence-gathering going on to pass to the CPS for prosecution.
“Whatever the current pressures are on the Metropolitan Police Service and CPS, there are so many cases that do not make it to court.
“This means so many disabled victims who have been brave enough to report, feel they are being let down.
“It sends a message to the disabled community that what is happening to you doesn’t matter, you don’t matter.”
Holden pointed out that disabled people currently have the lowest satisfaction level with the Metropolitan police of any demographic group, while recent investigations by the Independent Office for Police Conduct demonstrate “ableist attitudes held by police officers”, which “definitely affects our community’s trust in the police”.
She said: “I would encourage any disabled victim to get in touch with their local DDPO* for ongoing support.
“Even if a case doesn’t get to court, the impact can be devastating and long-term.
“DDPOs can help with the consequences of hate crime and help someone feel more connected and supported.”
*Deaf and disabled people’s organisation
10 November 2022
Tory MP breaks silence over why he failed to cooperate with DWP dirty tricks probe
Disabled campaigners have criticised a Tory MP’s failure to co-operate with an investigation into claims that government contractors were carrying out covert attempts to trick benefit claimants.
Dr Ben Spencer, the Conservative MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, told a minister in July how staff working for benefit assessment companies were setting traps at their assessment centres to try to test claimants’ mobility.
The minister for disabled people in post at the time, Chloe Smith, told him she would launch an urgent investigation, after he raised his concerns at an evidence session of the Commons work and pensions select committee.
Smith wrote to the committee a month later, on 24 August, asking Spencer to “provide more details of the assessment centres where the alleged activity occurred”.
But he has so far failed to do so.
Spencer has this week finally offered an explanation for his failure to co-operate with the investigation, claiming that this was to protect the identity of the disabled people who spoke to him.
But after DNS pointed out to Spencer that hundreds, if not thousands, of claimants pass through each assessment centre every year, so there would be no risk of identifying his sources, he declined to comment further.
Spencer said that concerns about “informal observation” had been a “recurrent feature” of the evidence heard by the committee during its inquiry into benefit assessments, with much of it published online.
He said: “Testing evidence with ministers is a common part of select committees’ scrutiny and inquiry work.
“As I am sure you will appreciate, where information is provided in confidence, protecting the anonymity of those involved is crucial.
“Any commentary from the committee on its inquiry and the evidence it has heard will be made in its report, alongside any conclusions and recommendations to government that the committee agrees upon.”
The Labour chair of the committee, Sir Stephen Timms, has declined to criticise Spencer’s actions.
He also pointed to the “suggestions of informal observations” heard by the committee through its inquiry, and said it was “not unusual for the committee to test its evidence with ministers during an inquiry, who will then have to decide how best to respond based on the evidence available”.
But he said that any commentary from the committee on its inquiry and the evidence it has heard will be made in its own report.
When it was pointed out to Timms that the government’s promise to carry out an investigation was separate from his committee’s inquiry, he declined to comment further and said he could “shed no further light on this”.
Steve Taylor, a director of Disabled People’s Voice, a disabled-led co-operative offering training, advice and support, said: “When you first covered this story [in July], I was cautiously optimistic, but not overly hopeful, that it might lead somewhere.
“Anecdotally, these covert tricks are no surprise to a lot of us, with many assuming that ‘the other side won’t play fair’.
“Spencer’s outrage seemed genuine, and talk of a probe was encouraging – especially as the testimony of disabled people would be centre stage if the probe were to be taken seriously.”
He said Spencer’s initial silence was “frustrating, concerning and mystifying”, but now he had heard his explanation, he said: “My frustration deepens.”
Taylor said he did not understand why Spencer had raised his concerns and then failed to co-operate with the inquiry.
He said his response “raises more questions than it answers” and had left disabled people “out in the cold”.
He said his confidence in DWP was “at rock bottom”.
Michelle Maher, co-founder of the WOWcampaign, said she was “not surprised” Spencer had failed to co-operate with the investigation because it would have exposed serious and ongoing “institutional violence” against disabled people within DWP and among its private sector contractors.
She said she believed covert action had been taking place for 12 years, both in jobcentres and assessment centres.
She said: “I was called into a jobcentre for a meeting about my benefits claim about eight years ago.
“There was no lift for my interview, just stairs to go to the room, so I refused to attend.”
DWP eventually re-arranged the meeting in an accessible room.
Spencer revealed in July that one disabled claimant had told him that the lifts in the assessment centre had been “deliberately” broken, to assess whether claimants could use the stairs.
A second claimant told him that the healthcare professional who was carrying out the assessment had dropped a pen on the floor to see if they would pick it up “as part of a covert assessment”.
Another had told Spencer that there had been water available at the assessment centre he attended, but the water cooler did not have any cups, although the cooler at the end of the corridor did have cups.
10 November 2022
DWP to spend ‘shocking’ £3.4 million on jobs website in just one year
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted that it will spend nearly £3.5 million this year on developing a new website that will offer basic advice to employers on supporting disabled employees.
The department plans to spend £6.4 million on the Support with Employee Health and Disability service over three years.
DWP has now told Disability News Service (DNS) that it expects to have spent £3.4 million on the website by the end of March 2023, even though the service just offers a few pages of basic advice for employers and managers.
In a freedom of information response, DWP said: “We expect to have spent £3.4m by the end of this financial year, including on detailed research, digital build, management and marketing costs.
“The service continues to be developed and expanded in response to feedback from small business users and expert stakeholders.”
It is unclear so far how DWP can justify the cost of the website, with some critics already branding it a “waste of money” and one asking: “How the hell does a website cost six million pounds?”
Claire Coutinho, who was briefly minister for disabled people under prime minister Liz Truss, deleted a social media post in which she bragged about the millions of pounds being spent on the website, shortly after DNS raised concerns about it with DWP last month.
DWP has previously stated that there will be “an extensive programme of work” on the website over a three-year period, and that the current site is an “early and limited” version of the service.
But Vicky Foxcroft, Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people, said: “Spending this amount of money on a website is shocking.
“Disabled people deserve bold policies that will make real improvements to their lives at work. Instead, they have wasteful Tory ministers pursuing vanity projects.
“The DWP needs to explain how they justify spending taxpayer money like this. The public deserves better.”
10 November 2022
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week
Ministers may order a public inquiry into mental health care and patient deaths across England because of the number of scandals that are emerging involving poor treatment. Maria Caulfield, the minister for mental health, told MPs on Thursday that she and the health secretary, Steve Barclay, were considering whether to launch an inquiry because the same failings were occurring so often in so many different parts of the country. They would make a final decision “in the coming days”, she said in the House of Commons, responding to an urgent question tabled by her Labour shadow, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/03/ministers-may-order-inquiry-or-review-over-mental-health-care-failings-england
Disabled workers earn £3,700 less a year than their non-disabled peers, new analysis shows. Research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found the disability pay gap has risen to 17.2 per cent, amounting to £2.05 per hour – or £3,731 a year – for someone working a 35-hour week. The gulf in pay means that disabled people effectively work for free for the last 54 days of the year: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/disabled-workers-earn-3700-less-28422051
Nine police officers are being investigated for the alleged use of discriminatory language while on duty, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said. The IOPC said it has launched two investigations into the officers – who belong to the Civil Nuclear Constabulary – for allegedly engaging in conversations of a racist, misogynistic, ableist and offensive nature. The officers were notified they are under investigation for potential breaches of standards of professional behaviour amounting to gross misconduct: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/04/iopc-investigating-nine-police-officers-accused-discriminatory-language
Shadow health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has apologised to Jeremy Corbyn for calling the ex-Labour leader “senile”. Streeting said he made the comment “in jest” during a statement on the COP27 climate summit in parliament. In a tweet, he accepted the remark was “in poor taste” and said he had “dropped Jeremy a note directly to apologise for any offence caused”: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63569590
10 November 2022
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
