Secret DWP reports link more deaths with systemic flaws
Systemic safeguarding flaws across the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been linked by its own civil servants to the deaths of multiple benefit claimants between 2018 and 2020, secret reports have revealed.
Several of the 30 reports show continuing failings in how DWP staff respond to claimants who disclose ideas of suicide, with one warning of the need to “show more compassion”.
Disability News Service (DNS) reported in December 2020 how a series of suicides between 2014 and 2019 were linked to the failure of DWP staff to follow basic rules on responding to suicidal ideation that were introduced in 2009.
The release of the latest batch of internal process reviews (IPRs) shows that serious harm and deaths of claimants continued to be linked to such failings over the next 18 months.
One report said there was a need for a “new tactical approach” to enable DWP staff to “be more responsive in reacting to threats of self-harm”.
Another report suggested a new marker should be placed on DWP systems to highlight claimants with suicidal ideation or those who have made suicide attempts “as an alert to show more compassion, dig deeper and look at all of the information available”.
A third report called for “clear guidance and well managed processes” to ensure claimants who disclosed suicidal ideation were identified and “risk assessed”, with steps taken to “reduce the distress and provide a satisfactory outcome for the customer”.
The department has been trying to prevent the release of information from the 30 IPRs since September 2020, but finally admitted defeat last month following a ruling by the information commissioner.
DWP had argued that even releasing redacted versions of the reports would interfere with the formation or development of government policy.
But DNS argued that releasing the recommendations made by the IPRs – previously known as peer reviews – was vital in ensuring DWP could be held to account for how it has responded to deaths and serious harm linked to the social security system.
DWP had originally appealed the ruling to the information rights tribunal but withdrew that appeal last month.
Redacted copies of the IPRs released to DNS show that multiple reviews completed between April 2019 and September 2020* recommended systemic improvements to prevent further harm and deaths of claimants.
Two of the reports even referred to “systemic recommendations” or the need for “systemic actions”.
At least 10 of the IPRs relate to deaths and harm linked to universal credit (UC), including the transition between employment and support allowance and UC, and the operation of the online UC system.
Several of the reviews refer to the failure of staff to make a proper note of conversations and other contact with claimants, including those receiving universal credit.
Others mention the need for improved training of DWP staff, including on safeguarding and on how to request an interpreter.
One IPR said: “It was acknowledged though that benefit knowledge for [DWP decision makers] is not across the board.”
Atos and Maximus – two of the three private sector contractors paid to carry out disability benefit assessments – are also mentioned in the IPRs.
One IPR says that an IAS** report into “lessons learnt” is “to be made available” to the department.
Another calls for “better ways for UC and CHDA*** to share relevant information when a WCA is still outstanding”.
Asked why the IPR recommendations had yet again shown systemic safeguarding issues across the department leading to the deaths of disabled people, and whether this demonstrated the need for an independent inquiry into deaths linked to DWP’s actions, a DWP spokesperson said: “We support millions of people every year and our priority is they get the benefits they are entitled to as soon as possible and they receive a supportive and compassionate service.
“In the minority of instances where this does not happen, we have established procedures to investigate and learn lessons through, for instance, the serious case panel and internal process reviews.”
*It is not clear from the redacted reports when the deaths and harm occurred, but some of the incidents are likely to have been in 2018, with others in 2019 and 2020
**The name Atos uses to carry out PIP assessments
***A Maximus subsidiary
20 April 2023
Network Rail’s ‘discriminatory’ plans for two more inaccessible footbridges
Network Rail has admitted that it plans to build two completely inaccessible new footbridges, in a further apparent breach of the government’s own Inclusive Transport Strategy.
In a response provided under Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), Network Rail admits there are two “confirmed and funded” sites for “stepped bridges without lifts or ramps”, one in Surrey and one in Scotland.
Both bridges will be basic, inaccessible versions of its new FLOW footbridge design.
Disabled campaigners expressed shock and alarm earlier this year when Network Rail opened the first of this new prototype at Wistanstow, in Shropshire, even though the current version of the FLOW design cannot be used by wheelchair-users.
It then emerged that Network Rail planned to build at least two more inaccessible footbridges in other locations in England: in Wokingham, Berkshire, and at Copmanthorpe, near York.
Now Network Rail has admitted that it plans to install inaccessible FLOW bridges in Egham, Surrey, and at Boreland, on the outskirts of Kirkcaldy, in Fife.
This means it has recently built or is planning at least five new inaccessible footbridges across England and Scotland.
The Boreland bridge will replace an existing stepped footbridge, while the Egham bridge will apparently replace a stepped bridge next to a road level crossing, although Network Rail has refused so far to confirm the exact location.
The Egham plans are likely to mean that non-disabled people will be able to use the safe, new footbridge, while wheelchair-users and some other disabled people and parents with buggies will have to continue to use the “very dangerous” road level crossing to cross the busy rail line between London Waterloo and Reading.
It emerged yesterday (Wednesday) that Network Rail also appears to have already replaced an inaccessible footbridge that linked the station’s two platforms with a new inaccessible bridge in the last few months, and now plans to instal the FLOW bridge just outside the station as a replacement for another ageing stepped bridge.
Jonathan Fisher, chair of Surrey Coalition of Disabled People and Runnymede Access Liaison Group – which was not informed of Network Rail’s plans – said the decision to replace ageing inaccessible bridges with new inaccessible bridges was “not good enough” and clearly discriminatory under the Equality Act.
He said disabled people using the road crossing have to share it with buses and heavy goods vehicles, with only a painted white line separating them.
Fisher is “totally blind with no light perception” and a slight hearing loss, and finds it difficult to use the bridge, which is completely inaccessible to wheelchair-users, so usually uses the road crossing.
He said: “Whenever I leave a train having arrived from Waterloo, I often ask a fellow traveller, even a stranger, to guide me over the rails.
“If I don’t have a guide dog I have to rely on my rollerball-equipped white cane. The slightly raised white road painted marking is my guide.
“Imagine the situation when having waited for the barriers to rise; there will often be a surge of two-way traffic which fills the majority of the available roadway.”
He said the crossing can be “very dangerous”, particularly at busy times of the day when there can be groups of schoolchildren, parents and students as well as large vehicles all trying to use the same space.
He said: “I’m just waiting for somebody to get minced on the level crossing or get clipped by a wing mirror on an HGV.”
Nikki Roberts, chief executive of Surrey Coalition of Disabled People, called for an “urgent review” of the Egham plans.
She said: “Accessibility should be considered at the outset of every project, which should include consultation with disabled people about the proposed plans.
“Installing an inaccessible bridge at Egham train station is unacceptable and will mean disabled people will not have safe access to the station.”
Accessible transport campaigner Doug Paulley said the combination of Network Rail’s lack of funding and its failure to value accessibility was “a toxic and dangerous situation in which accessibility is considered optional at best”.
He said: “They need to stop building the FLOW bridge unless and until it is fully accessible – which I believe will be never.
“They are building in inaccessibility for decades – or centuries – to come.”
He said this was a “sad reflection of the corporate culture” which does not expect to be held to account for breaches of accessibility standards.
Paulley also called for a design standard for accessible footbridges, and questioned why there was not one in place already.
Another accessible transport campaigner, Sam Jennings, said the decision of Network Rail to build new inaccessible bridges demonstrates that the Department for Transport is “complicit in disability discrimination” and “confirms that while disabled people are tax-paying members of the public, we are deemed lesser right from the top down”.
She said: “I just don’t understand how new inaccessible infrastructure is lawful.
“These designs should have been rejected very early into the process for this reason.”
In its EIR response, Network Rail says the “solution provided by the FLOW bridges at these two locations does not make them any less accessible than they are already”, and it adds: “While it is possible to construct more accessible FLOW bridges, the cost of doing so in these two instances would have been so high that they would have prevented the projects going ahead.”
It says it has plans to install a version of the FLOW bridge with ramps in north Wales, and a version with lifts at Pershore station in the Cotswolds.
Network Rail runs most of Britain’s railway infrastructure, including 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts, and its aim is “to ensure [its] policies and actions support the wider strategic policies” of UK and Scottish transport ministers.
The UK government’s Inclusive Transport Strategy “sets out the Government’s plans to make our transport system more inclusive, and to make travel easier for disabled people”.
The strategy also says that one of its five main themes is: “Improving physical infrastructure – ensuring that vehicles, stations and streetscapes are designed, built and operated so that they are easy to use for all.”
The Department for Transport (DfT) declined to say if ministers were concerned about the Network Rail plans, or if they believed the installation of inaccessible new footbridges complied with the government’s Inclusive Transport Strategy.
But a DfT spokesperson said in a statement: “The rail industry has a legal obligation to meet accessibility standards and the Equality Act 2010, and the Office of Rail and Road has the power to take enforcement action if these are not met.”
Despite having been contacted on Monday (17 April), Network Rail had failed to respond to questions about its plans by noon today (Thursday).
20 April 2023
Bus company settles legal action over wheelchair space ‘humiliation’
A transport company has been forced to pay compensation to a disabled woman after its drivers repeatedly breached a legal agreement aimed at protecting the rights of wheelchair-users to use its buses.
Nina Grant, from north London, was repeatedly left stranded at bus stops when Arriva drivers either failed to open their doors or refused to ask parents with buggies to move from the wheelchair space.
On one occasion she waved the bus down, but once passengers had disembarked the bus pulled away before she could board.
On another occasion, the bus drove past her, then pulled up further along the road. When she caught up with the bus, the driver told her she would not be able to board and pulled away, leaving her stranded.
In February last year, another driver told her she could not board the bus because there were two buggies on board.
When Grant told the driver she should still be allowed to board, one of the parents offered to make space for her, preventing her from being stranded again.
In a letter from her solicitors, Arriva was told she had “repeatedly been upset and humiliated” by its actions and was “treated with such contempt that she only travels when it is absolutely necessary to avoid further confrontation.
“Her anxiety surrounding travel is at an all time high and she is disappointed that seemingly no improvements have been made to avoid incidences such as those mentioned above.”
The letter told Arriva that it had discriminated against her under the Equality Act.
Arriva originally reached a settlement with Grant three years ago, after she was repeatedly left on the pavement by drivers who made no attempt to ask parents to move their buggies so she could board the bus and use the wheelchair space.
This was a breach of principles established in a high-profile legal action taken against another bus company, First Group, by Doug Paulley, which resulted in a Supreme Court victory in January 2017.
That case established that bus companies operating a “first come first served” policy on the use of their wheelchair spaces were acting unlawfully.
As a result of Grant’s original legal action, Arriva made a legally-binding pledge in 2020 to improve accessibility and ensure “comprehensive” disability equality training for all new drivers and refresher training for existing drivers, with all drivers having to reach a basic level of competency before being allowed to drive a bus.
At the end of each shift, every driver had to file a record of each occasion when they refused access to a wheelchair-user.
But the discrimination continued, and Grant was forced to launch another legal action against Arriva after she continued to be left at the side of the road when trying to use its buses.
With the help of solicitor Carrie Clewes, she has now reached a settlement with the company.
Although the terms of the settlement must remain confidential, she is likely to have received thousands of pounds in compensation.
A spokesperson for Arriva London said: “Ensuring that bus services are accessible to passengers with disabilities and those using wheelchairs is a responsibility that Arriva takes seriously.
“Arriva implements detailed training procedures, in line with the standards applicable to London services, and compliance is closely monitored.
“We reiterate our sincere apologies to Ms Grant on account of her experience, and we are cooperating with Ms Grant to ensure opportunities for learning and best practice with a view to achieving continuous improvement.”
20 April 2023
Disabled-led commission calls for local decision-making power
A user-led commission is calling for disabled people to be placed at the centre of local decision-making, following a three-year inquiry into the barriers they face in their London borough.
Lewisham Disabled People’s Commission (LDPC) also calls for the local council to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into all its work.
And it wants funding to set up a new disabled people’s organisation (DPO) in Lewisham, and to create a new post for a disabled person to lead on co-production in the borough.
The new DPO would then co-produce an independent living strategy and an access strategy for Lewisham.
Among the other recommendations in the If Not Now, Then When? report is for Lewisham council to work towards scrapping all charges for social care, with interim steps such as reducing the level of care charges.
The commission was set up in late 2019 by Lewisham council – all its members were disabled people – but its work was delayed by the pandemic.
It was inspired by the ground-breaking work of Hammersmith and Fulham Disabled People’s Commission, which itself reported in 2018.
A survey conducted as part of LDPC’s work, which heard from nearly 400 disabled people who live or work in Lewisham, identified nearly 40 barriers they face in the borough.
Among its recommendations, the commission calls for a review of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on disabled residents.
And it suggests a new process that would enable disabled people in the borough to report problems with dropped kerbs and tactile paving, and other access barriers such as overgrown vegetation and blocked pavements.
It also says that disabled people should be able to report buildings that fail to provide access for wheelchair-users, with the council to remind offenders of their legal duty to provide reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act.
The commission’s report says there are no railway stations in Lewisham that offer full step-free access without the need for staff support with ramps, while only five of the 20 stations are fully staffed and accessible, allowing wheelchair-users to turn up and travel.
Of the remaining 15 stations, three are not wheelchair-accessible at all, and two do not have wheelchair access to all platforms.
The remaining 10 stations have staffing only part of the time, so disabled people “cannot travel at will, and must wait for staff to come and deploy ramps”.
The commission was chaired by disabled writer, poet and campaigner Jamie Hale, who told Disability News Service that nothing the commission uncovered particularly surprised or shocked him.
But he said he found it “particularly bleak” that 18 of the survey respondents (nearly five per cent) did not always have access to food and drink, 20 could not wash or be washed regularly, 19 could not use the toilet when they needed to, nine did not have a toilet they could use at home, 25 did not have a bath or shower that was accessible to them, while 31 (more than eight per cent) could not move around their home easily using their mobility aids.
In all, nearly one in five of the respondents (17 per cent) were in at least one of these groups.
Hale praised Lewisham council for its support and “positive engagement” and said he hoped it would now commit to making the changes the commission has recommended.
But he said the crises facing disabled people “cannot be solved by local government alone”.
He said: “For disabled people to live in an equitable world, we need benefits that keep pace with wages and inflation, access to free social care built around independent living and the support people need to achieve their aspirations, and a real commitment to a national programme of building accessible, adaptable, and adapted homes.”
Hale called on other local authorities to commission similar disabled-led projects, but only if they are properly funded – as LDPC was – and include an “explicit commitment to the implementation of the recommendations made as far as possible, without which the research and reports are no more than window-dressing”.
He says in the report that Lewisham “must centre deaf and disabled people in decision making processes” and use co-production “to develop long-term strategies addressing both broader borough access barriers and the barriers to independent living, which respond to the needs of our residents”.
He adds: “This research has demonstrated that work is needed across Lewisham, from the accessible provision of NHS services to wheelchair access in Lewisham Centre, from public transport to hate crime.
“It is clear that in places, core legal obligations are not always being met around the provision of safe appropriate housing, compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Equality Act.”
Lewisham council aims to respond to the report this summer.
Damien Egan, the Labour mayor of Lewisham, said: “I have taken away a lot from this report which shines a light on the barriers that too many deaf and disabled people face.
“We need to be better at making sure deaf and disabled people are at the heart of our decision making and as a council, we must embed the ethos of ‘Nothing about us, without us’.
“I would like to thank Jamie Hale and all the commissioners who have worked so hard for the last three years to produce this detailed report.
“We all agree that this is just the beginning of a much longer piece of work towards our ambition to make Lewisham the best and most accessible borough.”
20 April 2023
MPs call on DWP to report on deaths linked to benefit assessments
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) must publish regular reports to show how many deaths of disabled people are linked to the disability benefits assessment system, a committee of MPs has concluded.
The call comes in a report by the Commons work and pensions committee, which has been investigating the assessment system since September 2021.
The committee says it is “deeply concerned” that claimants are still experiencing “psychological distress” due to the assessment process, nearly five years after the committee last investigated the system.
The report calls for DWP to carry out regular reviews of the impact of the personal independence payment (PIP) assessment and the work capability assessment (WCA) on the mental health of claimants, comparing them with other assessments such as those carried out to determine eligibility for social care.
It points to the system of internal process reviews (IPRs), secret reports carried out by DWP into deaths and cases of serious harm caused to claimants that are linked to the department’s actions.
The report says DWP should use its IPRs to publish figures showing how benefit assessments are contributing to deaths and serious harm among benefit claimants.
These figures should show how many of these deaths were suicides, the issues that led to deaths, and the steps taken by DWP in response to the IPRs.
This week, Disability News Service is revealing recommendations made by IPRs completed between 2019 and 2020, which link systemic safeguarding flaws across DWP to the deaths of multiple benefit claimants between 2018 and 2020 (see separate story).
As part of its inquiry, the committee carried out a survey that received more than 8,500 responses from people who had been through the assessment process, or who had supported disabled people with their claims.
It says these responses show that “trust in the assessment system is low”, with continuing problems over the use of evidence and a lack of knowledge about particular conditions.
And it says that, nearly five years after the committee’s previous inquiry into the assessment system, and despite some improvements, DWP has still not made key changes that could increase transparency, improve trust in the process, and ensure more accurate assessments and fewer appeals.
It says the pace of change has been “extremely slow”, and too many claimants continue to view the process “with great trepidation”, while a minority find the experience “devastating”.
The report adds: “The continuing high overturn rates at appeal suggest fundamental flaws in the assessment system.”
The committee says: “That we are still hearing accounts of poor accessibility, factual inaccuracy, delays, and communication problems speaks to a system that is still not adequately supporting often vulnerable people.”
Among its recommendations, the committee calls for all assessments to be recorded, unless the claimant opts out, and for DWP to start sending copies of assessment reports to all claimants “as soon as possible”.
Although the WCA is due to be abolished – if the Conservatives win the next election – it will remain in place until at least 2026 while PIP assessments will continue, “so retaining the status quo is not an option”, says the committee.
Other recommendations in the report include allowing claimants to choose between face-to-face assessments or assessments carried out remotely by phone or video; extending the deadline for returning forms; setting targets to reduce assessment waiting-times, and introducing payments to disabled people forced to wait beyond these new targets.
One disabled person who provided written evidence to the committee said: “The whole process was one of the most distressing experiences I have had.
“I became suicidal and wanted to self-harm daily. I ended up back on a higher dose of antidepressants (I had been off them for over a year).
“Having been in an abusive marriage many years ago, the process was very similar.
“I felt as if I was in an abusive relationship with the state, being disbelieved, judged, patronised, lied about and also abandoned without support.”
Another said: “In short, the assessments were very poor quality, often the reports contained lies about what I had said, and parts were copied and pasted from other claimants’ reports.”
A disabled woman told the committee: “I am jovial by nature and self-deprecating in regard to my lifelong illness.
“The assessor who laughed along with me even though I was exhausted and in agony stated in my assessment that I couldn’t have depression as I was joking.
“I also had to hang on to my husband as a walking aid and the assessor said I walked to the office unaided.”
The committee also received evidence from a disabled person who sits on benefit appeal tribunals, who said: “The quality of assessment we are seeing at tribunal is frankly appalling.”
Sir Stephen Timms, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, said: “We surveyed eight and a half thousand people as part of our inquiry and found a profound lack of trust in the system as a consistent theme.
“Many will welcome abolition of the work capability assessment. The government’s process improvements, and recognition that the system causes undue stress and hardship, are steps in the right direction.
“However, waiting years for changes won’t cut it when quicker wins are available: flexibility of choice on assessment by phone or face-to-face; recording assessments by default; extending deadlines to reduce stress; and sending claimants their reports.
“All this will give much-needed transparency to a process that so few trust yet affects their lives so fundamentally.
“All efforts must be made for unnecessary limbo and stress for claimants to be put to an end.”
A DWP spokesperson said in a statement: “This government is committed to ensuring people can access financial support in a timely and supportive manner and therefore reducing processing times and further improving the claimant experience are key priorities for the DWP.
“The proposals set out in our recent health and disability white paper will make it easier for people to access the right support and improve trust and transparency in our decisions and processes.”
20 April 2023
Call for urgent inquiry into ‘covert surveillance’ in benefit assessments
MPs are calling for an urgent government investigation into the use of “covert surveillance” of disabled people by the private sector companies paid to assess eligibility for disability benefits.
It comes in a report by the Commons work and pensions committee, following its lengthy inquiry into the assessment system.
The committee received anonymous accounts from disabled people claiming they had been “tricked or tested” by their assessors.
These included claimants who were made to park further away than necessary from the assessment centre to check how far they could walk, and lifts being placed out of order to force claimants to climb the stairs.
DWP told the committee that it has no policy that allows assessment providers Atos, Capita and Maximus to engage in “covert surveillance”.
But DWP guidance does allow assessors to make “informal observations” to check if there are any “discrepancies between the reported need and the actual needs of the claimant”.
The committee’s report says the evidence it heard suggests that, too often, DWP guidance is not followed correctly, which “points to fundamental weaknesses in the Department’s quality control over its contractors”.
Atos and Capita assess claimants for personal independence payment, and Maximus carries out work capability assessments.
The committee is now calling for an urgent government investigation into the use of covert surveillance by assessors, working alongside organisations that support claimants “to establish whether this practice is widespread” and with the three assessment providers “to ensure claimants are treated fairly and in line with the guidance”.
Last summer, the then minister for disabled people, Chloe Smith, promised to launch an urgent investigation after a committee member, Conservative MP Dr Ben Spencer, revealed that disabled people had disclosed to him their own experiences of covert surveillance.
One claimant told Spencer that lifts in the centre where they were assessed had been “deliberately” placed out of order to check whether disabled people could use the stairs, while another told him the healthcare professional who was carrying out the assessment had dropped a pen on the floor to see if they would pick it up.
A third claimant told Spencer that although there had been water available at the assessment centre, the water cooler did not have any cups, although the cooler at the end of the corridor did have cups.
Smith later wrote to the committee to ask Spencer to “provide more details of the assessment centres where the alleged activity occurred”, but he failed to co-operate with the investigation, claiming this was to protect the identity of the disabled people who had spoken to him.
A DWP spokesperson said in a statement: “This government is committed to ensuring people can access financial support in a timely and supportive manner and therefore reducing processing times and further improving the claimant experience are key priorities for the DWP.
“The proposals set out in our recent health and disability white paper will make it easier for people to access the right support and improve trust and transparency in our decisions and processes.”
20 April 2023
Guarded welcome for new prepayment meter rules
Disabled campaigners have given a guarded welcome to new rules that should stop energy companies forcibly installing prepayment meters in the homes of many disabled people.
Ofgem said all energy suppliers had agreed a new code of practice which aims to strengthen protection for customers who may be put at risk if a prepayment meter (PPM) is installed without their agreement.
The regulator said the code of practice should mean that PPMs will only be installed “where safe and reasonably practicable” and as a last resort, and that it will strengthen protection for customers in vulnerable situations.
Among the measures in the code of practice are that energy companies must usually make at least 10 attempts to contact a customer, and must carry out a welfare visit to a home, before installing a PPM.
It also bans forced PPMs for households where: someone needs a continuous supply of energy for health reasons; there are customers over 85 without support in the household; there are residents with “severe health issues”, including those with a medical need for a warm home; and where no-one can top up the meter for impairment-related reasons.
Energy companies have also been told to carry out assessments on a case-by-case basis of households that include other groups of older or disabled people, including those with mobility impairments, learning difficulties and dementia, before carrying out a forced PPM installation.
Forced installation of PPMs is currently suspended, and before it can be restarted, energy companies will have to meet certain conditions, including carrying out an independent audit to identify “wrongfully installed involuntary PPMs” and offering compensation and a return to a non-PPM method of payment to any customers affected.
There will now be a consultation on whether to translate the code of practice into energy companies’ licences, which would make it legally enforceable.
Ofgem’s new code of practice has received a mixed response from disabled campaigners.
Inclusion London, a member of the Disability Poverty Campaign Group (DPCG), called the code of practice a “positive step”, but said there still needed to be a new law banning forced installation of PPMs in all households that include disabled people, because energy was “essential” and not an “optional extra”.
The disabled women’s organisation WinVisible, a DPCG member, said Ofgem should be doing more to force energy companies to safeguard “mothers with newborns, families with young children, sick and disabled people, pensioners and other low-income people” against forced PPMs.
Dan White, policy and campaigns officer at Disability Rights UK and a DPCG lead, said: “While we welcome the protections given to disabled people in Ofgem’s voluntary code and hope to see such protections extended and strengthened in new supplier licence agreements in the autumn, there is still much more that could and should be done.
“We do have some major concerns including the failure to consult with disabled people’s organisations in developing this code, the potential intrusive nature of health checks and the exclusion of disabled people using mobility equipment such as wheelchairs, lifts, and hoists.
“We would want Ofgem to extend and strengthen the provisions before they become incorporated into supplier licence agreements in the autumn.”
Jonathan Brearley, Ofgem’s chief executive, said: “This new code of practice means, for some people, PPMs should never be installed, and, for high-risk groups, their energy needs must be protected with a higher level of consideration.
“The code requires suppliers to become more attuned to the needs of all their customers in vulnerable situations, including if their circumstances change and reassessing if or when they do, and apply better compassion and professional expertise.”
The new code of practice follows media reports – initially in the i newspaper and then The Times – about the forced installation of PPMs.
A four-month investigation by the i found that courts were processing hundreds of warrants in just minutes, allowing debt agencies working for energy suppliers to forcibly fit the meters, despite concerns over insufficient checks on the “vulnerability” of disabled and other customers.
Lord Justice Edis, the senior presiding judge of England and Wales, later told magistrates’ courts to stop listing applications from energy companies for the warrants.
And Ofgem launched a review of the rapid growth in prepayment meter installations following the “extremely serious allegations” in The Times about forced installations by British Gas.
Ofgem imposed a suspension of forced PPM installations until energy companies were able to prove they were treating disabled people and other customers fairly.
20 April 2023
Thousands of disabled people ‘likely to lose voting rights’ due to new photo rules
Many thousands of disabled people are likely to lose their right to vote because of the government’s decision to require voters in England to show photographic identification at polling stations, MPs have been told.
Fazilet Hadi, head of policy for Disability Rights UK, told a cross-party committee this week that she had seen little evidence of information campaigns targeted at disabled people who will face particular barriers in ensuring they have photo identification in time for next month’s local elections.
Those without accepted identification, such as a passport, driving licence or disabled person’s bus pass, and who want to vote in person at a polling station, will have to apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate.
But Hadi told the levelling up, housing and communities committee that those without valid photographic identification may be quite isolated and so would “struggle with that process”.
She said she had recently applied for a new passport and had been forced to pay £12 for the photograph to be taken in a shop because the automatic photo booth was so inaccessible to her as a blind person, a financial option that is not likely to be available to someone on a low income.
She said she found it “completely bemusing” that the authorities believed that someone who did not have other forms of photo identification would find it any easier to obtain a Voter Authority Certificate.
She said: “I would be very interested to know how many people actually do get those.
“I think it will disenfranchise many, many thousands of disabled people and that’s very, very sad.”
Hadi had earlier told the committee that many disabled people had “real problems” registering as a voter because of the “one size fits all” process that “lots of us find very, very difficult”.
She said there appeared to be no funding to contact disabled people who may not have registered to vote, such as people with learning difficulties, those with dementia, or people living in residential homes.
And she said communication about registering to vote was not in an accessible format.
She said: “For all my life I’ve received paper-based information from electoral registration, which is completely inaccessible to me.
“Processes, whether it is online processes, paper-based processes, going to my polling station, the accessibility of all these spheres is not good enough.
“It can’t be relied on by voters, disabled voters.”
She said that these and other barriers meant that millions of disabled people probably will not vote in May.
She added: “There is no reason why local authorities and those implementing election procedures and processes shouldn’t be talking much more to their disabled citizens and building the Equality Act into their planning.”
Fiona Weir, chief executive of Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, told the committee that nearly one in five eligible voters were missing from the electoral register.
She said: “It fundamentally undermines the foundations of democracy.
“We have a Victorian system that is creaking and leaking.”
She called for a system that automatically registers adults to vote.
Sila Ugurlu, a trustee of the British Youth Council, told the committee that young people were not being encouraged to vote and that there were “overlapping, systematic barriers that discourage young people from voting”.
She told the committee: “They have historically not been encouraged to vote, they have been completely disenfranchised… these young people need to be engaged from the very beginning.”
20 April 2023
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week
The government’s child safeguarding advisers have urged major reforms to protect disabled young people in residential care after “horrific and shocking” abuse revelations at homes run by a private operator. The child safeguarding practice review panel recommendations, published today (Thursday), follow its earlier report on the systematic abuse and neglect of more than 100 young people at three facilities in Doncaster run by the Hesley Group. That inquiry identified a “culture of abuse” in which children were physically, sexually and emotionally harmed by staff over a number of years: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/20/urgent-calls-for-reform-after-horrific-abuse-of-young-people-at-private-care-homes
The number of people with visible differences or disfigurements who say they were the victim of a hate crime has increased since 2019, according to “sobering” research. A third of people with a visible difference said they had experienced a hate crime, compared to 28 per cent of respondents in 2019, said charity Changing Faces. Hostile behaviour had impacted nearly half of those surveyed, with 49 per cent citing negative interactions such as staring, comments, and intimidation, a figure that has been steadily rising from 34 per cent in 2019 and 43 per cent in 2021: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/adam-pearson-hate-crimes-b2320878.html
A disabled child missed out on vital NHS surgery and was left in chronic pain for more than three years because a council failed to move them out of unsuitable housing despite repeated pleas from health professionals, a watchdog has ruled. Lambeth council in London was fined £20,000 by the local government and social care ombudsman for service failures and administrative errors that left the child unsafe and in “significant and avoidable distress” and her mother at risk of serious injury: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/13/council-failures-disabled-child-chronic-pain-three-years-watchdog
An investigation has been launched after a man fell to his death from a balcony when he was Tasered by police following an hour-long standoff. Officers from the Metropolitan police were called to a block of flats in Peckham, south London, after a call showing concern for the man’s welfare, amid reports he was threatening to jump. The incident is under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/17/inquiry-begins-after-london-man-falls-to-his-death-in-police-taser-incident
20 April 2023
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
