Seven years on and no progress on disability rights by UK government, says UN
The UK government has made “no significant progress” in the more than seven years since it was found guilty of “grave and systematic” violations of the UN disability convention, it has been told by human rights experts.
In a report published late yesterday (Wednesday), the UN committee on the rights of disabled people said it had even found “signs of regression” – backward steps – in the UK’s progress towards fully realising the rights described in the convention.
This morning, the government said they “strongly reject” the committee’s findings.
The committee said the UK government had “failed to take all appropriate measures to address grave and systematic violations” of disabled people’s human rights and had “failed to eliminate the root causes of inequality and discrimination” since November 2016.
It particularly highlighted its failures on the rights to independent living, to work, and to an adequate standard of living and social protection, laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Last month, the committee appeared to be preparing a highly-critical report into the UK’s failures after it accused the UK government of demonising disabled people and treating them as “undeserving citizens” by preparing to fund tax cuts through slashing disability benefits.
Representatives from more than 10 disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) had travelled to Geneva to witness the UK government attempt to persuade the committee that it had made progress since being found guilty of “grave and systematic violations” of the convention in 2016.
Yesterday, the UN committee published its report, based partly on detailed evidence compiled by the UK disabled people’s movement.
DPOs that made the journey to Geneva said last night that the committee’s “damning verdict” was a vindication of those disabled people who have fought back against the rights violations of successive governments for more than a decade (see separate story).
Among its recommendations, the committee says it is “appalled” by reports of deaths linked to benefit claims that it says have a “disturbingly consistent theme”, with disabled people “resorting to suicide” following the denial of adequate support through social security.
It calls for the government to take urgent action to “prevent, review and respond to” benefit-related deaths and provide appropriate compensation for the victims’ families.
There are also calls for an urgent inquiry into the impact of the work capability assessment; stronger disability hate crime laws; and an investigation into unexplained deaths in the mental health system, particularly at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
And just days after the prime minister launched a series of “chilling” cuts and reforms to disabled people’s social security safety net (see separate story), the committee calls on Rishi Sunak’s government to “take comprehensive measures” to ensure disabled people are “adequately supported through social security payments, benefits and allowances”.
It also calls for action to ensure that disabled people who face “multiple marginalization”, including disabled women and children, disabled people of colour, disabled migrants and asylum-seekers and those in “refugee-like situations”, can “enjoy the right to live independently and be included in the community and the right to an adequate standard of living”.
The committee says it is concerned that the UK government has left “largely unaddressed” its obligation under the UN convention to “closely consult and actively involve disabled people” through their DPOs on issues affecting their lives.
It also says it is concerned that obligations to “combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices” across key parts of the convention have been “largely ignored”, while also raising “significant concerns” about plans to introduce laws through the data protection and digital information bill that would give DWP sweeping powers to carry out financial surveillance on benefit claimants through their bank accounts, using artificial intelligence.
That bill is currently passing through parliament, and was debated by peers this week.
The committee also warns of a “pervasive framework and rhetoric that devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity” and says that benefit reforms are painting disabled people as “skiving off” and “defrauding the system”, which has led to “hate speech and hostility towards disabled people”.
The report concludes that there has been “no significant progress for disabled people throughout the UK concerning their right to living independently and being included in the community”.
And the committee says it is “deeply concerned” at evidence of “increasing rates of institutionalisation of disabled people”, and of “abuse, mistreatment and the increasing use of restraints, restrictive practices and coercive measures” in institutions.
As well as responding to the committee’s findings, the government will also now be forced to produce a follow-up report by March 2029 on how it has implemented its recommendations.
A government spokesperson said this morning: “We are grateful for the committee’s work monitoring this vital convention, but strongly reject their conclusions.
“Individuals and organisations may not agree with this government’s approach, but it is a fact that we are tackling the barriers faced by disabled people, including helping one million more disabled people into jobs five years ahead of schedule, providing unprecedented health and employment support through our £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan as well as our Chance to Work Guarantee, improving the health and disability benefits system, and enhancing the accessibility of homes and transport.
“In addition, our new Disability Action Plan sets out the practical actions the government is taking to improve disabled people’s daily lives, complementing the long term vision set out in the National Disability Strategy.”
25 April 2024
UN’s ‘damning verdict’ is ‘vindication’ of fightback against government’s rights violations
Disabled people’s organisations have welcomed the “damning verdict” of a UN committee on the government’s track record on key disability rights over the last seven years.
They spoke out last night (Wednesday) as the UN committee on the rights of disabled people concluded that the UK government had made “no significant progress” in the more than seven years since it was found guilty of “grave and systematic” violations of the disability convention (see separate story).
This morning, the government said they “strongly reject” the findings in the committee’s report.
Ellen Clifford, who has been coordinating work by the coalition of UK disabled people’s organisations that monitors implementation of the convention, said the committee’s verdict was “damning” and “timely”.
She said: “The UN report could not be more timely given that our government and sections of the media are currently engaged in attacks on Deaf and disabled people in direct contravention of the recommendations made by the UN disability rights committee more than seven years ago.”
She said the government’s attitude towards the UN’s inquiry was “evidence that their treatment of Deaf and disabled people is wilful and calculated” and “is reflected in the damning findings of the report”.
Last week, Clifford was granted permission to bring a judicial review of the government’s consultation on its plans to tighten the work capability assessment, which she said in December appeared to have been “a smokescreen for cuts”.
Andy Greene, a member of the national steering group of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) – which spent years researching and lobbying the committee to carry out its original investigation – said of the UN report: “As ever, these inquiries capture another chapter in the story disabled people have been telling for well over a decade now.
“The most powerful service they provide though is to vindicate those who tell this and those who resist and push back against what’s going on.
“The process of evidence gathering, taking witness testimony and objective scrutiny of policy and its impact, is one that’s very difficult to ridicule or dismiss.
“The facts speak for themselves.”
The committee said the UK government had “failed to take all appropriate measures to address grave and systematic violations” of disabled people’s human rights and had “failed to eliminate the root causes of inequality and discrimination” since November 2016.
It particularly highlighted its failures on the rights to independent living, to work, and to an adequate standard of living and social protection, laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Among its recommendations, the committee says it is “appalled” by reports of deaths linked to benefit claims that have a “disturbingly consistent theme”, with disabled people “resorting to suicide” following the denial of adequate support.
It calls for the government to take urgent action to “prevent, review and respond to” benefit-related deaths and provide appropriate compensation for the victims’ families.
Alison Burton, who gave evidence to the UN committee and whose father-in-law Errol Graham starved to death after the Department for Work and Pensions wrongly stopped his benefits when he missed a work capability assessment, welcomed the committee’s report.
She said: “I am pleased that the report highlighted the need for proper review and monitoring of the deaths of benefit claimants.”
And she said the report also highlighted how the government’s actions and hostility towards disabled people had contributed to disability hate crime.
She said the report showed clearly that disabled people were now “at war for our rights to be treated equally”.
Rhian Davies, chief executive of Disability Wales, welcomed the committee’s findings that the UK government had “failed to take appropriate measures to address grave and systemic violations of disabled people’s rights”.
She said: “Neither the UK government or Welsh government have properly supported independent living, particularly during the cost-of-living crisis.
“The UK government’s approach to this review has been utterly disrespectful and matches the contempt shown to disabled people for over a decade.
“We deserve better and we demand better.”
Svetlana Kotova, director of campaigns and justice for Inclusion London, said the report was “a damning verdict on the government’s track record in upholding our human rights”.
She said: “Since the 2016 finding of ‘grave and systematic’ rights violations, the UN committee has not only seen no significant progress, they have also documented evidence of retrogression.
“Moreover, the committee finds that UK welfare policy is based on a pervasive and hostile framework and rhetoric that devalues disabled people and undermines our human rights.
“It is shocking that our country that positions itself as a world leader is yet again found to breach our rights on a systematic level.
“It is also shocking that the government has failed to listen to the UN in the past and has actively dismissed the previous recommendations.”
She added: “We welcome the report and urge the government and the opposition to take it seriously and develop policies on welfare reform, employment and independent living that comply with the UK’s obligations under the [convention].”
Kamran Mallick, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, accused the government of a “complete disregard for international law and contempt for disabled people’s rights.”
He pointed to last week’s speech by the prime minister (see separate story), which announced an “onslaught of new policy proposals and legislation which will not only harm us but also lead to avoidable deaths”.
He said: “Despite having seven years to do so, the UK government has made no progress on improving the rights of disabled people.
“Instead, our rights, access to support, and the provision of services have all deteriorated, with an increase in hostility and hate.
“Under this government, the UK has lost its status as a nation that leads in disability rights to one that is actively attacking disabled people.”
John McArdle, co-founder of Black Triangle, welcomed the report.
He said: “After campaigning solidly against the inhumane work capability assessment regime for 14 years, it is life-affirming that the [committee] has officially expressed its profound shock and outrage at the tragic loss of hundreds of lives that have occurred as a direct result during this time.
“In addition, the committee has called for a full investigation into the circumstances and for redress and reparations for bereaved families where appropriate.
“There must be no further so-called ‘welfare reform’ until the UK has fully complied with the committee’s recommendations.”
Natasha Hirst, the disabled president of the National Union of Journalists, said the report highlighted how there had “never been a more important time for journalists and the wider media industry to tackle harmful negative rhetoric against disabled people”.
She said: “I call on journalists to take time to understand the concerns raised by the UN committee and scrutinise why the government is so keen to dismiss their failure to uphold disabled people’s human rights.
“Deaf and disabled people’s organisations have thoroughly evidenced the harm caused by policy changes and cuts to services and yet the UK government is intent on pushing this even further.
“Disabled people’s voices need to be heard and not drowned out and demonised by people who have never experienced the sharp end of the social security system.
“As journalists, we should report ethically to hold power to account, and not be complicit in the scapegoating of disabled people.”
Dorothy Gould, founder of the user-led, rights-based organisation Liberation, said the report “should make any government that deserves to hold power sit up, take notice and drastically change course”.
She said: “Until it becomes illegal to lock disabled people up in institutions and forcibly treated, there will be continuing abuse of our human rights.
“A huge strength of the report is its recognition of that.”
She added: “An enormous strength of the report is its balance.
“In its coverage of disabled people’s right to independent living, equal access to work and employment and right to an adequate standard of living, the [committee] has looked widely and comprehensively.”
Dermot Devlin, from DPAC Northern Ireland, said: “The report is a shameful indictment of callous failure on the part of a government that has been found to have overseen ‘a pervasive framework and rhetoric that devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity’.
“Not only has the Committee found no evidence of progress, it has highlighted further evidence of retrogression.
“The continued failure to address the ongoing grave and systematic violations of our human rights must not be allowed to continue.”
A government spokesperson said this morning: “We are grateful for the committee’s work monitoring this vital convention, but strongly reject their conclusions.
“Individuals and organisations may not agree with this government’s approach, but it is a fact that we are tackling the barriers faced by disabled people, including helping one million more disabled people into jobs five years ahead of schedule, providing unprecedented health and employment support through our £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan as well as our Chance to Work Guarantee, improving the health and disability benefits system, and enhancing the accessibility of homes and transport.
“In addition, our new Disability Action Plan sets out the practical actions the government is taking to improve disabled people’s daily lives, complementing the long term vision set out in the National Disability Strategy.”
24 April 2024
Sunak’s ‘chilling, threatening’ speech on benefits ‘demonised disabled people’
The prime minister has been accused of whipping up hostility towards disabled people, and demonising and scapegoating claimants of disability benefits, with a new series of “chilling” reforms that will weaken the social security safety net.
Rishi Sunak announced plans for new cuts to personal independence payment (PIP), a faster rollout of universal credit to disabled people, and an end to what he called a “sicknote culture”.
But most of the reforms will only be introduced if the Conservatives win power at the next general election, almost certain to take place within the next six months.
Sunak’s speech came only days after campaigners warned that the “dangerous” rollout of universal credit to half a million more claimants was a potential threat to the “safety and well-being” of disabled people who currently rely on so-called “legacy” benefits to survive.
Now ministers plan to accelerate that rollout so that, rather than most of them not facing the “migration” to universal credit until 2028, all those disabled people receiving income-related employment and support allowance will now receive so-called “migration notices” by the end of next year, with the process beginning within months.
Further details about the government’s plans for PIP are expected within days, but Sunak claimed the increase in successful PIP claims was “driving up the cost of the disability benefits bill at an unsustainable rate”.
He said he was “worried about it being misused” and that, in some cases, “it probably isn’t right that we’re paying an ongoing amount every year”.
He particularly focused on PIP claimants with mental distress, speaking of the need for a “more objective and rigorous approach that focuses support on those with the greatest needs and extra costs” and the need to make the system “fairer and harder to exploit”.
He said that, since 2019, the number of people claiming PIP who were citing anxiety or depression as their main condition had doubled, and he suggested that the PIP system was “undermined by the way people are asked to make subjective and unverifiable claims about their capability”.
The Disability Poverty Campaign Group described Sunak’s speech as “chilling” and “threatening” and said his words continued a trend that was “stigmatising, harmful, and inaccurate”.
On the same day as Sunak’s speech, Labour revealed figures showing the rate of suicide among 15-19-year-olds had increased by 64 per cent since 2010, while over the last 12 months, 780,000 children and young people have been in contact with mental health services, an increase of 200,000 since April 2021.
Sunak also ignored experimental figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) earlier this year, which showed that nearly half of all individuals in families with at least one disabled child and one disabled adult in the UK were living in poverty by 2021-22.
Just four days after his speech, Sunak announced an extra £75 billion in defence spending over the next six years.
Nima Cas Hunt, in an article published by National Survivor User Network, which described the destructive impact on those with mental distress who have had their PIP removed, said Sunak’s speech was designed to “drip feed a nation with an extremely ableist rhetoric intended to radicalise, scapegoat and ostracise”.
She wrote: “We are being demonised for our suffering – and for those of us who experience mental ill-health and distress, our suffering has been openly ridiculed and minimised.”
Rhian Davies, chief executive of Disability Wales, told BBC Radio Wales (listen from 14 minutes) that the prime minister’s language was “shocking and appalling” and had “ramped up the vilification of disabled people instead of the UK government looking at the policies that it has brought in that have contributed to the high levels of stress and anxiety that people face and social exclusion”.
Sunak also announced reforms to what he repeatedly referred to as the “sick note” system –actually known as fit notes – with the prime minister calling for an end to Britain’s “sick note culture”, and announcing a call for evidence on the proposals.
He said this could see responsibility for issuing fit notes shifted away from GPs and towards “specialist work and health professionals who have the dedicated time and expertise to provide an objective assessment of someone’s ability to work and the tailored support they may need”.
There are concerns that this will mean the privatisation of fit notes, with the system outsourced to private contractors in the same way as disability benefit assessments have been outsourced to companies like Capita, Atos and Maximus.
DWP refused to say if this was what was being planned, but it did say that only registered healthcare professionals – doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists – would carry them out.
Sunak used a phrase repeated by generations of ministers – but first tested out by Labour’s Alistair Darling in 1999 – to call for a change in emphasis towards “what work you can do, not what you can’t”.
Sunak’s speech, in which he also spoke of the “unfairness” of the out-of-work disability benefits system and the “irresponsible burden” for future generations that would be caused by “spiralling increase in the welfare bill”, had clear echoes of the scapegoating of disabled people by Conservative ministers in the post-2010 austerity years.
In October 2020, prime minister David Cameron had told the Conservative party conference: “If you really cannot work, we will always look after you. But if you can work, and refuse to work, we will not let you live off the hard work of others.”
The following month, work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith told The Sun newspaper that he was “appalled” at how easy it had been for people to claim incapacity benefit and cheat the system.
In response to Sunak’s speech, Fazilet Hadi, head of policy for Disability Rights UK, said: “Once again the government is targeting disabled people for a failing economy.
“Yet it is government policies that have fuelled increases in disability and sickness.
“Under resourcing of health services, social care, education, housing and transport, are excluding disabled people from opportunity and driving us into poverty.
“Deepening poverty is driving increases in disability and sickness.
“The prime minister’s approach to systemic inequalities caused by government policies and underfunding of public services, is to further penalise, punish and threaten disabled people living on inadequate benefits.”
Labour MP Debbie Abrahams raised a point of order in the Commons on Tuesday, describing Sunak’s speech as “grossly offensive” for “implying that people who are economically inactive due to ill health or disability are not genuine, but malingerers”.
She said his speech “ignored the overwhelming evidence from epidemiologists such as Professor Sir Michael Marmot, which shows that over the last 14 years we have become a sick nation, living shorter lives and less of our lives in good health”.
In his speech, delivered at the Centre for Social Justice, the right-wing thinktank founded by Duncan Smith, Sunak also confirmed plans to give DWP new powers to investigate fraud and “make seizures and arrests”.
And there was a threat for those on mainstream out-of-work benefits – which will include hundreds of thousands of disabled people – that new legislation in the next parliament would see anyone who has been on those benefits for 12 months and fails to comply with conditions set by their work coach having “their benefits removed entirely”.
It was not clear how people in those situations, which will include many disabled people unable or unwilling to follow their work coach’s orders, will be expected to cope without any benefits.
Alison Burton, whose disabled father-in-law Errol Graham starved to death after DWP stopped his benefits when he failed to turn up to a work capability assessment, said the prime minister’s speech – and particularly his “completely ignorant” comments on mental health – had felt like “a punch to my stomach”.
She said her years of campaigning and legal attempts to hold DWP to account had been focused on DWP’s lack of care and understanding of mental health, and the need for it to have a legal safeguarding duty.
She said Sunak’s words, and policies, would only cause greater mental distress to people like Errol Graham.
She said: “This government have got no care whatsoever when it comes to people like Errol.”
Inclusion London said the reforms were “clearly” driven by reducing costs and would “cost lives and unleash misery”.
It said it was “appalled that the government is yet again mounting another brutal ideological attack on disabled people, after 10 years of austerity, disproportionate Covid deaths and a cost-of-living crisis.
“The social security system should be there to promote and protect our rights.
“Instead of focusing on improving the inclusiveness of the workplace, the government chooses to demonise those disabled people who are not able to work.”
Labour declined to raise any concerns about the fit note plan, the universal credit announcement, the PIP review, the fraud measures, or the prime minister’s language.
Vicky Foxcroft, Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people, said that PIP “isn’t working for disabled people and needs reform”, and she said Labour would analyse the details when they were published by the government.
A three-month consultation on the PIP plans is expected to be launched within days.
She said: “A healthy nation is critical to a healthy economy, but the Tories have completely failed on both.
“The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, first proposed the exact same reforms to fit notes back in 2017, when he was health secretary.
“After 14 years of failure, the Conservatives are completely out of ideas, and working people are forced to pay the price.
“Labour will build a healthier nation and get people back into work, tackling the root causes of economic inactivity by bringing down NHS waiting lists, reforming social security, and supporting people into good jobs in every part of the country.”
She added: “The government have lost control of fraud in the benefits system, with benefit fraud and error skyrocketing to £8.3 billion in the last financial year, after the record high of £8.7 billion the year before.
“Labour is unreservedly committed to tackling fraud. We will crack down on the criminal gangs and fraudsters who try to take money from the public purse illegally, while ensuring that those who have been victim of error in the benefits system are treated fairly.”
Meanwhile, new information released by DWP shows that the number of disabled people affected by existing plans to tighten the work capability assessment (WCA) will be even higher than previously thought.
By 2028-29, DWP’s estimate for the number who will be forced to carry-out work-related activity as part of their universal credit claim, when previously they would not have had to do so – due to removing the “mobilising” activity in the WCA and weakening the substantial risk safety net – is now 424,000, an increase of 53,000 on the original estimates released last November.
And the estimated number who will be found fit for work and placed in universal credit’s “intensive work search group” by 2028-29 – due to amending the “getting about” part of the assessment – is now 33,000, a rise of 4,000 on the previous estimates.
Last week, disabled activist Ellen Clifford was granted permission to bring a judicial review of the government’s consultation on its plans to tighten the WCA, which she said in December appeared to have been “a smokescreen for cuts”.
25 April 2024
Direct action ‘will put stake through the heart’ of government scapegoating of disabled people
Disabled activists have pledged to use direct action protests to “put a stake through the heart” of the idea that disabled people can be used as scapegoats and “whipping boys” in the run-up to general elections.
At an emergency meeting of at least 100 activists on Sunday, organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), there were repeated pledges to fight the government’s “fundamental” assaults on their rights.
The meeting was called after the prime minister announced a series of reforms that are set to weaken the social security safety net, with his speech described by one disabled writer as designed to “drip feed a nation with an extremely ableist rhetoric intended to radicalise, scapegoat and ostracise” (see separate story).
Rishi Sunak announced plans for new cuts to personal independence payment, a faster rollout of universal credit to disabled people – despite serious concerns about the potential threat to the “safety and well-being” of disabled people – and an end to what he called a “sicknote culture”, as well as other reforms.
Sunday’s online meeting of activists heard that most of these reforms would only be introduced if the Conservatives won power at the next general election, which is almost certain to take place within the next six months.
DPAC – including some of those activists at the meeting – and other grassroots groups of disabled people have now been fighting successive Conservative-led governments over successive waves of austerity cuts for the last 14 years.
But they vowed this week to continue that fight.
As well as discussions of direct action, the meeting considered possible legal action that could derail some of the government’s planned legislation, particularly with a general election imminent.
Andy Greene, a member of DPAC’s national steering group, said: “When it comes to direct action, I think we really need to start upping our game.
“I think we need to put a stake through the heart of this idea that you can constantly come back to us as the whipping boy at the run-up to an election and talk about making our lives smaller and smaller again every single time as a vote-winner.
“I am sick of being used, being tied to a post, and being whipped for votes for election run-ins.
“Direct action needs to drive these arguments back into the dark because we cannot keep putting up with it.
“We are re-emerging as a mass movement, and direct action has always been the cutting edge of our movement.”
Ellen Clifford, a member of DPAC’s national steering group and award-winning author of The War on Disabled People, said: “What we really need is some direct action.”
She said Conservative politicians were “trying to win the next election by directly attacking disabled people”.
She added: “We need to show them what we think of them.”
John McDonnell, Labour’s former shadow chancellor and a long-standing DPAC member, told the meeting: “I think the scale of this attack is worse than in 2010 now.
“I think it has gone beyond that because this is much more fundamental an assault on basic rights for disabled people, and that’s why DPAC was founded [in 2010].
“We are a resistance movement, and we resist attacks, and in resisting those attacks we give a vision and hope for the future.
“I am worried about people being scared and anxious about this attack, because of the scale of it, but to balance that out we are within six months maximum of a general election.”
He said he believed the government would be able to introduce very few of the reforms Sunak announced before the election.
McDonnell said that if disabled people managed to make the government’s proposals “a general election issue” they would “defeat most of this and we will come out of that much stronger” and be positioned to secure stronger commitments from an incoming Labour government.
He said he did not believe many people – particularly within parliament – realised the scale of the attack on disabled people.
He committed himself and his staff to supporting efforts to oppose the reforms, including through parliamentary questions, early day motions, debates and events within parliament.
He added: “We have to get back to direct action as well. We have to get back onto the streets.”
Clifford also called for efforts to build campaigning networks “to pull people together”.
She said: “There are people who are rightly really scared about what this means.”
She said efforts should be made to reassure people where the government’s changes will not be introduced immediately, and where existing claimants will not be impacted.
As well as DPAC activists, others at the meeting included representatives from the disabled women’s organisation WinVisible, Inclusion London, and DPAC Northern Ireland, and union activists from PCS, Unite Community and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Natasha Hirst, NUJ president and a long-standing disabled activist, told the meeting that she was leading on the union’s work to support journalists to improve how they report on disability and social policy.
She said: “I know that there’s an awful lot of reporting at the moment that is absolutely abhorrent, that is appalling, and I’m working really hard with my colleagues to try to educate journalists.”
She said she was also keen to put together information that would show activists how to challenge poor reporting.
The meeting also heard of other ways that disabled people could fight back against the government’s reforms, including writing to MPs and mainstream media, contributing to local radio discussions, and posting on social media.
DPAC’s Paula Peters, who chaired the meeting, said afterwards that the mood had been “determined and angry” and that those who attended were “determined to organise, determined to mobilise, and determined to fight back”.
She said: “We have had 14 years of fighting successive governments, and we’ve got to continue to resist the draconian attacks and continue to fight for social justice and for our human rights. There’s no choice.
“There are loads of ways that disabled people can support these campaigns, and we urge everyone, however they can, to join in with whatever they feel comfortable doing, because there is strength in numbers, and we’re stronger together.”
Claire Glasman, from WinVisible, who also attended, said the meeting showed that “everyone is determined to resist this attack on our benefit rights”.
She said: “In WinVisible, many of us are living with mental distress due to abuse, rape, war and other trauma.
“We are asylum-seekers, refugee, immigrant and UK-born women, and some of us are LGBTQI+.
“In the face of Rishi Sunak scapegoating sick and disabled people; the government wanting to give the DWP surveillance powers on the bank accounts of 22 million claimants, including pensioners; and the passing of the Rwanda bill, effectively ending the right to seek asylum and protection in the UK, we are more determined than ever to fight for our survival.”
She also said there were concerns that the government planned to privatise the fit note system, and she called on the British Medical Association to oppose any such plans, which would lead to “profiteer companies” making decisions, as with the “brutal disability benefit assessments” that have been carried out by Maximus, Atos and Capita.
*Anyone who wishes to be involved in DPAC’s work to oppose the government’s attacks on disabled people should email mail@dpac.uk.net
25 April 2024
Activists’ shock as Scope ‘sacrifices integrity’ to partner with ‘hostile’ Daily Express
Shocked disabled campaigners have questioned why the disability charity Scope has partnered with a “scaremongering” national newspaper notorious for its hostile coverage of disabled people and other marginalised groups.
The Daily Express is the official partner for Scope’s second Disability Equality Awards, which are taking place today (Thursday) in London.
The ceremony comes just days after the right-wing newspaper horrified many disabled people with its front-page headline: “PM tells sick note Britain: Get a grip and a job.”
And it comes 17 months after Scope was forced to apologise for the way it ran its inaugural Disability Equality Awards, after excluding disabled people of colour and those clinically vulnerable to Covid, while refusing to pay disabled people who were asked to join its judging panel.
Now some of the disabled activists who protested in November 2022 have expressed alarm at Scope’s decision to partner with the right-wing tabloid on the awards, which are supposed to “shine a spotlight on equality champions”.
The Express was a particular focus for anger during the early austerity years, with headlines such as “Sick benefits: 75 per cent are faking”, and the impact of its disablist coverage was highlighted in reports published by disabled people’s organisations such as Disability Rights UK and Inclusion London.
One of the original signatories of the 2022 petition that led to Scope’s apology, Azeem Ahmad, an inclusion consultant based in the north-east of England, said the Express had admitted to a parliamentary committee – following its takeover by Reach PLC – that it had “contributed to the Islamophobia that has made the lives of me, and people like me, so much more difficult.
“They may argue that things have changed since the takeover, but they continue to seed division and hatred as client journalists for this government and opaquely funded ‘think-tanks’.”
He said the partnership illustrates “how far removed Scope is from their beneficiaries, and it will be very interesting to see what appears alongside the Express’s coverage of the awards”.
Yen Godden, a disability advocate who helped draw up the 2022 petition, said: “I am shocked that Scope has chosen to partner with the Daily Express, especially after the last Scope awards white-out scandal and their public commitments to do better and listen to those who are multiply marginalised.
“Scope has a section on their website about reporting disability hate crimes and incidents, yet seems to miss the glaringly obvious fact that the Daily Express has consistently stirred up hatred and mistrust towards disabled people and continues to do so.
“The latest front-page headline shows that the tabloid’s attempt to purple wash their reputation and make themselves look disability positive by partnering with Scope for this year’s Disability Equality Awards was superficial at best and added insult to injury for the disabled community who have borne the brunt of their headlines for years.”
Godden said the Express “consistently villainises marginalised groups such as refugees, the LGBTQIA+ community, especially trans people” to sell newspapers and generate clickbait.
She said: “In my family, my grandmother’s generation were refugees. It’s painful and distressing to hear the fear and vitriol whipped up against asylum-seekers by tabloids like the Daily Express repeated to me by people in my daily life.”
She added: “The intersectionality of the disabled community is vast and genuinely diverse. We strive for collective liberation.
“We both belong to and stand with the groups who are constantly targeted by the scaremongering tabloids like the Daily Express.”
Disability advocate Sara Westrop said that, as a disabled non-binary person, they were surprised to hear of the partnership, “considering the numerous ways they have contributed towards the increasingly hostile environment in the UK directed towards disabled people and trans people.
“The Express regularly shares articles painting disabled people as drains on society, resources and money.
“They have hundreds of articles which paint trans people as dangerous, and they’re full of misinformation on trans healthcare.
“Recent ones that come to mind are showing support for Sunak’s barbaric reformation of disability benefits and the celebration of the biased and poorly researched Cass review that led to the banning of puberty blockers for trans children.”
Accessibility consultant Julia Peyser Gutiérrez Anstey was also critical of the partnership.
They said: “The Daily Express has and continues to directly harm the disabled community by framing us as ‘benefits scroungers’ and wastes of NHS money.
“The fact that they are partnering with Scope does not take back any of the immense harm they have done to disabled people.”
Despite its partnership with the Express, and the paper’s “sick note Britain” front page, Scope has now launched a petition, backed by other disability charities, calling on the government to “stop demonising us”.
Asked why the charity thought it was appropriate to partner with the Express when it had a long history of discriminatory, hostile and disablist coverage, a Scope spokesperson said: “We work with journalists from across the political spectrum, just as we work with government and all political parties, because of the influence they have on our society.
“Having the Express spotlight stories from our nominees allows us to reach new audiences, and bring positive messages about disability to people that we would otherwise be unable to reach.”
He said that Scope “disagree” with last week’s “sick note Britain” front page and the term “sick note Britain”, but that the Express article “includes our quote that challenges the prevailing narrative about disability, benefits and work”.
He said the Express had not paid Scope for the partnership but had agreed to “spotlight numerous nominees”.
He said: “Partnering with the Express does not impact our independence at all.
“But it does give a platform and increase the reach and voice of disabled people and many of our shortlisted nominees.”
He said the charity was not reconsidering the partnership in the light of the front page.
Ahmed said in response to Scope’s comment: “I’m astonished that Scope is sacrificing their integrity and any credibility they may have had on inclusion in exchange for ‘earned media’.
“This raises serious questions about their leadership and operational decision-making.
“I think it’s time for the trustees to get a handle on the obvious cultural problems that Scope has.”
Godden warned that “spotlighting” award nominees as “inspirational figures” played into the damaging narrative “that disabled people are either a burden or an inspiration” and “was the same treatment applied to refugees and other marginalised groups by these tabloids”, when in fact “we exist as equals in society with inherent value as human beings”.
Gary Jones, editor of the Express, said this morning (Thursday): “The Express has demonstrated its commitment to supporting mental health and disability in recent years, with campaigns such as fighting to get the disabled into jobs, securing life-changing drugs for sufferers of degenerative condition PKU and our ongoing campaign for disabled people to be helped with bills during the cost of living crisis.
“We are committed to bring about positive change and look forward to working with Scope to do this.”
25 April 2024
Government’s access advisers face criticism for ‘meaningless’ response on rail reform
The government’s advisers on accessible transport have been fiercely criticised for a half-hearted and “meaningless” response to the government’s planned rail reforms.
In response to a call for evidence on the draft rail reform bill, the government’s independent advisers on accessible transport, the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), produced a response of just 543 words.
The call for evidence came from the Commons transport select committee, following the publication in February of the government’s 30-page draft bill, alongside 29 pages of explanatory notes, a 123-page impact assessment, and a 26-page memorandum.
The draft bill lays out plans to transfer powers to Great British Railways, the new over-arching body that will – eventually – run the rail system.
The government said last year that its plans “will ensure that accessibility on the railway is improved and the experience for disabled passengers is enhanced”, although the draft bill has no chance of becoming law before the next general election.
DPTAC had previously told the government – two years ago – that it did not believe its proposals for reforming the rail system would be “sufficient to deliver cultural change or an accessible railway”.
But last year the government appointed a new DPTAC chair, Matthew Campbell-Hill, and in an interview with Disability News Service shortly after his appointment, he questioned whether it was right to release DPTAC research that exposed the discrimination faced by disabled passengers.
Campbell-Hill, a technology and media consultant and retired international wheelchair fencer, has said little else publicly about accessible transport since his appointment, despite the months of anger and activism from disabled people over plans to close nearly 1,000 ticket offices across England, which were later abandoned (see separate story).
Transport secretary Mark Harper eventually reversed the government’s previous position supporting the closures, announcing in late October that ministers had “asked train operators to withdraw their proposals”.
The response to the transport committee suggests that DPTAC has eased its criticism of the government’s rail reforms.
In its response, DPTAC says it is committed to working with the Department for Transport (DfT), calls for a “comprehensive understanding” of its own new role under the reforms, and says there needs to be “further exploration” of its proposed expanded role.
It also calls for “explicit clarification” of measures on accessibility, and praises the government’s “thorough and insightful impact assessments”, while highlighting the need for “comprehensive staff training”.
Accessible transport campaigner Doug Paulley, who has taken many influential legal actions against the transport industry for its repeated failures on accessible transport, said DPTAC’s response “simply doesn’t even begin to respond to the call for evidence, let alone advance disabled people’s enforceable and enforced rights”.
He told Disability News Service (DNS): “It is lacking in any content or meaning, there is no recognition of the discriminatory service failures we currently experience, and it doesn’t give the firm commitment to disabled people’s rights we need and deserve from our representatives.”
Tony Jennings, co-chair of a rail accessibility panel and co-founder of the Campaign for Level Boarding, also said he was disappointed by the DPTAC response, which he said “could have been written by a non-disabled person who doesn’t actually use trains regularly”.
He said DPTAC failed to note the importance of imposing deadlines for the legislation to be introduced and the need for significantly increased investment for accessible stations, as well as the need to introduce level boarding from the train to platform “or else the same barriers will exist in 100 years”.
He pointed to a 2022 report by DPTAC, which concluded: “At current annual rates of investment spend on station accessibility, it will take around 100 years to make the entirety of the station estate step-free to new-build standards.”
He told DNS: “There is no mention of discrimination or challenging the status quo and the importance of enforceable rights.”
After two years campaigning, Jennings has finally succeeded in persuading ScotRail to change its discriminatory mobility scooter policy.
He added: “DPTAC needs to be truly independent and subject to scrutiny and more transparent, as it was ominously silent over ticket office closures when disabled people needed them most.”
The disabled-led campaigning organisation Transport for All (TfA) also raised concerns about the DPTAC response.
Ezra Johnson, TfA’s campaigns and communications officer, said: “This is a major piece of legislation that will affect how the rail network is managed for many years to come.
“If it’s done right, Great British Railways could address some crucial barriers disabled people face to travelling by train: standardised infrastructure, simpler complaints processes, meaningful accountability.
“But at this stage, this is all hypothetical; the bill in its current form does not live up to such a promise and our fear is that, if disabled people are not built into the new rail network from the very beginning, then we could be built out of it for good.
“We’re concerned that DPTAC have missed an opportunity to influence the bill given the brevity of their response, and urge them to go further to exercise the full extent of their influence on this issue, holding the government’s feet to the fire to ensure that accessibility obligations are clear and enforceable from the outset.”
Campbell-Hill told DNS: “In our response to the consultation, we emphasized our intention to engage with the Department for Transport as the rail reform bill evolves, to ensure that accessibility and the voice of disabled people are central to the legislation’s development.
“Regarding public statements, our advisory role often involves confidential discussions with the department, allowing us to provide candid advice that supports effective decision-making.
“This confidentiality is essential to our work but can sometimes result in fewer public communications.”
He said DPTAC had taken “significant steps to increase transparency” and had published or contributed to “at least 34 public documents, indicating a considerable increase in transparency and communication compared to previous years”.
This includes publication of three guidance and regulation responses; three news and communication pieces; one research and statistics response; one programme of work summary; one register of members’ interests; one report on gifts and hospitality received by members; three annual reports covering 2018 to 2023; 15 sets of main committee meeting minutes, including previously unreleased minutes dating back to 2020; and six working group reports summarizing the past year’s activities.
He said these publications were “part of our ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability” and “provide evidence of our active engagement in addressing critical issues affecting transport accessibility”.
He added: “We remain dedicated to advising and supporting the Department for Transport to create a more accessible and inclusive transport network.”
25 April 2024
DWP claims it has no written evidence to show why it weakened suicide probe guidance
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) appears to have destroyed all written records that would have shown why it weakened guidance on when to investigate suicides of benefit claimants.
DWP previously said it had no documents about the decision that were considered by any of its directors, claiming this was because the discussions on the move were “operational in nature as opposed to policy based”.
But it has now admitted that it also has no documents held by the team that made the decision in April 2021 to weaken the rules on when to carry out an internal process review (IPR).
The previous year, DWP had told the National Audit Office (NAO) it would always carry out one of its secret reviews when it heard of a claimant’s death if they had died by suicide, even if there were no allegations that DWP’s actions had contributed to that death.
But since April 2021, after weakening the rules, DWP now only carries out an IPR following the suicide of a claimant if there is already an allegation that DWP’s actions “may have negatively contributed to the customer’s circumstances”.
After Disability News Service (DNS) asked for documents held by the team that made this change, through a freedom of information request, the department replied: “Following a search of our records, we have established that the information requested, which relates to the change in criteria for Internal Process Reviews, is not held by this Department.”
Labour’s Debbie Abrahams, who has led parliamentary efforts to secure justice for DWP’s victims and push for an independent inquiry into the countless deaths linked to its failings, said the department’s actions were “yet further evidence of the DWP’s failure to treat the deaths of social security claimants with appropriate sensitivity and rigour”.
She said: “This news will be both horrific and frankly unsurprising to the campaigners for justice on the deaths of social security claimants for many years.
“The Department for Work and Pensions have admitted that the criteria to investigate all suicides following the NAO 2020 report were changed in 2021 and given both the importance and sensitivity of such a decision, it is deeply disturbing and administratively unforgivable that this was not properly recorded.”
She highlighted how DWP admitted five years ago that it was unable to find documents which would have shown if it had shared vital information relating to suicides linked to the work capability assessment with the independent reviewers of the assessment process.
The minister for disabled people at the time, Justin Tomlinson, had earlier misled Abrahams about evidence uncovered by DNS that proved the information had not been shared with one of the reviewers, Dr Paul Litchfield.
Abrahams said this week: “This is a pattern of behaviour.
“It is unforgiveable that yet again, the Department for Work and Pensions, the highest-spending government department, has once again failed in basic record-keeping.
“I will be following this up with the National Data Guardian.”
She said the admission “also exposes that DWP’s internal culture have led them to make decisions over claimant deaths in such a cavalier manner”, and that it placed a question-mark over DWP’s commitment to safeguarding claimants.
She said: “We deserve far better and as a member of the work and pensions select committee I will continue to push for this, including as part of our ongoing safeguarding inquiry.”
Figures obtained through another freedom of information request have shown that on at least four occasions in 2022-23 – as a result of the new rules – the department failed to carry out an IPR when told of the suicide of a claimant.
For more than a decade, DNS has been revealing how DWP has covered-up evidence of links between its actions and the deaths of claimants, and how it has repeatedly tried to delay evidence of those links being released.
DWP refused to comment.
25 April 2024
Black disabled pupils face systemic barriers and injustice at school, says new report
A new report has shown how black disabled pupils in mainstream schools are exposed to “systemic and structural barriers and injustice”.
It calls for disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) and racial justice movements to work together to amplify the voices of black and global majority disabled children and young people within mainstream schools.
Pupils interviewed by The Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) for the research* described a sense of “separation and differential treatment” in their experience of mainstream education.
They “consistently believed their voices went unheard” by their teachers, while they wanted choice and control over their support staff.
They also spoke of how disabled pupils were often placed in different parts of the school building than other pupils.
One of those interviewed described how the part of their school that was used by disabled pupils was kept locked and could only be accessed by a teacher with a security card.
Policies like this create “internalised oppression that reinforces the marginalisation of racialised and non-racialised Disabled people”, the report says.
It says the young people they spoke to wanted an end to the separation of black, disabled pupils because it “reinforces stereotypes, stigma and discriminatory behaviour” towards them.
But they also want their intersectional experiences to be recognised, to have a say in writing school rules and policy, and to feel “a sense of belonging”.
The pupils described how nuances of their impairments, such as differences in communication styles or movement habits, were often “misinterpreted as misbehaviour” and frequently led to disciplinary measures and “increased surveillance”.
The report points out that disabled and black pupils disproportionately experience disciplinary procedures and surveillance, which has led to the use of restraints, being placed in seclusion, excluded from school, and sent to alternative provision, special schools or pupil referral units.
Parents of black disabled pupils, who were also interviewed, were often concerned about racial and disability injustice within school disciplinary procedures.
They spoke of the “disproportionate use of disciplinary procedures and practices of surveillance” towards black disabled pupils, which led to “negative consequences, school exclusion or removal to alternative settings”.
The report calls for DPOs and racial justice movements to work together to “strengthen campaigns to end disciplinary procedures and acts of surveillance that lead to exclusion and discrimination”.
ALLFIE had carried out interviews with black disabled children aged from 11 to 16, and parents of black disabled children.
The pupils told ALLFIE that none of them could remember having any lessons in school that included examples of black and other global majority disabled people.
The report calls for efforts to diversify the teaching workforce, and to introduce more “diverse identities” into the curriculum, promoting learning about the intersections between disability and racial justice.
The report on the small-scale study concludes that the absence of advocacy support makes it hard for black disabled pupils and their families to “obtain knowledge, make informed decisions, and address any tensions around the intersections of ‘race’ and disability”.
The report calls for local DPOs to be funded to provide advocacy support for children and families with their education, health and care plans, to ensure they put independent living principles at their centre.
Parents interviewed for the research spoke of focusing on a school’s SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] services when choosing a school for their child, which meant they often overlooked “the complex intersections of disability, race, gender, and other experiences”.
The report says that – despite its duty to move towards a progressive realisation of the right to inclusive education under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the presumption of a mainstream education under the Children and Families Act – the government was “actively constructing a divided society”.
This is “perpetuating segregation” as well as disablism, racism and other forms of discrimination, says ALLFIE.
It concludes: “Inclusive education is a human rights issue; it requires the removal of barriers and the recognition of intersectionality and cross-movement working.
“We have found systemic and structural barriers and injustice in the educational system.”
Dr Navin Kikabhai, ALLFIE’s chair, said the research could be “a powerful tool to drive the campaign for inclusive education forward, ensuring that no-one is left behind.
“Our collective social justice efforts must confront intersectional erasure head-on.”
Michelle Daley, ALLFIE’s director and one of the report’s co-authors, added: “The writing of this report was made possible through unity and collective action of activists committed to inclusive education as a human rights issue for everyone.”
The research was supported by ALLFIE’s Disabled Black Lives Matter campaign, and funded by Runnymede Trust.
*The report, Lived Experience of Black/Global Majority Disabled Pupils and their Families in Mainstream Education, was written by Dr Navin Kikabhai, Dr Themesa Y Neckles, Tasnim Hassan, Michelle Daley, Saâdia Neilson, Iyiola Olafimihan and Okha Walcott-Johnson
25 April 2024
Watchdog backs government over secret assessment of ticket office closures
The information commissioner has backed the government’s refusal to release its assessment of how plans to close nearly 1,000 ticket offices across England would have affected disabled people and other groups protected under the Equality Act.
The Information Commissioner’s Office ruled that it was still too soon to release the document, even though the proposals have been abandoned.
Disability News Service (DNS) wrote to the Department for Transport (DfT) in November to ask for the equality impact assessment (EIA) to be released.
It was later forced to complain to the information commissioner when DfT refused to release the EIA.
DNS argued that the government’s explanation for refusing to release the assessment – that it might be used to help draw up a government policy decision on the closures – no longer applied as the decision had been made.
But DfT said that, at the time DNS made the request, it was still considering whether to take forward “many of the actions intended to mitigate the impact of ticket office closures”, even if the closures themselves had been abandoned.
And it said ministers and civil servants needed “a safe space away from public scrutiny to formulate and develop policy”, while train operating companies needed to ensure that information “was not prematurely shared” because it would probably have “resulted in negative impacts” on being able to deliver reforms that would benefit passengers and “generate efficiencies benefitting the taxpayer”.
DNS argued that it could take months or even years before DfT’s policy on rail station reform had been settled and it was vital that disabled people could see the EIA so they could make a judgement on how future reforms could affect them.
And it told the commissioner: “The interests of disabled people in being able to access public transport far outweigh the mild difficulties this might cause DfT and the rail companies.”
In his decision notice, the information commissioner said the release of the EIA would have shown “what risks DfT had identified from changes to ticket offices and how it intended to mitigate those risks”.
But he concluded that the consultation process, the EIAs produced by the train companies – which have been published – and other research data “adequately met the public interest”, so there “remained enough weight in the need for a safe space when this request was made”.
The disabled-led campaigning organisation Transport for All (TfA), which failed in an earlier attempt to secure the EIA, said this week: “We find it frustrating and concerning that, even months after the policy has been overturned, the government is continuing to withhold its analysis of how ticket office closures would impact disabled people.
“Our community deserves to know how any potential rail reforms are going to affect us and how we have been accounted for in these decisions.
“If the ticket office scandal should have taught the government one thing, it is that trying to bypass disabled people will inevitably backfire.
“We hope that decision-makers will heed this lesson and increase their transparency and engagement, so as not to repeat the same disastrous mistake.”
Meanwhile, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has found that disabled rail passengers would be more likely to complain about rail travel if they felt it was worth their time and energy and would lead to change.
Of those who took part in the ORR research, 46 per cent said they experienced some barriers with the complaints processes of train companies and eight per cent found the complaints process to be inaccessible.
The regulator will now be writing to 10 operating companies that failed to comply with specific requirements in the complaints code of practice and the accessible travel policy guidance that are designed to secure passenger awareness and ensure that complaints processes are accessible to all disabled people.
Tony Jennings, co-chair of a rail accessibility panel and co-founder of the Campaign for Level Boarding, has written to John Larkinson, ORR’s chief executive, following the report’s publication.
He said in the email that he welcomed the report, but that ORR needed to ensure that rail operators learn from their mistakes through enforcement because “the same passenger assistance failures are regrettably repeated by operators time and time again.
“Operators must proactively enforce and implement processes to address and understand the underlying reasons for the failed assistance occurring to help prevent it happening again.”
He said: “If disabled people are to have confidence that their energy expended in complaining is worthwhile, they need to see change and improvements to passenger assistance and feel they are being listened to rather than a tick box exercise.”
He said it was “critical lessons are learned when complaints are made by disabled people”.
25 April 2024
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week
People detained under the Mental Health Act are dying at three times the rate of those held in prisons, figures have revealed. A new report from a government advisory body has warned that deaths in custody remain “far too high”, with those detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA) most at risk. The Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody analysed deaths in prisons, police custody, immigration detention, and under the MHA between 2017 and 2021: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/deaths-custody-mental-health-act-report-b2532790.html
A new mum took her own life hours after being told her six-month-old baby might be placed for adoption, an inquest has found. Fern Foster, who was autistic, died after an email sent to her partner by his solicitor outlined the news that their child might be adopted. The baby had been placed in foster care almost a month after she was born, in January 2020, after the support Fern’s family believe she was entitled to was not put into place: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/young-autistic-mum-took-life-32626429
A disabled activist has been granted permission to take the government to court over its controversial plans to tighten the work capability assessment. The high court has granted Ellen Clifford permission to bring a judicial review of the public consultation: https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-disability-benefits-judicial-review-ellen-clifford/
An inquest has concluded that gross neglect contributed to the death of a care home resident with Down’s syndrome. Marcus Hanlin died after choking on a conker that was part of a sensory activity for another resident. He had been left alone in a room, despite being on a support plan that required him to be supervised at all times when around food due to a choking risk and swallowing issues: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-68875035
London mayor Sadiq Khan has been criticised over a “staggering rise” in London Underground lift closures. A freedom of information request made by the Liberal Democrats’ candidate for mayor, Rob Blackie, has revealed that there was a fivefold increase in the amount of time lifts have been out of action between 2021 and 2022. This was solely due to a lack of trained staff at Tube stations, the party says, and increased by another 34 per cent in 2023: https://www.mylondon.news/news/transport/london-underground-stations-worst-affected-29041538
25 April 2024
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
