Contents
House of Commons has many more disabled MPs than previously thought, ‘heartening’ new figures show 1
Crowdfunder’s final push could see book on ‘violent’ DWP sent to politicians across the country 5
Government ordered to release redacted parts of document on power cuts and disabled people 7
National network will provide new voice for disabled people battling councils over social care 9
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week 14
House of Commons has many more disabled MPs than previously thought, ‘heartening’ new figures show
“Positive” new figures show there are far more disabled MPs in the House of Commons than previously thought, and possibly as many as 40.
Even after the addition of at least three new disabled MPs after July’s general election – Labour’s Dr Marie Tidball and Jen Craft, and Liberal Democrat Steve Darling – it was thought there was still only a handful.
Disability News Service (DNS) estimated last month that there were about nine MPs who identify as disabled people, compared to possibly as few as five in the last parliament.
But figures obtained this week under the Freedom of Information Act by Disability News Service (DNS) show there are far more than that in the new parliament.
They show that 43 out of a total of 650 MPs had discussed the possibility of having disability-related adjustments made for them, after every MP was approached with an offer of support by House of Commons authorities when they were elected in July.
The figures show that, by 14 July, in response to this approach, 43 MPs had said they would like to discuss workplace adjustments.
Of those 43, 28 subsequently had workplace adjustments agreed, although five said they no longer required any support.
The other 10 had been contacted and provided with information by the House of Commons team, although adjustments had not been agreed by 14 July.
Although not all of those who have requested adjustments will self-describe as a disabled person, the figures show a huge increase on the seven MPs who had workplace adjustments agreed in the last parliament.
Among the adjustments provided were voice recognition software and arrangements for documents to be provided in large print and other accessible formats, as well as dyslexia and dyspraxia assessments and subsequent job analysis and coaching.
Other support included having an office in an appropriate location, technological assistance, and other support provided by the House of Commons diversity and inclusion team.
The House of Commons said it had been working with the Business Disability Forum and had appointed a workplace adjustment case manager to be a point of contact for disabled colleagues.
Fazilet Hadi, head of policy at Disability Rights UK, said: “This is really positive news.
“It’s heartening to know that 28 MPs, four times as many as in the previous parliament, have received workplace adjustments, with more requests in the pipeline.
“Whilst there were more disabled MPs in the previous parliament than the five who officially stated they were in 2019, this step-up in numbers is very welcome.
“The changes in work practise following Covid may be playing some part, as requests for flexibilities and adjustments are now more normalised.”
But she said the representation of disabled people in parliament remained far too low, despite the new figures.
Hadi said: “Despite the positive increase in disabled MPs, the representation of disabled people remains low, given almost one in four of us has a disability.
“We would urge all MPs with a disability or long-term health condition, whether they need a workplace adjustment or not, to speak out about it.
“We need diversity of lived experience in the House of Commons.
“Disabled people need to be confident that our concerns are heard and represented.”
Asked whether the figures showed there were more disabled MPs in the current parliament than the last, or if there were just more MPs requesting adjustments, a parliamentary spokesperson said: “It is vital that parliament is accessible to all.
“The House of Commons has offered proactive adjustment support for newly-elected MPs, who were asked upon election whether they anticipated that they would require any adjustments or had a health condition or disability that may require support.
“We understand that there is more to be done to ensure that disabled people do not face unnecessary difficulties when working in or visiting parliament – and we are committed to making further essential adjustments, ensuring that all our staff are trained in disability awareness.”
The Inclusion and Diversity Strategy 2023-27 published by the House of Commons and the Parliamentary Digital Service describes the intention to address structural barriers, minimise delays to making repairs or adjustments, and ensure more accessible, appropriate shared working environments.
15 August 2024
Labour fails another transparency test, as DWP appeals order to release information on universal credit deaths
Labour’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has failed its latest test on transparency after appealing against a regulator’s decision that it should release vital information from secret reports into the deaths of universal credit claimants.
The information will show how many internal investigations were carried out into the deaths of universal credit claimants over the last four years of a Conservative-run DWP.
Disability News Service (DNS) has been trying since last November to secure the information, which would show the number of internal process reviews (IPRs) carried out following the death of a universal credit claimant, and what recommendations for improvements were made by the civil servants who carried out those reviews.
DWP has previously insisted that it intends to publish the information “at a future date”.
It has also argued that the “ad hoc release of the requested information into the public domain could engender public distrust in the DWP” and would “only serve to increase” the “misconceptions” and “incorrect views” held by the “general public”.
Despite those arguments, the information commissioner ordered DWP last month to release the information.
But the Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed to DNS this week that DWP has lodged an appeal against that decision.
It will now be left to the information rights tribunal to decide if the information should be released, but it is likely to be many months before that hearing takes place.
Earlier this month, DNS reported how the Labour-run DWP was also blocking the release of information about IPRs carried out into the work capability assessment (WCA) under the last government, as well as information about Conservative plans to scrap the WCA.
There had been hopes that the appointment of Labour’s Sir Stephen Timms as minister for social security and disability would herald a new culture of transparency within the department.
As chair of the Commons work and pensions committee in the last parliament, he had frequently attempted to hold the Conservative government to account over the lack of transparency within DWP and its failure to release crucial reports.
Two years ago, he wrote to work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey (PDF) to tell her his committee was concerned that her department’s “lack of transparency” could undermine public trust in DWP’s work.
Among nine examples of this lack of transparency, he pointed to the failure to publish information from IPRs, and a report on support for “vulnerable claimants” of universal credit.
But his department has now approved the decision to prevent the release of the information requested by DNS.
Only last week, DNS reported that three deaths of disabled people who took their own lives were linked to flaws within the universal credit system, despite DWP previously dismissing fears about the safety of “vulnerable” claimants as “misplaced” and deciding not to implement a recommendation by civil servants working for the prime minister that it should test that a “minimum level of support” for vulnerable claimants was available across jobcentres.
DNS reported in May how a survey by Sir Stephen’s work and pensions committee found two-thirds of DWP staff still do not have enough time to deal with safeguarding concerns “carefully” and “correctly”, despite years of deaths of benefit claimants linked with the department’s actions and failings.
Last December, a dossier of evidence submitted by the PCS union to DWP showed the department to be a failing organisation in a “state of crisis” and facing a “near collapse” of its benefits systems, with staff accusing DWP of “deliberate neglect” and revealing that claimants in vulnerable situations were “falling through the gaps” in the system.
The rollout of universal credit to the hundreds of thousands of disabled people still receiving income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) will begin next month.
DWP declined to comment this week on its decision or to confirm whether Sir Stephen was aware of the move to appeal.
But the department confirmed that it had appealed the commissioner’s decision to the information rights tribunal.
Meanwhile, new DWP figures show that of more than 800,000 people sent a “migration notice” – between July 2022 and February 2024 – telling them they must move onto universal credit, more than a third (34 per cent) had not moved across and therefore had their claim closed.
By February 2024, about 530,000 people had moved across but about 280,000 had not claimed universal credit and had their existing “legacy” claim closed.
Most of these receiving a migration notice will have been receiving tax credits, rather than out-of-work disability benefits, although many will still have been disabled people.
Next month, the universal credit rollout will see claimants of income-related ESA starting to receive their own migration notices.
DWP stressed in this week’s release that the likelihood of tax credit recipients deciding to claim universal credit “may be different” to those on legacy benefits such as ESA.
But significant concerns were raised about the DWP figures on social media.
Labour’s John McDonnell, the party’s former shadow chancellor, described the figures as “extremely worrying”.
He said: “We need a speedy inquiry to clarify what is happening as this could mean many of the poorest are losing all support.”
Greater Manchester Welfare Rights Advisers Group said on Twitter that some of the reasons for so many people failing to claim universal credit were a lack of access to the internet, low levels of digital literacy, and the “appalling” reputation of universal credit, as well as DWP and its Help to Claim service – provided by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland – “simply not doing what they say they will do”.
Others on Twitter spoke of the “hoops u need to jump through”, DWP making “any process stressful and inhumane”, and the “very difficult” and “really stressful” process of claiming universal credit.
Another claimant of benefits, a carer for two disabled children, said: “Had my migration letter, not claiming it, when my income support stops we’re gonna manage with what we have coming in, yes we’ll be worse off but I can’t take anymore of the benefits system, the constant letters, the constant examining of our lives, I wanna feel free.”
15 August 2024
Crowdfunder’s final push could see book on ‘violent’ DWP sent to politicians across the country
Disabled activists are hoping a final push with their crowdfunding campaign will allow copies of a new book about the “violent” history of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to be sent to key politicians across the country.
By this morning (Thursday), the crowdfunder was just £500 short of its “stretched” fundraising goal of £7,000.
The original aim was to raise £3,500, enough money to send a copy of The Department to every Labour MP in the House of Commons.
But the campaign was so successful that the target was doubled, and the aim extended to MPs from other parties.
Now organisers of the campaign hope to raise enough to provide copies of the book to other leading politicians across the country, including some members of the legislative assembly in Northern Ireland (MLAs), Welsh assembly members, members of the Scottish parliament (MSPs) and other key figures such as elected mayors.
They also plan to use some of the funds to organise a campaign event in parliament on 2 September, the day MPs return from their summer break and the same day the books are due to be delivered to the House of Commons.
Among the organisations supporting the campaign are Disabled People Against Cuts, Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (GMCDP), Inclusion London, Recovery in the Bin and the radical working-class media organisation The Canary.
Rick Burgess, a GMCDP spokesperson, said: “While the DWP dictates policy from Westminster, the devastating and harmful effects are felt everywhere.
“It’s fantastic the crowdfunder has nearly reached its stretch goal.
“Hopefully this means books could also be sent to key leaders around the country, such as Andy Burnham and the other Metro mayors and key council leaders.
“Local and regional leaders can play a role in bringing this shameful era to an end.
“Mr Burnham’s support for the Hillsborough Law is important too.
“When passed, it will mean any public inquiry will put a duty of candour on public authorities and officials and provide legal representation for survivors and bereaved friends and family.”
Scottish disability rights campaigner Bill Scott, until recently a senior policy advisor for Inclusion Scotland, but speaking personally, said: “I think that all policy professionals working on disability and health-related issues and every MSP should read this harrowing account of how DWP policy-makers have fashioned policies that have taken hundreds, perhaps thousands, of disabled people’s lives.
“We have to ensure that both reserved and devolved benefits policy-makers not only stop punishing disabled people but instead secure their rights to an adequate income.
“I can’t recommend it more highly.”
The idea for the crowdfunder came from John McArdle, co-founder of the disabled people’s grassroots group Black Triangle, who is leading the project with fellow disabled activist and author Ellen Clifford, who leads the coalition of disabled people’s organisations monitoring the UK implementation of the UN’s disability rights convention.
Among other campaigners supporting the crowdfunder is Anne-Marie O’Sullivan, who has fought for justice for more than a decade for her father Michael, who took his own life in 2013 after being wrongly found fit for work.
In their letter to MPs, which will accompany the book, they will tell them: “It is certain that the new government will be announcing reforms to personal independence payment, benefit sanctions, universal credit and the work capability assessment in the coming months.
“All these areas of DWP policy have been strongly linked to tragic deaths of claimants over the last 15 years, and we believe this will continue to happen if the government does not take the necessary steps to build a new, safer culture within DWP.
“All we ask is that you read this book before deciding your position.”
McArdle said: “Politicians across the country need to know the devastating impact of austerity on disabled people, so they can use that information when making their own decisions on vital local services.
“Successive Conservative-led governments used austerity as a justification for cutting disabled people’s support.
“This book shows how they did that and how it led to countless deaths.
“Metro mayors, MSPs, MLAs and Welsh assembly members all need to concentrate on how they can make the UK a country fit for all to live in.
“This means, above all, tackling the grinding poverty which is shortening lives.
“These lessons must be learned locally and nationally.
“There is a better way to deal with the mess we’re in than to persevere with the failed policy of cuts and austerity which strangles our future wellbeing and has cost lives and caused misery to millions.
“It has failed and been shown to have failed, and disabled people have borne the brunt.”
The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence, by DNS editor John Pring, will be published by Pluto Press on Tuesday (20 August).
It describes Pring’s 10-year investigation into how the actions of DWP, spurred on by politicians and the outsourcing industry, led to the deaths of hundreds, and probably thousands, of disabled people, and how they covered up their role in those deaths.
It includes new documents obtained from the National Archives that show how the violence inflicted on benefit claimants built slowly from the late 1980s until it exploded in the post-2010 austerity years.
It also tells the stories of some of those who lost their lives because of that bureaucratic violence, following years of dehumanisation and destitution, and the impact on their families and friends.
Clifford has described it as “an expertly crafted, vigorously researched response to the gas-lighting endured by disabled benefit claimants at the hands of government and the DWP for the past 14 years” and “a powerful call to arms for all decent human beings”.
15 August 2024
Government ordered to release redacted parts of document on power cuts and disabled people
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has been ordered to release missing parts of a document that warned national power cuts could cause “catastrophic deterioration” in some disabled people who rely on medical equipment in their own homes.
Although the department released parts of the unfinished report earlier this year, it redacted significant parts of the document and then refused to release those sections when Disability News Service (DNS) complained*.
Now the information commissioner has ordered DHSC to release the missing parts of Rolling Power Outages: Medical Equipment and Vulnerable People, which the government describes as an “internal scoping paper”.
It has 30 days to release the information, although it could still appeal to the information rights tribunal.
The scoping paper considered what advice was available for disabled people who rely on mains-powered medical devices at home and whether there was a need for DHSC to issue its own guidance.
But DHSC decided not to draw up any guidance and to leave it to individual disabled people and their “care teams” to draw up plans for “how they can prepare for and respond to loss of power to their home”, with the paper suggesting they should “take individual responsibility for their own preparedness”.
That conclusion was reached even though the document makes clear that some disabled people could be “at very high risk of catastrophic deterioration” if the power cut was unexpected or continued for longer than their equipment’s batteries lasted.
The paper also admitted that there were significant flaws with the system of local priority services registers (PSRs), which are supposed to ensure energy companies provide “enhanced support to their more vulnerable customers”.
It warned that there were “barriers” that prevented many of those eligible from signing up to a PSR, while there was “an issue” with knowing how many devices supporting people with “the more critical conditions” were being used in people’s homes.
The scoping paper also admitted that “in a national power outage scenario it would not be possible to notify PSR households pre-emptively” that they were about to lose electricity.
And it stated that in a “reasonable worst-case scenario” in at least some types of “national power outage”, services such as providing emergency power to those on the PSR who rely on “at home medical equipment” would “not be available due to the scale and complexity of the outage”.
The attempt to secure the missing information from the scoping paper was the latest effort by DNS over the last two years – in the face of resistance from the last Conservative government – to find out what plans ministers had put in place to protect people who rely on equipment such as ventilators, oxygen concentrators and dialysis machines in the event of a major blackout.
It is not yet clear if the new Labour-run DHSC will take a different position in response to these efforts.
DHSC released only a redacted version of the paper earlier this year, arguing that it was unfinished, and that parts of it were “intended for internal use and taken out of context or in isolation are open to misinterpretation which could cause misunderstanding”.
Although it admitted that there was a public interest argument for releasing the redacted information, it said this was outweighed by other factors, including the need to protect internal communications.
It also argued that releasing the missing information “could lead to a chilling effect between officials as they collaborate across government to develop plans for risks”, and it said that redacted figures provided by Ofgem were “more than 18 months old” and had “not been quality assured”.
And it said it had launched a new website to support the public in planning for emergencies, which included advice for disabled people and information on what to do in a power outage.
But the website includes no new information for disabled people who rely on medical equipment at home, relying instead on DHSC’s previous position that they should “make a plan” in advance with their “care provider, clinical care team and/or equipment supplier”.
Despite DHSC’s arguments, the information commissioner, John Edwards, concluded in his decision notice that the department’s arguments for preventing the release of the redacted information were outweighed by the public interest in disclosing it to DNS.
He said there were “significant public interest arguments in favour of disclosure” at the time the request was made in January.
DHSC had not commented on the decision notice by 11am today (Thursday) or said if it would release the redacted information.
*The complaint was dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations, rather than the Freedom of Information Act
15 August 2024
National network will provide new voice for disabled people battling councils over social care
Disabled people and allies are hoping that a new national network will support service-users who are constantly battling their local authority over their social care packages.
The Care Net is particularly focusing on disabled people who use direct payments to arrange support in their own homes.
It is hoping to act as an umbrella network for local groups of disabled people who want to come together as “one strengthened voice” to campaign for better support from their local authority.
The network was the idea of Iggy Patel, a direct payments-user and managing director of advice, training and advocacy consultancy Halo Able Tec.
He finally decided to act after seeing Disability News Service (DNS) coverage of a report by Disability Law Service, which found that disabled people across England were continuing to face unlawful discrimination and inequality on an “unparalleled” scale due to “unjust” social care charging policies.
That report also showed that few councils were consulting with disabled people and their organisations when taking decisions on care charges.
Halo Able Tec is backed by the user-led organisation Being the Boss, which supports disabled people who employ personal assistants (PAs), and two grassroots carers’ organisations, Adult Social Care Warriors and Bringing Us Together.
Together, they hope to support and develop a network of local groups of direct payments-users around the country who will be able to speak out locally – and eventually nationally – to promote and protect the rights of disabled people who rely on direct payments, which currently “are constantly forgotten about”.
The immediate campaigning priorities are to secure improved support for the direct payments system and higher pay for PAs.
Patel told DNS: “The people we speak to regularly say they feel alone, unsupported, and that no one listens to them in local authorities or the government.
“We have already been working with small groups locally; we want to expand this so everywhere has a group, and the voices of all these groups can be amplified.
“The larger the voice, the more likely it will be heard.”
He added: “Talking to people every day there is a lot more knowledge with disabled people than in the care system.
“Working with each other as peer supporters can get rid of the loneliness people feel and share knowledge and resources.”
Among these resources is the disability-related expenditure guide, which has been accessed more than 12,000 times.
The Care Net argues that a properly supported system of direct payments allows choice, independence and control, but is also a much cheaper option because it cuts out the profits demanded by private sector care agencies.
Patel said that his own local authority refused to provide a pay-rise for his PAs, which meant for two years he could not recruit the care workers he needed.
Instead, the council suggested he use an agency to fill the gaps, which would have cost far more than allowing his PAs a pay rise.
He said: “We keep hearing about austerity and that local authorities have no money, yet a lot of money is spent unnecessarily.”
He said local authorities could also take other measures to cut costs, such as allowing self-assessments, and streamlining paperwork, instead of cutting social care budgets.
He said: “Anyone on a direct payment knows this, but individually our voices are too small, and have little power.
“We hope The Care Net can amplify these voices and try and get a more commonsense approach to social care.”
The network wants to hear from disabled people around England who are interested in setting up their own local organisation of users of direct payments.
15 August 2024
Retired Paralympian calls for multi-billion Motability reserves to fund more grants for high-cost vehicles
A retired Paralympian has called for the charity that oversees the Motability scheme to use some of its huge financial reserves to allow more disabled people with high support needs to drive independently.
Zoe Dunklin believes that Motability Foundation’s policies on awarding grants that allow customers to lease more expensive vehicle conversions are discriminating against her and many other disabled people who need expensive drive-from-wheelchair adaptations.
She believes some of the billions of pounds of reserves held by the charity and by Motability Operations, the company that runs the scheme on its behalf, should be used to provide more grants for what the Motability scheme calls “complex driving solutions” (CDSs).
Motability Operations currently holds £4.2 billion in reserves, although it insists that nearly all of this is held in the form of vehicles, rather than cash.
Motability Foundation* held nearly £1.8 billion in reserves on 31 March 2023, although it says only about £500 million of this was available to spend on grant-making.
Dunklin is a double amputee and powerchair-user and competed for Britain at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta in wheelchair basketball – as Zoe Dickinson – and before that represented her country in swimming.
She has been a Motability customer for more than 30 years.
For more than a decade, Motability rules on awarding grants have prioritised support for disabled people in paid work, volunteering, education, and in caring roles, although there are exceptions made for those whose “circumstances make the use of a complex vehicle conversion essential for… everyday mobility”.
Until recently, Dunklin had a health condition that meant she could not drive, but she is now in a position where she can drive again.
She still has other ongoing health conditions that mean she needs to make regular trips to hospital, while she is also concerned about her husband’s health after a recent heart scare saw them being told they would have to wait more than three hours for an ambulance to take him to hospital.
She may soon be starting voluntary work with a charity, but even if she secures that role she will not meet the Motability criteria of working at least 12 hours a week, and she says she was told by Motability Foundation that “people say they will get volunteer work and [then] don’t”.
Although Dunklin currently has a Motability vehicle, it is only her husband who can drive it.
The only option they could afford would be to lease a vehicle that allowed her to drive but would rely on her husband to load her wheelchair into the back of the vehicle after she had transferred into the driver’s seat, and do the reverse at the other end of the journey.
Instead, she wants Motability Foundation to help fund a van she could drive from her wheelchair, using hand controls, which would allow her independent mobility, but if she paid for it herself would likely mean an advance payment of more than £20,000.
When she complained about the refusal of her application for a grant, she was told: “Due to the high overall cost of the solution, there is a strict criteria in place which every application is assessed and considered against.
“This is to ensure that we remain fair and consistent when making decisions – as you know, sadly we are unable to award a charitable grant to every applicant of a CDS vehicle.”
She was told that Motability Foundation had concluded “there were not sufficient exceptional circumstances for us to be able to fund a CDS vehicle for you” and that the charity was “confident that the correct decision has been made in line with our funding priorities and principles, and programme criteria”.
The charity also concluded that it had “found no evidence of discrimination” against her.
But Dunklin told Disability News Service: “I feel am being directly and indirectly discriminated against by the one organisation I believed to be about freedom and independence.”
She believes that Motability Foundation and Motability Operations should work together more closely and provide more funding for the grants programme, and “listen more to their disabled applicants”.
She said: “Individuals’ changes in circumstances like mine are not being met.
“As we are getting older, our situations are increasing too.
“My husband has a heart condition, and I want to know I can get him to his appointments and in an emergency to the hospital if an ambulance is going to be a long wait.
“It would be interesting to know how many others cannot or do not think they can fight these decisions.”
A Motability Foundation spokesperson told DNS: “Motability Operations currently subsidise the cost of all wheelchair accessible vehicles leased through the scheme.
“Those who need additional conversions and adaptations can apply to the Motability Foundation for grant funding.
“Complex vehicles that can be driven from a wheelchair are some of the most expensive solutions that the Motability Foundation awards grants towards, costing between £20,000 and £70,000 a vehicle.
“As a charity, we must focus our funding on meeting people’s mobility needs to ensure they get a suitable vehicle, but also to ensure that we are able to help as many people as possible with the funds available.
“To do this we set funding priorities, which in the case of vehicles that can be driven from a wheelchair, include the vehicle being essential to support the applicant with various activities such as work, education and volunteering.”
She added: “Following an application and several appeals, Zoe Dunklin could not demonstrate that she meets the current funding priorities for a complex driving solution and therefore we cannot fund the vehicle she would like at this time.
“We have, however, offered alternatives which whilst we understand do not enable her to drive independently, will offer alternative mobility to the vehicle she currently leases.
“We are sorry that we are not able to help Zoe at this point in time.
“However, when she has been in her voluntary role for six months and can demonstrate that it meets the criteria set at that point in time, we would gladly consider a new grant application.”
She said the charity held a high level of financial reserves – equivalent to several years of grant funding – because its primary source of income was donations from the “surplus capital” of Motability Operations, which was “unpredictable”, with “no guarantee from year to year that a donation will be received”.
She said Motability Foundation spent £113 million on charitable spending in 2022-23, compared with £78 million in 2021-22, and expected to have seen a further rise in 2023-24.
A Motability Operations spokesperson said: “We work together with the Motability Foundation to support our disabled customers and keep them moving.
“We are in contact with Zoe about her current vehicle and her future options.”
She said that holding £4.2 billion in capital reserves allowed it to reduce the amount it borrows and so reduce costs for its customers by £650 per lease.
She said it also protected customers from the risk of fluctuations in the changing costs of new vehicles, insurance and breakdowns, and the changing value of used vehicles, while allowing it to support customers with affordability.
There are long-standing concerns over the rules for awarding Motability grants, with previous suggestions that they could discriminate against some disabled drivers with high support needs.
Nine years ago, Motability defended the rules – introduced in 2014 – arguing that it had a “finite amount of money”, that the new criteria “allow us to approach applications in a consistent manner”, and that “the complexity and cost of the [drive from wheelchair] vehicles makes it inevitable that some criteria will be applied to prioritise applications for support”.
It is more than five years since high-profile concerns were raised about the levels of financial reserves held by Motability Operations, and over the company’s excessive profits and executive pay.
Those concerns led to parliamentary debates and a critical report by the National Audit Office.
*Motability Foundation is a DNS subscriber
15 August 2024
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week
Children and adults with type one diabetes faced “appalling” treatment at London Stansted Airport and were made to feel like criminals, according to a number of complaints made to the BBC. One mum from Lowestoft, in Suffolk, claimed her teenage son was “adamant he won’t fly again” after feeling “bullied” into going through an X-ray scanner that could damage his medical devices. Others described being taken to a room to be searched while their essential equipment was kept at the security desk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ngn8pp39eo
The number of parents claiming disability benefits for children has surged by 200,000 since lockdown, new government figures show. Some 714,000 children are forecast to be in receipt of disability living allowance this financial year. This is up 45 per cent from the 494,000 children who were the subject of claims in the financial year 2020-21, figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions show: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/children-disability-benefits-dwp-allowance-b2596221.html
15 August 2024
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
