Contents
Call for inquiry over deaths of parents driven to despair by DWP’s Child Maintenance Service. 1
Letter to minister issues 10 ‘basic’ demands on rail accessibility. 4
Hundreds sign letter calling for ‘urgent’ action to stop Access to Work burn-outs and breakdowns. 6
Solicitor who betrayed disabled people after they sought discrimination justice is struck off.. 8
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week. 16
Call for inquiry over deaths of parents driven to despair by DWP’s Child Maintenance Service
Campaigners have called for an inquiry into the deaths of parents driven to despair by the refusal of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to correct errors in child support demands.
They believe DWP figures show that the death rates of separated parents who help pay to support a child through DWP’s Child Maintenance Service (CMS) – known as “paying parents” – are far higher than average.
DWP has resisted releasing detailed information on how many paying parents are dying every year, and how many are taking their own lives.
But an examination by Disability News Service (DNS) of some of the information that has been released to campaigners in the last five years suggests DWP has questions to answer.
DNS was first approached about the concerns earlier this year by Ian Briggs, whose son Gavin took his own life five years ago.
The coroner at his inquest refused to investigate his father’s claims that the actions of the CMS had contributed to Gavin’s decision to take his own life, even though the agency had wrongly claimed he owed £16,000 in support payments, after claiming his income was £76,000 rather than the £26,000 it was in reality.
Ian Briggs and fellow campaigners at the research and campaign group STOPSuicides UK, which focuses on the harm caused by CMS, believe many paying parents are dying due to CMS’s actions.
Briggs said he believed CMS had played “a huge part” in his son’s decision to take his own life by sending him computer-generated letters that failed to reflect that he was paying his child maintenance regularly and getting his case “catastrophically wrong”.
He said he believed this was happening to thousands of paying parents.
He told DNS: “Knowing that this organisation drove my son to his death and there is nothing I can do about it is incredibly frustrating.
“I know that other people are being put through the same emotional nightmare that I am because of the CMS IT system.
“I will keep campaigning to expose the CMS IT system failures and its catastrophic effects as I made a promise to Gavin at his graveside [that] I would fight for justice.”
The statistics available to DNS do not prove anything conclusively, but they do suggest a need for a detailed investigation of the concerns and the statistics.
Although it is impossible to draw clear conclusions, they appear to show the deaths rates are two or even three times higher for paying parents than the general population*.
Briggs said the increased death rates of paying parents can be explained by CMS automated processes, unjustified demands for arrears, and “systematic maladministration”, which he said have contributed to significant mental distress and many suicides.
And he said that – just as with wider DWP issues – coroners rarely pick up on these links during inquests into suicides.
Briggs is not the first grieving relative to have raised concerns about CMS.
In January 2023, during the final session of an inquiry into CMS by the Commons work and pensions committee, Labour MP Debbie Abrahams told of a paying parent whose arrears had been inaccurately assessed “and the frustration that he found ultimately led to him taking his life”.
She said his mother had previously written to DWP “expressing real concerns about mental health” but there had been no reply.
She added: “This is not the first time. We had a panel before Christmas that also provided data about the suicides of paying parents who were inaccurately assessed in terms of the arrears that they owed.
“This is tens of thousands of pounds that they said that they owe, leaving literally pounds for them to exist on.”
She asked Tory work and pensions minister Viscount Younger if DWP collected data on suicides of paying parents.
He told her: “Could I just say that, being new into the department, I am already aware, having seen some of the correspondence that I have had to look at and sign off on, of some absolutely tragic cases?
“It is absolutely appalling that cases can lead to people taking their own lives.
“That is dreadful and we must look at all ways in which we can avoid that or have systems and processes that do not lead to that.”
Arlene Sugden, director of CMS, then confirmed that her service did not collect data on suicides of paying parents, although when it was made aware of a suicide it could be analysed through DWP’s secret internal process review (IPR) system.
The committee’s subsequent report, published in April 2023, found that much of its evidence “described severe hardship and distress experienced by paying parents”.
One paying parent had told the committee how he had been “diagnosed with severe depression and severe anxiety last year as a result of the long, torturous battle” with CMS.
He said: “I have read lots of evidence from DWP figures that shows parents trapped in the CMS system have excess deaths well into the hundreds each year.
“Having experienced this system this is absolutely no surprise. I don’t think driving parents to suicide is helping poverty issues or children’s start in life.”
Despite Viscount Younger’s comments, a DWP spokesperson told DNS this week: “Suicide is a complex issue and our thoughts are with the families of those affected.
“We strongly deny any suggestion of a causal link between the Child Maintenance Service and suicide of users, and to suggest otherwise is dangerous and misleading.
“The Child Maintenance Service manages 760,000 arrangements annually and is dedicated to providing a safe and supportive service for all parents.
“Our staff are thoroughly trained to assist vulnerable clients, including those at risk of suicide, self-harm, or domestic abuse.”
Last month, the new work and pensions committee – now chaired by Abrahams – launched an inquiry into CMS, including how to “improve the way it deals with families”.
Abrahams said at the time that there were “concerns over how it calculates payments, how it handles people who have sometimes been through long ordeals, and over its enforcement.
“Increasingly, we’re hearing as MPs from people about how unhappy they are with how they have been treated by the service.
“This applies to both paying and receiving parents.”
Two years ago, a government response to a petition from Craig Bulman, who had been left with PTSD after the Child Support Agency (CMS’s predecessor) mishandled his case – it eventually paid him a £5,000 consolatory payment – said DWP “strongly denies any suggestion of a causal link between the Child Maintenance Service and suicide”.
Bulman said this week that the “catastrophic failings” by the Child Support Agency (CSA) had left him homeless, triggered a mental breakdown, forced him to leave work, and caused the loss of his job.
In his petition, he had raised concerns “regarding the number of suicides that have been linked with the activities of the [CSA] and the CMS, [and] notes that incorrect assessments and inflation of arrears may have played a factor in the mental health of those who [took their own lives]”.
Conservative work and pensions minister Mims Davies said in response to his petition that the department “recognises that socio-economic factors such as deprivation, unmanageable debt, poor housing, and unemployment may increase suicide risk.
“We also recognise that, tragically, some people experiencing an emotional crisis, such as a family break-up, may be more prone to suicidal ideation, but we refute the idea that this is attributable to the CMS in any way.”
Information released following a long freedom of information battle with DNS provides further proof of concerns.
The Advanced Customer Support report shows that, in 2022-23, there were two secret IPRs which identified “learning” from cases of serious harm or even death involving CMS.
In one of the cases, the IPR concluded that there was “no evidence to show any additional support was considered when the Paying Parent indicated they may harm themselves”.
DWP said this week that it did not recognise any data or evidence that indicated a causal link between CMS and suicides among paying parents.
It said it was looking at issues of affordability and was developing ways to refer paying parents to support such as mediation, financial support and debt advice, and was well-prepared to respond quickly and effectively if it became aware that a customer’s safety was at risk.
*Office for National Statistics figures (see table 10) show the overall rate of deaths in 2022 for males in England and Wales was 0.12 per cent for those aged 35 to 39, 0.18 per cent for those aged 40 to 44, 0.28 per cent for those 45 to 49, and 0.42 per cent for those aged 50 to 54.
DNS calculations from DWP’s Stat-Xplore system suggest that more than 90 per cent of paying parents are aged 54 or younger, while DWP figures show that, in the quarter ending March 2022, of 544,600 paying parents, 93 per cent were male.
In a freedom of information response from DWP seen by DNS, DWP said there were 4,959 reported deaths of paying parents between 2020 and 2022 (which suggests there were about 2,480 a year).
This would mean that roughly 0.46 per cent of paying parents died in 2021-2022 (2,480/544,600), far higher than the overall death rates in England and Wales.
**The following organisations are among those that might be able to offer support if you have been affected by the issues raised in this article: Mind, Papyrus, Rethink, Samaritans, and SOS Silence of Suicide
14 August 2025
Letter to minister issues 10 ‘basic’ demands on rail accessibility
Accessible transport campaigners have called on the government to sign up to 10 “basic equality standards” that would improve the accessibility of the rail network for millions of disabled passengers.
They say their 10-point plan will restore accessibility to the heart of the government’s planned rail reforms.
In a letter (PDF) to transport secretary Heidi Alexander, they accuse the government of scrapping commitments on accessibility made by the last Conservative government.
Among the campaigning organisations that have signed the letter are The Association of British Commuters, which drafted it; Disability Rights UK, Disabled People Against Cuts, Inclusion London and Transport for All, as well as allies such as Bring Back British Rail, National Pensioners Convention, and the TSSA transport union.
They particularly highlight their concern that the Labour government removed statutory accessibility and socioeconomic duties from its plans for rail reform.
They tell Alexander in the letter: “The removal of these duties undoes years of campaigning by disabled people and ignores evidence of systemic discrimination across the network.”
They say their demands should now be considered the “minimum expectation for rail reform”, while they would also ensure the “maximum value for public money”.
Among their demands are for the government to restore an accessibility duty to its new railways bill; a new national investment fund to pay for accessibility improvements, with deadlines for step-free access and level boarding; a legal right to “turn up and go” travel at every location; and a single national accessible travel policy.
The letter also calls for a new complaints body for disabled passengers; for the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee to be made a statutory adviser to the new Great British Railways, as the previous government had planned; and for the government to improve its consultation with disabled people.
And it calls for new powers for the Office of Rail and Road regulator on enforcing equality standards; “full staffing” of the rail network; and a new, more generous, complaints and compensation system for transport discrimination.
Emily Sullivan, ABC’s co-founder, said: “This letter is an urgent intervention to demand a full legal framework for accessibility and warn the government that we will strongly oppose any attempt to pass a railways bill without these basic equality standards.
“Disabled people have the backing of passenger groups, rail workers and allies across the transport sector.”
Among those who have signed the letter are Sarah Leadbetter and Doug Paulley, the two claimants in a high-profile legal case taken in 2023 against a consultation on plans to close hundreds of ticket offices.
Leadbetter, said: “I am shocked and disgusted that we have been ignored, after years of campaigning to achieve these commitments.
“It is totally wrong to exclude disabled people and the current plan will only make standards slip further.
“We have the right to travel by train and without this many blind and visually-impaired people would be isolated and excluded.”
Paulley said: “Stripping accessibility duties from Great British Railways legislation represents a fundamental retreat from legal obligations to disabled passengers.
“This accessibility framework provides the solution to ensure Britain’s rail network serves everyone – not just non-disabled people.
“Without these protections embedded in primary legislation, we will perpetuate the two-tier transport system that systematically excludes disabled people.”
Tony Jennings, co-founder of the Campaign for Level Boarding, added: “The government needs a plan, systemic change and accountability to remove barriers to deliver equal access.
“Inclusive design must be at the heart of the decision-making process with a timescale to achieve joined-up accessibility improvements, in co-production with disabled people.”
A DfT spokesperson said in a statement: “Accessibility is a core priority for Great British Railways (GBR) and we are committed to delivering a rail system which allows disabled people to travel easily, confidently and with dignity.
“Working alongside disability groups, we are considering all options to ensure accessibility is at the heart of GBR, such as the creation of a powerful new passenger watchdog to ensure services work for disabled passengers.
“Later this year we will publish a roadmap setting out our approach to delivering a more accessible railway in the lead up to GBR.”
14 August 2025
Hundreds sign letter calling for ‘urgent’ action to stop Access to Work burn-outs and breakdowns
Hundreds of disabled people and allies have called on the prime minister to take “urgent” action to fix the crisis-ridden and “broken” Access to Work disability employment scheme.
In a new open letter, Access to Work Collective says disabled people who rely on the scheme are “burning out, breaking down, and dropping out of work”.
Some have lost their homes, they say, while others have “come close to losing their lives”.
The letter is addressed to the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and copied to work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall, and social security and disability minister Sir Stephen Timms.
Only last week, Disability News Service (DNS) reported how comments from Sir Stephen had further fuelled concerns about the Access to Work (AtW) scheme.
Access to Work Collective includes more than 3,800 AtW recipients, disabled people’s organisations, researchers, policy-makers, service-providers and employers.
Evidence collected by the collective shows disabled people are waiting months, or even years, for AtW assessments, approvals, and payments.
These delays mean they cannot start new jobs, are forced to leave jobs they love, or have to shut down their own businesses.
The collective points to problems over the last 18 months which have seen cuts and “inconsistent decisions” on AtW claims, and says reforms were being introduced by DWP even as a consultation on the future of the scheme – which ended on 30 June – was still live.
The letter demands a halt to all planned and unofficial cuts; immediate action to clear the backlog of claims and to fast-track urgent cases; and for ministers to co-design an overhaul of the scheme with disabled people and others.
The letter adds: “Every day that Access to Work fails to meet people’s needs is another day someone is forced out of the workforce because essential support is caught in delay and uncertainty.”
So far, more than 800 disabled people and allies have signed the letter, including inclusion and accessibility consultant and broadcaster Shani Dhanda; Catherine Eadie, who runs social enterprise MHScot Workplace Wellbeing; Jacqueline Winstanley, chief executive of consultancy Universal Inclusion; author Cathy Reay; disability consultant Alice Hastie, who specialises in providing AtW advice; and Inclusion Scotland chief executive Heather Fisken.
DWP said it would respond to the letter in due course, but claimed it had inherited an AtW scheme that did not work effectively for employers or employees.
Over the last year, it said, it had worked to improve decision-making throughout the scheme by ensuring that guidance was applied with greater consistency.
It said this could mean that some awards had changed when they were being renewed, even if there had not been a policy change.
A DWP spokesperson said in a statement: “No changes have been made to Access to Work policy, and we will announce any future changes prior to them being implemented.
“Despite deploying additional staff and streamlining our procedures, the number of Access to Work applications waiting to be processed is continuing to grow.
“That’s why we consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve it for the benefit of disabled people and employers.
“We will be reviewing all aspects of the scheme now that the consultation has closed and will be developing future policy in collaboration with disabled people.”
The government’s Pathways to Work green paper, released in March, suggested that ministers wanted to cut future spending on the scheme, which is set to increase from £142 million in 2019-20 to £385 million this year.
And in May, leaked information from multiple sources suggested DWP was planning two waves of cost-cutting that would make it harder for disabled people to secure AtW support.
Last month, DWP published research which found that providing extra AtW funding to disabled people with higher support needs had a positive impact on both employees and employers.
14 August 2025
Solicitor who betrayed disabled people after they sought discrimination justice is struck off
Disabled campaigners betrayed by a solicitor who took many high-profile cases of disability discrimination have spoken of the significant harm he caused, after he was finally struck off by a tribunal.
For years, Chris Fry, from Sheffield, took on discrimination cases on behalf of disabled people who had faced discrimination in access to goods and services, particularly during the pandemic.
His pandemic cases covered access to healthcare, discrimination by supermarkets, and the government’s failure to provide British Sign Language interpreters at televised COVID-19 briefings.
His company, Fry Law, also acted for disabled people claiming discrimination by bus and train companies, and Fry worked pro bono for disabled activists opposed to the legalisation of assisted suicide on a high-profile judicial review case.
Many of those cases were reported on by Disability News Service (DNS), coverage which is certain to have encouraged more disabled people to ask Fry to take on their cases.
But less well-known were the many cases Fry agreed to take on that eventually collapsed because he failed to meet legal deadlines.
DNS itself was slow to report on early concerns about Fry and his administrative failings.
His previous law firm, Unity Law, was placed into administration in 2017, and later dissolved.
His next law firm, Fry Law, was eventually placed into administration four years ago amid multiple complaints about significant administrative failings.
That led to him being fined thousands of pounds in 2023, after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found his actions had failed to maintain “public trust” and confidence in the legal profession.
He was able to continue working as a solicitor, although the tribunal imposed a three-year restriction order on the management responsibilities he was allowed to carry out.
But the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has now ordered Fry to be struck off as a solicitor after it found that he failed to disclose proceeds from the sale of his home as part of the earlier tribunal case.
Although he attended part of this week’s tribunal, he left the online hearing and did not return after the panel retired to consider his application for an adjournment.
The tribunal ordered him to be struck off and to pay more than £32,000 in costs.
The case against Fry was taken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Among Fry’s high-profile successes was in acting for disabled campaigner Doug Paulley in the ground-breaking case he took against FirstGroup, which saw the Supreme Court establish a key principle on access to buses for wheelchair-users.
Paulley said this week that Fry had taken on more cases than he could cope with, which resulted in many disabled people seeing their discrimination cases collapsing because of missed deadlines, amplifying their distress.
He said he was “glad that the continued risk Fry posed of continuing to wreck disabled people’s cases, jobs and lives through his profound flakiness and his inability to own concerns or criticisms has finally been limited by him being struck off”.
But he added: “There are no winners in this.
“Fry is a human being, and I hope he is physically OK. And when he was on the ball, he could be an excellent ally and litigator for disabled people’s rights.
“But he was so destructive, causing so many disabled clients, associates and employees such massive distress.
“So many employees, counsel and associates went unpaid; so many disabled clients had their cases wrecked by his flakiness and failure to recognise his limitations and arrange for support.”
Paulley, who has done more than anyone to raise concerns about Fry’s failings in recent years, said he wished he had done even more.
And he said he wished the tribunal had also addressed the harm Fry had caused to so many disabled people whose cases he had wrecked.
Paulley said part of the problem had been that there were so few solicitors willing to take on disability discrimination cases, which meant Fry was often the only option for disabled people in desperate need of legal assistance.
He said: “The whole thing is very sad, and affects so many.
“But at least other disabled people are protected from him from now on, even if the past can’t be righted and the systems that resulted in us having to rely on him are still unchanged.”
One case affected by Fry’s failings involved campaign group York Accessibility Action (YAA), which crowdfunded more than £10,000 to fight a decision by City of York Council to ban blue badge-holders from their city centre.
YAA used the money to instruct Fry to act on its behalf with a legal case against the “discriminatory” actions of the council.
But he missed the deadline to take the case forward, which meant disabled people had to wait until May 2023 for a new administration running the council to lift the ban.
Disabled campaigner Flick Williams, who was involved with the separate Reverse the Ban campaign in York, said yesterday (Wednesday): “Disabled people in York were badly let down by Chris Fry.
“I remember clearly a room full of hopeful faces as Fry outlined his legal strategy to challenge the blatantly discriminatory policy adopted by City of York Council – and then failed to act to fulfil that promise, until we were legally out of time to pursue it.
“He took our money and then totally failed us, and I cannot forgive him for that.
“The stories of people unable to access their own city and everything in it were heart-rending.
“Legal action might well have meant those people who had no other means of getting into the city would not have been excluded for four long years until we elected a new administration in May 2023.”
Another disabled campaigner described Fry as “initially charming and passionate” when she approached him to take on a disability discrimination case, but she said this disguised his administrative incompetence and other failings, and that she found him “lazy and greedy”.
She said: “I’ve become ill with stress because of his negligence.
“I fear he has misled many other disabled people by hoping that our fatigue from fighting our cases will help disguise his shortfalls.”
Fry did not respond to a request to comment on the case yesterday (Wednesday).
14 August 2025
Council that oversaw increase in care home admissions is first to be rated ‘inadequate’ on social care
A local authority that failed to listen to disabled people who wanted to stay out of residential care has become the first in England to be rated as “inadequate” over its adult social care responsibilities.
A report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) awarded Blackpool Council just 12 points out of a possible 36 across nine areas for how it meets its duties under the Care Act.
The assessment found a “culture of making decisions for people with care and support needs often with the intention of protecting them rather than allowing them to make their own choices”.
CQC said the council needed to do more to “maximise people’s independence for longer”, following an increase in permanent admissions to care homes.
One disabled person who was living in a care home told CQC they had “never had the need for residential care, did not want to be there, and were not listened to”, while another said they “could not understand how they had ended up in a care home and did not feel that their wishes had been taken in to account”.
The report found there had been an increase in permanent admissions to care homes, particularly among working-age people.
The report also found “risks to people’s wellbeing”, while “not all people had their human rights respected and protected”, and there were “concerns about staff confidence in carrying out safeguarding work”.
The report also highlighted a “serious negative impact on minority groups in Blackpool such as people with needs relating to drug and alcohol use and people who identified within LGBTQIA+”.
Blackpool Council is the first of the 55 local authorities to be assessed so far that CQC has rated as inadequate.
Blackpool is the most deprived local authority in England, with “severe social inequalities and health disparities”, CQC said, but the council only had “fragmented plans to tackle these issues”.
It often failed to provide disabled people with information in the accessible format they had requested, and it did not always take “timely action” to support people who were otherwise at risk of needing more formal support, CQC said in the assessment report.
And it “needed to do more to understand the impact that waiting for assessments had on people”.
James Bullion, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said: “Without clear direction and effective collaboration, the authority risks continuing to fall short for the people who rely on its care and support the most.
“We have told leaders at Blackpool Council where they need to improve, and we expect to see rapid and widespread improvements when we return.”
Cllr Neal Brookes, the council’s deputy leader and its cabinet member for adult social care, said the CQC report was “a difficult read” although it was “very important to note that the inspectors found no evidence to suggest adults were unsafe”.
He said: “Adults in Blackpool deserve the highest quality of care when they need it and I am committed to putting the processes in place to make sure that happens.
“There are areas of good work highlighted in the report, including the care and passion of our staff.
“In fact, Blackpool Council performs well and above average in most of the government’s surveys looking at adult social care performance, including people’s satisfaction of care.
“But there are also areas where we need to improve and do better.
“We won’t shy away from the work we need to do.
“Our independently chaired improvement board is already meeting and we will be assessing each risk that has been raised by the CQC and addressing it.”
14 August 2025
Disabled people still struggling to pay care workers, a month after payment company’s tech failure
Disabled people who rely on social care are still struggling to pay their personal assistants (PAs), more than a month after a catastrophic technology failure.
The failure struck on 13 July and hit people who use direct payments to arrange council-funded care, using pre-paid cards that have money loaded on them by the council, allowing them to use the card to pay their PA, agency or other care costs.
More than a month after the first problems with the card payment system, Disability News Service (DNS) is still hearing from disabled people who are finding it difficult to use the system to pay their PAs.
More than 100 councils across Britain use the service.
The latest update on the website of Prepaid Financial Services (PFS), which runs the system and is part of Australian-based EML Payments, said the company continued to “make progress toward full service restoration”.
But it highlighted several areas in which there were continuing problems, including issuing new cards, viewing past transactions, and processing standing orders.
One disabled person, from a London borough, said the continuing problems with the system were causing her significant distress.
Last month, she was only able to pay three of her PAs by using money she was left in her mum’s will.
Although her council’s direct payments office has managed to transfer money from the PFS account to her personal bank account – so she can pay July’s wages – she now fears the Department for Work and Pensions will see this payment as extra income and ask questions about her benefits.
She said: “It’s all such a nightmare and I am so broken and exhausted and really struggling to cope.”
Another of those affected, from the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, said: “I’m currently on the sixth day of the payment system being down and being unable to pay carers.”
He plans to send information about the problems to his MP.
He said: “I have ADHD so it takes a lot for me to do this admin stuff and it was really frustrating having people complain to me about not being paid when it was out of my hands.
“My care agency was like, ‘You know a lot of agencies would have dropped their clients by now,’ and I need help to get out of bed and toilet and shower, so it was hard not to read that as a threat.”
Action on Disability (AoD), a disabled people’s organisation based in the borough, said that about half the users of direct payments receive their funds through PFS cards.
AoD’s direct payments support service has so far dealt with about 100 queries on the issue, while it has issued updates through its mailing-list.
David Buxton, AoD’s chief executive, said the risk was that care agencies and self-employed PAs could suspend their services if they are not paid, while employed PAs could resign.
He said a growing number of residents had reported being unable to access the PFS online portal or reach support via its helpline in the last month, while there were “excessive wait times” on the PFS helpline, inaccurate displays showing up on the PFS online portal, and PAs not receiving wages, despite direct debits for those wages being set up through PFS card accounts.
AoD has been liaising with the council, care agencies and individual PAs, as well as insurance providers, to help employers of PAs maintain their insurance cover.
Previously, payroll services appeared to have been unaffected, but this week AoD received confirmation of “disruptions” to direct debits set up by payroll-providers on behalf of disabled people who use direct payments.
Hammersmith and Fulham council said it was still working to support service-users hit by the problems with the PFS system.
A council spokesperson said: “While most of the core services have been restored for users, issues such as viewing transaction history, card reissuance, and isolated cases of access problems remain.
“Many residents can now make direct payments, withdraw cash from ATMs, and access the cardholder portal, but some discrepancies persist.”
The council said it was making manual payments to residents and their personal assistants, and it was supporting those affected.
Anne Pridmore, from Leicestershire, director of the user-led organisation Being the Boss, which supports disabled people who employ PAs, said there were still “big problems” with the system, including with new recipients of direct payments who do not yet have the cards they need to pay their PAs.
She told DNS: “None of the past transactions are visual on our accounts and I believe some people have found missing transactions in their accounts.”
West of England Centre for Inclusive Living (WECIL), which previously reported significant problems with the system, including PAs left unpaid, employers unable to access their funds, and essential care and support arrangements “placed in jeopardy”, said it had not heard of any problems with PFS in the last few days.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said it was unable to say how many councils were still affected by the PFS problems, but that there were a “few residual localised issues that are affecting a limited number of users”, while “work is ongoing to resolve these”.
An LGA spokesperson added: “We know that the original issues were widespread, and that there are now limited issues affecting a significantly smaller number.”
Peter Lang, EML’s chief corporate development officer, who is based in Australia, had not responded to a request to comment by noon today (Thursday).
14 August 2025
M&S settles ‘David and Goliath’ legal case after installing inaccessible doors to chiller cabinets
Retail giant Marks and Spencer has agreed to pay compensation and make changes to at least one of its stores after installing chilled food cabinets with inaccessible doors that prevented a disabled campaigner from accessing any of the contents.
Flick Williams was making a regular visit to her local Marks and Spencer (M&S) food hall in York when she found a refurbishment had made it impossible for her to shop independently for herself and her 91-year-old mother.
Complaints she raised last autumn about retail chains installing inaccessible doors on their chiller cabinets led to Disability News Service reporting similar concerns with Co-op, Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
Williams, a visually-impaired wheelchair-user, could not even find the items she wanted because the doors were misted up, and she found it impossible to open the doors.
When the retired disability equality trainer and access consultant tried to find someone to help her, there were no staff members available, and the customer service desk had been removed during the refurbishment.
She said: “I was getting more and more distressed as the realisation of the permanence of these changes was sinking in and I was frustrated that there was nobody available to help me, so I left the store without being able to make a purchase.”
She was later told the changes were made for energy efficiency reasons, and that she should ring the store before her next visit to make sure a member of staff was available to assist her with her shopping.
But she said: “I couldn’t accept that. Non-disabled people aren’t expected to telephone in advance of going shopping, which makes it discriminatory.”
She said she had faced problems in other supermarkets, but the situation in the M&S food hall was “by far the worst”, and it was somewhere she needs to visit regularly.
Now M&S has reached an out-of-court legal settlement, including a small payment, after she took a disability discrimination case under the Equality Act.
She could still take legal action against other retailers if they fail to make reasonable adjustments, which may be more likely because of falling staffing levels.
She said the main purpose of taking the case against M&S was to gain recognition that customers were “unnecessarily disabled” by the refurbishments, and to secure changes to the chiller cabinets that would “make them easier for customers to use without compromising energy saving efficiency”.
The retailer has already agreed to lower the handles on the chiller doors, treat the doors to stop them misting up, and remove wire racks from the floor that were making it even harder to reach into the cabinets.
It also pledged that staff would be available to assist customers.
Williams said: “When I posted about the incident on social media I was overwhelmed by the response.
“I had 11,000 likes and 331 replies, demonstrating that this was an issue affecting many people’s ability to shop independently as they always had done.
“And that strengthened my resolve to seek legal redress.
“It was a David and Goliath fight that shows disabled people don’t have to just sit back and accept discrimination; we can and will challenge unfair practices.
“I’m delighted that the changes to the store resulting from my case have removed some of the barriers that made it unreasonably difficult for many to shop there.
“Retailers must be made to understand that the Equality Act 2010 applies to them, and they need to work with access consultants to ensure their store changes work better for everyone across all impairment groups.”
M&S declined to apologise for its discriminatory actions, or to confirm what actions it had made to the store, and others around the country, because of the case.
But a spokesperson said in a statement: “We are committed to making our stores accessible to all our customers, and work with AccessAble to help us do that with access guides covering inside and outside our stores.
“We always strive to ensure colleagues are on hand to help every customer and we always take customer feedback on board.
“We’re grateful for Ms Williams’ engagement on how we can continue to improve accessibility in store.”
14 August 2025
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week
Disabled Londoners are being failed due to a “chronic” shortage of accessible housing, the mayor of London has been warned. The chair of the London Assembly housing committee, Zoë Garbett, has written to Sir Sadiq Khan following its investigation into accessible housing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1jnn2n9rppo
14 August 2025
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
