First act of Minister of State for disabled people: 428,000 people with high rate mobility needs lose help
“Yet again, when it comes to sickness and disability issues, this Government have decided to ignore all of the evidence, ignore all of the experts and ignore all of those affected.” The Hardest Hit responds to the Government’s decisions on the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and mobility.
PIP 20 metre rule consultation response: “We’re not listening.”
“It seems clear that the responses to the consultation were never going to matter; the DWP has ridden roughshod over the whole lot to push ahead with what they want.” Latentexistence looks at the decision by DWP to keep the PIP threshold for enhance support at twenty metres.
I introduce: The new Minister NOT for Disabilities. RIP Alf Morris
“Aha! We have the first jewelled utterances from the new Disability Minister, Mike Penning. Except he isn’t called the Minister for Disabled People any more. In the Daily Mail of course. Where else?” Sue Marsh isn’t impressed with the new Minister for Work and Pensions, Mike Penning.
The bedroom tax: only fair to private tenants?
“Of all the arguments made for the bedroom tax, the most slippery is the one about it being ‘only fair to private tenants’. That should change after an all-party report published this week.” Jules Birch points out why the bedroom tax is unfair to social tenants compared to private tenants.
Bedroom tax - unfair, unworkable and counterproductive
“The only way this course is changed is through resistance – from councils and housing associations refusing evictions and supporting court actions to individuals and communities supporting each other and resisting eviction.” Birmingham Against the Cuts describe their campaign for a no eviction policy.
The politics of ivy
“It should go without saying that data and evidence can be interpreted differently, and there are certainly many and varied arguments to be had about the best ways to address entrenched social exclusion. But that is not what is currently happening.” Jane Mansour is concerned about the disregard of evidence when it comes to welfare to work policy.
The path to the precipice
“We are blithely rushing along a path towards a fundamental change in our welfare system that will have far-reaching social and fiscal consequences. There is a perfect storm of a poorly contracted Work Programme, political rhetoric, and short-term accounting practice.” Richard Johnson looks at the debate on the next round of welfare reform.
Frontline Friday 4th October 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 30th September 2013 – from welfare reform and legal aid, to the Conservative Party conference and the Daily Mail.
Hoban meeting update
“So, yesterday, as most of you will know by now, representatives from Spartacus finally got to meet with Mark Hoban to discuss Employment and Support Allowance and Work Capability Assessments after almost a year of trying.” Sue Marsh provides an update on Spartacus’ meeting with Work and Pensions Minister Mark Hoban.
The Government considers itself to be above the law
“…they have not stopped, they have not listened and they have not been reasonable. Ever felt like your Government is really out to get you?” kittysjones explains how the Government is refusing to respond to legal rulings challenging its welfare reforms.
A responsible approach?
“…when it suits them, this government (perhaps all politicians) are more than happy to characterise something that was making (slower than expected) progress as an ‘exhausted’ approach that failed and actually made things worse.” Stephen Crossley challenges the Coalition’s portrayal of their child poverty strategy.
Protests and government extremism
“So interesting that the Taxpayers’ Alliance got a free, media-wide pass yesterday to bitch again about people on benefits…” Kate Belgrave disputes the idea that disability rights campaigners are extremist.
It’s fraud, Lord Freud.
“You have got to admire the consistency – the last 27 words contain four statistics and four of them are wrong. When speaking about disability benefits Government ministers have consistently abused numbers to make their case – but four inaccuracies within 27 words is surely a record.” Paul Morrison challenges yet more inaccuracies from Lord Freud.
Dear Esther McVey MP
“…“around 50 per cent of decisions are made on the basis of the claim form alone” - the contrary evidence for this is overwhelming but most tellingly on the DWP’s own site…” Jayne Linney has some questions - as yet still unanswered - for the minister for disabled people Esther McVey.
1 million UK working families now NEED to claim housing benefit
“Over a million jobs in Britain are only affordable because housing benefit is claimed or put another way without housing benefit employers in the UK would struggle to fill 1 million jobs.” Joe Halewood of SPeye looks at the recent dramatic rise in the number of working families who are now claiming housing benefit.
Iain Duncan Smith is proud of this
“As part of IDS’s “proud record of achievement”, housing benefit and council tax benefit has been reduced by 22.5%, leaving Steve and his family with an extra £14.50 to find per week.” Jane Carnall explains why Iain Duncan Smith has little to be proud of.
Ex-Atos nurse tells of disgust at Assessments
It’s clearly not enough for sick and disabled people to tell of their horrific experiences of an Atos Assessment for Employment and Support Allowance. It’s clearly not enough for journalists to write exposes and TV companies to produce documentaries. It’s clearly not enough for politicians from all sides of the House to debate the failings […]
Get better… or else?
Disabled people have precious few illusions left about how the DWP views us, but a new pilot programme is going to take that relationship into even more disturbing territory. Starting in November, 3000 disabled people in the Work Related Activity Group of Employment and Support Allowance will be forced, under threat of sanction, to attend medical […]
Frontline Friday 26th July 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 22nd July 2013 - from welfare reform to the Work Capability Assessment, police powers to the ‘war on porn’.