Disability Rights UK challenges the Bill of Rights on a parliamentary panel
On the 1st of February, Equally Ours arranged a parliamentary event – hosted by Shadow Minister for Justice Ellie Reeves MP – on the importance of the Human Rights Act. Bethany Bale, DR UK Rights and Justice Policy and Campaigns Officer, was on the panel.
Read the full Bill of Rights story, including our briefing on the proposed legislation, on our website.
Prepayment meter fallout sees the issue become national news.
Last week saw the conversation around Prepayment meters hit the mainstream as the Times newspaper exposed the actions of both energy companies and bailiffs to the public.
Read more on the PPM story on our website.
MPs warn courts system could hamper Renters Reform Bill
As the long-awaited Renters Reform Bill still appears side-lined, MPs on the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Commons Select Committee published a new report into its commitments and policies.
You can get our view on the report into the Renters Reform Bill on the DR UK website.
DR UK calls on NHS England to publish the review of the Accessible Information Standard
Alongside our colleagues at other Disability and Accessibility organisations, we have written a letter to NHS England to express our disappointment at the lack of progress in reviewing the legally binding Accessible Information Standard.
Read more on the call for the AIS review on our website.
Speaking from Experience: Getting It Right for Disabled Apprentices – 2023 report launched
The report considers what works well through collecting and analysing young Disabled people’s experiences of how they receive information about apprenticeships; their engagement with training providers and employers, and the support they have received. We also collected the views from various stakeholders who work with Disabled young people.
Download the apprenticeship report and find out more about the Disabled Apprentice Network on our website.
Call for DWP to compensate up to 50,000 claimants unlawfully short changed on moving to UC
Following a conclusive ruling from the Court of Appeal two severely disabled men known as TP and AR have called on the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to compensate up to 50,000 benefits claimants who have been unlawfully stripped of benefits worth thousands of pounds.
Read the push for DWP compensation story on our website.
Prepayment meters, the hopeful end of an energy nightmare
Yesterday the Times exposed what many disability campaigners already knew, that energy firms and their contractors together with the courts and bailiffs have been guilty of duplicitous, underhand, and even aggressive behaviour over forced installation of Pre-payment meters in the homes of Disabled people and those who are financially vulnerable.
Read the DR UK comment piece by Dan White on our website.
Benefit rates remain “close to destitution levels”, says JRF
In a new research report, UK Poverty 2023, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) reports that around 13.4 million people (one in five) – were in poverty in 2020/21.
However, it also highlights that living standards are likely to have fallen further since this 2020/21 official data as benefits only increased by 3.1% when inflation was and is still much higher.
Read the benefits rate story and the JRF report on our website.
Government scrapped plan for independent review of sanctions
The government abandoned proposals for an independent review of its much-criticised sanctions policy in “the latest example of how a Minister watered down plans to prevent suicides and learn lessons from the deaths of benefit claimants”, reports Disability News Service (DNS).
Read the sanctions story on our website.
Claimant deaths still linked to systemic flaws in benefits system, DWP document shows
Scores of deaths of claimants in the last three years have been linked to persistent, systemic flaws in the way benefits are managed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), an official document has shown.
Read the systemic flaws in the DWP story on our website.
