Amber Rudd suggests people should take a zero-hour contract to avoid benefit sanctions

Rudd is totally wrong when people are struggling they need to have reassurance to continue and zero hours contracts nowhere near provide reassurance. Instead of encouraging people to take on Zero Hours contracts the Tories  should be actively working to outlaw Zero Hours contracts.

They provide the choice between life and death and they favour death for the Tories want all benefit claimants to die, a sure way to reduce the benefits bill.

DWP figures suggest tens of thousands of PIP claims could have been decided on ‘unacceptable’ assessment reports | DisabledGo News and Blog

Tens of thousands of disabled people could have had their disability benefit claims decided on evidence from assessment reports that were of “unacceptable” poor quality, government figures suggest.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures suggest that civil servants may have been deciding many personal independence payment (PIP) claims based on information contained in assessment reports that were of such poor quality that they should have been sent back to DWP contractor Atos to “rework”.

DWP and Atos – which carries out PIP assessments on the government’s behalf – have both denied any such inference can be made from the figures passed two weeks ago by the minister for disabled people, Sarah Newton, to Labour MP Grahame Morris.

But disabled campaigners believe the figures raise fresh concerns about the quality of PIP assessment reports and how DWP decides claims, following years of mounting anger about the way the extra costs benefit is run since it was launched five years ago as a replacement for working-age disability living allowance.

Morris had asked DWP ministers how many PIP assessment reports in each of the last five years had been returned to Atos for “reworking” because they were “deemed unacceptable”.

In another question, he asked how many PIP assessments Atos had carried out every year.

 

Source: DWP figures suggest tens of thousands of PIP claims could have been decided on ‘unacceptable’ assessment reports | DisabledGo News and Blog

MPs have launched a major new inquiry into ‘deeply troubling’ benefit sanctions | DisabledGo News and Blog

MPs have announced they will launch a major new inquiry into “deeply troubling” problems with the benefit sanctions system.

The Commons Work and Pensions Committee will probe the system that has stopped people’s benefits more than 7 million times since 2000.

Sanctions can be imposed for breaching benefit conditions like attending a work placement, or for being minutes late for a Jobcentre appointment.

There have been reports of poor practice in the system, such as people in hospital being sanctioned for missing a benefits appointment.

While most sanctions go to jobseekers, thousands also go to sick and disabled people on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

In June 2017 just over 1,400 people on ESA were sanctioned, the highest monthly figure for more than two years.

Sanctions are also on the rise under Universal Credit because the new six-in-one benefit is being rolled out to more people.

In March 2017 15,000 UC claimants were sanctioned – 1,300 of them for more than 14 weeks at a time.

 

Source: MPs have launched a major new inquiry into ‘deeply troubling’ benefit sanctions | DisabledGo News and Blog

MPs have been told disability benefits assessments are flawed – time and time again. Where’s the action? | Vox Political

We have been here before. The Commons Work and Pensions Committee has heard about flaws in the benefit assessment process many times – whether it be for ESA or PIP. Has it made a blind bit of…

Source: MPs have been told disability benefits assessments are flawed – time and time again. Where’s the action? | Vox Political

Disability employment gap: Former diplomat calls for government action | DisabledGo News and Blog

The government must do more to research the benefits of disabled people finding work, according to a former diplomat who was forced to quit after the Foreign Office refused to fund the lip-speakers she needed to do her job. Jane Cordell was giving evidence to the Commons work and pensions committee as part of its inquiry into the government’s pledge to halve the disability employment gap (the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people). Five years ago, Cordell, who became profoundly deaf as a young woman, lost her employment tribunal appeal in a disability discrimination case against the Foreign Office over the cost of providing her with lip-speakers. She had been offered the job of deputy ambassador to Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan, but the offer was withdrawn because the government said the cost of providing lip-speakers would be too high (estimates varied from less than £200,000 to more than £300,000 a year). Cordell, now a director of the coaching and

Source: Disability employment gap: Former diplomat calls for government action | DisabledGo News and Blog