DWP breaks promise again to stop harassing abuse survivor over benefit claim


Why do these situations continue to occur, because the DWP appear to be incapable of admitting they make mistakes, are accountable for their actions and other parties acting on their behalf and learning from these situations where it is clear that they and other parties acting on their behalf have made mistakes by design or not.

Unfortunately the DWP is so committed to removing people from benefits by stealth and other methods and apparently have no respect for the person who are claiming benefits or the rule of Law of the UK.

PIP investigation: Assessment complaints rise by 880 per cent… in just one year | DisabledGo News and Blog


Complaints about the personal independence payment (PIP) assessment process rose by nearly 900 per cent last year – from 142 to 1,391 – apparently corroborating the results of a year-long Disability News Service investigation. The Department for Work and Pensions figures also show that the number of complaints about PIP assessments that were upheld rose by more than 700 per cent in the same year (from 67 in 2015-16 to 545 in 2016-17). The figures provide probably the strongest evidence yet to support the findings of the investigation carried out by Disability News Service (DNS) into claims of widespread dishonesty at the heart of the PIP assessment process. Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, Debbie Abrahams, said the “huge increase” showed that the healthcare professionals who carry out the assessments must be held to account. She said the figures were also “an absolute indictment of the Tories’ punitive assessments and the miserable effect they are having on people trying to

Source: PIP investigation: Assessment complaints rise by 880 per cent… in just one year | DisabledGo News and Blog

Countdown to Rio: Rowlings ready to ‘smash it’ after years of ‘selfish’ preparation | DisabledGo News and Blog


When Ben Rowlings lines up on the start-line in Rio, he will know that he could not have done anything more to prepare himself for his bid to win a medal. The wheelchair racer, who is taking part in his first Paralympic Games at the age of 20 – only five years after being spotted at a British Athletics talent identification day – describes himself as stubborn, single-minded and “quite selfish”. “I think a lot of athletes have to be quite selfish, and just kind of look after themselves and make sure nothing impacts on their training or the bubble that they are in,” he says. “But I’m hard-working and I make sure that I put the hours in in training, and the results are showing on the track.” He has been doing “long, hard sessions” in the gym, two or three times a day, six days a week, and believes there are “very few” of his competitors who will have been able to match that. But he has also benefited from the peer support he has received as part of the training group set up by

Source: Countdown to Rio: Rowlings ready to ‘smash it’ after years of ‘selfish’ preparation | DisabledGo News and Blog

Atos, Maximus and Capita forced to admit assessment failures | DisabledGo News and Blog


The three companies that carry out disability benefit assessments for the government have all been forced to admit regret at the poor quality of their work, while giving evidence to a committee of MPs. Senior executives from Maximus, Atos and Capita were providing evidence to the public accounts committee, following a highly critical report into their work by the National Audit Office (NAO). Last month’s NAO report said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had failed to achieve value for money from the health and disability assessments it had contracted out to Atos, Maximus and Capita. In 2014-15, DWP spent about £275 million on assessment contracts, but this is expected to more than double to £579 million by 2016-17. The NAO report showed that, in August 2015, 36 per cent of Capita’s personal independence payment (PIP) assessment reports failed to meet standards agreed with DWP, compared with the four per cent target set in its contract. In the two regions in which PIP

Source: Atos, Maximus and Capita forced to admit assessment failures | DisabledGo News and Blog