A report by The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has blamed Conservatives welfare reforms for pushing more disabled people and lone parents into poverty. The report which has gone largely unreported highlights the growing inequalities being faced across the United Kingdom. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the independent body tasked with upholding the UK’s equality laws
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has come under fire after it listed “Striptease Artist” as an appropriate job-search term on its website. The role also desacribed an Astrologist as someone who “divines and tells fortunes by various machines”. The DWP has since taken down the entire section of its website after being questioned on why they listed ‘stripper’
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has come under fire after it revealed the cost of the controversial Universal Credit advertising campaign in the Metro Free Newspaper. A junior DWP Minister revealed that the DWP had splashed out £225,458 on the campaign which ran over nine-weeks online and in print. It was revealed in May, that the Department for
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The current form of austerity was introduced by the Conservative-Liberal coalition government that came to power in 2010. The world was still recovering from the aftermath of the financial ‘crash’ of 2008; the most significant global economic downturn since the Great Depression (1929-39). It is effectively a campaign of budget cutting designed to reduce the UK’s (at the time) unsustainable
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The National Audit Office (NAO) has released its annual audit of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) accounts. The government spending watchdog has reported that benefit payment errors are at their highest since 2005/06 and that the DWP is losing more money through its own errors than it does by fraud. Universal Credit has also been criticised for having
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are once again under fire after it emerged that they have paid out over £600 million to two private companies who carry out benefit health assessments. Atos and Maximus have had their contracts to carry out health assessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) extended despite having been
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A Labour MP has written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) asking them to investigate the circumstances around the high number of deaths following benefit claimants being found Fit for Work or having their benefits reduced or cut. Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams has written to the EHRC following the news that over 10,000 Personal Independent
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On the same day the United Nations report on Extreme Poverty was released. the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) embarked on their deceptive puff piece on Universal Credit. However, all did not go according to plan. Activists and unions send the host paper, the Metro Free Newspaper, a strong message by starting a campaign to bin the papers. I
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Today saw the long awaited report from United Nations Special Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Professor Philip Alston. Alston visited the UK last November and was highly critical in his initial findings. The full report is damning about the Conservative’s use of austerity. Due to the length and content of the report, I’m breaking it down into a
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It has emerged that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plan to start a covert campaign to tackle “misinformation” about Universal Credit. A memo first revealed by the Guardian, talks of an unbranded wraparound advert on the Metro Newspaper and a BBC Two documentary they helped make. It is a propaganda campaign North Korea would be proud of due
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Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron seems to be suffering from a case of selective amnesia. Following the Lib Dem gains in the English Local Council Elections, Farron tweeted blaming Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn for being the “enabler of crushing austerity”. Has he forgotten that when in government, his party thought a 5p bag charge was worth allowing
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A written question to The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has revealed that government contractor Maximus, have failed to meet targets two-thirds of the time since March 2015. This raises serious questions as to why earlier this year, the private firm had its contract renewed until 2021 despite failing so badly. Maximus are one of the private companies paid
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The High Court have once again dealt a damning blow to the government’s Universal Credit plans. Today that a judge has ruled the government’s Universal Credit migration arrangements for those who previously received the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) and, moved onto Universal Credit before 16 January 2019 as; “unlawful.” The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will have to rethink
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A new report by the charity, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), has warned that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) “inadequate” communications and frequent administrative errors, are resulting in Universal Credit claimants receiving the wrong amount. It also says that 1 in 5 cases they deal with are as a result of DWP errors. Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG),
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