NEW: The DWP consultation into plans to slash billions of pounds from disability benefits has been ruled unlawful in a damning High Court ruling. Mr Justice Calver repeatedly described the consultation held in autumn 2023 as “misleading”, “rushed” and “unfair” www.bigissue.com/news/social-... - ThreadSky

cjayanetti.bsky.social • 44 days ago

NEW: The DWP consultation into plans to slash billions of pounds from disability benefits has been ruled unlawful in a damning High Court ruling.

Mr Justice Calver repeatedly described the consultation held in autumn 2023 as “misleading”, “rushed” and “unfair”
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-disability-benefits-reforms-consultation-ruling/

Comments

litterygeniarse.bsky.social•44 days ago

I have been aware for 12 years that PIP assessment companies get a bonus for taking people off benefits.
They lose nearly all appeals but I think keep those bonusses.
It is a corporatist, scam to persecute disabled people for profit.
@labouruk.bsky.social need to fix that. Reform whole process.

colincperry.bsky.social•44 days ago

@alexgathomas.bsky.social unusual for a consultation to receive such a ruling. Will IfG do one of your splendid primers on consultation and what wider implications it has for other Government consultations? I was nerdily struck that 8 weeks was seen as too short.

transsarah.bsky.social•26 days ago

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-lgbtq-refugees-of-the-kakuma-camp?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy

transsarah.bsky.social•26 days ago

Support Queer Communities in Need 🌈LGBTQIA+ community deserves access to basic necessities like food and clothing, we are facing financial hardships and food insecurity. Reaching out for support to help those who need it most.

reddave63.bsky.social•44 days ago

Accountability please from the Minister responsible

invalid-handle.com•44 days ago

Which one? There’s been so many in the last few years. Maybe get them all in… Coffey, Smith may predate this but definitely Stride and now Kendall oversaw it

fitgeekuk.bsky.social•44 days ago

Yeah yeah yeah tories did something unlawful.

They'll get a slap on the wrist.

rockypanda123.bsky.social•44 days ago

The article refers to Tory ministers but the photo is of three Labour politicians.

matthewgreener.bsky.social•43 days ago

Surely the Tories, wouldn't rush, mislead or break the law over benefit payments! My flabber is gasted

mcchris85.bsky.social•44 days ago

I still don't know how this helps with work

Disability benefits are widely misunderstood. The point of them is to make up for the costs of being disabled & having to spend money just to have a (more) equal quality of life to the rest of society

robm50.bsky.social•44 days ago

When I was a CAB advisor I had a young woman client who'd had a leg amputated. She lost her higher rate PIP when they changed the rules. Had to give up her motability adapted car and had to give up her job as she could no longer get there. Utter madness

mcchris85.bsky.social•43 days ago

There's absolutely no joined up thinking in any of this. The Access to Work scheme has also been massively cut, but so much of the transport infrastructure & built environmwnt remains untouched.

It always feels like placing responsibility on employers is being avoided.

cjayanetti.bsky.social•44 days ago

it doesn't help with work

cjayanetti.bsky.social•43 days ago

UPDATE: Labour has given its strongest signal yet that it *will* press ahead with the Tories' planned disability benefit cuts, after committing to re-run the consultation that was today judged to have been held unlawfully https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-disability-benefits-bill-high-court-ruling/

petemarchetto.bsky.social•43 days ago

That this can even happen under a 'Labour' government so they can perpetuate The Big Lie that protects the rich - 'There is no money' - is obscene. Labour and the Tories are now complicit. We need to be finding an alternative. The LibDems are probably best placed. I'd rather it was the Green Party.

robishungry.bsky.social•40 days ago

I'm voting green next time, bollocks.

goldenface.bsky.social•43 days ago

michaelannewrites.bsky.social•43 days ago

What is the point of having a consultation when you know what you are going to do anyway? I just, I'm so tired of being disposable

cjayanetti.bsky.social•44 days ago

The judgment found:
- the consultation failed to highlight the benefit cuts facing those affected
- the consultation gave the misleading impression that the changes were about helping disabled people into work, when cutting spending was actually a key aim
- the consultation period was too short

cjayanetti.bsky.social•44 days ago

The plans, drawn up by the Conservatives, have been inherited by Labour. So far, Labour has said very little on what its own plans are.

Today's judgment does not specifically force the government to act, but makes it very hard for it to it to proceed without at least re-running the consultation

karendshipp.bsky.social•44 days ago

Another of the landmines the Tories laid down (partly) in order to sabotage the government that replaced them.

cjayanetti.bsky.social•44 days ago

The proposals would mainly have affected new claimants of the disability element of Universal Credit, by changing benefit assessments so that fewer people would qualify for full benefit based on difficulties with mobility or getting about

They would also have watered down mental health protections

cjayanetti.bsky.social•44 days ago

Last month Big Issue published details of internal DWP documents that suggested the proposals were at least as much about the Tories’ determination to cut benefits spending as they were about helping disabled people into work - with even Rishi Sunak involved:
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-benefit-reforms-disabled-people-judicial-review/

cjayanetti.bsky.social•44 days ago

These documents, revealed by the judicial review proceedings, showed the public consultation was rushed through in time for the savings to be counted in the 2023 Autumn Statement - even though the consultation, and the DWP in court, claimed the proposals were not motivated by making savings

cjayanetti.bsky.social•44 days ago

“I am overjoyed that the court has recognised the importance of properly consulting deaf and disabled people on reforms that would leave many worse off by at least £416.19 per month,” Ellen Clifford said. “This is a life-or-death issue."

More here:
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-disability-benefits-reforms-consultation-ruling/

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