Emergency Social Security Campaigns Meeting
Sunday 21 April 2024 3 – 4.30pm

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88958156364?pwd=ah3dyMFY3y20G1HajLzZaLNVa3wKag.1

Meeting ID: 889 5815 6364
Passcode: 069808

We have called this meeting to bring together all those worried by and/or wanting to fight back against the Tories’ current all out assault on Disabled people, culminating in Rishi Sunak’s announcement today with plans to cut access to social security for millions of people.

For anyone who is worried, please remember that some of these changes may take time to roll out and others will only affect new claimants not existing ones.

For accurate information on what the key changes announced this week are see:

[Tory plans: PIP no longer always cash, WCA harder to pass, UC migration sooner, no GP sick notes, DWP power to arrest and fine (benefitsandwork.co.uk)](https://www.benefitsandwork.co

NEW analysis has found that over £23 billion worth of welfare benefits went unclaimed in the last year.

The report, by Policy in Practice, found that the number had risen from £19bn the year before and that figures could be closer to £30bn if it were to analyse disability benefits and discretionary support.

Universal credit is the most unclaimed benefit at £8.3bn, with an estimated 1.4 million missing out on this type of support.

This is followed by carer’s allowance (£2.3bn), pension credit (£2.2 bn) and child benefit (£1.7 bn).

The analysis said that most claimants are simply unaware that certain benefits exist and cited navigating complex criteria as a serious barrier.

The report comes as household debt rises to £8.8bn a year.

Policy in Practice managing director Jade Alsop said: "Our findings show that as a society, we can’t afford not to consider these measures to prevent further costs to our health, education and social care services.

“It is estimated that, by improving pe

PM criticised for personal independence payment review amid ‘spiralling’ disability welfare bill

Rishi Sunak is considering withdrawing a major cash disability benefit from some people with mental health conditions, prompting claims he has launched a “full-on assault on disabled people”.

The prime minister announced fresh curbs on disability benefits on Friday, saying he wanted to explore whether some cash payments to claimants with mental health conditions could be replaced by treatment or access to services.

In a speech on welfare, Sunak said he was launching a consultation on the personal independence payment (Pip), a non-means-tested benefit paid to disabled people to help with the extra living costs caused by long-term disability or ill health.

He said that in addition to reviewing payments to people with mental health conditions, the government would look at whether some other disabled people should get help with one-off costs rather than continuing payments.

The announc

Officials at Department for Work and Pensions accused of ‘threatening and cruel’ tactics over repayment orders

Government officials have been accused of using “threatening and cruel” tactics towards unpaid carers by saying they could face even greater financial penalties if they appeal against “vindictive” benefit fines.

This month a Guardian investigation revealed that thousands of people who look after disabled, frail or ill relatives have been forced to pay back huge sums after being chased by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over “honest mistakes” that officials could have spotted years earlier.

Dozens of unpaid carers have said they feel powerless to challenge the penalties, which often run into many thousands of pounds, even when the government is

Sick of the press and govt constantly talking crap about disabled people? So is journalist Rachel Charlton-Dailey...

[Click to listen to the article, and support the Canary]

I’m often asked what needs to change to make the world a better place for disabled people. It used to be a complex answer for me. It depended on the context I was being asked, who was asking, or what had been happening recently.

But now it’s simple: the world needs to stop hating disabled people and being so fucking ableist.

Ableism has always been rife in society, media, and politics. It feels like it’s been ramped up in recent years, but especially in the last few months. A big reason for this is that the government are intent on demonising us to cover for the fact they and their rich mates are stealing from taxpayers.

**How the poison of ableism

Single people with long-term disability that stops them working will be much poorer after rollout, Resolution Foundation says

The rollout of universal credit is on course to make thousands of working-age disabled people significantly poorer, according to a report showing that more than 7 million people will be covered by the six-into-one benefit change before the end of the next parliament.

A single person with a long-term disability that prevents them from working is £2,800 a year worse off when they transfer to universal credit (UC), the Resolution Foundation said, adding that all single people with long-term disabilities will suffer this loss of income when the rollout of UC is completed by 2030.

The report – In Credit? – gives an overview of the huge change to the benefit system championed by the former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith during the coalition government.

Previous benefits, including income

Hundreds of thousands could lose out in England and Wales under disability benefit reforms after general election

Hundreds of thousands fewer disabled people could receive cold weather payments under the Conservatives’ planned post-election disability benefit reforms, according to an internal government report seen by the Observer.

The briefing, by civil servants at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), says that under the plans, new applicants for disability benefits in England and Wales would only qualify for cold weather payments if they passed a much harsher assessment than exists at present.

“We recognise that this recommendation will result in fewer low-income people being eligible for [cold weather payments],” the briefing says, adding that some higher-income people will gain access to them.

Cold weather payments worth £25 for every week of freezing w

Lori and George Schappell were joined at the skull with separate bodies and lived on their own since the age of 24

The world’s oldest living conjoined twins have died at the age of 62 in their native Pennsylvania.

Lori and George Schappell died on 7 April at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, according to an obituary. A cause of death was not disclosed.

The Schappell twins were born on 18 September 1961 in Reading, in southern Pennsylvania. They were joined at the skull with separate bodies, sharing 30% of their brain and essential blood vessels.

George had spina bifida and used a mobility device. Lori pushed and steered George’s wheeled stool so the two could move around.

The twins represented the rarest form of conjoined twinning, which affects only 2% to 6% of conjoined twins, NBC Today reported.

George transit

Neil Goodwin was charged over his protest outside parliament in 2023. However, a judge saw it for nonsense - and here, Neil tells all.

[Click to listen to the article, and support the Canary]

Last week the Canary ran my story A disabled man is being PROSECUTED for blocking parliament with his MOBILITY SCOOTER just before my trial at Westminster Magistrate’s Court. Here’s the full story.

The climate crisis: very real, and very now

On July 19 2023, exactly a year on from the hottest day on record, and the devastating Wennington wild fire in East London which completely destroyed four houses, I had travelled up to parliament to raise the alarm about the effects a climate catastrophe will have on the disabled community and vulnerable groups, the old, and the frail.

I have multiple sclero

We're in the middle of a plague

[Click to listen to the article, and support the Canary]

The NHS killed Sophia Mirza on 15 November 2005. Sophia lived with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS). In July 2003, psychiatrists got cops to smash the door into Sophia’s home down and forcibly take her to a secure psychiatric unit, where she was imprisoned against her wishes for two weeks before a tribunal ordered her release. This ultimately led to her death.

In January 2024, Olivia Jane Mott travelled from the UK to Dignitas in Switzerland to end her own life. She lived with ME. On 27 March 2024, Lucy Mayhew died. She lived with ME.

Right now, Millie McAinsh is dying in an NHS hospital because doctors

A campaign group will be targeting UK media outlets during global ME Awareness Day – calling out what it calls the corporate media’s systemic “mis-and-disinformation” relating to this chronic illness.

It comes amid growing concern that the same psychologisation certain medical professionals and the media have enacted towards myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME, also known as ME/CFS) patients is now also being used against people living with long Covid.

ME Awareness Day: what is this debilitating illness?

ME is a chronic illness that affects almost every system in people’s bodies – like the immune, nervous, digestive, and hormonal systems. Many of its symptoms majorly impact a patient’s day-t

Disabled activist Neil Goodwin was arrested under the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act outside parliament

The below article is an opinion piece from Neil Goodwin, an activist who was arrested for blocking an entrance to parliament with his mobility scooter

[Click to listen to the article]

I’m in Westminster Magistrate’s Court at 10am on Wednesday 3 April, charged with blocking the entrance to parliament in my mobility scooter; I’m disabled, living with multiple sclerosis (MS). This is a bit of what I am hoping to tell the judge.

Protesting the climate crisis as a disabled person

On 19 July 2023, exactly a year on from the hottest day on record and the devastating Wennington wild fire, I travelled up to parliament to protest. It was a Wednesday, and Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) was on – the busiest day of the week for parl

The job postings come as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) continues its drive to crack down on benefit fraud.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is hiring up to 25 covert surveillance officers to snoop on benefit claimants, the Big Issue understands.

The job roles are, according to the advertisement on GOV.UK, part of the DWP’s response to tackling fraud within the welfare system.

The ad says: “The department utilises covert surveillance to gather evidence to prove/disprove offences” – although it is not clear what these offences are. The roles are based in 20 locations across the country with salaries ranging from £29,500 to £33,979.

The job’s description is very vague on detail as to what the job actually entails. It includes “leading in taking forward tasking r

A recent episode of the hospital drama Casualty misrepresented the very serious risks that Covid still poses. Jane Stevenson wrote to the BBC to explain just how wrong they’d got it.

On Saturday 9 March, an episode of Casualty was broadcast, “Trauma”, which created a lot of upset. After reading a robust Twitter/X post by Clinically Vulnerable Families, I watched the episode myself. I am writing to complain that a storyline in this episode amplified Covid misinformation and missed out some crucial context.

The storyline involved Aisling, who has overdosed on her anti-anxiety medication. Aisling was wearing an FFP2 respirator mask. The ambulance crew asks if she wants to take off the mask, reassuring her that they are vaccinated.

During handover at the hospital, we learn that Aisling has been living in isolation for a long time and is described as having “post-Covid anxiety”. Later, a medic says to her: “The risks to yo

A recent advert by the Alzheimer’s Society has caused significant backlash from both individuals living with dementia, those that love them and provide unpaid care, and professionals in the field of neurological support needs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m06RTgI3Oqk

The advert, titled ‘The Long Goodbye’ is narrated by a man giving a eulogy at his mum’s funeral, but instead of revelling in the life she lived, or giving a sense of how this woman spent her final years – the man says,

‘Mum first died when she couldn’t work out how to prepare her legendary roast anymore,’

and goes on to talk about how she ‘died’ when she could no longer wear colourful and fashionable clothes, and ‘died’ when she couldn’t participate in Christmas. The message is designed to ‘tug on the heart strings’, but all it does is dehumanise people with dementia and memory conditions.

Not once does it talk about how everything she loved she could still do with ski

NPR tacitly endorses the removal of Long COVID sufferers from public life

Let’s start with the title.

“Wrestling with my husband’s fear of getting Long COVID again” at NPR today right away frames the author’s problem as her “husband’s fear.”

Not the unchecked, year-round spread of COVID-19.

Not the national and international abandonment of disabled people and hundreds of millions of people with Long COVID symptoms.

Not her social milieu, which refuses to understand or acknowledge that vulnerable people are at significant risk of harm from COVID infection.

Not the press, which has spent several years manufacturing consent for recurrent, endless COVID infections.

Not the rampant ADA violations of a society that has knowingly stripped millions

Every year on March 1st, the disability community comes together to remember the victims of filicide – people with disabilities killed by their family members. Vigils are held on the Day of Mourning in cities around the world.

Find your local Day of Mourning vigil - https://autisticadvocacy.org/2024/01/2024-vigil-sites/

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisabilityDayofMourning

By John Pring on 22nd February 2024

Listen

Disabled activists have announced a fightback against a series of “horrific” government social security reforms and have called for “active resistance” to the plans, starting with a national day of action and a protest in London early next month.

A meeting in parliament this week heard that disabled people could not wait for the general election, because there was no guarantee that a Labour government would reverse the government’s proposals.

Instead, they called for a return to street protest, led by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), to resist Conservative plans to cut out-of-work disability benefits and introduce other harmful social sec

NoMoreBenefitDeaths
National Day of Action
Monday 4th March 2024

On 19th February 2024 at the Parliament Meeting in London, DPAC and the UK Coalition have announced a united disability resistance against the Tory Government’s proposed brutal and horrific social security reforms.

We are calling for active resistance across the UK to these brutal attacks on disabled people.

We are gravely concerned that the government plans to intensify conditions and benefit sanctions imposed on claimants and tighten the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)

This would see social security cuts for hundreds of thousands of disabled people and new powers for unqualified work coaches in Job Centres who will decide what work related activity should be carried out.

We have already seen the devastation caused by previous so-called welfare reform policies. They have failed on their own terms – the OBR confirmed more than once that they were an economic disas

Disabled people who faced the prospect of being forced to move into care homes if the cost of supporting them at home was considered ‘too expensive’ are claiming a huge victory, after Bristol City Council told them it was dropping the proposal.

People who need care in their own homes have been fighting the proposal from Bristol City Council to put a cap on the amount that care would cost and, in certain circumstances, make the disabled person receiving the care move to a care home instead. Last week, disabled campaigners engaged barristers to help communicate their argument that doing so would unlawfully breach their human rights - and within days, it appears the council has caved in.

Social care chief Cllr Helen Holland has told disabled campaigners that the policy has been dropped, and that the council will work with disabled people in Bristol and across the country to come up with a new proposal.

Cllr Holland’s lette