Category Archives: Disability

Almost 145,000 Australians will lose support for autism under NDIS reforms, documents reveal

Posted on by

Internal estimates show 144,600 people will be taken off the scheme by 2030, many of them under 18

Almost 145,000 Australians receiving support for autism on the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) are expected to be removed by the end of the decade, internal estimates show, as the federal government moves ahead with plans to narrow the focus of the “diluted” $52bn scheme toward those with significant and complex needs.

From 2028, almost two-thirds of the 241,000 participants set to lose access to the NDIS will be aged 18 or under, health department documents released to Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws show.

Continue reading...

Parliament has been getting frosty as winter closes in – but Labor may make one more gamble before the break

Posted on by

As Labor pushes on with reforms, the Coalition must decide whether to join in the parliamentary deal-making

It’s the last week of parliament before the winter break, and not a minute too soon; tensions have been running a little high lately.

The lower house speaker, Milton Dick, has been yeeting MPs mere moments into question time and accused Angus Taylor of “demeaning” the parliament by calling Anthony Albanese a liar; Andrew Hastie claimed One Nation “has declared war on me, so they shall have war”; Labor has been goading the Coalition and its media “cheer squad” for opposing the budget; the Greens hate Labor’s NDIS bill; and people in the Coalition seem to be mad at everyone, including themselves.

Continue reading...

Lack of learning-disability nurses in UK is an ‘absolute crisis’, says union

Posted on by

Exclusive: Royal College of Nursing says 1.5m vulnerable people not getting the right care, as specialism is ‘consistently undermined’

The specialist learning-disability nurse workforce is in “absolute crisis” with the number of specialist nurses falling by a third across the UK since 2009, leaving many vulnerable adults with inadequate care, according to a report by the largest nursing union.

The Royal College of Nursing review revealed that the number of learning-disability nurses employed by the NHS has fallen from 7,083 in 2009 to 4,768 in 2026. As a result of these falling numbers, 1.5 million people with learning disabilities were not being provided with their legal right to equitable access to health and care services.

Continue reading...

Disabled people with lifelong conditions facing ‘unnecessary’ Pip reassessments

Posted on by

‘Pointless’ reviews are wasting public money and ‘significantly harming’ the mental health of claimants, charity says

Disabled people with lifelong conditions are repeatedly being put through “pointless” benefit reassessments, contrary to official guidance, new analysis suggests.

A study by the anti-poverty charity Z2K has found that hundreds of thousands of disabled people are going through “unnecessary” personal independence payment (Pip) reviews, “wasting” public money and “significantly harming” the mental and physical health of claimants.

Continue reading...

NDIS cuts could leave some participants with a funding gap. How will the changes affect you?

Posted on by

Proposals also grant the health minister power to change disability support rules without state or territory approval. Here’s what you need to know

Funding for some services within the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be slashed – even in cases where participants could be left with a funding gap – as part of a sweeping proposal to drastically curb the scheme’s annual growth.

The proposed changes, revealed on Thursday, will also grant the health minister, Mark Butler, god-like powers to reduce overall funding for support categories, determine pricing guides and caps for services and support, and the ability to change NDIS rules without state and territory approval for the first 12 months.

Continue reading...

Huge cuts to national disability insurance scheme aim to save more than $36bn in budget’s largest single measure

Posted on by

NDIS changes foreshadowed by health minister Mark Butler will drastically reduce access to the scheme, with nearly 700 staff positions to go at NDIA

The government expects to recoup $36.2bn by curbing the national disability insurance scheme’s growth over the next four years as it looks to return to the NDIS’s “original purpose” of supporting people with “significant and permanent disability”.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the budget’s savings package amounted to genuine economic reform, beyond the “usual nips and tucks”.

Continue reading...

Starmer and Badenoch clash over welfare and defence spending at PMQs – UK politics live

Posted on by

PM took questions from leader of the opposition and other MPs in final PMQs before recess

Here is the running order for PMQs.

Nigel Farage was given £5m by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 British general election, Anna Isaac reports.

Continue reading...

Phillipson says Send reforms needed ‘even if money were no object’ because current outcomes ‘not good enough’– UK politics live

Posted on by

Education secretary says education, health and care plans (EHCPs) shouldn’t be the ‘only way’ for children to get help

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has been speaking about the Send reforms at an event in Peterborough.

This is what she said about the need for inclusion.

Inclusion is a choice. It is an educational choice, and it is also a political choice because we could duck this challenge, ignore the injustice of a postcode lottery in life chances putting off fixing the Send system yet again.

The system works well for some at least.

We welcome the scale of vision contained in the white paper which has the potential to create an education system that fully values children and young people with additional needs and their families.

We also welcome the commitment to retain statutory education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for children and young people whose needs cannot be met through this new model. We know that many parents will welcome the legal requirement for schools to create individual support plans (ISPs) for all children with Send.

Continue reading...

Starmer says Reform’s pledge to restore two-child benefit cap in full is ‘shameful’ – UK politics live

Posted on by

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick has announced party’s plans to cut welfare spending

Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson, is giving his speech now.

He has announced, or confirmed, three measures to cut welfare spending.

The number claiming disability benefits for an attention disorder has more than doubled since Covid. We all know a significant number of these claims are spurious …

We will stop those with mild anxiety, depression, and similar conditions from claiming disability benefits and instead encourage them into the dignity of work.

We will end the abuse of the Motability scheme, where expensive cars are handed out for conditions like tennis elbow, and paid for by working people who can’t afford them themselves.

Continue reading...

NDIS plans will be computer-generated, with human involvement dramatically cut under sweeping overhaul

Posted on by

Exclusive: Staff were told of major changes to the way NDIS funding and support plans will be made during a recent internal briefing

Funding and support plans for national disability insurance scheme participants will be generated by a computer program and staff will have no discretion to amend them, under a major overhaul of the NDIS to be rolled out next year, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Under the changes, human involvement in deciding support for NDIS participants will be dramatically reduced.

Continue reading...

Rachel Reeves expected to scrap £300m in tax breaks for Motability scheme

Posted on by

Plan to remove relief from scheme that helps provide cars for disabled people likely to concern some Labour MPs

Rachel Reeves is expected to press ahead with scrapping about £300m in tax breaks for the Motability scheme that helps provide cars for disabled people, in a move likely to spark concerns among some Labour MPs.

The Treasury was reported to have been considering axing tax breaks up to £1bn but savings will not be as high as that figure, with concerns among ministers that some policy options could have led to Motability’s collapse.

Continue reading...

Motability scheme to drop BMW and Mercedes as it aims to buy UK-made cars

Posted on by

Rachel Reeves says changes to subsidised scheme for disabled drivers will help support thousands of jobs

The Motability scheme to provide disabled drivers with subsidised cars has said it will remove expensive cars such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz and aim to buy more British-built cars.

Motability said it hopes that 50% of the vehicles it offers will come from British factories by 2035. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the changes to the scheme would “support thousands of well-paid, skilled jobs”, before the budget on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Not-for-profit disability services are closing due to untenably low price caps, NDIS architect warns

Posted on by

Providers report a median operating loss of nearly 4% in the last financial year – with losses totalling about 12% over five years

Not-for-profit disability services that support some of the most vulnerable Australians are being forced to close and exit the national disability insurance scheme because of untenably low price caps for NDIS services, one of the architects of the scheme has warned.

“For some years, many of us in the sector have been telling the National Disability Insurance Agency that flaws in their pricing are contributing to not-for-profit registered providers of disability services going broke,” warned Martin Laverty, who is now the CEO of not-for-profit disability provider Aruma.

Continue reading...

Shabana Mahmood tells MPs asylum system is ‘out of control and unfair’ amid Labour backlash over proposals – UK politics live

Posted on by

Labour MP calls government’s asylum plans ‘dystopian’ as home secretary announces measures in Commons

Momentum, the leftwing Labour group, has also denounced the government’s asylum plans. In a statement it says:

The home secretary’s new immigration plans are divisive and xenophobic.

Scapegoating migrants will not fix our public services or end austerity.

Draconian, unworkable and potentially illegal anti-asylum policies only feed Reform’s support.

The government has learnt nothing from the period since the general election.

Some of the legal changes being proposed are truly frightening:

Abolishing the right to a family life would ultimately affect many more people than asylum-seekers.

Continue reading...

Alice Wong, ‘luminary’ writer and disability rights activist, dies aged 51

Posted on by

Daughter of immigrants advocated for people with disabilities to have full autonomy over their lives

Alice Wong, a writer and disability rights activist who was born with muscular dystrophy and whose independence and writing inspired others, has died. She was 51.

Wong died Friday at a hospital in San Francisco due to an infection, said Sandy Ho, a close friend who has been in touch with Wong’s family.

Continue reading...

Avanti accused of ‘virtue signalling without virtue’ over wheelchair user art

Posted on by

Campaigners say train image of two wheelchair users does not reflect reality of single wheelchair space in standard class

Campaigners have accused one of the UK’s leading train companies of “virtue signalling without the virtue” after it used images of wheelchair users that they say do not reflect the reality of travelling with a disability.

Baraka Carberry, a digital artist, created a new livery for Avanti West Coast, which provides rail links between London and Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland, that shows “scenes of people, culture, colours and joy”. Titled Together We Roll, the images stretch across all seven carriages of the new Evero train, which the company says reduces carbon compared with the old fleet of trains.

Continue reading...

Bus chaperone kept working at school during months-long police investigation into alleged child sexual abuse

Posted on by

Exclusive: Victorian education department apologises to mother who alleged her nonverbal child was sexually assaulted by the man. He denied the allegations and no charges were laid

A school bus chaperone who allegedly sexually assaulted a nonverbal child continued working with students for months during the subsequent Victorian police investigation, prompting an apology to the girl’s mother from the state’s education department.

The allegation was denied by the chaperone and did not lead to charges. But Victoria’s education department apologised to the mother last year for failing to implement risk mitigation strategies during the police investigation.

In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helpline International

Continue reading...

Review to look at role of mental health issues in UK youth unemployment

Posted on by

Former health secretary Alan Milburn’s review is exploring reasons for rising inactivity among young people

The role of mental health issues and disability in youth unemployment will be examined by the former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn as part of a review looking into rising inactivity among Britain’s young people.

Nearly a million people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training, often described with the acronym Neets. Milburn will look at ways to avoid people becoming trapped as Neets and the findings will be published in the summer.

Continue reading...

Tanni Grey-Thompson says disabled drivers at risk of missing out on switch to electric cars

Posted on by

Former Paralympics champion says inaccessible charging points show government ‘has forgotten about us’

Campaigners including Tanni Grey-Thompson have warned that disabled drivers are at risk of being locked out of the electric car transition because of inaccessible chargers.

The former Paralympics champion and the Electric Vehicle Association England are pushing for the government to introduce standards to ensure chargers are easy to reach.

Continue reading...

Starmer only read China spy witness statements this morning, No 10 says, as Cleverly accuses PM of misquoting him – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Lindsay Hoyle starts by telling MPs that speakers from the parliaments in Fiji and Ukraine are in the gallery. And he says it is four years to the day since David Amess was murdered.

It’s PMQs. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

Continue reading...