Scotland’s first minister resigns after failing to muster enough votes to survive a no confidence vote this week
Humza Yousaf is holding a press conference at noon, Sky News and the BBC are reporting.
Mandy Rhodes, editor of the Holyrood magazine, says she was due to interview Humza Yousaf this afternoon, but he’s cancelled.
Continue reading...Australia says it is committed to inclusive education. But the reality for the one in four schoolchildren who now have a disability is far from that
Most Australian parents take for granted that their child will attend school and receive an education.
But for parents of children with a disability – whether it’s developmental, intellectual or physical – that is not a given.
Continue reading...Concern grows over legality of government’s approach as new figures show more than 150,000 carers facing huge penalties
New figures show more than 150,000 unpaid carers are now facing huge fines for minor rule breaches, as MPs, charities and campaigners demanded an immediate amnesty.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, joined calls to write off the vast debts incurred by tens of thousands of people who care for sick, disabled and elderly relatives after experts raised concerns about the legality of the government’s approach.
Continue reading...Johnny Timpson says he wants to ‘take a stand’ after revelations thousands of unpaid carers are being forced to pay huge fines
One of Rishi Sunak’s dementia advisers has resigned over the government’s approach towards unpaid carers, describing the prosecutions of vulnerable people as “beyond the pale”.
Johnny Timpson, who advised No 10 on its dementia strategy, said he wanted to “take a stand” after the Guardian revealed that tens of thousands of unpaid carers were being fined huge sums and in some cases prosecuted for minor infringements of earnings rules.
Continue reading...Charities say high rates of people signed off work are caused by crumbling public services after years of underinvestment
Rishi Sunak has been accused of making mental ill health “another front in the culture wars”, as critics warned his plan to curb benefits for some with anxiety and depression was an assault on disabled people.
In a speech on welfare, the prime minister said he wanted to explore withdrawing a major cash benefit claimed by people living with mental health problems and replacing it with treatment.
Shifting responsibility for issuing fit notes, formerly known as sicknotes, away from GPs to other “work and health professionals” in order to encourage more people to return to work.
Confirming plans to legislate “in the next parliament” to close benefit claims for anyone who has been claiming for 12 months but is not complying with conditions on accepting available work.
Asking more people on universal credit working part-time to look for more work by increasing the earnings threshold from £743 a month to £892 a month, so people paid below this amount have to seek extra hours.
Confirming plans to tighten the work capability assessment to require more people with “less severe conditions” to seek some form of employment.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...The legislation aims to cut ballooning costs, and return the scheme to its original intent of supporting people with a permanent disability
The Albanese government is forging ahead with planned changes to the NDIS, including plans to curb the amount participants can claim in budget top ups, amid a looming fight with state and territory leaders over who should pay for disability services.
The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, will introduce a new bill on Wednesday morning as part of the government’s first tranche of reforms to return the scheme to its original intent of supporting Australians with permanent disability and tackle issues with its ballooning costs.
Continue reading...Three Californians who can’t drink dairy say they pay extra fees for alternatives at coffee chain and claim violation of civil rights law
Is charging extra for non-dairy milk an act of discrimination against people who are lactose intolerant?
This is the question three Starbucks customers are raising by filing a $5m class-action lawsuit against Starbucks for making customers who do not consume dairy pay more for their lattes and Frappuccinos.
Continue reading...At least a quarter of councils are taking more than a year to provide vital support to people with a new visual impairment diagnosis
The lives of thousands of blind and partially sighted people are being put at risk by delays in vital care that they have a legal right to after being assessed as visually impaired, according to a report.
More than a quarter of English councils are leaving people who have just been diagnosed as blind waiting more than a year for vision rehabilitation assessments and potentially life-saving support, the report by the RNIB revealed.
Continue reading...Department of Social Services figures show some areas had average wait times of more than 200 days between September and December
Claims for the disability support pension took more than 80 days on average in the final months of last year and some local government areas are experiencing average wait times of more than 200 days, data has revealed.
According to the data provided by the Department of Social Services in Senate estimates last month, disability support pension claims took an average of 82.2 days to be processed between September and December 2023.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Radical changes in a draft race equality act would give same protections as women now receive
A Labour government would extend the full right to equal pay that now exists for women to black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) workers for the first time under radical plans for a draft race equality act seen by the Guardian.
The legal right, which would follow a consultation with business groups and unions, would be phased in to give employers time to adapt to paying all their staff fairly, with back pay only available from when the law changes.
Continue reading...After being elected to Valencia’s regional assembly, Galcerán says she wants to be seen as a person, not for her disability
For decades she battled to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities were part of the conversation. The extent of the progress she had made, however, was laid bare recently when Mar Galcerán became Spain’s first parliamentarian with Down’s syndrome.
“It’s unprecedented,” the 45-year-old told the Guardian. “Society is starting to see that people with Down’s syndrome have a lot to contribute. But it’s a very long road.”
Continue reading...PM sets up possibility of income tax coming down in March and says control of welfare is a priority
Rishi Sunak has said he wants to cut taxes for working people further this year, possibly cutting welfare payments to fund it.
The prime minister said on Sunday his priority before the budget in March would be further tax cuts, which he said would entail stricter controls on public spending and benefits.
Continue reading...The prime minister has been facing questions on his government’s performance from senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee
Social care leaders felt “blindsided” by recently announced changes to visa rules banning care workers from bringing their families to the UK and have “grave concerns” it could drive people from the sector, the Commons health committee heard this morning. PA Media has filed this from the hearing.
The head of Care England, which represents social care providers across the country, criticised a lack of consultation with the sector, saying it left them “particularly concerned, annoyed and irritated”.
Prof Martin Green, its chief executive, told the committee the system is currently already “creaking at the edges” due to a lack of funding, and spoke of the “chronic workforce shortage” it faces.
Today’s guidance does not go far enough. During the many months we have been waiting for its publication, it has become increasingly clear that non-statutory guidance will provide insufficient protection and clarity, and that a change in the law of the land is required.
That is why I am today asking the government to back my private member’s bill which would change the law in this area to ensure children are fully protected.
Continue reading...Christmas alumni episode had one blind entrant and another who was neurodivergent, both of whom say they did not get help
The BBC has apologised and pulled a Christmas episode of University Challenge after two contestants complained about a lack of provision for their disabilities.
The festive spin-off from the BBC Two quiz show, hosted by Amol Rajan, features teams of distinguished alumni who compete on behalf of their former universities.
Continue reading...Government contract aims to reduce the number of specialist care plans by a fifth
The government has quietly signed a contract targeting 20% cuts to the number of new education plans for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) to bring down costs, the Observer can reveal.
Then junior education minister Claire Coutinho – recently promoted to the cabinet as energy secretary– subsequently told MPs that no targets were in place.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As the Department of Work and Pensions looks to ‘tighten’ work capability assessments, we look at the impact of a decade of welfare policies
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After a decade of austerity, the Conservative party’s track record on providing an adequate safety net for those who need it has been heavily criticised. A growing body of research indicates that a reduction in health and social care spending in real terms has led to tens of thousands of excess deaths.
Police | An undercover officer used his fake identity to deceive a woman into a 19-year relationship in which they became partners and had a child together, on whose birth certificate he used his fake name, the Guardian can reveal.
Politics | Labour should consider using wealth taxes to raise £10bn as the UK “needs to go further” to bring in money to repair public services, the head of the Trades Union Congress, Paul Nowak, has said.
Climate | The summer of 2023 was the hottest ever recorded, as the climate crisis and emerging El Niño pushed up temperatures and drove extreme weather across the world.
Schools | Nine out of 10 schools in England have said they are providing clothing and uniforms for students, while seven out of 10 are giving out food in the form of parcels, food bank provisions, vouchers or subsidised breakfasts because of the cost of living crisis. Teachers are reporting deteriorating hygiene among pupils as families cut back on brushing teeth, showering and even flushing the toilet.
Technology | The EU has unveiled a set of “revolutionary” laws to curb the power of six big tech companies, including allowing consumers to decide what apps they want on their phone and to delete pre-loaded software such as Google or Apple’s maps apps.
Continue reading...French boy, who was six when Jonty Bravery threw him from viewing platform in 2019, is showing a range of improvements
A boy who was thrown from the 10th floor of the Tate Modern in London four years ago now only uses his wheelchair only for longer outings, his family has revealed.
The French boy suffered life-changing injuries in the attack by teenager Jonty Bravery in August 2019. The child, who was then aged six and on holiday with his parents, survived the 30-metre fall, but suffered major injuries, including bleeding on the brain and broken bones. Bravery was convicted of attempted murder in 2020 and jailed for 15 years.
Continue reading...‘Come and live in somebody’s shoes who is at high risk of serious complications from the flu or Covid,’ disability advocate says
People with disability are more likely to feel unsafe in Queensland health institutions and may even avoid them after the state launched plans to drop its vaccine mandate for health staff, according to an advocacy group.
Nicole Lee, president of People with Disability Australia, said Queensland had been a leader in Covid protections and she had hoped the state might make the mandate permanent.
Continue reading...US data firm wanted to brief Tom Pursglove on how its technology could help recover ‘large amounts’
The US tech firm Palantir lobbied the UK disabilities minister to adopt new technology to crack down on benefits fraud, emails released to the Guardian have revealed.
The company wrote to Tom Pursglove to brief him on technology it had recently deployed elsewhere, promising that it had the potential for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to rapidly “recover large amounts of fraud”.
Continue reading...