Campaigners say vulnerable people receiving care are being deprived of their freedom in order to save money
Growing numbers of vulnerable people receiving care are challenging deprivation of liberty (Dol) orders that can mean they are locked up or kept under restrictive supervision.
Dol orders are meant as a last resort but campaigners say the increase shows that too often people’s freedoms are restricted as a cheaper option.
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Murray Watt says advice needed from administrators to determine government support amid administration
Murray Watt, the newly-appointed minister for workplace relations, also weighed in on the Rex Airlines administration on ABC RN just earlier.
In terms of equity stakes or other financial government support, we’ll make those decisions once the situation becomes clearer through the administrator.
This would only be activated if the company is unable to repay entitlements to any workers who are retrenched, and let’s hope it may not get to that.
But also, our department would be providing employment support to workers who do lose their job to ensure that they can get back into work as quickly as possible.
Continue reading...Loss of income, curbs on benefits and soaring bills are piling pressure on people caring for family members
People who look after family members free of charge are taking a huge hit to their finances which could continue into their retirement as they find themselves unable to balance paid work with their caring commitments.
Recent analysis of official figures by the financial firm Just Retirement found seven in 10 people who were receiving carer’s allowance were not in paid work, and missing out on earnings and private pension contributions.
Continue reading...RNIB calls on all parties to commit to remove barriers that prevent people with sight loss voting on their own
Tens of thousand of people with sight loss will be denied their right to a secret ballot at next week’s general election, campaigners have warned, prompting calls to make it the last inaccessible election.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is calling on all political parties to commit to remove barriers that prevent blind people voting on their own and without help in future elections.
Continue reading...Agency used list which included jobs such as nut sorter and microfilm processor and has not been updated since 1991
The US’s social security administration is no longer considering a number of outdated jobs as possible work opportunities to deny those applying for disability benefits.
Social security disability benefits are determined with a claimant’s medical records and ability to work in mind. If unable to perform their past job, the administration looks at the person’s age, education and work experience to see if they can do other kinds of work.
Continue reading...Documents submitted by the company to a parliamentary inquiry also detail meetings between Salesforce and former minister Stuart Robert at his request
US software company Salesforce has disclosed it gave gifts worth more than $100 to NDIS officials at least 45 times between 2019 and 2023, including wining and dining them at ritzy restaurants and bars in Melbourne and Canberra.
The information – submitted by Salesforce to a parliamentary inquiry scrutinising contract arrangements by the NDIS and Services Australia under the former Coalition government – appears at odds with the disability insurance agency’s earlier answers it had no evidence staff had received gifts or benefits from Salesforce.
Continue reading...Clodagh Dunlop recognised for work with stroke survivors as others who have overcome adversity also receive MBEs
Unsung heroes who have overcome great adversity to contribute to their communities and raise awareness of important issues make up the majority of those on the king’s birthday honours list.
They include the Police Service of Northern Ireland detective Clodagh Dunlop, 45, who had a brainstem stroke 10 years ago that left her paralysed with locked-in syndrome and only able to communicate by blinking one eye. She receives an MBE for her work with stroke survivors.
Continue reading...Passengers were left abandoned and humiliated after operator banned staff from providing assistance
Eurostar has reversed a new accessibility policy that left a wheelchair user stranded and has retrained its London staff following pressure from the Observer.
Travellers with disabilities claimed that they would be barred from Eurostar services after the company banned its London staff from pushing passenger wheelchairs. Those who require assistance were told they must travel with a companion or cancel their ticket if they were unable to access services unaided, according to passengers who contacted the Observer.
Continue reading...The cultural sector falls short on other measures of diversity too, with 9o% of workers white, says new report
Six in 10 of all arts and culture workers in the UK now come from middle-class backgrounds, compared with just over 42% of the wider workforce, according to new research.
And while 23% of the UK workforce is from a working-class background, working-class people are underrepresented in every area of arts and culture. They make up 8.4% of those working in film, TV, radio and photography, while in museums, archives and libraries, the proportion is only 5.2%.
Continue reading...‘Strikingly large’ sum being recouped from people who fell foul of system that did not flag overpayments
Ministers are clawing back more than £250m from unpaid carers over benefit infringements that occurred largely as a result of government failures, it can be revealed.
More than 134,000 people who care for loved ones are being forced to repay often huge carer’s allowance overpayments. The debts are incurred in many cases through no fault of their own, and leave carers saddled with enormous debts, and some with criminal convictions.
Continue reading...Accessible screening tool piloted by NHS England includes braille instructions and a better guide for stool sample
Thousands of blind or partly sighted people could find it easier to participate in bowel cancer screening from home owing to a new NHS tool aiding accessibility.
The standard test used to screen for bowel cancer requires an at-home stool sample in a tube, which is sent off and examined for any possible cancer signs.
Continue reading...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.
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