Latest editorial
Ministers received a Commons battering yesterday over widespread suffering caused by delays in payments under chaotic welfare programmes.
Work and Pensions Minister Mike Penning was forced to admit to a “completely unacceptable” backlog in work capability assessments by reviled contractor Atos.
Minutes later, he confessed to angry Labour MPs that assessments for personal independence payment (PIP) were taking “too long,” partly because of internal problems at the DWP, Atos and Capita.
Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
A new report from the Citizens Advice destroys the government narrative about disabled people ‘choosing’ not to work, showing the £3,000 annual cuts will create a two-tiered system based on claim dates rather than needs, writes DYLAN MURPHY
