News

Committee critical of the proposed changes from DLA to PIP.

The government must ensure new welfare assessments planned for disabled people are "accurate and fair" before they are rolled out nationally, MPs have said. The Work and Pensions Select Committee said the tests for the new Personal Independence Payment, coming in from 2013, could cut funds people relied on.

19 Feb 2012
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Winterbourne View three admit charges

Three members of staff from a care home near Bristol have pleaded guilty to the ill treatment of residents. The case follows secret filming by the BBC's Panorama TV programme at the Castlebeck-owned Winterbourne View hospital near Hambrook.

9 Feb 2012
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Call for joined up care system

Older people are being let down by a social care system in which they are "passed like a parcel" between services, a committee of MPs has said. The Commons health select committee wants local areas in England to deliver "joined-up" care, health and housing. Funding pressures were reducing older people's quality of life, MPs added.

8 Feb 2012
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Government defeat in Lords over Health and Social Care Bill

The government has lost a House of Lords vote on its controversial plans to overhaul the NHS in England. Peers backed an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill - demanding mental health is made a higher priority - by a margin of four votes. Several other amendments will be debated on Wednesday.

8 Feb 2012
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DWP admit to backlog in sickness benefit

At least 35,000 people applying for sickness benefit are waiting longer than 13 weeks, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted. DWP officials are privately blaming the backlog of employment and support allowance claims on French firm Atos, which carries out medical assessments. Atos Healthcare said it had recruited additional staff and extended opening hours in response to the situation. One member of DWP staff described the situation as "in meltdown".

8 Feb 2012
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Social costs argument to be heard in Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is to hear a case challenging the way councils in England can consider their finances when assessing people for social care. A severely disabled man - known as KM - and four charities will say care should be the same wherever a person lives.

7 Feb 2012
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