Part of challenge for Labour is that much of what they have done is unknown to the public - that should change as new measures take hold - but it shows the extent to which the winter fuel decision has crowded almost everything else out & importance of strong narrative at budget
story's now being (partly) countermanded. god knows who's briefing what www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
‘We will not go ahead with the Tory plan,’ Alison McGovern says, adding: ‘We will bring forward our own reforms’
Will make a prediction that this doesn't save any money but does increase mental health problems and anxiety.
Liz Kendall will press ahead with £1.3bn in annual cuts to sickness benefits announced by the Tories, FT has learned Labour will retain contentious changes to “work capability assessment” that were introduced last year by Rishi Sunak www.ft.com/content/7888...
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall is likely to anger disability rights activists with her stance
The Home Office has recruited 200 staff to clear a backlog of 23,300 modern slavery cases left by the last government www.theguardian.com/world/2024/o...
More than 23,000 files were left open by the last government, says minister, with delays of up to four years in assigning victim status
I speak to so many people with disabilities who aren’t claiming when they should, and are likely to be eligible. The system of work capability assessments is a humiliating and distressing process with hurdles that are going to dissuade some of those who need it the most.
1/ WCA “reform” = Benefit cut of same size as Winter Fuel, but instead of a large number of families losing a couple of hundred quid a year, it’s a small number losing a couple of hundred quid a fortnight @resfoundation.bsky.socialwww.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...
[CN: suicide] The warning follows an inquest into the death of a 17-year-old who took her own life in 2021. The inquest heard her school had delayed making an application for an EHC needs assessment after mistakenly thinking it had to spend an extra £6,000 on her needs before applying.
A coroner has warned Bridget Phillipson that schools are delaying applications for education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments for children with SEND because they have misunderstood the rules – increasing the risk of suicides. By me, for Schools Week schoolsweek.co.uk/send-suicide...
Warning follows an inquest into the death of Jennifer Chalkley, who took her own life in 2021
I think it'd be helpful if journalists talked a little less about imaginary Taylor Swift conspiracies & a little more about the policy developments happening in front of their face. For more on this radical & earth-shattering idea, read the newsletter iandunt.substack.com/p/starmer-de...
There are many legitimate reasons to attack the government. We have decided to focus on all the other ones instead.
In the last week, Labour hit a crucial milestone on getting rid of hereditary peers, unlocked £1bn funding for social housing insulation, initiated plans to regulate buy-now-pay-later lenders and started to coalesce around an HS2 replacement. Barely any chat about this at all.