Disability News Service 3rd August 2023

3 August 2023

In this week’s edition:

‘Abysmal’ first year figures show government’s BSL Act ‘betrayal’
DWP loses court case over inaccessible benefit letters… but keeps sending them
Key DWP jobs scheme failed to help people with long-term conditions into work
Research exposes how DWP ‘weaponised’ time to avoid accountability for deaths
Ticket office closures could stop disabled fans attending live sport
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week

‘Abysmal’ first year figures show government’s BSL Act ‘betrayal’

More than half of government departments have ignored new legislation that was supposed to boost the use of British Sign Language (BSL) in their communications, a new report has revealed.

The report shows how often each department offered a British Sign Language (BSL) version of government publications and announcements or a BSL interpreter for press conferences in the first year of the new British Sign Language (BSL) Act.

Although the act was introduced as a private members’ bill, by Labour’s Rosie Cooper, it was heavily supported by the government, which ensured it became law last spring.

Since it became law, ministers including Tom Pursglove – the minister for disabled people – have repeatedly highlighted the legislation as evidence of the government’s commitment to disability rights.

But critics, including many Deaf activists, have pointed out that the act provided Deaf people with no new rights as individuals, and that the government was using it “to look good without costing anything”.

A key part of the act was for the work and pensions secretary to publish a report on how government departments used BSL in their communications after it became law and up until the end of April this year.

But this report – published this week by DWP and the government’s Disability Unit – shows most government departments have provided almost nothing in BSL since the act became law.

In 10 months, 11 of 20 government departments did not provide a single BSL translation of a public announcement, publication or press conference.

The departments that ignored the new legislation include the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, headed by former work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey; the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities; and the Treasury.

The report also shows that only two government departments – DWP and the Cabinet Office, which are both responsible for implementing the act – produced a single public announcement about policy or changes to the law in BSL.

Only six out of 20 government departments used BSL in a press conferences, on social media or on their websites to publicise their activities or policies.

And 13 departments did not produce a single publication in BSL throughout the 10 months.

Lee Starr-Elliott, a Deaf trade unionist and disability activist, said the government “should be ashamed of its record”, which shows the act was a “token vanity project” and “continues to allow discriminatory behaviour towards BSL users’ access to information that as taxpayers we rightly deserve”.

He said he had opposed the legislation because of its tokenism and lack of “real accountability or funding to enable real progress in areas of BSL” and was “disappointed to see that my fears are coming true”.

He said: “As a Deaf person I am urging the BSL community to pressure the government and many invested groups such as the British Deaf Association, RNID, etc to prioritise the strengthening of the bill and look to mandate that at any level of government both locally and nationally that all communications be accessible with real accountability and funding in place to achieve results and improve service.”

Kerena Marchant, a Deaf film-maker and activist, said: “This is a betrayal of the Deaf community.

“The figures are abysmal and prove the worthlessness of this legislation and are evidence that the Deaf community were misled into expecting fuller BSL access.

“Eleven out of 20 departments failing to deliver and a smattering of BSL access across the rest shows the shocking extent of the betrayal.

“Will it improve in the next report? I doubt it.”

She said the government had “scored brownie points at virtually no cost” with the BSL Act and the government now had “little incentive to do more and will probably do less”.

The British Deaf Association (BDA), which supported the BSL Act when it became law, said it “acknowledges steps taken in advancing BSL recognition by the UK government but observes that the government, by its own admission, continues to fall short in adequately engaging with BSL users”.

A BDA spokesperson said: “The report is quite ambiguous in nature, presenting very shallow efforts to truly deliver for the BSL community.

“In order to make a genuine impact on the BSL and Deaf communities, the BDA is calling on the UK government to consult and work collaboratively with members of the BSL Alliance who know our audience, to effectively promote and preserve BSL.”

David Buxton, a former BDA chair who led the campaign for a BSL Act, said he was “disappointed” by how few government departments had taken any action on BSL.

But he said he believed that new funding for BSL-related projects – such as a proposed GCSE in BSL and allowing Deaf people to serve as jurors with support from BSL interpreters – would not have happened without the private members’ bill.

And he said he was “constantly fighting for a stronger BSL Act with extra rights” as he had originally proposed.

Pursglove this week failed to answer questions about the report.

A Cabinet Office press officer declined to say anything about the report, or respond to the questions, other than to point to a brief statement Pursglove made when publishing it.

In the statement, Pursglove said the report “highlights pockets of good practice” but that the government “can do better”.

He said the government would now publish an update report every year for at least the next five years.

3 August 2023

DWP loses court case over inaccessible benefit letters… but keeps sending them

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is continuing to send an access consultant inaccessible letters about his disability benefits, despite the high court ruling that this was unlawful discrimination.

Dr Yusuf Ali Osman, who is blind, had brought a judicial review case against DWP for failing to provide him with important information about his benefits in ways he could access, in breach of its duties under the Equality Act.

The court has now found that DWP discriminated against Osman and other blind and visually-impaired people who had asked for employment and support allowance (ESA) and personal independence payment (PIP) correspondence in accessible formats.

It found that DWP failed to make reasonable adjustments to its policy of sending them printed and other inaccessible or delayed letters.

DWP has been engaged in similar legal battles over its failure to make its communications process accessible to blind and visually-impaired people for nearly a decade.

But despite the court case and an agreement to pay him £7,000 compensation, Osman, from Croydon, says DWP is still communicating with him in ways he cannot access, and he warned that he could be forced to take further legal action against the department.

He said: “The DWP has continued to send me important correspondence about my benefits that I am unable to read, or that has been unreasonably delayed, even after I issued this claim.

“The DWP clearly does not have a system that allows them to consistently identify, record and share disabled people’s communication preferences which means we keep receiving inaccessible or unreasonably delayed correspondence.

“The DWP needs to take more radical steps, such as new IT systems, to guarantee it will improve the way it communicates with blind and visually impaired people.

“I can only hope that they improve their practices in future or I may be forced to take further action.”

He issued his legal claim last June, but among the correspondence he has received from DWP since then are a printed letter about a jobcentre appointment that he was sent in February, and a letter dated 16 December 2022 – in braille – that did not arrive until 24 March.

Osman can access letters in particular electronic formats such as text in an email, an accessible PDF or Word attachment to an email, or in braille.

But despite repeated requests, DWP continued to send him crucial information about his ESA and PIP in printed letters or as scanned inaccessible PDFs attached to emails, which cannot be read by his screen-reading software.

And when he did receive something in braille, it was often weeks late, so he risked failing to meet DWP’s own deadlines.

Between 2020 and March 2023, he has received 21 letters which were either inaccessible or significantly delayed, compared with just two letters that were accessible and arrived on time.

Among the critical information he receives from DWP is correspondence about rules on how much he is allowed to work as an access consultant, as well as annual updates on his PIP and ESA claims.

DWP has now agreed to apologise and has altered some of its procedures, and promised that further changes are being “implemented, developed, or considered”.

Osman will be updated in six and 12 months, and he will be asked to test changes to DWP’s PIP computer system and proposed DWP-wide changes.

He will also be paid £7,000 compensation and his legal costs.

But his solicitor, Kate Egerton, from Leigh Day, said: “Equality legislation is clear that the DWP should communicate with disabled people in a manner that enables them to access important information about their benefits on an equal basis to everyone else.

“This judicial review has established that the DWP was acting unlawfully in the way it communicates with blind and partially-sighted benefits claimants.

“We remain unconvinced that the steps the DWP has taken since this claim was started are sufficient to meet its legal obligations and have reserved the right to bring this matter back to court in future if matters do not improve.”

DWP declined to explain why Osman was continuing to receive inaccessible and delayed letters about his benefits, and why it was still facing such concerns years after the problems were first raised.

But a DWP spokesperson said: “We are sorry for falling short in meeting our accessibility requirements in this instance.

“We have already made changes to improve this, and will continue to work with our disabled customers to offer them the best possible service.”

3 August 2023

Key DWP jobs scheme failed to help people with long-term conditions into work

A key government disability jobs programme had “no discernible impact” on helping people with long-term health conditions into work, a new series of reports has found.

The reports on two Individual Placement and Support (IPS) trials found the costs of running the programme in Sheffield and the West Midlands were greater than the “likely financial benefits”.

The research, carried out for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), also found the intensive support provided through the scheme had no impact on employment or earnings for those who began the programme out of work.

It concluded that – despite the intensive support – those who took part “continued to face major barriers to finding work”.

These barriers included persistent health problems “which continued to be challenging in a work context and which respondents did not always feel were helped by being in work”.

Crucially, the research found that – contrary to DWP’s expectations – those who took part did not experience work “as a therapeutic outcome”.

DWP and successive ministers have tried to argue for many years that being in employment improves health, despite repeated concerns about the “disastrous and cruel” theory raised by many disabled activists.

The IPS trials recruited nearly 10,000 people with “mild-to-moderate mental and physical health conditions” and provided half of them with intensive, individual support according to IPS principles*.

One of the IES reports found that some of those interviewed had said the support they received helped them make “more appropriate use of health services” because they were now seeking help at the right time.

And those who received IPS support usually felt they were “being advised to get the right kind of job for them… often contrasting this to the approach of Jobcentre Plus staff”.

But the research concluded: “The costs to the exchequer of funding the IPS services are greater than the likely financial benefits across both trial sites.”

Although aspects of the trials – such as “employer engagement” and “case conferencing with healthcare professions” – did not always match IPS principles, the trials were still “judged to be IPS”.

DWP declined to comment on the finding that those who took part did not experience work as a therapeutic outcome.

But a DWP spokesperson said: “The findings from these trials highlight many elements of the programme which worked well, as well as where changes could be made for improvements.

“They are already feeding into the expansion of delivery of Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and the design of Universal Support.”

*IPS was designed as a voluntary programme to support people “with severe and enduring mental health needs in secondary care settings to find paid employment”

3 August 2023

Research exposes how DWP ‘weaponised’ time to avoid accountability for deaths

New research has exposed how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has “weaponised” time as a strategy to avoid being held accountable for deaths related to the benefits system.

It shows how the department’s use of delaying tactics has helped deny justice to the relatives of those who have lost their lives.

The research highlights a decade-long battle by Disability News Service (DNS) and others to uncover the records that DWP keeps on the deaths of disabled people claiming benefits.

It draws on the online Deaths by Welfare timeline, co-produced by disabled people and published in draft format last summer, to show how the department has spent years attempting to “invisibilise” its role in the deaths of claimants.

The timeline tracks the slow, accumulated violence caused by the social security system over the last three decades by highlighting documents that are mostly publicly available.

The article, Weaponising Time in the War on Welfare, was researched and written by Dr China Mills – who leads the Deaths by Welfare project at Healing Justice Ldn, and is a senior lecturer in public health – and DNS editor John Pring.

It details the strategies that were used by DWP “to distance their policies from being linked to people’s deaths”.

The article, published in the journal Critical Social Policy, focuses on the secret reviews carried out by DWP into the deaths of claimants, now known as internal process reviews (IPRs).

It shows how, “despite being one of the main governmental tools to investigate deaths linked to the social security system”, the design of the reviews has made it almost impossible to hold the department to account for deaths linked to its policies, procedures and failures.

But redacted versions of the reviews – revealing their recommendations – did eventually show how the actions of DWP ministers, civil servants and private sector contractors have continued to be linked to the deaths of claimants, “making the disability benefits system deeply harmful and unsafe”.

The article argues that DWP has “weaponised” delays in releasing information from the reviews and other documents.

But it shows how the timeline provided a way to “piece together seemingly unconnected singular events, along with key evidence that only came to light years after it occurred”.

This has allowed patterns of harm caused by DWP to be tracked across time.

The article says that the IPR findings and recommendations “come from within the system that kills people, and therefore may never be enough for full accountability or justice”.

It concludes that the evidence of countless deaths suggests that the social security system needs “dismantling” and creating afresh, with disabled people and their lived experience “at the core” of that work.

3 August 2023

Ticket office closures could stop disabled fans attending live sport

A letter signed by nearly 40 disabled supporters’ associations has warned the government that plans to close nearly 1,000 ticket offices across England could cause many disabled fans to stop attending live sports events.

The letter from disabled-led charity Level Playing Field (LPF) said the closure plans could have a “hugely detrimental effect” on the ability of many disabled people to attend live sport and would be an “actively regressive step”.

LPF, which represents disabled sports fans in England and Wales, wrote to the government after receiving “distressing reports and concerns” about the likely impact of the proposed closures.

Leyton Orient fan Peter Blay told LPF: “Even now, if the booking office is closed there is no support for use of [the] ticket machine or problems at barriers.

“There are many who cannot use internet, or the machines are inaccessible for.

“These will be excluded from going to live sports events, give up using trains and become isolated.”

Another football supporter, Birmingham City fan Symone Ingram, said: “If proposed ticket office closures go ahead, we will probably never use a train ever again.

“Instead of making something that can already be difficult, better, they are choosing to make it impossible.”

And Wolves fan Alan Wigley described how he was only able to complete a trip to Wolverhampton because of assistance from rail staff, when he needed to use a different route because the rail line was blocked.

The LPF letter, from its chair, Tony Taylor, says the closures would “discourage many disabled sports fans from participating in attending live sporting events altogether”.

His letter says: “Railway ticket offices are vital in assisting disabled fans with their travel arrangements.

“These staff members provide a safe, accessible, reliable and inclusive environment where disabled sports fans can obtain information, purchase tickets, and receive assistance tailored to their specific access requirements.

“By closing these offices, we risk undoing the progress made in promoting accessibility and disability independence within our society for over 10 million disabled people in England.”

The letter, signed by 38 disabled supporters’ associations, has been sent to Lucy Frazer, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, and copied to the Department for Transport and the industry body, the Rail Delivery Group.

The consultation process is being run by two passenger watchdogs, Transport Focus and London TravelWatch, and it ends on 1 September.

At the end of the consultation period, Transport Focus and London TravelWatch will have 35 days to examine the responses before deciding whether to object to any of the proposed closures.

If any of the train companies decide to ignore those objections, the disputes will be referred to transport secretary Mark Harper.

3 August 2023

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Disability News Service 3rd August 2023

In this week’s edition:

‘Abysmal’ first year figures show government’s BSL Act ‘betrayal’

DWP loses court case over inaccessible benefit letters… but keeps sending them

Key DWP jobs scheme failed to help people with long-term conditions into work

Research exposes how DWP ‘weaponised’ time to avoid accountability for deaths

Ticket office closures could stop disabled fans attending live sport

Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week