• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Saturday, May 17, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

After the UN’s ‘human catastrophe’ verdict, Theresa May has been caught attacking people on benefits. Again

Steve Topple by Steve Topple
29 August 2017
in UK
Reading Time: 4 mins read
170 2
A A
0
Home UK
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Theresa May’s government has been caught spending millions of pounds to attack people on benefits. And the figures come just days after the UN accused the Tories of creating a “human catastrophe” in the UK, because of its welfare reforms.

Millions spent

Freedom of Information requests (FOI) by The Independent have revealed the lengths the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will go to, to sanction people’s benefits. The Independent found that in 2016 the DWP spent:

  • £22m on dealing with people appealing a sanction decision.
  • A further £17m fighting sick, disabled and unemployed people in court over its sanction decisions.

It also revealed that the DWP is spending even more this year defending its decisions. The Independent says that the DWP blew £2.06m trying to sanction people between January and March this year; a 77% increase on the same period in 2016.

Benefits wrongly sanctioned

But the figures are even more worrying when compared to the data on just how many wrong sanction decisions the DWP made.

The department’s own figures show that between October 2012 and December 2016 1,815,000 sanctions [pdf p11/13] were given to Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants. But of these people, the DWP wrongly applied a sanction in 356,000 cases [pdf p11/13]. In other words, nearly 20% of all DWP decisions were wrong.

The DWP figures also show [pdf p16] that the median sanction lasted 28 days. So, based on an average ESA rate of £87.63 a week, the 90,000 ESA sanctions the DWP handed out [pdf p12] since December 2012 have saved it £31.5m; less than it spent on defending its decisions in 2016 alone. This figure is backed up by the National Audit Office, which said that sanctions cost the DWP more than they actually save.

A “human catastrophe”

The Independent’s revelations come just days after the UN said the Tories had created a “human catastrophe” in the UK. As The Canary previously reported, on 24 August the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) launched a scathing attack on the Conservative government. Following on from its report in November 2016 which said the Tories had committed “grave” and “systematic” violations of disabled people’s human rights, the UNCRPD said:

Evidence before us now and in our inquiry procedure as published in our 2016 report reveals that [welfare] cut policies [have] led to human catastrophe in your country, totally neglecting the vulnerable situation people with disabilities find themselves in.

A “smoke screen”

The UNCRPD said the government tried to “misrepresent” its record with “unanswered questions”, “misused statistics”, and a “smoke screen of statements”. Also, it said the government had introduced policies and legislation which “fail to implement” disabled people’s rights in “reality”.

It concluded that “time did not allow” it to “provide a long list of examples where UK doesn’t live up to the Convention”. It also said it was “deeply concerned about the lack of recognition of the findings and recommendations of the conducted inquiry”.

May: shrugging her shoulders 

In its November report, the UNCRPD said that the DWP was “disproportionately” hitting people with sanctions; leaving them reliant on support from family or food banks. It is scandalous that, despite the UN’s specific condemnation, the government is still spending millions trying to deprive people of their most basic of entitlements. But what’s more scandalous is that May’s party neither seems to care, nor is willing to act. Even when it has, in the UN’s words, created a “human catastrophe” in the UK.

Get Involved

– Support Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC).

– Write to your MP, asking them to support the UN findings.

Featured image via YouTube

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

Little Britain star just took on a Tory MP over his ‘racist’ rant. Guess who won [TWEETS]

Next Post

A mum says we need harsher sentences for animal cruelty, following ‘chillingly evil’ act

Next Post
A mum says we need harsher sentences for animal cruelty, following ‘chillingly evil’ act

A mum says we need harsher sentences for animal cruelty, following 'chillingly evil' act

Theresa May Hisham al Omeisy Yemen

People are calling on Theresa May to intervene over the abduction of a leading journalist [TWEETS]

Big_Business_Banks_Brexit-min

Big businesses and banks are dominating the Brexit process in secret meetings

A Labour MP blows the Tories’ biggest failure wide open, one week before parliament returns

A Labour MP blows the Tories' biggest failure wide open, one week before parliament returns

Labour has revealed why you should never believe a word the Tories say

Labour asks ‘What has Mrs May got to hide?’ as reports suggest the government is burying the evidence

Disabled people set to take to parliament en masse to oppose DWP cuts
Analysis

Disabled people set to take to parliament en masse to oppose DWP cuts

by The Canary
16 May 2025
Southern Water are threatening a journalist with defamation for asking difficult questions
Analysis

Southern Water are threatening a journalist with defamation for doing their job

by HG
16 May 2025
FIFA face human rights questions over upcoming world cups in Saudi Arabia and the US
Analysis

FIFA face human rights questions over upcoming world cups in Saudi Arabia and the US

by Maryam Jameela
16 May 2025
Plaid Cymru Commons leader just hit a nerve with this biting question to Keir Starmer
Analysis

Plaid Cymru Commons leader just hit a nerve with this biting question to Keir Starmer

by James Wright
16 May 2025
DWP failures have led to hundreds of deaths - but these are just the tip of the iceberg
Analysis

DWP failures have now led to hundreds of deaths – but these are still the tip of the iceberg

by Steve Topple
16 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Disabled people set to take to parliament en masse to oppose DWP cuts
Analysis
The Canary

Disabled people set to take to parliament en masse to oppose DWP cuts

Southern Water are threatening a journalist with defamation for asking difficult questions
Analysis
HG

Southern Water are threatening a journalist with defamation for doing their job

FIFA face human rights questions over upcoming world cups in Saudi Arabia and the US
Analysis
Maryam Jameela

FIFA face human rights questions over upcoming world cups in Saudi Arabia and the US

Plaid Cymru Commons leader just hit a nerve with this biting question to Keir Starmer
Analysis
James Wright

Plaid Cymru Commons leader just hit a nerve with this biting question to Keir Starmer

ADVERTISEMENT
Business
Nathan Spears

Smart Delivery Positions Mr Nang as a Leader in Australia’s Cream Charger Market

Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Social Media Activism: How Grassroots Movements Are Gaining Power Online

Travel
Nathan Spears

Best Destinations In Spain For A Couples Holiday