Benefit rights / guaranteed care income

Day of Action publicity — Welfare Not Warfare!

By winvisibleblog | 31/03/2025 | 0 Comments
Photo of our contingent: WinVisible, Disabled Mothers’ Rights Campaign, Global Women’s Strike, marching along Parliament Square (UK Day of Action, Welfare Not Warfare, 26 March).

Thanks to everyone on our contingent for the Day of Action on Wednesday 26 March!  It was so encouraging to be with everyone who came out. We’re sharing some of the widespread publicity — which shows the growing refusal of the government’s plans for terrible disability benefit cuts, while they are hiking up spending on the military budget. Some of us could not go on the day, but people are doing lots from home, such as being active on social media, writing to your local paper (you can ask for your name to be kept … Read more

‘Disability cuts will lead to deaths’ — Camden New Journal

By winvisibleblog | 29/03/2025 | 0 Comments
Image of Camden New Journal page. Disability cuts 'will lead to deaths'. Photo of three women on the newspaper page. Text in blog post.

by Frankie Lister-Fell Credit: Camden New Journal Thursday 27 March, page 6 “People are going to die” as a result of the disability benefit cuts, a Camden-based disabled rights group warned this week. Hundreds of people turned up outside No.10 yesterday (Wednesday 26 March) to throw bouncy balls at the big iron gates outside the PM’s Downing Street office. They yelled “balls to the budget”.  They were protesting against the government’s announcement to cut welfare benefits for the disabled, which would mean 1.2 million people would lose their Personal Independence Payments (PIP) among other controversial … Read more

Welfare Not Warfare UK Day of Action Wed 26 March

By winvisibleblog | 25/03/2025 | 0 Comments
Photo of woman on mobility scooter holding a football facing police line Downing St

Dear friends, we’re taking part with Disabled People Against Cuts and others: Balls to the Spring Statement#WelfareNotWarfare Wednesday 26 March11am at Downing St, London SW1A 2AAWestminster tube (step-free) Against the cuts to disability benefits announced last week, and cuts to public services expected in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement.Speakers, including WinVisible March to Parliament Square where Homes For All and Stop the War are holding protests.Livestreaming from @thecanaryuk on TikTok . Videos and comments on Instagram and Twitter/X. Protests around England, Scotland, Wales and the North of Ireland – info here ·      NO to cuts … Read more

Urgent message re: female childhood abuse survivors on disability benefits

By winvisibleblog | 24/02/2025 | 0 Comments
Placard with image of a red hand -- Hands off "substantial risk to health" protection for claimants -- WinVisible

Dear WinVisible, “I’m writing to ask for your help, as a disabled survivor of extreme, life threatening and sadistically violent childhood abuse that lasted from my birth until I ran away at 16.  I have not and will never recover from this or the Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that is the result, so I’m in receipt of ESA and PIP; but I’m living in a constant state of fear and renewed trauma every single day owing to the Government’s behaviour in deliberately whipping up a hate campaign against disabled people.  On the one hand, they are … Read more

At last, DWP to pay UC claimants who lost out

By winvisibleblog | 15/02/2025 | 0 Comments
Supporters of the legal challenge against Universal Credit and loss of severe disability premiums outside the High Court.

On Wednesday 12 February, DWP manager* Neil Couling was questioned by MPs on the Work and Pensions Committee, about payments to sick and disabled former ESA claimants who had to claim Universal Credit early because of moving borough, and so lost their severe disability premiums. Watch the session here, this comes up at around 10am. He replied that around 57,000 claimants are due payouts from the DWP. We say these payments — which people have been kept waiting for, for 6 years — are very late! Court cases to challenge these losses started in 2018, … Read more

Stop DWP snooping on bank accounts — again

By winvisibleblog | 04/02/2025 | 0 Comments
Houses of Parliament in the distance, people hold a large sign: 228,283 say Stop the government spying on all of our bank accounts. Next to them are two WinVisible women holding placards. DWP stop snooping. Being poor is not a crime. Stop all benefit cuts and sanctions. One is a wheelchair user, the other woman is standing with her little dog.

Together with Big Brother Watch and a coalition of concerned organisations and human rights groups, we oppose the powers in Labour’s Fraud Bill for computers to monitor the bank accounts of all claimants getting certain benefits, to stop people’s benefits and recover money. Being poor is not a crime! On Monday 3 February, some of us met at Parliament after Big Brother Watch handed in their petition to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It was the second reading of the Bill, opposed by some MPs. A successful campaign against the plan last year … Read more

Disabled women suffer in forced move to Universal Credit

By winvisibleblog | 31/01/2025 | 0 Comments
A diverse group of 10 women hold the WinVisible banner and some placards.

An open letter from WinVisible, highlighting problems with the forced move to Universal Credit, including risk of destitution for some claimants, was sent in to the Work and Pensions Committee. They are MPs from different parties whose task is to scrutinise the DWP. The Chair of the Committee is Debbie Abrahams MP. Our letter features the experiences of six disabled women in various situations. Some are disabled mums. Four are women of colour, who face added racism and disbelief in the benefits system. (We also call for abolition of the “No Recourse to Public Funds” … Read more

We won! High Court ruled that DWP “consultation” hid benefit cuts

By winvisibleblog | 21/01/2025 | 0 Comments
People with banners line the railings outside the Royal Courts of Justice.

On 16 January, the High Court ruled in favour of Ellen Clifford, that the DWP had acted unlawfully in their 2023 consultation on tightening the Work Capability Assessment, by saying the intention was helping people into waged work, and hiding sweeping benefit cuts. Read the whole judgement here. We supported Ellen’s court case which was heard in December 2024. The ruling is a victory for the disability movement and a warning to the Labour government not to go ahead with similar plans.  We are defending our benefit rights and protections like the “Substantial risk to … Read more

Vigil at High Court challenging DWP work capability consultation

By winvisibleblog | 17/12/2024 | 0 Comments
People with banners line the railings outside the Royal Courts of Justice.

On Tuesday 10 December, we joined many organisations at the Royal Courts of Justice. Disabled People Against Cuts held a vigil in support of Ellen Clifford’s court case — challenging the DWP and its consultation in 2023 on tightening the Work Capability Assessment and the “Substantial risk to health” regulation. The government put it forward as helping people into waged work, with no mention of the impact on us of benefit cuts. More info about the court case here. If the changes in the consultation go ahead, more than 400,000 people would lose £416 a … Read more

ESA to Universal Credit – things to know & helpful tips

By winvisibleblog | 26/11/2024 | 0 Comments
WinVisible logo, a woman's fist holding money, inside graphic of Eye of Horus shaped like a woman's symbol. Next to UC letter

Women in our group and the community have been contacting us about the move from ESA to Universal Credit (UC).  We want to share what we found out — what you can do to keep your benefits, what rights you have, and some helpful tips.  Get in touch to add useful info from your own experience, or other suggestions. Did you get a letter from the DWP? Is the letter is telling you that something will happen in future? If it’s an advance announcement, you don’t need to start your claim yet. If it says … Read more