Latest editorial
A disability benefits assessor has been found guilty of misconduct and sacked after he “disgracefully” disparaged applicants, but is still free to work as a paramedic.
Alan Barham was given a caution order, after being sacked by assessments privateer Capita, in a three-day hearing at the Health Care and Professions Tribunal Service on Wednesday.
He had been recorded by an undercover Channel 4 team making remarks about assessing personal independence payment (PIP) claims on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
DYLAN MURPHY reports that far from helping people back into work, the sanctions regime is inflicting unnecessary trauma on working-class families
Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
The government’s retreat on PIP still leaves 150,000 new universal credit claimants facing halved benefits from April 2026, creating a discriminatory two-tier welfare system that campaigners must continue fighting, writes DR DYLAN MURPHY
Starmer struggles to save leadership amid polling calamity