Europe

Release number of disability deaths from cuts: UK petition

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A petition in the UK has called on the government to release data on the number of disabled people who lost their lives over government austerity.

The petition by Change.org demands that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publish the figures upon the Freedom of Information (FoI) act.

Over 81,000 people have already signed the petition which urges the release of figures detailing the number of disabled people to have died within six weeks of having their benefits cut.

The petition says, “The Information Commissioner’s Office has said that there is no reason not to publish these figures but Ian Duncan Smith’s department – the Department of Work and Pensions – has launched an appeal to prevent the figures being made public.”

“In 2012, the Department of Work and Pensions published statistics which showed 10,600 people who had been receiving benefits died between January and November 2011. These figures caused an outcry, although many disabled campaigners disagreed over what the figures actually showed. Ministers then blocked publication of any updated figures,” it went on to read.

A British charity warned last December that hundreds of thousands of disabled Britons are waiting for adequate housing, accusing the government of failing those with disabilities.

The Leonard Cheshire Disability charity organization published a report saying some 300,000 disabled people were on waiting lists for suitable homes across the UK.

Also in May, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said that data collected from 106 councils showed 4,748 reports of sex abuse against disabled adults in the financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15, up to February 16, 2015.

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