Source BBC: One in two people who appealed in court against a decision to deny them disability benefits were successful, analysis of five years of data shows.

In total, more than 550,000 people won an appeal over their benefits at tribunal between 2013 and 2018.

Ann Barker, who has bipolar disorder, said she was tempted to give up, but had twice fought a decision at tribunal and won.

The government said only around 5% of disability decisions were overturned.

Benefits assessments are carried out on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by the private contractors Capita, the Independent Assessment Services (formerly called Atos) and Maximus.

The success rates showed benefits assessments were beset by “poor decision-making” and “obvious inaccuracies”, charities said.

In 2018, the Commons Work and Pensions Committee said failings in disability benefits assessments had led to a “pervasive lack of trust” in the system. It said ministers should consider taking the process back in-house.  Read on.

Source MS Society: Virtual reality, wearable robots and magnetic brain stimulation. Technology is at the forefront of 13 new research projects we’ve just announced.

Each year we run a competition to choose the best MS research projects from across the UK. This year we’ve committed to raise £1.3 million to fund 13 exciting new research projects.

The projects include research on MS progression, and studies exploring new technologies to manage MS symptoms.  Read on.