5 d. ago Young carer who unwittingly breached allowance rules forced to repay £2,000

Rose Jones, who cared for mother from age of eight, twice wrongly advised by work coach on joining DWP job schemeA young carer who had looked after her disabled mother from the age of eight was forced to repay more than £2,000 when she unwittingly breached carer’s allowance benefit earnings rules after joining a government youth employment scheme.Rose Jones, 22, said she was twice wrongly advised by her jobcentre work coach that her wages earned under the Kickstart scheme would not affect her eligibility for carer’s allowance. Continue reading...

Economics

6 d. ago The Ballymena violence has nothing to do with ‘protecting women’. It is racism, pure and simple | Sarah Creighton

Northern Ireland has always seen high levels of violence against women and girls. Blaming migrants is a useful way to distract from thatIn 1972, loyalist paramilitaries fired bullets into the home of a Catholic woman, Sarah McClenaghan. That night she was at home with her lodger, a Protestant, and her disabled teenage son, David. After forcing her son to get his mother’s rosary beads, proving that she was Catholic, a loyalist paramilitary raped Sarah. David was tortured. The gang then shot them both, David dying of his wounds.I thought about David and Sarah as I watched rolling news of the pogroms in Ballymena. I thought about them in light of the lie that violence against women and girls has been imported to Northern Ireland via migrants or asylum seekers. It’s always been here. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Alison Hammond reveals reason she told son not to go on Love Island

Alison Hammond has revealed that she told her son "absolutely not” when he asked if he could go on Love Island.

Politics

8 d. ago Jack Grealish told 'trust' is reason Man City will take £60m pay cut on selling him

EXCLUSIVE: With Jack Grealish's time at Manchester City seemingly all over, one former Citizen thinks he has put his finger on why the club will be willing to sell him at a huge loss

Economics

2 w. ago My father told me that I was a hopeless disappointment. He's the reason my battle with my weight has been such an endless source of self

How. The. Hell. Did. I. Get. Here? This was how I felt from the minute my husband Michael went into politics to the minute when I reluctantly left him - and politics - behind.

Events

2 w. ago 'There will be more Jodeys': Mother of disabled woman who killed herself after her benefits were cut urges Labour to rethink plans to slash welfare

Jodey Whiting, 42, from Stockton-on-Tees, had been asked in January 2017 to attend a work capability assessment before her payments were stopped, but she was not well enough to go.

Events

2 w. ago I rejected my Catholic upbringing until God spoke to me after I died while giving birth

A New Jersey woman who once distrusted the Catholic faith she was raised in said her life changed forever when she died while giving birth at age 18.

Events

3 w. ago 'Wonderful woman' Ellie Simmonds praised for brutal honesty on having children

Social media users have showed their support and congratulations to the former Team GB swimmer and her new documentary

Politics

3 w. ago Ellie Simmonds breaks down in tears over her birth mother's confession as her moving documentary leaves viewers 'broken

In the film, titled Should I Have Children, the Paralympian explores her fears around becoming a parent, and what it would mean if she were to have a child who inherits the genes for dwarfism.

Politics

3 w. ago Ellie Simmonds sobs over birth mother's confession that leaves viewers 'broken

Award-winning British Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds aired a personal documentary where she considered her options when it comes to having kids or not on ITV tonight

Politics

3 w. ago Paralympian Ellie Simmonds opens up on feeling 'rejected' by birth mother over her disability

The Team GB swimmer from Swansea delves in to her adoption and whether or not she wants biological children in her new ITV documentary

Politics

3 w. ago Ellie Simmonds 'rejected' by birth mother over her disability and told reason 'is really quite traumatic'

The Team GB swimmer from Swansea delves in to her adoption and whether or not she wants biological children in her new ITV documentary

Events

3 w. ago Ellie Simmonds: Should I Have Children? review – fails to properly tackle the stigma around disabled babies

The Paralympian’s thoughtful documentary about whether to become a parent is a compelling watch. But it doesn’t go far enough to address social prejudices around disabilityFor the makers of Ellie Simmonds’ new documentary, Should I Have Children?, the most powerful moment of the show is clearly supposed to be when she finds out why she was given up for adoption. It is emotional viewing: her birth mother speaks of her difficult circumstances (she had kept her pregnancy secret), the purely negative information she had been given about Ellie’s dwarfism, and, most poignantly, how she thought of Ellie every day in the decades before they met again. It is deeply moving, for Ellie and the viewer.For me, though, the most powerful moment is altogether less charged. It comes when Ellie visits David and Megan, whose pregnancy she follows after they are told their baby almost certainly has Down’s syndrome. We watch them grapple with the ramifications of the diagnosis including their fears for t...

Events

3 w. ago Ellie Simmonds' devastating baby dilemma and split from boyfriend after Strictly

The Paralympian addresses the difficult decisions she now faces in a new ITV documentary

Politics

3 w. ago Strictly's Ellie Simmonds admits she 'cried so much' in heartbreaking family insight

Ellie Simmonds, a Paralympic swimmer who appeared in the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing, has shared emotional insights into the first time she made contact with her birth mum

Politics

3 w. ago Ellie Simmonds reveals ahead of BBC documentary that birth mum 'received no support'

The former Paralympian met her birth mum for the first time in 2023

Politics

3 w. ago Ellie Simmonds heartbreaking call with birth mum revealed in tearful documentary

In a new ITV documentary, the swimming champion explores societal views of having children with a disability - and whether she should have kids herself

Politics

4 w. ago Strictly's Ellie Simmonds told 'all I could see was your disability' in heartbreaking call

In a new ITV documentary, Ellie Simmonds: Should I Have Children?, the former Paralympian swimming champion has a tear-jerking phone call with her birth mum

Politics

4 w. ago Ellie Simmonds' birth mum breaks down in tears as she explains why she gave her up

Former Paralympian swimming champion Ellie Simmonds has a heart-to-heart with her birth mum in an emotional episode of an ITV documentary, where she is seen breaking down in tears

Politics

4 w. ago ‘No reason to suspect equipment failure’ in skydiver’s death, inquest told

Marketing manager Jade Damarell, who lived in Caerphilly, died after crashing onto farmland in the tragic incident in April

Events