Atos Healthcare protest: campaigners in Wolverhampton call for fair treatment of disabled (click for full report)
Wednesday 19th February 2014. Today’s peaceful protest @ Atos, Wolverhampton Assessment Centrewas part of a nationwide protest taking place simultaneously at 144 Atos assessment centres around Britain.
The government’s own figures show 10,600 disabled people died within six weeks of their disability benefits being stopped by Atos in less than a year; then they stopped counting.
The Work Capability Assessment, which is exclusively carried out by Atos, on a multimillion-pound contract is so slapdash that recently 2 in 5 appeals win.
Already people in Wolverhampton are waiting a year for appeals to be heard and are having to rely on food banks and the help of neighbours.
Under new rules introduced by the DWP in October, anyone wanting to appeal a decision that they are fit to work, first has to have all their paperwork looked at again, while receiving no sickness benefits. This will result in thousands of people being wrongly forced to survive on no income at all.
The ‘tick-box’ nature of the tests doesn’t cater for the complex nature of people’s illnesses, particularly mental illnesses. Many people with long-term degenerative or terminal illnesses, such as Parkinson’s or cancer, being told they’re fit for work.
We are calling on the government to stop this degrading policy and introduce a fairer transparent system that restores dignity to the sick and disabled.
Wolverhampton protest details: https://www.facebook.com/events/562234693866433/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
https://www.facebook.com/ATOSNationalDemo
Other WEST MIDLANDS demos
Birmingham:https://www.facebook.com/events/267028783448981/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Coventry: https://www.facebook.com/events/717017001642348/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Hereford: https://www.facebook.com/events/785077144841442/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Shrewsbury:https://www.facebook.com/events/526762090756019/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Stoke-on-Trent:https://www.facebook.com/events/456009357832294/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Worcester:https://www.facebook.com/events/1393868550864155/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Supported by Disabled People Against the Cuts
more info on Atos http://www.ukrebellion.com/atosdemo/
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.