CUTTING DISABILITY BENEFITS KILLS – was the message being sent by protestors gathered outside the ATOS Edinburgh testing centre in York Place on 14th April, for the Day of Action Against Benefits Cuts. Like many groups round the UK we were there to show our opposition to the brutal attack on people who are sick and disabled that is being carried out by ATOS on behalf of the government.
The last Labour government replaced Incapacity Benefit with Employment Support Allowance, and introduced a harsh new ‘medical’ test to hack back the number of qualifying claimants. It appointed ATOS, a French IT company, to carry out these ‘medical’ assessments. The ConDem government has enthusiastically pushed forward Labour’s attack on the sick and disabled – and is paying ATOS half a billion pounds for a 7 year contract.
These assessments have nothing to do with the sympathetic care and support of the sick and needy that should be the mark of a civilised society , and everything to do with making the vulnerable pay for a crisis that is none of their making. As our leaflets said on the day : This is being done in the name of ATOS but we should be saying loud and clear “NOT IN MY NAME”.
We advised all who might have to deal with one of these pernicious tests – don’t go alone, go accompanied by a friend or adviser. Our special leaflet HOW TO DEAL WITH BENEFITS MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS details the important steps to take to avoid being one of the casualties of the drive to cut welfare spending.
RESISTANCE IN THE UK
There were actions round the UK on the same day as people took part in the Third Day of Action Against Benefits Cuts. In London 100 people gathered outside the Daily Mail head office in Kensington demanding that they end the lies they print about disabled people and benefit claimants. Police initially prevented the protest happening outside the Mail’s entrance but as the protest became increasingly angry it managed to move to its intended location where the microphone was passed round and impassioned and diverse expressions of contempt were aimed at the so called newspaper. The protest ended with mass chants of ‘fuck the Daily Mail’.
Protesters then moved onto to Westminster City Hall where over a hundred people shared food, made speeches and vowed to defy any attempts to criminalise rough sleeping and the handing out of food in parts of the borough.
PROTESTERS INVADE DAILY MAIL
The Daily Mail’s Glasgow offices were also targeted with protesters invading their offices to distribute information and tell the faceless hacks personally what they think of the Daily Mail’s abuse of disabled people. Prior to this the group leafleted and demonstrated outside the local Atos testing centre.
Atos Origin were the focus of many protests around the country. 40 people protested outside their premises in Dundee. In Brighton the Computer Says No play was performed outside Atos offices to an enthusiastic crowd and heavy police presence. Liverpool and Leeds both saw demonstrations outside Atos, organised by local Solidarity Federation branches and the Black Triangle Anti Defamation Campaign.
An early morning demonstration in Islington saw a crowd gather outside the North London Atos testing centre, and demonstrations also took place outside Atos in Bristol as well as in Burnley, Poole and Truro town centres.
New updated info on HOW TO DEAL WITH BENEFITS MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS
Upcoming week of action against ATOS, starting 9th May
Black Triangle disability rights group (Facebook)
The Crutch Collective (Glasgow)
TEXT OF LEAFLET GIVEN OUT IN EDINBURGH ON THE DAY IS BELOW
ATOS PROFITS WHILE THE SICK AND DISABLED SUFFER
The last Labour government replaced Incapacity Benefit with Employment Support Allowance, and introduced a harsh new ‘medical’ test to hack back the number of qualifying claimants. It appointed ATOS, a French IT company, to carry out these ‘medical’ assessments. The ConDem government has enthusiastically pushed forward Labour’s attack on the sick and disabled – and is paying ATOS half a billion pounds for a 7 year contract.
Meanwhile, a convenient media campaign to con the public into believing that the benefit system is full of ‘scroungers’ has been stoked up as pilot schemes in Aberdeen and Burnley magically found 70% of ESA claimants ‘fit for work’. These schemes are now being rolled out nationwide – happy news for ATOS shareholders if not for Britain’s sick and vulnerable. But so many claimants are failing assessments because the ATOS computer test is so stringent and mismanaged that seriously ill people are regularly being declared fit for work. The Citizens Advice Bureau’s chief executive has written that “seriously ill and disabled people are being severely let down by the crude approach” while in February, The Herald newspaper reported the deaths of two sick claimants waiting for their appeals against the loss of benefits due to their being ‘fit for work.’
ATOS routinely ignores the evidence and opinions of doctors, consultants and psychiatrists, while their own doctors and nurses, who sit ticking boxes on a computer as they follow a rigid, inflexible series of questions, are ‘incentivised’ to find people fit for work. And they and ATOS get paid even though they are clearly often wrong. 40% of appeals against their decisions are won, rising to 70% of appeals where the claimant has had legal advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, while Edinburgh Council’s Rights Office has found success for 8 or 9 out of every 10 Appeal Tribunals they’ve attended. (These appeals cost the tax-payer money – but ATOS, of course, doesn’t have to pay back for getting it wrong.)
These assessments have nothing to do with the sympathetic care and support of the sick and needy that should be the mark of a civilised society , and everything to do with making the vulnerable pay for a crisis that was none of their making. Citizens Advice Scotland in a 2010 report wrote “Our evidence has highlighted the cases of many clients with serious health conditions who have been found fit for work, including those with Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, terminal cancer, bipolar disorder, heart failure, strokes, severe depression and agoraphobia.” This is being done in the name of ATOS but we should be saying loud and clear “NOT IN MY NAME”.
