{"id":662,"date":"2011-04-13T00:17:10","date_gmt":"2011-04-13T00:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk\/?p=662"},"modified":"2018-01-04T00:20:12","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T00:20:12","slug":"atos-hit-by-protests-uk-wide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk\/?p=662","title":{"rendered":"ATOS Hit by Protests UK Wide"},"content":{"rendered":"

CUTTING DISABILITY BENEFITS KILLS \u2013 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.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The last Labour government replaced Incapacity Benefit with Employment Support Allowance, and introduced a harsh new \u2018medical\u2019 test to hack back the number of qualifying claimants. It appointed ATOS, a French IT company, to carry out these \u2018medical\u2019 assessments. The ConDem government has enthusiastically pushed forward Labour\u2019s attack on the sick and disabled \u2013 and is paying ATOS half a billion pounds for a 7 year contract.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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”.<\/span><\/p>\n

We advised all who might have to deal with one of these pernicious tests \u2013 don’t go alone, go accompanied by a friend or adviser.\u00a0 Our special leaflet\u00a0HOW TO DEAL WITH BENEFITS MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS\u00a0details the important steps to take to avoid being one of the casualties of the drive to cut welfare spending.<\/span><\/p>\n

RESISTANCE IN THE UK<\/span><\/strong>
\nThere were actions round the UK on the same day as people took part in the Third Day of Action Against Benefits Cuts.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Police initially prevented the protest happening\u00a0 outside the Mail\u2019s 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.\u00a0 The protest ended with mass chants of \u2018fuck the Daily Mail\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

PROTESTERS<\/b><\/span>\u00a0INVADE DAILY MAIL<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe Daily Mail\u2019s Glasgow offices were also targeted with\u00a0protesters invading their offices<\/a>\u00a0to distribute information and tell the faceless hacks personally what they think of the Daily Mail\u2019s abuse of disabled people.\u00a0 Prior to this the group leafleted and demonstrated outside the local Atos testing centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

Atos Origin were the focus of many protests around the country.\u00a0 40 people protested outside their premises in Dundee.\u00a0 In Brighton the Computer Says No play was performed outside Atos offices to an enthusiastic crowd and heavy police presence.\u00a0 Liverpool and Leeds both saw demonstrations outside Atos, organised by local Solidarity Federation branches and the Black Triangle Anti Defamation Campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

New updated info on<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/em>HOW TO DEAL WITH BENEFITS MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Upcoming week of action against ATOS, starting 9th May<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Black Triangle disability rights group<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/em> (Facebook)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Crutch Collective (Glasgow)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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TEXT OF LEAFLET GIVEN OUT IN EDINBURGH ON THE DAY IS BELOW<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

ATOS PROFITS WHILE THE SICK AND DISABLED SUFFER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The last <\/span>Labour<\/span> government replaced Incapacity Benefit with Employment Support Allowance, and introduced a harsh new \u2018medical\u2019 test to hack back the number of qualifying claimants. It appointed ATOS, a French IT company, to carry out these \u2018medical\u2019 assessments. The ConDem government has enthusiastically pushed forward Labour\u2019s attack on the sick and disabled \u2013 and is paying ATOS\u00a0half a billion pounds<\/span>\u00a0for a 7 year contract.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a convenient<\/span>\u00a0media campaign to con the public into believing that the benefit system is full of \u2018scroungers\u2019 has been stoked up as pilot schemes in Aberdeen and Burnley magically found 70% of ESA claimants \u2018fit for work\u2019. These schemes are now being rolled out nationwide \u2013 happy news for ATOS shareholders if not for Britain\u2019s 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\u2019s chief executive has written that \u201cseriously ill and disabled people are being severely let down by the crude approach\u201d 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 \u2018fit for work.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u2018incentivised\u2019 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\u2019s Rights Office has found success for 8 or 9 out of every 10 Appeal Tribunals they\u2019ve attended. (These appeals cost the tax-payer money \u2013 but ATOS, of course, doesn\u2019t have to pay back for getting it wrong.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0Citizens Advice Scotland in a 2010 report wrote \u201cOur evidence has highlighted the cases of many clients with serious health conditions who have been found fit for work, including those with Parkinson\u2019s disease, multiple sclerosis, terminal cancer, bipolar disorder, heart failure, strokes, severe depression and agoraphobia.\u201d This is being done in the name of ATOS but we should be saying loud and clear “NOT IN MY NAME”.<\/span><\/p>\n

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