Peaceful demo at assessment centre

RESIDENTS were joined by a number of councillors in a peaceful demonstration outside a Warrington assessment centre.
The campaigners were protesting at the alleged treatment of disabled people attending for work capability assessment by Atos, in Tannery Court, Warrington.
Atos is a multi-national company hired by the Government to assess the capability of disabled people to work.
It has increasingly come under fire for its treatment of disabled people – with the Government’s own figures last year showing that 10,600 people died within six weeks of being declared “fit for work” by Atos.
Cllr Kevin Bennett, who was with the campaigners, said: “This alone should have set alarm bells ringing that the assessments were not fit for purpose.
“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.
“Over 40 per cent of cases where people have been deemed fit to work, and had their benefits cut, have had their appeals upheld. However the appeals process can take months while some of the most vulnerable disabled are plunged into poverty.
“There have also been questions over the application of their tests, with claims that people are being wrongly recommended for work, or put through stressful medical interviews.
“The tests do not take into consideration the complex nature of people’s illnesses, particularly for those with mental illness and this has led, in some cases, to those with long-term degenerative and terminal illnesses, such as Parkinson’s and cancer, being told they are fit for work”.