Disabled Stage 5 Day Vigil Against ATOS.

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Disabled people are to stage a five-day vigil against the controversial private health firm Atos Healthcare, who together with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are responsible for the avoidable deaths of no less than 73 sick and disabled people per week, according to campaigners.

Atos are responsible for carrying out Work Capability Assessments (WCA) on behalf of the DWP for the sickness and disability benefit Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and have been the subject of widespread criticism from charities, campaigners, politicians and even health care professionals.

The British Medical Association (BMA) passed a motion calling for the system to be scrapped last year “and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not cause unavoidable harm to some of the weakest and vulnerable in society”.

Speaking at the BMA meeting, Dr Irvine said the assessments are “causing ‘distress’ to thousands of people with long-term health conditions deemed fit for work, as well as subjecting the doctors involved to ‘McDonaldisation’ of their careers” and that “there is no empathy in the system, it is all accusatory”.

Successful appeals against Atos and DWP benefits decision remain high, with in the region of 38% being overturned in favour of the claimant. Despite this, Atos were recently awarded a contract to carry out assessments on disabled people for the new disability benefit Personal Independence Payment, or PIP, as one of a number of private contractors. The NHS was also awarded part of the tender for PIP assessments but caused uproar after it was revealed that they had subcontracted the tender out to others.

Atos have repeatedly stated that the DWP make the final decision on benefit entitlement. However, figures suggest that DWP decision makers accept the recommendations made by Atos assessors in the vast majority of cases, leading to accusations from campaigners that both Atos and the DWP are deliberately pushing to get as many people off sickness and disability benefits as possible, regardless of the human cost.

In a press release sent to the Welfare News Service, campaigners say that they are taking further action following a successful week-long vigil last November and recent media reports highlighting the ‘unnecessary deaths of Disabled People’.

The five-day vigil, which has been organised by the Disability Activists Network (DAN) and Disabled People Resistance (DPR), is due to commence Monday 19th August at 10am outside the Atos benefit assessment centre on St. Agnes road in Cardiff, and continue every day until 3pm Friday 23rd August.

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