Disabled Protest Over 'Fit For Work' Tests

							http://news.sky.com/story/979371/disabled-protest-over-fit-for-work-tests




 Disabled Protest Over 'Fit
 For Work' Tests
 Disabled and anti-cuts campaigners claim tests for people on
 disability benefits by IT firm Atos are "damaging and
 distressing".




Disabled activists have staged a protest against the firm that carries out the
Government's controversial "fit for work" assessments.
Disabled and anti-cuts campaigners have been rallying all over the country
for the last week because they claim the tests for people on disability
benefit by the IT firm and Paralympics sponsor Atos are "damaging and
distressing".

On Friday they took their protest to Atos' London headquarters before
carrying out a "secret action" at the Department for Work and Pensions
(DWP) building in central London.

Several protesters got into the DWP building and a further two in
wheelchairs chained themselves to the doors, according to UK Uncut, who
have been staging the protests together with Disabled People Against
Cuts (DPAC).
Pictures posted on Twitter showed the group sporting a banner which read
"Tax Avoidance = £25 billion, Welfare Cuts = £4.5 billion" outside the
DWP's offices in Caxton House.
Molly Solomons, a spokeswoman for UK Uncut, said around 150 people had
taken part in the protest at Atos's headquarters, with a further 30 moving
on to the DWP building.
She said: "We are doing this to highlight that Atos, a sponsor for the
Paralympic Games, is receiving £100m from the Government in the hope
they will assess people with disabilities and get them off benefits.
"This is due to a political and ideological choice which harms disabled and
sick people, not an economic necessity."
On Tuesday activists cut off traffic with a road blockade in Cardiff and on
Wednesday they delivered coffins to Atos.
Atos has held the contract with the DWP for work capability assessments
since 1998 and says that doctors and nurses it hires carry out 15,000 face-
to-face assessments each week.
A spokeswoman for the French multinational said: "We fully respect
people's right to peaceful protest and we understand this is a highly
emotive issue."
Atos' contract with the DWP was extended in 2005 and again in 2010, and
is due to last until 2015 under current arrangements.