Cameron's benefits denial takes a hit

[blake 3:17]

Yes!

Benefits testing firm Atos wants to quit £500 million government contract EARLY


Benefits firm Atos wants to end its hated testing regime for the ConDem government - because it says the system "isn't working".

A nationwide campaign against the French firm's benefit tests have forced the company to seek an early exit from a £500m government contract.

Atos faced 144 separate protests outside its offices across the UK earlier this week in a day of action against the firm.

Large crowds waving anti-Atos placards flocked to protest against the company, whose assessments have controversially sent thousands of sick people back to work, axing their vital benefit payments.

In Southend, Atos workers themselves walked out in sympathy and joined the rally outside their own office.

Many Atos staff have received death threats both in person and over the internet as well as bullying at the firm’s centres.

Atos said 163 incidents of the public assaulting or abusing staff were recorded each month last year.

Now the firm has revealed it wants out of the government contract to test people for disability benefits.

The medical testing company has been in discussions with the Department for Work and Pensions with a view to exiting the deal since October last year, because it views the tests as "outdated".

An Atos spokesman said last night: "In its current form it is not working for claimants, for DWP or for Atos Healthcare.

"For several months now we have been endeavouring to agree an early exit from the contract, which is due to expire in August 2015."

Atos has become a lightning rod for discontent over the coalition's welfare reforms, which aim to shift more people off social security benefits and into work.

For the past three years, the company has been under fire for its handling of work capability tests, which assess whether people are well enough to apply for jobs.

A third of its decisions were overturned on appeal, amid allegations that people with terminal cancer or other serious illnesses had been denied benefits as a result of its assessments.


Full article: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/benefits-uk-testing-firm-atos-3168142

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

"Private providers likely to be in the frame for the next work capability contract include G4S, Serco, A4E and Capita."

Great.

These companies basically have working people and the public sector by the short and curlies. It's horrific.

[blake 3:17]

Nick Clegg has accused the archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, of exaggerating when he claimed the safety net of the welfare system had been stripped away.

Amid fresh warnings by 26 Church of England bishops about a national crisis of hunger, the deputy prime minister admitted there was "incompetence" in the benefit system but suggested religious leaders were overplaying the impact of welfare reforms on poverty.

He made the comments after a group of bishops wrote a letter to the prime minister, published in the Daily Mirror, warning that there is an "acute moral imperative" to tackle reliance on food banks and other charities.

Last week, Nichols, the UK's most senior Catholic leader, said the welfare system had gone "seriously wrong" when thousands were relying on food handouts.

David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, responded to the criticism by arguing that the government had a moral duty to reduce dependence on welfare.

Speaking on LBC 97.3 Radio, Clegg also defended the welfare changes as "a good thing" but shied away from using the language of morality, saying he would rather choose his own words.

He said "sharpening the incentive to work" was important and he "fully supports what we are doing as a government".

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/20/nick-clegg-archbishop-exaggerating-impace-welfare-reforms

[tachosomoza]

"Atos workers in Southend walked out in sympathy and joined the protest outside their office"

Is solidarity a dirty word or something?

[radiocaroline]

these companies are scum. I wish we lived in a society where corporation tax evasion is actually chased up on. Instead of criminalising those who claim state welfare - over 1,000 have died after being declared "fit to work", is white collar crime excusable then?

[tachosomoza]

is white collar crime excusable then?

Considering that the state is set up to manage the affairs of the class that comprises most white color criminals...answer it for yourself.

[RebelDog]

"Atos workers in Southend walked out in sympathy and joined the protest outside their office"

Is solidarity a dirty word or something?

No, just a dangerous concept.

[blake 3:17]

Disabled man starved to death after benefits cut when Atos declared him fit for work

Disabled Mark Wood starved to death four months after his benefits were cut, an inquest heard.

The “frail and vulnerable” 44-year-old weighed just 5st 8lbs when he was found.

He had been declared fit to work by Atos, leaving him struggling to survive on just £40 a week, despite numerous health problems.

Mark died at his home in Bampton – part of David Cameron’s Oxfordshire constituency – in August last year.

He had Asperger syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder, in addition to cognitive behavioural problems, including a phobia of certain foods.

His GP Nicolas Ward told Oxford coroners court yesterday: “He was an extremely fragile individual who was coping with life.

"Something pushed him or affected him in the time before he died and the only thing I can put my finger on is the pressure he felt when his benefits were removed.”

Dr Ward added that he had not been contacted by Atos – the French-based firm that carries out benefit assessments – or the Department for Work and Pensions about his patient’s medical history.

He told the court that, had he been asked, he would have ruled him unfit for work.

Following last April’s assessment, Mark, described as “gentle and sweet”, lost his housing benefit and employment support, leaving him just £40 a week disability allowance – not even enough to cover his rent or utility bills.

Mark’s mum Jill Gant, from Abingdon, said the family knew nothing of his money problems until a few weeks before his death.

She gave him £250, but said that by then it was too late.

Mark’s sister Cathie Wood, 48, of North Oxford, said: “When the police found him, there was very little food in the house, just half a banana and a tin of tuna.”

She added: “Atos are completely to blame.

"Anyone who knew Mark’s complex problems would see he couldn’t work. ”

She added: “I’d like David Cameron and his Government to be aware of the personal cost of their policies and how they are affecting real people and causing real heartache.”

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/disabled-mark-wood-starved-death-3194250

[tallguy]

I want to see flames. I want to see bullets and flames.

[BIXX]

You ever wanna see "thousands of bourgeoisie die in a horrible accident" after reading stories like that?

[tallguy]

You ever wanna see "thousands of bourgeoisie die in a horrible accident" after reading stories like that?
No. Only the ones at the top. And I don't want it to be an accident.

[Marshal of the People]

Disabled man starved to death after benefits cut when Atos declared him fit for work

Disabled Mark Wood starved to death four months after his benefits were cut, an inquest heard.

The “frail and vulnerable” 44-year-old weighed just 5st 8lbs when he was found.

He had been declared fit to work by Atos, leaving him struggling to survive on just £40 a week, despite numerous health problems.

Mark died at his home in Bampton – part of David Cameron’s Oxfordshire constituency – in August last year.

He had Asperger syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder, in addition to cognitive behavioural problems, including a phobia of certain foods.

His GP Nicolas Ward told Oxford coroners court yesterday: “He was an extremely fragile individual who was coping with life.

"Something pushed him or affected him in the time before he died and the only thing I can put my finger on is the pressure he felt when his benefits were removed.”

Dr Ward added that he had not been contacted by Atos – the French-based firm that carries out benefit assessments – or the Department for Work and Pensions about his patient’s medical history.

He told the court that, had he been asked, he would have ruled him unfit for work.

Following last April’s assessment, Mark, described as “gentle and sweet”, lost his housing benefit and employment support, leaving him just £40 a week disability allowance – not even enough to cover his rent or utility bills.

Mark’s mum Jill Gant, from Abingdon, said the family knew nothing of his money problems until a few weeks before his death.

She gave him £250, but said that by then it was too late.

Mark’s sister Cathie Wood, 48, of North Oxford, said: “When the police found him, there was very little food in the house, just half a banana and a tin of tuna.”

She added: “Atos are completely to blame.

"Anyone who knew Mark’s complex problems would see he couldn’t work. ”

She added: “I’d like David Cameron and his Government to be aware of the personal cost of their policies and how they are affecting real people and causing real heartache.”

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/po...-death-3194250 (http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/disabled-mark-wood-starved-death-3194250)It is things like this which make me want to kill every single human on Earth. It is clear from the above that humanity is imperfect and should be exterminated for it's serous flaws.

[tachosomoza]

It is things like this which make me want to kill every single human on Earth. It is clear from the above that humanity is imperfect and should be exterminated for it's serous flaws.

Please, people already think leftists have a hardon for killing people for no reason. Choose your words wiser.