{"id":3149,"date":"2015-02-27T16:37:25","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T16:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3149"},"modified":"2015-03-02T16:59:51","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T16:59:51","slug":"frying-pan-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3149","title":{"rendered":"Out of the frying pan and into the fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Out of the frying pan and into the fire \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no better expression that comes to mind as Maximus, a US-based, for-profit health services firm, is set to take over a government contract to determine whether disabled people are \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfit to work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and are subsequently stripped of their benefits entitlements.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite will support Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) in a national day of action against the coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Work Capability Assessments (WCA) on Monday March 2.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe action starts following the day after Maximus is put in charge, following previous contractor Atos\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dismal failure in its role conducting the assessments, which was brought to light by campaigners and whistle blowers up and down the country.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite argues that no matter which private, profit-driven firm takes over the contract, the results will be the same, or even worse, because the system itself is broken.<\/p>\n

 
\nTick-box regime<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nThe brutal tick-box WCA regime, designed for the express purpose of taking people off benefits, was scaled up by the Department of Work and Pensions as the Tory-led coalition government took over in 2010.<\/p>\n

 
\nIt replaces a previous system in which disabled people were granted Incapacity Benefit largely based on the opinion of the claimant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s general practitioner.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe WCA system, however, has since seen hundreds of thousands of disabled people being put through devastating hardship.
\nNumerous cases have been reported of people with long-term illnesses, such as Parkinson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and cancer, being told that they were fit for work.<\/p>\n

 
\nA government study in 2012 found that one half of people found fit to work remained without employment or income. And a 2013 report found that of those found \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfit to work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and had their benefits cut, 40 per cent of appeals cases were upheld. Since Atos took over, 600,000 appeals have been lodged, costing the taxpayer \u00c2\u014160m a year.<\/p>\n

 
\nPerhaps most damning of all, the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own figures have shown that between 2010 and 2011, just as the WCA was ramped up, more than 10,000 sick and disabled people died six weeks after their assessments.<\/p>\n

 
\nDegrading policy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nUnite national officer for equalities Siobhan Endean emphasised the importance of scrapping Work Capability Assessments altogether.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe dreaded Work Capability Assessment costs lives,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe supported disabled people in the campaign to convince ATOS to withdraw from the WCA contract, we will continue to support disabled people in the campaign against the Maximus until the government scraps the Work Capability Assessment and starts treating disabled people with dignity and justice.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nEndean added that little can be expected to change once Maximus takes over.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMaximus is taking over the WCA contract worth \u00c2\u0141500m, meanwhile little has changed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMaximus will be based in the same inaccessible buildings and the fundamental flaws of the assessment remain the same. At the heart of these assessments is the Tory government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drive to take people off benefits with a brutal and humiliating tick-box regime.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nAnd Maximus itself has a questionable history in America. The health services provider in charge of taking over government contracts has been dogged by lawsuits and public criticism<\/a> in the last two decades.<\/p>\n

 
\nEndean said that action is needed now more than ever before.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are calling on this government to stop this degrading policy and introduce a fairer transparent single assessment, operated within the public sector that restores dignity to the sick and disabled,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\nWant to join Unite in DPAC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s national day of action? Find an event near you here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Out of the frying pan and into the fire \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no better expression that comes to mind as Maximus, a US-based, for-profit health services firm, is set to take over a government contract to determine whether disabled people are \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfit to work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and are subsequently stripped of their benefits entitlements.   Unite will support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[172,198],"wps_subtitle":"Unite joins disabled people in Work Capability assessors protest","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3151,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3149\/revisions\/3151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}