{"id":4934,"date":"2015-07-23T16:16:53","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T15:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4934"},"modified":"2015-07-24T12:15:07","modified_gmt":"2015-07-24T11:15:07","slug":"the-truth-must-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4934","title":{"rendered":"The truth must out"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Two years into the coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s austerity programme in 2012, routine figures released by the department of work and pensions revealed a shocking phenomenon \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in just one year (2011) more than 10,000 people with disabilities were found to have died six weeks after their benefits claims had ended.<\/p>\n

 
\nBut just as the true cost of the Tory-led government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assault on the disabled and chronically ill had started to come to light, the DWP, instead of investigating the figures, decided to stop publishing them.<\/p>\n

 
\nCampaigners across the nation were not going to take the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s silence lying down, and now, thanks to them, it has been forced to once again to make public the number of deaths of those who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve claimed disability benefit.<\/p>\n

 
\nIn May, the information commissioner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office ruled that the DWP must publish its figures, after the department delayed in responding to journalist and carer Mike Sivier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s freedom of information request.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe government has since persisted in appealing the information watchdog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ruling to publish the figures promptly, with employment minister Priti Patel saying on Tuesday (July 21) that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll make them public \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsometime in the autumn\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, cynically dragging their feet until well after May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s general election.<\/p>\n

 
\nActivists campaigning for the publication of the figures say that they may reveal the direct connection between the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s draconian \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfit to work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 regime and subsequent deaths. Previously, figures only counted people on disability benefit who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve died within six weeks of their claim ending.<\/p>\n

 
\nNow, the government is being called on to publish how many people died while in the employment support allowance (ESA) assessment phase; after being found fit for work; after being placed in the ESA work-related activity group; after being placed in the support group; and with an appeal pending.<\/p>\n

 
\nUNITElive has previously spoken to those whose loved ones have perished in the midst of an austerity regime that has seen disabled and chronically ill people being found \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfit to work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\nMavis Bond, sister of Stephen Lynham, recounted how her brother, who suffered from chronic anxiety and depression as well as persistently high blood pressure, was found fit to work after a work capability assessment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c his disability benefit was subsequently suspended.<\/p>\n

 
\nStephen challenged the decision. While waiting, he was told to sign on to jobseekers allowance. But he was too ill to look for work and so didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think he would meet JSA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strict conditionality. Stephen so was forced to live on food banks and two small loans from a local discretionary fund.<\/p>\n

 
\nHardly eating and facing eviction, Stephen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s depression worsened. He died shortly after receiving news that he would be able to appeal the DWP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to stop his benefit.<\/p>\n

 
\nMavis Bond was shocked by how the government had treated her brother.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI find it hard to believe in this day and age that the state would leave a man penniless \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but this is 21st-century Britain where a sick man can be hounded to death and denied a safety net,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite has been a long-time campaigner against work capability assessments (WCA), which were ramped up under the previous government with ever more stringent requirements specifically designed to get as many people off benefits as possible, no matter the status of their disability or health condition.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe assessments were previously carried out by contractor Atos, which infamously pulled out of its contract last year amidst a barrage of public criticism that it was botching its assessments. Now, Maximus, a private US healthcare company, runs the contract.<\/p>\n

 
\nOne of the founding members of Disabled People Against Cuts, Sam Brackenbury, has argued that WCAs are part of an inherently broken system, one which will continue to fail no matter which firm takes on the contract.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese WCAs are based on an American insurance company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s criteria,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey are designed specifically to take away what disabled people are entitled to. The vast majority of disabled people have worked; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve paid into the system. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking away what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rightfully ours.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite national officer for equalities Siobhan Endean agreed.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt 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 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\nA petition to pressure the government into publishing disability claimant deaths numbers now has already received nearly a quarter of a million signatures. Tell the DWP to stop stalling by adding your name to it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years into the coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s austerity programme in 2012, routine figures released by the department of work and pensions revealed a shocking phenomenon \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in just one year (2011) more than 10,000 people with disabilities were found to have died six weeks after their benefits claims had ended.   But just as the true […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[76,231,172],"wps_subtitle":"Govt must publish death numbers of disabled denied help ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4934"}],"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=4934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4935,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4934\/revisions\/4935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}