The Tories Must Be Channeling Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Tories have stopped even trying to pretend that they aren't evil motherf%$#ers who glory in causing pain to the less fortunate:
But it gets even better:
Nearly 90 people a month are dying after being declared fit for work, according to new data that has prompted campaigners and Labour leadership contenders to call for an overhaul of the government’s welfare regime.
Statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) revealed that during the period December 2011 and February 2014 2,380 people died after their claim for employment and support allowance (ESA) ended because a work capability assessment (WCA) found they were found fit for work.
Ministers insisted that the data could not be used to link claimant deaths to its welfare reforms, but the figures focused attention on the government’s fit-for-work assessment process, which has been dogged by controversy in recent years.
Anita Bellows, researcher with campaign group Disabled People Against the Cuts, said it would take time to fully analyse the figures, but added the group was “very worried by the number of people who died within two weeks of being found fit for work” [see footnote].
Letters: If I can’t decide which biscuits to buy, would you want me making decisions about how much morphine to give your mother?
The mortality data was compiled in response to freedom of information requests, and was released by the department only following a ruling by the Information Commissioner’s Office in April.
The WCA, currently administered by private outsourcing firm Maximus, having for most of the last government been run by Atos, has been widely criticised as error-prone and mechanistic, often causing harm to the sick and disabled claimants who are obliged to undergo it. It has been dogged by administrative delays, which have often left claimants stressed and penniless, and there have been hundreds of thousands of appeals against fit-for-work decisions in recent years, about four in 10 of which have succeeded.So, not only are they killing people, they are allowing their buddies in business to make a profit out of public money doing it.
At the rate this is going, Dick Cheney is going to have to up his game, or people will begin to think that he is a bleeding heart liberal.
It is difficult to comment on the truth of this article, as it is clearly poorly researched.
ReplyDeleteAll the information is from one set of interested parties and:
'There was widespread acceptance among campaigners that the data presented should be treated with caution. Tom Pollard, policy and campaigns manager at mental health charity Mind, said it was hard to comment on the statistics as they only revealed the number of people who have died while on ESA, not the circumstances or details of the deaths. He added: “Nevertheless, we do have serious concerns about the benefit system, particularly for those with mental health problems currently being supported by ESA."'
There is a high probability to my mind that the system is bad. Unfortunately, this article is terrible.