Progress update - WOW petition reaches 14,000 signatures.
The total number of people who have now supported is 14,214!
Since the petition was submitted to the e-petition website by Francesca Martinez, sick and disabled people have been hit by further cuts. Coalition MPs voted to cap ESA so that it no longer rises with inflation. This means that some of the most vulnerable people will not be able to keep pace with rises in food and fuel costs.
The bad news continues. Today we have learned that the government is trying to 'sneak' a change to the way people's conditions are assessed, based on nothing more than a hypothetical series of assumptions which will mean even more genuinely sick and disabled people will be found fit to work and lose the benefits they rely upon to survive.
* Withdrawal of benefit if an assessor believes that medication
would reduce the risks posed by a claimant's condition, seemingly
without regard for whether it would be appropriate in a work context.
* Withdrawal of benefit if an assessor believes that a reasonable
adjustment could be made in a workplace to reduce the risks posed by a
claimant's condition, without explicit assessment of whether that
adjustment is likely to be available.
* The imaginary wheelchair test, where assessors considers the
effect on a claimant’s mobility were they to use a wheelchair and bases
their decisions on these assumptions, is to be extended to other aids
and adaptions such as guide dogs, walking sticks and even prosthetic
limbs, without discussing the prospect of such aids with the claimant.
* Dealing with the claimant's physical and mental health
conditions separately, rather than looking at the combined effects that
physical and mental health has on a person’s ability to work. This would
include ignoring the mental and cognitive side effects of treatments
for physical conditions, and the physical side effects of treatments for
mental health conditions.
Urgent!
Please sign and share the WOW petition!
