Published: 20 February, 2014
By PHOEBE COOKE

DISABILITY rights campaigners protested outside the headquarters of healthcare company Atos yesterday (Wednesday).

The demonstration in Triton Square, Euston, was attended by about 60 protesters opposing government welfare reforms.

The Department of Work and Pensions appointed the firm to assess benefit applications, leading to many vulnerable people being wrongly stripped of crucial income. 

Lisa Egan, a Camden resident with a lifelong mobility impairment, said: “It’s the first protest I’ve been to for a while. 

“Compared to most people my experiences haven’t been that bad. The pinnacle of my bad experiences was when I attended the assessment and then the next day they told the DWP I hadn’t shown up, so I had to send them photographic evidence that I had been there.”

She added: “If Atos were doing a good job, they wouldn’t get a 40 per cent successful appeals rate. It proves Atos are getting things wrong.”

Another protester, Jezel Winston, said the DWP had failed to release statistics for the number of deaths caused by unfair decisions.

A spokesperson from Atos said: “Data on the number of incapacity benefits claimants that have died following a fit-for-work decision are not available, as the department does not hold information on a death if the person has already left benefit.”