News round up: Unlimited unpaid work or we cut your benefits
There's an interesting new twist in the push and pull politics trying to shape the new Welfare Reform Bill this week.
Mental health professionals and charities are worried about how some long-term sick and disabled people could be forced to work unpaid for an unlimited amount of time else have their benefits cut under plans being drawn up by the Department for Work and Pensions.
It is feared by campaigners that those deemed fit to undertake limited amounts of work under the controversial Work Capability Assessment could suffer further harm to their health if the plans go ahead.
The Guardian reports that ministers feel sanctions are an incentive for people to comply with their responsibility.
Elsewhere in the news:
NHS accused of putting 'do not resuscitate' notices on patients with learning disabilities without consulting with their families - The Daily Mail
Government dealt fresh blow over welfare plans - BBC News
'I used to sit there for a long, long time crying': Deaf woman tells how she was 'kept as sex slave in cellar for a decade since the age of 10' - The Daily Mail
'You won't be able to reach the syrups': Starbucks 'rejected job applicant because he had only one arm' - The Daily Mail
Progressive blindness cases to rise by a third in a decade - The Independent
And twin brothers both face going blind within weeks of each other due to a rare genetic condition - The Daily Mail
How a nurse is fighting for the rights of people with learning disabilities - The Guardian
Blind paralympian Sue-Ellen Lovett asked to leave restaurants because of guide dog - The Daily Telegraph
Braille comes unbound from the book: how technology can stop a literary crisis - The Guardian
Do you hear us? Peter Robinson deaf in left ear and Martin McGuinness in right - The Independent
Community workers help to bridge treatment gap in mental health - The Guardian
Comment number 1.
At 21:21 18th Feb 2012, BMT-An Alternative View wrote:It looks as though stores such as Malan and others are withdrawing from this hair brained scheme. Its nothing short of slave labour frankly and does nothing to enhance the real needs of the long term sick/disabled. This nonesense about Work Related activity groups is becoming farcical. Do the govt and ATOS have some sort of magic chrystal ball now or what? How can they say whether someone with an incurable disease such as Heart Disease possibly say that in 6 or 12 mths they'll be fit for work? I have non-operable heart disease for which I have to take large doses of meds from dawn till dusk IF I were to have a by-pass op all that would do would restore blood flow to the heart, it wouldn't in any way repair the damage to the heart muscle, hence, incurable. Along with other medical complications are the govt really saying they would risk me being at work despite all medical evidence saying the complete opposite? Reform of benefits, yes, cost cutting and putting lives at risk, no. Cheap or free Labour by the sick and disabled, especially with multi-million/billion pound firms, absolutely not. As for that Tory MP saying the disabled should work for less than minmum wage anyway, he's a disgrace and should stand down as an MP.
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Comment number 2.
At 09:44 25th Feb 2012, McComish wrote:You know exactly what this means. The people that are working will be payed off and the people that aren't working will be brought in to replace them for cheaper labor.
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