Government announces that Atos is to quit its contract
Responding to the Government's announcement that Atos is to quit its contract to assess whether benefits claimants are fit to work, Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the disability charity Scope said:
“I doubt there's a single disabled person who'll be sorry to hear that ATOS will no longer be running the fit-for-work tests.
“We welcome the Minister's decision. He now has a real opportunity for government to review their approach to WCA and ensure that when they appoint a new provider there is a move away from a fundamentally flawed system.
“The question we have to ask is how many disabled people have jobs?
"Nine in ten disabled people work or have worked. Yet only about 50% of disabled people have a job right now.
“We need a back-to-work system that works for disabled people.
“Disabled people are pushing hard to find jobs. But they face massive challenges when it comes to finding and staying in work – too often they don't get the right kind of support and work places are still not flexible enough.
“The test should be more than an exercise in getting people off of benefits. It should make sure disabled people get the specialist, tailored and flexible support they need to find and keep a job. We should be talking about getting a million more disabled people into work.
“We need to make sure that as the economy picks up disabled people are not left behind. We've got to start by supporting more disabled people to find and stay in work.”
