HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Maximus: Same Circus, Different Clowns

solidarity collective | 05.03.2015 23:42 | Health | Public sector cuts | Repression | Birmingham | Cambridge | Liverpool | London | Oxford | Sheffield | South Coast | Wales

On Monday 2nd of March 2015, there were demonstrations in over 30 towns and cities around the UK (plus Toronto) against Maximus, the US based health insurance corporation that has taken over the contract from the French IT Company Atos to administer the Work Capability Assessment on behalf of the Department Of Work And Pensions. Atos announced its exit from the contract in early 2014 following an intense period of direct action against the company by groups such as Disabled People Against the Cuts.

The day of action was timed to coincide with the first working day of the new contract, with the spotlight turned on Maximus as well as the continued use of Work Capability Assessments and the life-threatening consequences of the ongoing government attacks on the sick and disabled.

In central London, to the chorus of "David Cameron is a W*****" (YouTube) activists from DPAC hit the streets, taking direct action to block traffic and at one stage bringing traffic to a standstill on Victoria Street in the shadow of Big Ben.

The demonstrations across the UK on the streets were complemented with an online Twitter campaign using the hashtags #Maximarse and #ScrapWCA, the latter trending for a number of hours. This gave the opportunity for those unable (including through sickness and disability) to make it to demonstrations to vent their anger and frustation around the Work Capability Assessment and at a government hell-bent on targeting the sick and disabled.

On the Newswire: Maximarse is more than a farce | Mental Health Resistance Network Statement | Wrexham joins National Day of Protest Against WCA & Maximus

Other links: Johnny Void | Video: Maximarse the Movie (YouTube)



This determination to confront an unjust policy was seen up and down the country as activists took to the streets in towns and cities including Balham, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Croydon, Dundee, Ealing, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gloucester, Hull, Huddersfield, Inverness, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Manchester, Norwich, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Sheffield, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland, Truro and Wrexham.

Background

In 2008, the New Labour Government introduced the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), a provision contained in the 2007 Welfare Reform Act which created the foundations for Employment Support Allowance (ESA), replacing the previous Incapacity Benefit. WCAs were mostly carried out by Atos, the French IT company and were soon shown to be wholly inadequate and unfit for purpose. The criteria used to assess 'work capability' ignore many of the key factors that prevent people from seeking, aquiring or holding down employment, especially those with mental health problems.

While Atos carried out the government's plans of demonising disabled people and cashed a £500 million cheque for their efforts, many people with serious and terminal illnesses were deemed "fit for work", in some cases dying shortly afterwards. The wholesale inadequacy of the tests was exposed by the number of decisions to end claimants' sickness benefit that were overturned, some 42% of appeals being allowed. Not all cases reached appeal as many simply lost the will to fight when faced with the time and anguish of waiting for an appeal to be heard in front an independent tribunal. At some stages there were backlogs so long that claimants were waiting over a year for their appeal to be heard. Suicides among those denied benefits are well documented, for example by groups like Black Triangle.

In 2011, the Tory/Lib Dem Coalition used this legislation to reassess over 2.5 million people. In some cases people were not even notified of the change until the moment they attempted to withdraw their benefit from the bank, only then realising it had been stopped.

Atos Macht Frei

The Maximus demonstrations are a follow-on from the successful campaign waged against Atos last year. On 19th of February 2014 various groups held a national day of action against Atos and the Work Capability Assessment. Over 140 demonstrations were held outside Atos assessment centres throughout the country, including Archway Nottingham and Wrexham.

Atos were feeling the pressure from protest groups, church groups and professional organisations such as the British Medical Association. It was therefore no surprise that Atos negotiated an early exit from their contract. Demonstrations against Atos had been happening on an ongoing basis dating back to at least 2011.

We are Maximarse

Like Atos before it, Maximus can expect a concerted campaign by and in solidarity with those affected by Work Capability Assessments and the government policy of attacking the sick and disabled. It's a matter of life and death. Monday's day of action was only the start and Maximus was clearly rattled: after the #Maximarse hashtag was widely used on Twitter, it was reported that Maximus had bought the domain name maximarse.com not, presumably, with a view to setting up its own Maximarse web presence!

solidarity collective

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

Thumbs down for historical accuracy

12.04.2015 05:42

They cetainly didn't have clowns at the Circus Maximus. You must mean 'different lions' or maybe 'different Christians'?

Factchecker


Nice, BUT Please Dont Make It Personal,We have 5more years Of Tory Rule

18.09.2015 12:15

Please dont make it personal, unless theres a magical none violent coup supported by Martians.
Ive been on many demonstrations in this area, but cant now.I used to loved to say rude things about the establishment until I found more widely appealing satire really does work best, especially with 5more years of Tory rule, quite likely alot more.
Be nice if Jeremys Team do the maths& gets in, but would be debatbley just as bad as Tories if New Labour MP Frank Fields DWP mob reorganise. and worse than all UKIP-.
Most people arent too bothered whoes in power sadly as along as they feel they+ their family are secure& the economies sorted, if they feel the economies secure they are happy to go more Left.Until then most dont like to see personal politics it can backfire in so many ways& encourages the gutter press.
Thanks for reading,

Spasticus Autisticus


Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech