AN INJUSTICE TO ONE IS AN INJUSTICE TO ALL.
Two disability claimants, both from West Dunbartonshire, who were deemed fit for work during a work capability assessment, have both died of their disability while waiting for their appeal to be heard. Both had their incapacity benefit withdrawn while waiting for their appeal. It is obvious that their assessment was wrong and it is difficult to imagine the stress added to their lives by having to face this type of work assessment, but to have your benefit cut while waiting for your appeal to be heard is a totally unnecessary and further injustice heaped on vulnerable people. The organisation and the people that carry out these work assessments have a duty of care for those they are calling to be assessed. In the corporate world there is such a thing as corporate manslaughter, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is a landmark in law. For the first time, companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care. Surely this can be applied to a company that is acting on behave of the government. It would be fair to assume that the wrong assessment of these two poor individuals and the further difficulties they faced through lose of benefit could be a contributory factor to their deaths. Where was the duty of care for these two cases, it would seem that the company failed in its duty of care in both these incidents. Could it be a case of corporate manslaughter? Perhaps the duty of care was to the shareholders of the company responsible for the assessments and the government that pays them handsomely. How many more people deemed fit for work, will die of their disability while waiting in dire poverty for the appeal to be heard?
