As elsewhere in the country, disabled people in Colchester are routinely forced to undergo unnecessary and degrading assessments in order to access the support they are entitled to. Yet the centre at which the assessments are conducted isn't even accessible, and neither the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) nor Maximus (the company that manages the assessments and the building) will provide an accessible venue to wheelchair users claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), or home visits as an alternative. Instead, those affected are expected to travel around 20 miles to either Ipswich or Chelmsford to complete their assessments!
Under the Equalities Act 2010, if a building cannot be made accessible, then a reasonable alternative must be provided. But expecting people to travel 20 miles to a different town is not reasonable: it is an expense many simply cannot afford since cuts to ESA already mean they are expected to live on just £73 a week, and travelling that far on public transport is simply impossible for many. Likewise, staff offering to manhandle people into the building is not a reasonable adjustment either, especially when they are not trained in manual handling: it is dangerous, degrading, and frankly no alternative to being able to simply enter the building like an able-bodied person.
Because of their failures to provide a reasonable alternative which treats disabled people with the respect and dignity they deserve, the DWP and Maximus are in breach of the Equalities Act and are actively discriminating against disabled people in Colchester. Both MP for Colchester Will Quince and Minister of State for Disabled People Sarah Newton MP have been made aware of this issue, yet neither has been willing to treat it as the serious issue of discrimination that it is and force a solution. We need your signatures to help us to force them into action.
Since 2010, the Government's cuts have hit disabled people far harder than any other group. Disabled people have been vilified and treated as scroungers, had their already meagre support cut, and been forced to complete unnecessary and humiliating assessments to access support that they are entitled to. It is intolerable that on top of all this the DWP won't even supply an accessible venue for disabled people in Colchester to complete assessments the DWP says they have to if they want the money they need to live. Please sign and help us to get this situation resolved, and visit and like our facebook page for information, updates and related news.
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We would also be very grateful if you could email Sarah Newton MP (sarah.newton.mp@parliament.uk) about this issue, (copying in Will Quince MP if you live in Colchester - will.quince.mp@parliament.uk). Suggested text for your email is below:
Dear Sarah Newton MP,
As described on the Government's own website the Equalities Act [Equality Act 2010: guidance - GOV.UK] is in place to prevent people from discrimination, not only in the workplace, "but in wider society".
We would therefore expect that those protections would most certainly be in place for disabled people when applying for benefits to assist their practical welfare and survival. We would also, therefore, expect that the DWP makes sure that the business to whom they tender assessment claims works in line with the law, including in the provision of reasonable adjustments, as defined by the EA.
However, it would appear that this is not the case for disabled people in Colchester, who have been advised, that the ESA Assessment Building in Wellington Street is not (and cannot be made) accessible, and who are offered out of town appointments as the only alternative, placing an unreasonable burden on the disabled – something which disabled people are supposed to be protected from under the EA.
There is also now reason to believe that a charity worked with staff in the building last year to create an accessible entrance – via the JCP Building in South Street, around the corner from the ESA building. This raises the possibility that disabled people are being actively denied accessible facilities during their benefit application process: should this be the case, this would be a reprehensible act of discrimination against people who are already placed under huge strain by an assessment process which is – at best – demeaning and dehumanising.
Please give this matter your immediate and urgent attention, so that disabled claimants in Colchester are no longer forced to endure this practice. And please also now check that every ESA Assessment centre around the country is either fully accessible, or providing genuine reasonable adjustments to claimant's who are unable to access their local centre.
Kind regards,
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