People with severe illnesses are living on £60 a week because they are fit to work says ATOS

Peter Magill, Chief reporter, burnleycitizen.co.uk, Tuesday 25th January 2011:

A BURNLEY grandmother says she can barely afford to eat after becoming a victim of the Government’s benefits crackdown.

Iris Willis, 51, from Rosehill, who has chronic fatigue syndrome, has been living on £60 a week after failing a medical for Employment Support Allowance (ESA).

She said it was only the support of her family, providing food parcels, that had enabled her to survive since then.

Mrs Willis, who organised a protest outside Burnley Town Hall as part of a national day of action, said: “The protests are aimed at ATOS, which carries out the medical assessments for the Department of Work and Pensions.

“When I was first put on ESA, the level of my benefits was raised because they said I was more incapacitated then normal. Read more>>