Rebecca. Twenty Four. Professional Complainer.

This graffiti appeared overnight at 5 different job centres in Birmingham.

It’s referencing the increasingly harsh benefit sanctions in the UK which are punishing disabled people in particular.

Claimants who cannot work due to severe disabilities or chronic illnesses are being categorised as “fit to work” in order to meet targets and are not being given enough money to survive.

The majority of people who legally challenge their benefits sanctions or ‘fit to work’ decision have them overturned, but only after months without the money they need.

Estimates generally put the number of people who have died in the last few years directly due to benefit sanctions in the thousands. These include people who have died of starvation, exposure, because they couldn’t afford electricity to keep their insulin cold, or because they couldn’t afford treatment, among other things.

The DWP has even sent letters to people declaring them fit to work when in fact they have already died from their illness.

Fuck the DWP and job centres.

an NHS doctor with access to comprehensive medical records of every major diagnosis and every treatment you’ve ever had can examine you, in private, in as much comfort as is possible in your condition, and categorically declare you “unfit for work”. they sign you off work and give you a certificate to prove how sick you are.

then the dwp forces you to be assessed by their privately contracted company, where you have to take all your own medical info - a lot that isn’t accessible to you. before your appointment you wait in a grey room without windows or even waiting room magazines. their assessor - not a doctor a lot of the time - rushes your appointment, looks at where a doctor has signed you off, and clicks a button that says “fit for work”. you’re a number in a system designed to trip you at every turn.