A NORTH-EAST union has branded work tests on sick and disabled people as an “absolute scandal”.

Durham Miners’ Association (DMA) is to raise its concerns with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over the tough work tests after a woman with severe problems was judged fit for work.

The system is also being criticised by MPs across the North-East, who are being inundated with complaints about assessors Atos Healthcare, the private company which sponsored the Paralympic Games.

There are more than 131,000 claimants of Incapacity Benefit (IB) and its replacement, the Employment Support Allowance (ESA), in the North- East, which has a higher proportion of long-term sick and disabled people because of its industrial heritage.

The 55-year-old miner’s wife from the Easington area of County Durham was given zero disability points following her 40-minute assessment.

However, she was awarded 24 points by the tribunal that upheld her appeal against the decision.

DMA executive committee member and tribunal representative Alan Cummings said the woman, who had been a machinist, had severe sight problems, arthritis in her spine and depression.

She had to wait 11 months for her appeal hearing, which resulted in her being placed in the “support” category, which means she does not have to attend six work-focused Job- Centres interviews and will not lose her ESA if she does not find a job after a year.

Mr Cummings said: “There are people who have serious disabilities who are being hounded by the DWP. The tests are an absolute scandal.

“People in the communities where there were heavy industries are getting hammered.”

Both Phil Wilson (Labour; Sedgefield ) and Pat Glass (Labour; North West Durham) said they had received up to 30 complaints a month from people who had been assessed and found fit for work.

Regular debates have been held at the House of Commons, where Kevan Jones (Labour; North Durham) and Helen Goodman (Labour; Bishop Auckland ), among others, have highlighted the cases of IB claimants in their areas.

And Grahame Morris (Labour; Easington) said: “I estimate it accounts for about a third of constituents attending my advice surgeries.”

A DWP spokesman denied there were targets for finding people fit for work.

He said the Work Capability Assessment had been improved, “and as a result we are seeing an increase in the number of severely disabled people being given long-term unconditional support.

“We are committed to help thousands of people move from benefits and back into work while giving unconditional support to those who are most in need.”

An Atos spokesman said the DWP, not it, decided benefit entitlement. “We do not make decisions on people’s benefit entitlement or on welfare policy.”