Cancer sufferer who had benefits cuts after Atos deemed her 'fit to work' has died

A woman, who government officials said was fit to work as they had her benefits cut, died in cancer on Monday.

Still treated for breast cancer, 51-year-old Cecilia Burns had her sickness benefit cut by £30 every week and started a campaign in February, writes BBC.

Burns, from Strabane, County Tyrone, said she was ‘disgusted’ by the government’s medical tests that Paralympics partner Atos Healthcare carried out.

Before she died, she told BBC: "I was treated badly. I've been working since I was 17, I've paid all my stamps, all my National Insurance. The only time I was ever sick was when I was pregnant with my two sons.”

She said that a treatment with all its side effects were bad enough but now she had become angry about the benefit cuts too.

Stormont Assembly MLA, Michaela Boyle, who had supported Burns’s campaign, said: “We have been deeply critical of all aspects of the decision-making process with many claimants being disallowed who have severe disabilities, chronic conditions and life limiting illnesses.”

Chancellor George Osborne has said he wants benefits cut by 2016.

Burns’s death has sparked fury on social networks and today Disabled People Against Cuts and UK Uncut are protesting outside Atos headquarter in London.

One protester, Guardian journalist Esther Addley, tweeted:

Outside DWP. Chants of 'You can stick your work assessment up your arse' #disability #protest #paralympics twitter.com/estheraddley/s…
— esther addley (@estheraddley) August 31, 2012