'The current system isn't working' - Stourbridge MP calls for private companies to be stripped of their contracts assessing disability benefits

Cat Eccles, MP for Stourbridge, has tabled an amendment to the Government's controversial welfare reform bill, asking for a stipulation that only Government employees will be allowed to carry out assessments for Personal Independence Payments.

The bill passed its second reading in the Commons last week, but only after the Government agreed to delay it until a further review had been carried out.

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Miss Eccles said she wanted to remove the contracts for carrying out assessments from five profit-making private companies.

She proposed that in future health assessments should only be carried out by government staff.

She said seven in 10 assessments ended up being reconsidered by the Department for Work and Pensions, and later granted at a greater cost to the taxpayer.

"It's clear the current system isn't working," she said.

"There are lots of ways to raise funds without taking money away from vulnerable people," she said.

This week the Express & Star revealed how Walsall, Sandwell and Telford had among the highest claimant rates in the West Midlands, with one in eight people claiming the benefit.