CAMPAIGNERS have protested outside a benefits office in Derry to demand that 'human rights checks' are carried out before people are cut off welfare.
The protest was staged by the Right to Work, Right to Welfare (R2W) group with the support of Derry Trades Union Council.
It came after Derry and Strabane District Council and Belfast City Council passed motions calling on the Department for Communities to implement the 'People’s Proposal'.
This involves a human rights checklist “to guarantee due process and mandatory impact assessments before decisions are made to stop or reduce the income of claimants”.
Campaigners say the proposals have the support of a range of political parties and rights groups.
They say figures show from June 2015 to August 2016, more than 11,000 decisions were made to remove Employment and Support Allowance from sick and disabled people.
In June this year the group met with senior civil servants to discuss the proposals and claimed a lack of progress prompted yesterday’s protest.
Sean Brady, from lobby group Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR), which supports R2W, said the "absence of a minister cannot be used as an excuse” by the department.
