WCA: Cost of fitness-to-work tests skyrockets, assessments inadequate – report

The Tories are spending more taxpayers’ money on assessing whether Britons are fit to work than they are saving in reductions to the state’s benefits expenditure, a National Audit Office report shows. 

 

The damning report found the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) aims to carry out seven million health and disability assessments between April 2015 and March 2018 at an estimated cost of £1.6 billion.

The public accounts committee has warned savings in benefits will likely fall short of a billion pounds over the next four years as a result of the costly new tests.

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Destitution [UK] From: UN Special Rapporteur On Extreme Poverty And Human Rights

Subject: Destitution [UK]
From: Special Rapporteur On Extreme Poverty And Human Rights
Date: 6:04 AM (2 hours ago)

Dear Mr. Miller,

On behalf of the Special Rapporteur, thank you very much for your communications and apologies for the delayed response. Ms. Sepúlveda is observing very closely the situation with the UK welfare policies and their effects on persons living in poverty, including persons with disability. She is doing her best within the limits of her mandate to address such situations not only in the UK but globally through direct engagement with Governments.

She would like to commend you for your tireless efforts and wishes you all the best in your endeavours.

Best regards,

Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Postal Address: UNOG-OHCHR, CH1211 Genève 10, Suisse
Tel: +41 22 917 94 02/ 96 43
Fax: + 41 22 917 90 06
Email: srextremepoverty@ohchr.org
Website: http://www.ohchr.org


Source

Letters: My Best Friend Hung Himself After Cost Of Living Became Too Much

My best friend Daniel hung himself three days ago. He was a kind and gentle soul who had lived in London for almost 15 years. He had always managed to support himself on limited means. He was a man of simple pleasures. I had never known him to need any support from the welfare state or anyone else for that matter. 

But recently as the cost of living in London increased exponentially, directly as a result of successive government’s savaging of affordable housing. Selling council homes off en mass to private landlords, encouraging the worlds elite to funnel their billions into the London property market, and through our despicable tax haven ‘crown dependencies’. Dan was unable to continue to cover the ever-increasing costs of accommodation, as work became harder to find and the work that he did get continued to pay the same wages they had 15 years previous. 

Dan became increasingly depressed, but there was no tonic our national health service could provide other than ever-increasing dosages of antidepressants and a pat on the shoulder. The ideological destruction of our most cherished service, our universal healthcare, meant that the resources weren’t available for doctors to spend the time with him and care for him in the way that he deserved. 

Meanwhile the welfare state judged him ‘fit to work’, despite the fact he was increasingly becoming a danger to himself. And offered no help despite the fact he was being evicted from his flat due to being in arrears. Eventually the burden of having to rely on handouts from friends and family became too much for him. He was a proud and generous soul. 

The relentless juggernaut of the free market, and the ideological destruction of the post war consensus has diminished our humanity. Our commitment to each other and to the weakest members of society has been slowly eroded. And for what? Progress? Growth? We have all been sold a monumental lie, and as result can only look forward to a darker future. 

For me personally, I have lost more than just a friend, but a brother. And the world has lost one of the good guys. 

Matt (surname not provided)

Source

ESA Deaths - Official day of remembrance September 6th

THOUSANDS of sick and disabled people have died or committed suicide due to the conservatives new reforms and attack on those who are vulnerable with their policies and negligence, atos's negligence, lies and false reporting just to increase their profits and the dwp for taking part in target performance for reducing benefits.

So at 8pm on Sept 6th each year those who can make it to a prominent place in their city, town or village to hold a candlelight vigil at 8pm (just after sunset) and at 8:20pm please take ONE MIN SILENCE to remember those who are now longer with us. and for those who cant make it out to one of these mass gatherings show your support by placing a single white candle in your front window.


Please share this event and invite all you can It's time to remember those who should still be here!!!

Meeting points so far:

Norwich - Forum (co organiser needed)
Plymouth - City Centre by the big screen
Cardiff - Bevan statue, Queen st (organisers needed)
Bradford - Centenary Square/City Park (organisers needed)
Liverpool - Mann Island Pier Head (organisers needed)
Leicester - The Clock Tower (organisers needed)
Barker's Pool, Sheffield -in front of City Hall (organisers needed)
Portsmouth - ATOS offices,Commercial Road.
Bradford - Centenary Square/City Park - (organisers needed)
Northampton: All Saints Square - (organisers needed)
Bristol - Job Centre- (organisers needed)


https://www.facebook.com/events/153457951514590/

Atos decide man with cerebral palsy is fit for work

ANTONY WALKER had his benefits docked after French firm’s fitness-to-work tests – but experts at an appeal took just minutes to see sense and overturn the decision.

BRAVE Antony Walker has spent his whole life battling cerebral palsy. But when Atos put him through their hated fit-for-work test, he scored ZERO.

The 25-year-old Scot needed 15 points in the tick-box test to get the benefit payments he needed.

But despite his debilitating brain condition, which forces him to use crutches and makes simple tasks a painful struggle, he says the French company “for all intents and purposes considered me able-bodied”.

After the assessment, Iain Duncan Smith’s Department for Work and Pensions refused to give Antony employment and support allowance and told him to start looking for a job.

Stunned, Antony appealed. It took him eight months to get a hearing. And after hearing the evidence, an expert panel needed just 10 minutes to decide Atos were wrong.

Antony became one of tens of thousands of people to win appeals after Atos Work Capability Assessments.

The Government’s own statistics have shown that more than a third of people who challenge decisions – 37 per cent – get them overturned.

There have been more than 600,000 appeals since Work Capability Assessments began, at a cost to the taxpayer of about £60million a year.

Antony, from Greenock, wants to work. Despite his condition, he finished a university degree in Italian and marketing and has applied for dozens of jobs.

But his condition makes life a daily struggle and he was outraged at how the Atos test dismissed it.

He told the Record: “I have a lifelong condition. If anything, it’s not going to get better – it’s going to get worse.

“But the fact I could score zero meant that for all intents and purposes Atos considered me to be an able-bodied person. I was quite shocked by that.

“I just don’t think the assessments are designed to reflect how wide-ranging disability can be. It was black and white. It didn’t take grey areas into account.

“Much of the assessment was incorrect or misleading. They wrote that I could walk 500 metres, but it doesn’t mean I’m on a par with an able-bodied person.

“Yes, I can walk 500 metres. But by the time I get there, I’m exhausted and in pain.

“Atos had me down as able to lift a box, but that requires great effort for me. I can’t lift boxes all day.

“And I was assessed as being able to do my shopping in 20 minutes, when in fact I’d said it takes me 20 minutes to do my shopping online. It’s not as though I pop down to Sainsbury’s.


Daily Record

Bedroom Tax: An inspector calls: Can YOU help her assess the damage?

Reblogged from Vox Political:

Hugely unpopular: Thousands of people have demonstrated against the bedroom tax on the poor since it was first announced by our government of millionaires – this one was in Glasgow.

A United Nations inspector has arrived in the UK to investigate whether David Cameron’s Coalition government has reneged on international agreements giving everybody the right to adequate housing and shelter.

Special rapporteur Raquel Rolnik has been asked to assess whether bedroom tax-related eviction threats that are driving tenants to suicide mean the UK is refusing that right to its citizens – and you can help her with this by emailing your story to her on srhousing@ohchr.org

Come to that, there’s no reason for victims of the ESA assessment regime, for whom loss of the benefit involves a threat of eviction, not to provide their story as well. Is that you? srhousing@ohchr.org

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right to housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

An article announcing the visit in the Morning Star (it doesn’t seem to have been picked up by the pro-Coalition newspapers) said the visit was likely to infuriate our comedy Prime Minister, David Cameron.

The article states that he described this country, in a speech to the UN last year, as “a country that keeps its promises to the poorest”.

It seems possible he will argue that under-occupation of social housing – having a ‘spare room’ as defined by his law – means people are getting more than they deserve.

But the government’s clear failure to provide enough social housing of a size and standard appropriate for the 660,000 affected households in the UK – some of the poorest in the country – is likely to weigh against him.

And then there is the fact that the policy has driven people to death.

For example: John Walker, of Marsh Green, Bolton, was found hanged at his home by former partner Susan Martin in May. He had been worried about mounting financial problems, worsened by being forced to pay extra rent on his home under the bedroom tax. A suicide note was found in the property.

And Greater Manchester Against the Bedroom Tax’s Mark Krantz told the Morning Star of an eviction in Oldham where bailiffs discovered the tenant had also hanged himself, and was dead.

These two deaths pale into insignificance, of course, when compared with the monumental death toll caused by the Department for Work and Pensions and its assessment regime for Employment and Support Allowance. The plan, which aims to knock as many sick and disabled people off-benefit as possible – for any reason at all – has led to thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of deaths as claimants’ health conditions have overtaken their bodies’ ability to cope, or the prospect of destitution or being a financial burden on friends and family has forced them into suicide. The DWP is currently refusing to issue figures on the number of deaths that have taken place, among those either claiming or appealing, since the start of 2012 – and it is believed that this can only be because the numbers are far greater than the already-appalling 73-a-week average that was revealed for 2011. No figures are known for the 70 per cent of claimants who have been marked “fit for work” and thrown off the benefit altogether, who have not appealed against the decision. The DWP does not monitor their well-being at all.

Ms Rolnik is expected to meet with government officials, non-government organisations, housing associations and individuals in a tour of England and Scotland.

But to get a full picture of the situation here, she needs to hear from real people who have become victims of the robber-government’s punitive policies. She needs to hear from you: srhousing@ohchr.org

Becoming Disabled

Reblogged from Shadows In The Mirror:


For most of my life I have been very fortunate in the fact that I have been healthy, hardly ever requiring the need of a Doctor aside from back problems caused by a fall down a flight of concrete stairs when I was in my teens. I took my health for granted as so many of us do, stretching myself to the limits and thinking myself indestructible. I didn’t take particular care of myself, no dieting, healthy eating or regular exercise although I was a pretty active woman anyway. I worked all hours running my own busy little pub, I travelled and I loved to hike out in the countryside. These were my passions and they were the first things to go when I became sick.

I lived in Australia for a while and it was there that I first started noticing all was not quite right. Pain where before there had been none and struggling to do an all day shift at work. I struggled on for a while before coming back home to the UK and that is when the real problems started. I managed to find myself somewhere temporary to live and part time bar work to tide me over until I could find something more permanent and get my own Photography Business off the ground. However I started to struggle to keep up with everyone else, a long days shoot would put me flat on my back for two days and I was starting to have problems walking as well due to the chronic pain in my knees but still I pushed it to the back of my mind, after all I was no spring chicken, I was pushing fifty!

Then I had a bad fall, I slipped on ice and landed right on the base of my spine, at the time I didn’t think too much of it, I was sore but thought it was just bruising and would heal soon enough. But the pain didn’t go away, I couldn’t sit properly as it was excruciatingly painful and my original spine problems were made worse by the awkward posture created by having keep the weight from my coccyx. This carried on for a few months, I was too scared to go and see my Doctor in case she told me it was Cancer or something else equally as frightening, my stress levels went through the roof because each day the pain all over my body just seemed to get worse. I had to give up work and claim Disability, I didn’t have a clue about Work Capability Assessments or ESA at the time (I had been out of the country for two years don‘t forget), I thought a note from my Doctor would suffice. So the much delayed appointment for my Doctor could no longer wait and I found myself sitting in her surgery crying my eyes out and spilling out everything that I had been going through, the pain the fear and everything else that had seemed to be ‘going wrong‘ in my life. I hadn’t realised quite so much how all of this was impacting on me, how could I go from a globe trotting explorer to this pathetic woman snivelling in my Doctors office in the space of months? I couldn’t understand it and I’m sure you’ll understand if I say I was absolutely terrified.

I was in a relationship at the time and was constantly getting nagged at for not doing enough around the house, or going out and getting a full time job, even though I had tried to explain that I was in so much pain. I was made to feel as if I was making it all up and indeed on more than one occasion they even hurled that accusation at me. It got to the stage where I would sit at home in silence, trapped in my own nightmare little world I stopped going out and then got accused of being anti-social, the list is endless, I felt like I could do nothing right, accusations at every turn.

At one point I got so desperate that I got a razor blade out and started slashing at my thigh, the blood running in rivulets down my leg, if asked to explain why, even to this day I can’t give you an answer except to say it felt real and it stopped me thinking. I had so much going round in my head, I was so frightened that I had the C word or if not it was Multiple Sclerosis like my Father, my home life was diabolical, there was no love just resentment turning to hatred. My partner was also a heavy drinker, I would say alcoholic although they denied that and still do to this day as far as I know, nearly every night they would come home and the rows would begin, I just couldn‘t bear it anymore yet I was stuck there, I had no job and no money to get my own place and felt so alone and desperate. Towards the end the arguments turned to violence and that was when I snapped and decided I couldn’t take any more, I had to get out.

I was diagnosed with depression. I was also sent to three different Specialists, one for my spine, one for my legs and to the Asthma Clinic as I had also been having trouble with my breathing. I was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Arthritis in my knees Coccydynia and Chronic Degenerative Disc Disease. I was put on the waiting list for a partial knee replacement and injections in my coccyx and spine for the pain. At last I felt like I was getting somewhere, x-rays and MRIs proved unequivocally that I did have physical problems and that helped me emotionally to a certain extent. Feeling grateful to a Surgeon or a GP is not something we should ever have to feel yet here I was thanking mine, eyes brimming for believing me. I also managed with help to get out of the house I was living with my ex and found a place of my own so things were looking up…..or so I thought anyway. I was about to find out exactly how difficult it was to get financial help when you are disabled. I applied for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and was awarded minimum rate until I had an Assessment.

After a few months I was sent for my first Work Capability Assessment which I failed and I was no longer entitled to ESA. I was living in Nottingham at the time and as soon as I got the letter stating my benefits had stopped I went to the Nottingham Job Centre and attempted to get help, I say attempted because it was akin to banging your head against a brick wall, by this time I was in floods of tears and I literally begged to talk to a member of staff, anyone who could help me, I must have looked a right mess but I couldn‘t help it and cared even less. I was refused and told to ring their office. I did so, I was NOT told I could appeal but instead had to sign on for Job Seekers despite having Medical Certificates to back up my claim that I was unfit to work. So I signed on for three months and every signing day I told the Advisor that I was unfit for work but they let me sign anyway (I am assuming this was illegal although I didn‘t know that at the time either).

During this period I found from a Health Care Worker that I was entitled to appeal but not that I could still receive ESA whilst the appeal process was going through. I was still signing on despite this and they were letting me! My ESA eventually got reinstated after I looked up an advice line on the internet and then I waited ten months for my Tribunal which immediately overturned the Assessors decision. It then took them ten months after that to give me my backdated benefit and I have never received the money from the three months that they forced me, illegally in my opinion to sign on. They actually told me I wasn’t entitled because I had declared myself fit to work even though I pointed out to them that each signing on day I had refuted that fact, but, I had my money and the result I deserved so I decided to be content with that.

Six months after my first Tribunal though I was called for another Assessment which I passed with no problems, my pain levels were increasing quite dramatically and this must have shown on the day which had been a particularly bad one, naively I thought this would be the end of it, I had had two assessments and they had irrefutable proof that my conditions were deteriorating rapidly. However six months later I was called for yet another Assessment, by this time my condition had worsened to the point where I rarely left the house and actually getting to the assessment on its own was an agonizing ordeal. I was now seeing a different Spine Specialist who was discussing the possibility of major Spine Surgery and I was also still on the Hospital waiting list for the Knee Replacement Surgery of which Atos were informed and given all the paperwork, once again backing up my claim. I failed again, getting the letter informing me that my benefit had been withdrawn two days after coming out of hospital from having said surgery.

I could not believe it, I sat in the chair totally stunned, unable to take in what I was reading, how on earth can they find me fit to work six months after finding me unfit when my condition was considerably worse? I had twenty staples holding my knee together, just what was I supposed to do, I wasn’t well enough to go chasing around everywhere to try and get it all sorted out I was supposed to be recuperating from major surgery, I was devastated. I was left with no choice, I was broke and my rent was due, if I had lost my home I am sure I wouldn’t be sitting here now, I felt that desperate so I hobbled over to the Job Centre on crutches which was now thankfully just across the road from where I was living. I demanded to see an Advisor, refusing to go until I had, angrily waving the letter under the receptionists nose, I am sure I was so very close to being thrown out but I didn’t care, I wanted it sorted out and I wanted it done there and then.

They did give me an appointment and I lifted my leg up onto a chair, pulled up my trouser leg and practically screamed at her “Does this look like I am b***** fit for work?” Yes, I’m afraid I did swear, I’m not proud of it but I had already been through this scenario a year previously, I was determined I wasn’t going through the same again. I had one thing on my side this time…..Information. I had done an awful lot of research and I had also joined an online Support Group, Atos Miracles. Just feeling that I wasn’t going through it all alone helped me more than words can say. I demanded an immediate appeal and that my benefit be reinstated, the advisor looked quite astonishingly at me as I laid out everything I wanted done, including a letter for the council as my Housing Benefit would have been stopped immediately also, although luckily I now had an understanding Landlord.

The letter for the Council and the appeal form were sorted out there and then and my benefits were re-instated within the week but at the lower rate. Thanking whoever for small mercies and the fact that I live in a tiny town I hobbled out of the Job Centre and across the road to the Council Offices and also got my HB re-instated the same day. After getting a taxi home I spent the rest of the day and following night in tears because I was in so much pain from having to exert myself so much and couldn’t walk at all the next day.

It took thirteen long months for my Tribunal to be held this time, during which I suffered severe hardship and amassed considerable debts to the point at one stage of having an arrest warrant issued. I had to borrow the money from my family to stay out of prison which was humiliating in itself, I ate very little and I spent one of the coldest winters I had had for a very long time because I couldn‘t afford to put the heating on, instead sat there wrapped in blankets clutching a hot water bottle. I got so depressed I went for days not getting dressed or even opening the curtains. I cut myself off from friends and eventually even they stopped calling.

My condition kept deteriorating, some days I didn’t even have the energy to get off the sofa to cook myself something to eat or even make a cup of tea. I went back to see my Doctor after I practically lost the use of my right arm due to pain and was so low at one point I seriously wondered whether it was worth living. I was in hell and I couldn’t see a way out of it. I had no diagnosis and felt that no one believed me when I told them I was literally in pain from head to toe.

Another Specialist and once again the fear of what he was going to tell me. I was in for a surprise though, no stuffy Specialist looking down and talking at me, this guy actually listened to what I had to say and talked to me, it was like a breath of fresh air. I have never known any Doctor to be so open and honest and although I had bad news I still came out of there feeling as if he actually understood what I was trying to tell him.

I had written everything down, pages and pages of notes of everything I wanted to say to him as my memory no longer works properly, but in the end I didn‘t need them, it was probably the best conversation I have had with one person in a very long time..He diagnosed my Frozen Shoulder and prescribed a course of injections which I am pleased to say have helped tremendously.

He gave me a leaflet to read as I was leaving and told me to read it and we would discuss it next time I saw him. The leaflet? Living with Fibromyalgia, my heart missed a beat when I read that, I had considered it, of course I had, but the growing certainty inside me was a different matter entirely. Was this me? Is this my life now? As soon as I got home I read the whole booklet from cover to cover, twice over, crying as every page described exactly each day of my life and the problems even the smallest thing can incur. I could have written it myself it was that precise.

I had a week before I saw my Specialist again, seven long days where emotionally I felt like I was on the worlds largest roller coaster. One minute I felt relief, because I had a name for what was happening to me, relief would turn to anger because there are still so many unanswered questions and so to fear, is this my life now, do I have to live every day for the rest of my life forgetting what it feels like to not have any pain. It was one of the longest weeks of my life and it was with trepidation that I went to the clinic seven day later. But there it is, I have Fibromyalgia and I am still struggling to come to terms with it, I have a good support network and for that I am very thankful but it is difficult. I still have days where I don’t want to open the curtains and face the world, especially when I have officialdom to contend with also.

During all this I was still waiting for my second Tribunal and in November last year I once again successfully overturned the Atos decision. Armed with resources and fully supported this time I ensured I got my backdated benefits paid a lot sooner and was able to pay off a large quantity of my debts although not all. I thought once again that would be that and after two successful Tribunals surely they wouldn’t ask me for another assessment but ’lo and behold in May this year what should fall onto my doormat? Yes, another assessment form. Unbelievable, I know I shouldn’t have been surprised but I seriously thought they would leave me alone now. I duly filled in the form, sent off all my evidence, even going as far to tell them that I could no longer use public transport and asked for a home visit they still asked me to go for an assessment.

This time I fought back, I sent countless emails demanding to know why they hadn’t taken my form into consideration or contacted my Doctor for more evidence, I wrote to the newspapers and to my local MP, whom I still waiting for a reply from by the way. I also told Atos I was going to make a referral against the Nurse who decided despite the evidence that I was fit enough to travel to Nottingham, which I did. After a couple of months of continuous letter writing (or should I say emailing) I finally got my way and the assessment was cancelled and I have been placed in the Support Group for a year. Twelve months of peace so I can now take the time to try and come to terms with what is left of my life and attempt to forge a newer brighter future

Disabled? Only one way to make Atos ESA assessors understand your condition

Reblogged from Vox Political:

Insanity: Apologies for using this image yet again but it perfectly encapsulates the lunacy that is rampant in the Department for Work and Pensions, headed up by Iain ‘I believe’ Smith.

We’re all getting to the point now, aren’t we?

You know what point I mean; the point where we realise that we can no longer afford to believe our dealings with the Department for Work and Pensions – including any of its representatives – involve contact with rational human beings.

There is nothing rational about DWP decisions. We’ve known that all along, but now we have enough evidence to prove it.

Look at the Daily Mirror‘s story today: Almost half of the ESA claimants who are known to have progressive conditions like Parkinson’s, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis are being refused admission to the support group.

Instead, they’ve been put into the work-related activity group, which means they are expected to recover from these permanently-disabling ailments to a point at which they could look for work.

This is, of course, impossible.

All doctors know it is impossible.

Atos assessors are said to be doctors. Therefore they should know it is impossible.

An Atos spokesperson, quoted in the article, tried to cover the company’s arse by saying decisions are made by the DWP.

The DWP spokesperson said, “There is strong evidence working can be beneficial for many people who have a health condition.”

Like Parkinson’s?

A condition like that of the gentleman quoted in the report, who gave up working six years after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and who can no longer do even basic things?

Nobody can say he didn’t try to keep going for as long as he possibly could. But he was repeatedly told he would be able to recover from his progressively worsening condition and work again, and now the DWP is refusing to carry out any more assessments on him.

Closer to home, Mrs Mike – my own long-suffering significant other – first began experiencing the chronic pain that eventually stopped her from working in 2001. She soldiered on for a further two years before being signed off work by her doctor after spending a lengthening series of time on sick leave.

Her condition has worsened progressively since then, resisting all attempts at treatment. She was granted Incapacity Benefit but this was changed to ESA last year. She was put in the work-related activity group but appealed against this after being told by a work programme provider that she would not be healthy enough to work by the time her benefit ended, and that she should seek reconsideration (or appeal) with a view to being put in the support group.

She did this, but the DWP has sat on the request for almost six months without doing anything, waiting for her benefit period to end so she could be signed off and claimed as a “positive benefit outcome”. This finally happened, two weeks ago.

They say she must be fit for work now. In fact, her health is worse than ever.

Irrational.

And – as this is the prevailing attitude at the DWP – we can say that the DWP attitude as a whole is irrational.

(We know the DWP monitors this site, so: Hello, DWP snooper! Are you aware you’re quite mad?)

It’s reminiscent of the stories about amputees being asked when their limbs were likely to grow back. That, too, was irrational.

It does offer a way out, for those people under threat from these idiots and the Atos employees working for them. Not a particularly nice way, as you’ll see – but probably the only way that will work:

Anyone going to a work capability assessment takes an able-bodied friend with them. As soon as they are alone with the assessor, the able-bodied friend rips the Atos employee’s lower jaw off and destroys it. It doesn’t matter how.

(I told you it wasn’t a particularly nice way!)

For the claimant, and their friend, this course of action leads to a secure future in prison, where their bed and board will be supported by the taxpayer (albeit at considerably greater expense than if the DWP had just put them in the support group).

For the assessor, it provides insight into the plight of those he or she has been working with; sometime in their own future, they will know exactly how it feels to have one of their own colleagues asking, “How long before it grows back and you can get back to work?”

Now, I’m not suggesting for a moment that anyone should actually go out and perform such a heinous act on a (so-called) medical professional.

But I maintain that they will never accept the seriousness of your condition unless they are made to suffer it – or something similar – themselves.

Atos: Our last twelve months have been nothing but torture

From the facebook page ‘ATOS miracles’ 27th August 2013:

Stephen Critchley: 

An open letter to Mr Cameron, Mr Clegg and all Con-Dem supporters.

Our last 12 months have been nothing but torture, my wife suffers from a rare illness which is life threatening and degenerative, for those of you that doesn’t know what degenerative means. A degenerative disease is a disease in which the function or structure of the affected tissues or organs will increasingly deteriorate over time. But do not worry you are not alone Atos healthcare did not know either they told my wife that she would be better within 3 years therefore is fit enough to return to work.

We appealed this and it has taken just over 10 months to sort out. All this worry and stress has done my wife no good at all, most people have no idea what is like to live with a life threatening illness, and in an ideal world nobody would but yet my wife was forced to relive her illness again and again. We had 3 letters from different specialists and one from our GP supporting us and we even went to visit our MP which was of no help. But still Atos and the DWP would not believe us and my wife’s specialists after all what do they know, so we had to go a tribunal at the magistrate’s court which we won.

What an ordeal that was for me let alone my wife, we were both searched like criminals and of course the court room is upstairs and at the other end of the building, this is no accident they do this to try and catch you out, the reason for this is if you put on your form you cannot walk more than 40 meter’s then how did you reach the court room? If this is not true then why after the hearing were we allowed to use the lift and leave via a short cut?

My question to you all is this why did it ever get this far, surely the letters from the specialists was enough evidence to stop it going this far and wasting tax payers money, what was the cost to the tax payer for this exercise and most importantly what is the cost to my wife’s health and state of mind.

On top of all that we are also in a fight to try and keep our house, because of the so called Bedroom Tax now there is a policy that makes no sense at all, for example if my wife and I moved to private rented accommodation with 4 bedrooms at a £1000pm they would pay it as we would not be affected by the tax, but because we live in social housing we are forced to find £125pm, of which we cannot afford so we have a choice do we eat and keep warm or pay the tax .

Now in 2 years’ time we will have to go through it all again but then it will be a lot harder because not only will we be fighting for ESA we will have to fight for PIP, it’s no wonder a lot of the sick and disabled have thoughts of ending their own life my wife included. All I can say to every MP who voted this in is this; you can take the Motability car off us, you can take our house off us (Bedroom Tax) and our benefits, all my wife wants in return is for you to take her illness off her she did not ask for it neither does she want it.
Many Thanks

Mr S Critchley

Atos branded ‘farcical’ as nearly half of people with progressive diseases like Parkinson’s told they’ll RECOVER

The shock figures, from research by leading charities, are the latest blow to the credibility of employment tests

Campaign: Protesters in wheelchairs carry placards against Atos last year

More than four in 10 jobless people with crippling life-long illnesses are being told they will get better – and must seek work.

The shock figures, from research by leading charities, are the latest blow to the credibility of employment tests ordered by the Government.

Parkinson’s UK said the results of the Work Capability Assessment, done by French firm Atos, “defy belief”.

The charity accused the Government of an “unspeakable failure” to support the most vulnerable.

Between 2008 and 2011, 13,600 people with cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or rheumatoid arthritis applied for out-of-work benefit the Employment Support Allowance.

But according to research from Parkinson’s UK, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the MS Society and the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, 45% were told they were able to recover to the point where they could look for work.

The charities called for ministers to rethink the “hugely flawed” system.

Parkinson’s sufferer Jim Grimwood had to give up his job as a computer programmer after 20 years.

Jim, 58, from the North Pennines, said: “It was six years after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s that I was finally forced to give up work.

“After the first ESA assessment they said I should be able to work within three months. I was flabbergasted.

“Last year I applied for ESA again as my Parkinson’s had got worse.

“I was told I should be able to return to work in 18 months. I asked to be reassessed but the DWP refused.”
He said his condition prevented him from doing even basic things, let alone a job.

Caroline Hacker, of Parkinson’s UK, said: “This is the latest in a long line of unspeakable failures by Atos Healthcare and the Government to support those who need it most.

"To tell people who’ve had to give up work because of a debilitating progressive condition that they’ll recover is farcical and defies belief.”

The Department for Work and Pensions denied those with degenerative conditions are told they will recover.

But added: “There is strong evidence working can be beneficial for many people who have a health condition.”

Atos said: “Our staff are trained to assess chronic and progressive conditions.

"However, the advice we give DWP concentrates on how individuals are at present. Decisions are made by DWP.”

Atos admits it conducts around 17% of WCAs without face-to-face assessment.

Mirror

DWP Benefits Farce Leads To Overdose For Blind Heart Attack Victim

Reblogged from Welfare News Service:




Tuesday 30th July 2013 I took a phone-call from the DWP. Wednesday 31st July 2013 I took an overdose.

9am my phone rings: As normal I answer and a strange unrecognisable man is on the other end. He is explaining he is from the DWP and later TODAY between 10.30 and 4.30pm I will be receiving a phone-call from ATOS regarding a questionnaire. Failure to answer the phone-call or complete the questionnaire, could result in my disability benefit being stopped. He also explained he has written to me 7 days previously, but I explained I was fully blind, so unless I was able to scan the letter I would not be able to know what it said; this apparently was my fault for not having anyone read my mail.

My mind racing at this sudden change of events today meant I had to let the charity I volunteer for down. I run groups of support for them so not only did I let a charity down at the last-minute, but also the people who were relying on me to run that group. I also had an urgent doctors appointment later that afternoon to find out why I am losing feeling and sensation in my feet. The receptionist was annoyed at the last-minute cancellation and made a new appointment for 2 weeks time.

And so I waited for the phone to ring………

An hour later jumping out of my skin the phone rang. The lady on the other end explained I needed to fill out a questionnaire they will be sending me regarding my ability to work. It was explained coldly: because I pose a risk to their staff they will not be doing a home assessment. I cough up blood because of the poor state of my lungs but I also do this discreetly into tissues and not spray it over people, as was insinuated. I was made to feel like I was a walking infection but that was the least of my worries.

The forms are only available in standard print format, which is great if you can see. When I explained I was fully blind her first reaction was, “how do you have your bills then?” I calmly replied to her rude tone that I receive all my bills and correspondence in either Braille or audio format. “Oh…” was the reply. “What about family? They could fill it out for you?” Again I calmly and politely explained I do not have any family and I am isolated due to my disabilities so since being moved to a new area I have not had the chance to make friends because it isn’t easy popping out when you a) cannot walk b) cannot see. “Well in that case I will have to give you another number to ring and see if they can help you as we do not supply our forms in braille or audio”.

I rang that number and they said they did not having the facilities to help fill out questionnaires over the phone, so if I could call another department; I rang that department and was met with the same reply. The disability advisor has already explained on a previous phone-call she does not speak to people over the phone but you have to travel to see her in person. So I tried the fourth number I was given. I spoke to a lady at length who seemed helpful and understanding but unable to provide any answers into how I was meant to fill out a form I was not unable to see. The service previously offered to fill out forms over the phone had ceased due to government cutbacks, so she gave me another number to try, which was closed as they shut from 1pm so I would have to try them tomorrow. In the meantime it was also reminded to me that failure to fill out the form will mean my disability benefit would be delayed until this has been completed, but the silver lining was the number I have to ring tomorrow was not a premium number – unlike the ones I have been calling all day notching up quite hefty phone charges along the way.

That night worried sick I could not sleep. I woke at 4am crying because I felt after trying so hard to get back to work setting up my shop, I was now being targeted. Maybe I was being over sensitive, but that was how it felt and I was scared. In the end I wrote a desperate tweet to Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson for help, as I have found my MP in the past is very anti disabled & unwilling to help me - http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rllkd8:

“@Tanni_GT HELP : I’m scared of what is happening. This morning (9.00am Tues 30th) I had a phone call from DWP informing me that the same day (Tues 30th) I would have a disability assessment over the phone by ATOS anytime between 10.30 and 4.30, and to make sure I am available. He then explained failure to do so would affect my disability benefits and might delay payment if I do not complete it so I had to cancel an urgent doctors appointment because I am losing sensation in my feet later that day at 2.30pm, so I would not miss it. An hour later a woman called me saying because I pose a risk to their staff (I cough up blood because of my lungs) I would have to fill out a questionnaire in the next few days and send it back to them. I explained I am fully blind and the service provided previously that helped me fill out forms has been cut due to government cutbacks. They are aware I am unable to walk so unable to go to one of their offices already. They also do not provide questionnaires in braille or audio format – just standard printed format. I do not have any family & I have become isolated due to my disabilities so no friends close by since I was moved here to be near my rehab centre. I do not have any visitors. Last social visit by friends was back in December. She said they did not have the resources to deal with my disability problems, just mild disabilities and asked me to ring another department for advice and help. I rang them. They said I had to ring another department for advice and help. I rang them – yes they gave me another number. I have now been asked to organise myself an appointment with an ATOS/DWP approved centre and to do this over the phone tomorrow. They said if that centre is not able to help me tomorrow to fill out the forms & questionnaire for my disability assessment to ring them back and they “will have a think on what to do”

Surely if a government department is doing disability assessments they should have the resources to deal with disabilities, and also not put the onus on me to chase around different government departments finding out who does? If I fail my assessment due to being unable to complete it does that mean I am left with nothing? I was made to feel subhuman today being told coldly I pose a risk like I am some disgusting infection because my lungs do not work properly who does not fit into their resources of disabilities. I have to go through the whole process again tomorrow. It is currently 4am and I am crying my eyes out from stress/scared and wondering why I am having to justify why I am working so hard at staying alive to them because they made me feel it was an inconvenience.”

The next morning I was told the assessment centre would be open between 8am and 1pm, and was ATOS approved. I rang nearly every 10 minutes and no-one answered at all during those 5 hours. It just rang and rang. The same time I received amazing support from Tanni & others via twitter. The phone-calls from @bendygirl led me to support from her contacts and my doctor, who had heard about my tweets, telephoned me telling me she would help fill out my forms for me. I rang the DWP lady back informing her my doctor would help with the forms to which she replied, “well it sorted itself out then” – but not before it made me ill!

By now I was experiencing chest pain and having had my second heart attack not long ago this worried me. I took my GTN spray but also my pain meds as my lungs were now in bad shape and my body in general. I was also not paying attention and an hour later I took another set of pain meds. I am not on normal paracetamol, but serious heavy-duty pain meds that allow me to function to some degree throughout the day. It allows me to do some work for my shop while I am on a scheme called “permitted to work” – which I only just started as I was unaware it existed – and allows me a lifeline to build up enough customers and income to come completely off benefits. I am not creating enough orders at the moment to do so.

That night I had to have my stomach pumped and drink a thick charcoal “milkshake”. I also was admitted due to my ECG showing worrying signs from the chest pains that were triggered off by stress.

I am home now, recovering but staying offline for a couple of days until I am stronger. My computer is fixed and I am being targeted by trolls online – throwing abuse my way for being a ‘benefit scrounger’. Yet if that is true why am I working so hard to getting my shop off the ground despite all my disabilities?

This episode has also raised a number of other more serious questions. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a great relationship with their doctors or housing officer like I do – or able to use the internet – so I worry about other blind people who will find themselves in the same situation as I found myself. A lot of blind people become isolated through sight loss especially now with so many resources having been cut back.

What would happen to them? DWP & ATOS rely solely on assuming a disabled person has family to do the work for them. When, like in my case, there is no family it feels you’re dealing with a system that has no adaptability to help, or any willingness. A lot of blind people do not have the skill to use a computer or the internet but instead lead solitary lives. Would they just have their benefits cut because they cannot see to fill out a printed form that does not come in other formats? I guess because they do not use the internet we would never hear about it?

The past 2 days I felt humiliated and ashamed of being disabled. I was made to feel I was an inconvenience because I needed help to fill out a benefits form. I cough up blood from my lungs but I do not spray people with it as insinuated by one of their staff saying I was a risk. There was no compassion in their voices, just annoyance.

Thank you to @Tanni_GT and @bendygirl. I don’t think this is the end of my problem as I know more forms will be coming their way over the course of time, but I now have people who are willing to help me in the future. I just hope next time I do not end up in hospital because of it. Despite everything I am doing to try and come off benefits and despite what Iain Duncan Smith says, not all of us on benefits are scroungers. We just need a chance and to be treated as a human being.

Do Job Centre Staff Now Need Training In Resuscitation And Should All Job Centres Have Defibrillators?

Reblogged from Grannie's Last Mix:





 There have recently been a number of reports in local newspapers up and down the country of sick or disabled people being taken ill while attending Job Centres. Given the fact that the Work Capability Assessment is seriously flawed and some very seriously  and even terminally ill people are being passed as ‘fit for work’ and being forced to attend Job Centres under threat of losing benefits, this is a budding trend that could potentially become an every day occurrence.



Job Centre staff have already been given training in dealing with suicidal claimants, a tacit admission by the DWP that its policies are having a devastating effect on many people’s mental health. Is it now time for staff in Job Centres to be trained in basic life support and resuscitation techniques and for all Job Centres to be equipped with defibrillators, to deal with the growing likelihood that very sick claimants could need urgent medical attention whilst under their roof?



If you think this sounds ludicrous consider the following news reports. For instance back in March of this year an ambulance was called to a Job Centre in Grays, Hertfordshire    when a man collapsed. By the time the paramedics arrived, despite attempts to resuscitate him, the man had died. Had the staff been properly trained in basic CPR its possible his life could have been saved.

In July this year an ambulance was called to a Scunthorpe Job Centre when a man complained of chest pains. He was later diagnosed as having had a panic attack which when severe enough can give rise to chest pain, pallor and a feeling of shortness of breath – symptoms very like those of a heart attack and just as unpleasant. Had staff been trained in First Aid techniques,whilst they may not have been able to accurately diagnose his problem they would at least have felt more confident in supporting him and calming him down until the paramedics arrived.

Read more...

Jobcentre: ‘Cruel and degrading’ – verdict on treatment received by Crohn’s sufferer

Jobsworths at a Norwich job centre have been slammed over their ‘cruel and degrading’ treatment of an ill woman who was refused use of the toilet.

Nicola Martin, 32, who has Crohn’s disease, carries a ‘Can’t Wait’ card because the condition means she might need to “use the toilet facilities urgently”.

Despite this, staff at the Kiln House Jobcentre in Pottergate told the mother-of-two she could not use their toilet because it was ‘against job centre policy’.

Mrs Martin’s case has now been taken up by South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon, who has written a letter of complaint to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who is responsible for job centres, for an explanation.

Bosses at the job centre have apologised for their actions.

Mr Bacon said: “I am appalled by the cruel and degrading treatment my constituent had to endure. Mrs Martin was left feeling humiliated and in pain because job centre staff either wouldn’t or couldn’t understand her needs.

“I am sure there are many compassionate job centre staff across Britain who do their utmost to help Crohn’s sufferers to preserve their dignity.

“However, I understand that Mrs Martin’s experience is far from unique and that many Crohn’s sufferers struggle to have their needs taken seriously by their local job centre.

“I have asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, to look in detail at this matter and issue further guidance to his department as to how it treats Crohn’s sufferers and other people who may need assistance while attending their local job centre.”

Mrs Martin, from Bayspole Road, Long Stratton, was diagnosed with Crohn’s a year ago and is unable to work because of her condition.

She attended the job centre on August 6 for an interview with a specialist advisor related to her allowances.

Two members of staff at the reception told her it was against policy to let customers use the toilets.

After her appointment, she complained to the floor manager, who told her that, while she had a valid point, she still could not use the toilet.

She said the incident caused her humiliation and upset, leaving her in considerable pain and in fear of soiling herself in a public place. The stress of the incident also caused her symptoms to flare up after she left, worsening her condition.

She said: “What I’m most disappointed about is that they knew my medical condition beforehand, because I had included it on the form.

“Surely, I’m not the only one who has had this problem at the job centre? It’s a government building and there should be toilets that customers can use.”

She has been given a letter of support from the Crohn’s charity to take with her to the job centre in future.

The letter says: “I hope you will give serious consideration to raising awareness amongst your staff of this embarrassing and debilitating condition. A little help and understanding on their part could make all the difference.”

Source

Atos: Struggling through the bi-weekly gauntlet of humiliation

from the Facebook page “bedroom tax…think its unfair…join the fight here, 22nd August 2013:

“So, about a year ago, my father was denied incapacity benefit, based on an assessment by our friends at Atos.

My father scored 0 points. 

As I am sure you are aware, you require 15 points to be declared unfit for work. 

My father managed to take this decision to tribunal, and this week, we discovered that he has been awarded 24 points by the tribunal. 

My father has been struggling through the bi-weekly gauntlet of humiliation, that is jobseekers allowance for a year, trying to find work, that is not there, and which he would not be able to hold down, for one whole year because of the inherent conflict of interests involved in a private company being employed to assess the fitness of claiments on social security, while being paid for reducing the number of claimant(s).”

Disabled man suffers 'mini stroke' during Watford Job Centre interview

A brain damaged disabled man who regularly suffers seizures thought to be possibly ‘mini strokes’ was struck down by one - midway through a Watford Job Centre interview, geared towards getting him back into work.

James Laver, 46, has to endure unexplained episodes - thought by some doctors to be transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs), or ‘mini strokes’ - which leave him temporarily paralysed.

Despite the fact his GP said he is ‘completely unable to work at present’, Mr Laver was still called into the Job Centre, in Exchange Road, on Tuesday afternoon for an appointment as he had been placed into the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG), which is aimed at ‘preparing him for work in the future’.

Since having a full stroke in 2008, in which he suffered minor brain damage and nerve damage to his left side, Mr Laver has suffered seizures which paralyse him for an hour and cause him to feel dizzy and to slur his speech.

The exact nature and cause of the seizures have divided opinion among doctors, with some believing they are TIAs, which are caused by a temporary disruption in the blood supply to part of the brain resulting in a lack of oxygen to it.

This can cause symptoms similar to those of a stroke, such as speech and visual disturbance and numbness or weakness in the arms and legs.

However, a TIA does not last as long as a stroke. The effects only last for a few minutes and are usually fully resolved within 24 hours.

Nevertheless, Mr Laver has still been classed as someone who can prepare to go back to work and attended a Job Centre interview on Tuesday.

Mr Laver, who claims disability living allowance, said: "I was put on the floor and was swallowing my tongue, and began to choke. I managed to get myself into the recovery position, but staff then put me back on my back. I quite possibly could have died.

"The attacks are getting worse and are becoming more frequent. Whenever I’m in A&E I’m told it’s a TIA, or possibly a TIA, or not a TIA or stroke, or possibly epilepsy. I think it’s a TIA.

"When I visited my partner in Australia two years ago I was having fits and the Royal Melbourne Hospital said they were TIAs.

"I’ve had five attacks this week in the space of a few days. Nobody this week has told me what they were.

"The woman in the Job Centre was mainly going on about why was I there when I was obviously not fit to work.

"She was just reading stuff on the screen, saying they couldn’t overturn the decision made that I should be in a WRAG."

An Atos Healthcare spokeswoman said: "We were able to advise Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that Mr Laver was not fit for work without the need for a face-to-face assessment.

"DWP makes all benefit decisions and has found that he should continue to receive sickness benefit."

Regarding Mr Laver’s seizure at the Job Centre this week, ambulance service spokesman Gary Sanderson said: "We were called at 2.19pm and we conveyed a male to Watford General Hospital for further assessments."

When asked what the nature of the illness, Mr Sanderson added: "We cannot comment on that as it is unknown."

Source 

"Jobcentre Staff Nearly Killed Me"

The following event took place on 20th August 2013 at the Jobcentre on Exchange Road in Watford.



I was attending a work related face to face interview. Despite being unwell, I felt I had no choice except to attend or face losing benefit entitlement. I had arranged to be taken there with the Watford voluntary transport office. I had a 2pm appointment and arrived before time and was told to take a seat, because the adviser I was to see was still at lunch.

Despite having breathing troubles (possible onset of emphysema) I waited until the lady concerned called my name. I had to be helped to stand by a member of staff and was taken to her desk. It was clear that I was under considerable distress yet she started the interview and asked me why I was there as it appeared that I was unfit to work: I had been  placed in the Work related Activity Group of Employment and Support Allowance.

I found it  difficult to breathe, let alone speak. I repeatedly asked her to call for an ambulance because I was feeling worse and yet this was ignored until she finally stopped the appointment and phoned the gentleman who had brought me to come and collect me. Again I asked her to call an ambulance and the first aider. That was the 5th time I had asked for this.

My condition continued to worsen while she was on the phone and I became semi-conscious. I was aware of 2 people around me who kept asking me if I was alright. I was unable to answer even though I could hear them. They moved from my chair and laid me on the floor on my back. At this point, I started to choke but to my knowledge no attempt was made to move me into the recovery position, despite the fact that I was choking. Somehow I managed to roll onto my left-side. The choking subsided after a short while but then I was moved onto my back which caused me to proceed to begin choking again.

To the best of my knowledge no first aider was present during this time. The jobcentre told the attending ambulance crew that I was having a heart attack, and also that I had HIV – neither of which is true. The adviser had already told me at the start of the interview that she had no medical knowledge and yet she can diagnose a heart attack, as well as someone having HIV, just by looking at me!? Nowhere is it written that I have HIV, nor that I have ever stated that I have HIV. The adviser even admitted that there was very little information on the system about my disabilities and yet it was written down on the benefits form which DWP used to assess if I was “fit to work”.

The information stated by the jobcentre staff only came to my attention because the nursing staff at Watford general hospital accident and emergency dept asked me if I was HIV [positive]. The hospital records had been checked and no mention  that I had HIV.

Fortunately I am alive, but its only due to the ambulance crew and nursing staff at the hospital. Had it been left to the jobcentre staff things could very easily been a lot different. The ambulance crew could have administered the wrong drug, going on what the staff said.

I could very easily not be here today.

James Laver

Mr Laver informs us that he is considering legal action and the names of Jobcentre staff involved in this incident have been omitted for this reason.

Source

Benefit change ‘could lead to suicide risk’

Sweeping changes to the welfare system could be leaving people already struggling with mental health issues contemplating suicide.

That is the fear of one man who claims he was told by an adviser for the Department of Work and Pensions that it was not there to “spoon-feed” people having difficulties re-applying for benefits.

Chris Hyde, from Chalk, said he only discovered his entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) was to be stopped more than three weeks after he received what would be his final payment.

The 52-year-old art and design degree student said he was left without money to buy food and incurred bank charges when direct debits could not be paid.

Mr Hyde, who had been receiving £97 a week in benefit after a nervous breakdown caused him to lose his job, believes not enough is being done to help people with mental health problems having to re-apply.

He claims that a staff member at the DWP’s JobCentre Plus central team, based in Canterbury, was less than sympathetic when he phoned to inform them of his predicament.

Don't fall victim to an internet scam

Mr Hyde said: “I was told there was an internet site that could help. When I said I hadn’t got the internet, was dyslexic and had mental health issues they said it was not their fault and it was not their policy to spoon-feed people. I was shocked.

 

“I just feel that not enough is being done to help people like myself. The only relevant information you can get is off their website, but that’s no good if you don’t have the internet or have problems reading.

“Thankfully I’m on medication but this could easily push people into feeling suicidal.”

Mr Hyde, who lives in Chalk Road, Chalk, suffered a breakdown after his mother’s death and was unable to continue working at the Asda warehouse in Dartford.

He had been receiving ESA for more than a year and is still under the care of a mental health team.

Mr Hyde said he received a letter telling him of the halt to his benefit payments on June 24, having last been paid on June 7.

He is appealing the decision, and is now being paid an interim lower rate of £67 a week until the matter is resolved.

Mr Hyde said the stress of dealing with the appeal and the delay in the final decision being made by the DWP has simply added to the pressure he is under.

He said: “I’m not sure if it’s because of the stress, but I suffer from black-outs and my doctor is now sending me for a neurological scan.

“I would take any job but I’m not supposed to go out on my own because of the black-outs and I’m not supposed to have a bath when I’m alone.

"I’m under the mental health team and have a care worker but they are saying I’m perfectly well and fit to work. It’s nonsensical.”

A spokesman for the DWP said it could not comment on Mr Hyde’s “spoon-feeding” allegation, but said: “Every day JobCentre Plus advisers are successfully helping people realise their aspiration to move off benefits and into work.

“Advisers are focused on making sure people get all the help and support they need, and we have specialist staff to support people with disabilities.”

The changes to benefits represent part of government plans for the biggest shake-up of the welfare system for decades.

MPs argue they are necessary to tackle the rising cost to the taxpayer and cut the budget deficit.

However, charities and opposition politicians fear a rise in rent arrears and a subsequent increase in homelessness.

For those without access to the internet, the relevant telephone numbers provided by the Department of Work and Pensions website are:

• People with new benefit claims – 0800 055 6688
• People wanting help finding a job – 0845 6060 234
• People with existing benefit claims – 0845 608 8501

Source

Poorly carer told to find work

 

Ian Woollard has been told to find a job despite being in poor health.

A MAN suffering the after effects from blood clots on his lungs has been told that he must return to work.

Ian Woollard, 46, has been told that he is fit to start a job by French-based private firm Atos who carry out capability checks on behalf of the government despite also caring for his elderyl father Brian.

Mr Woollard of Lawford was assessed by two healthcare professionals three months ago and was informed that his employment and support allowance was being stopped.

A spokesperson for the Department of work and pensions said: “We look at what people have the ability to do and take into account advice from doctors.

“If anyone is looking after another person who is heavily reliant upon them they may be entitled to carer’s allowance.”

Source 

The DWP: Where incompetence is described as a 'positive benefit outcome'

Reblogged from Vox Political:

Good shot: Work and Pensions secretary Iain ‘Returned to Unit’ Smith takes delivery of the nation’s verdict on his management of the benefits system. No wonder Britain is falling apart, if the entire Coalition government works on similar lines.

The Department for Work and Pensions is now such a shambles it should be a national scandal.

Not only do its ministers try to deceive you about its purposes and successes (12,000 people did NOT sign off benefits because of the cap, for example, and they still won’t tell us how many people died in 2012 while going through the ESA assessment procedure), but ground-level workers are praised if inappropriate action on claims results in a sick or disabled person being refused benefit or their claim being shut down. This incompetence is described as a ‘positive benefit outcome’.

I write from experience – Mrs Mike appears to be one such ‘positive benefit outcome’, despite our best efforts to prevent this.

Let me tell you a tale. I shan’t go into all of Mrs M’s details as they’re not really necessary and some of them are disturbing; suffice it to say that she has multiple long-term conditions.

She was subjected to a Work Capability Assessment for ESA in July last year, and received notification dated July 17 that she had been put into the work-related activity group, commencing August 14. This meant she would have until August 13 this year to recover from conditions which have plagued her for more than a decade; a totally unrealistic target invented by people whose main aim is to sell bogus insurance policies (see previous articles on Unum).

Being in the WRAG means that you have to try to prepare for work, with guidance to help introduce you back into the job market. Mrs M waited very patiently to be contacted about this, and was eventually called in to the local Job Centre Plus in December last year – one-whole-third of the way through her claim period.

Arrangements were made for her to have a telephone interview with a representative from a company that provides help in getting people back to work, but there were more delays. When it finally happened, the lady on the line told me: “I’ve spoken to your partner and from what she tells me, we can’t do anything to help her. She’s not going to get better in the timeframe within which we work. I know people with fibromyalgia and that’s just not going to happen. I recommend that you appeal against the decision to put her in the work-related activity group… Ask for a review of the decision, with a view to going into the support group. Go back to her doctor and request reassessment.”

We sought advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau over the possibility of making an appeal, and it seemed that there were legitimate grounds for doing so – not just the word of the work programme provider (my understanding is that this is the occupation of the lady who phoned us) but also medical evidence that had come to light after the WCA. So, with CAB help, Mrs M put in her appeal in February. She has yet to receive a response from the Department for Work and Pensions.

In May, however, she did receive another claim form. I filled it out for her (writing for prolonged periods increases the pain) and we sent it off on May 17. There has been no acknowledgement of receipt and the DWP has never mentioned it since.

This is unsurprising as we have had no contact at all from the DWP, from the time we received that form until yesterday (August 19), when Mrs M telephoned the Job Centre to find out what’s going on. Inevitably, this led to the phone being handed to me. “Oh yes,” said the man on the end of the line. “This claim terminated on August 13.”

So it seems the DWP is now in the habit of closing claims without informing the claimants. (In fact this is the second time someone I know has experienced this impoliteness; it happened to someone else in March).

We are now unexpectedly having to deal with the loss from our household income of more than £110 per week – that’s nearly £6,000 per year. We had hoped to avoid the possibility of this happening by means of the appeal, but the gentleman at the Job Centre helped us out there as well: “Yes, an appeal has been logged.” I asked what we being done. “It doesn’t say.”

So nothing has been done, then.

This is a serious matter. Firstly, the decision after the WCA was incorrect – Mrs Mike should have been put in the support group but was put in the WRAG instead. This could be because assessors are on orders to put only around 12 or 13 per cent of claimants into the support group, whether their conditions demand it or not, on the orders of ministers at the DWP.

Then there’s the nonexistent handling of the appeal. The DWP seems to be pretending it hasn’t happened.

Then there’s the repeat ESA50 form in May. What happened to that?

And finally there’s the complete – and no doubt intentional – failure to notify Mrs M of the termination of her benefit, a termination that should not have taken place if the DWP had done its job properly.

Is this what happens when the government lays off more than 400,000 public sector workers – the system seizes up because nobody can do the job properly anymore?

Fortunately – and full credit to him for doing this – my Liberal Democrat MP tweeted me yesterday evening and offered to help, so I have provided him with the details and hopefully something will come from that. We have a little cash coming in and a few friends who can help, so we are not in dire financial straits yet.
What if we didn’t have these safety nets, though?

By now, all readers of this blog should be well aware of the widely-reported statistic claiming that, on average, 73 people die every week because of bad decisions by the DWP – they either become depressed and commit suicide or the strain of going through the process worsens their health problem, the problem the DWP considered too inconsequential to merit receipt of benefit, until it kills them.

That statistic comes from a DWP report released more than a year ago and is now out of date. I have been trying to secure the release of up-to-date numbers but ministers have done everything in their power to prevent this and the only reasonable conclusion is that the death toll is now far worse.

A Freedom of Information request earlier this year was refused on the grounds that it was ‘vexatious’ and a demand for an internal review has been met with stony silence for more than a month. Today I emailed ministers to ask when they were going to respond or if I should just proceed to the next stage, which is a complaint to the Information Commissioner.

So you see, the DWP is in a terrible, terrible mess of incompetence rewarded and extravagant claims that amount to poorly-executed attempts at distraction fraud.

What if this is a microcosm for the entire Coalition government? What will be the result?

A weakened Britain, that’s what.

This blog has said it before and will say it again: They would kill us and call it ‘help’.

DWP denials: They would kill you and call it ‘help’

Reblogged from Vox Political:

Employment Minister Mark Hoban: His attempt to cover up the failings of the ESA Work Capability Assessment, and his nepotistic use of a former employer to rubber-stamp the cosmetic changes, bring all politics and politicians into disrepute.

Who do you believe about the Work Capability Assessment?

Not the government, obviously.

You may have missed this – because it hasn’t been reported widely in the mass media – but a quiet row has been running for several months, concerning the collection and use of medical evidence to support applications for Employment and Support Allowance, the benefit people taking the WCA have applied to receive.

The government – whose spokesman appears to be Employment Minister Mark Hoban rather than Esther McVey, the Minister who is actually responsible for Disabled People – insists that decisions are made after consideration of all medical evidence supplied by claimants, and that they can provide further evidence during the reconsideration process or appeals.

But there is a mountain of evidence that this is a load of bunkum.

Back in 2010, an ex-military claimant, ‘Mrs S’ wrote a damning report on the service at the time. It stated: “This dangerous DWP contract offers the medical opinion of the Atos Healthcare Disability Analyst as a PRIORITY, which the DWP Decision Makers accept verbatim, so all additional specialist medical opinion of consultants, offered by the patient/claimant, is totally overlooked. Consequently, desperately ill people are now being declared fit for work because they are physically capable of collecting a pen from the floor. Patients, welfare advisors and MPs all presume that specialist medical opinion by a consultant will be accepted because they are unfamiliar with the details of the contract.

“The contract requires specialist medical opinion for several conditions… This is routinely ignored by Atos Healthcare with devastating consequences, whilst the UK government offer total support for this private company.

“Atos Healthcare doctors do not have access to a patient’s detailed medical history at the interview with the patient, as confirmed by Atos Healthcare, so one needs to question why so much detailed medical evidence is requested, which will be totally ignored?

“Atos Healthcare is totally unaccountable for all medical examinations. All usual patient safety networks in place for NHS and private healthcare do not apply and, according to the GMC and the Healthcare Commission, Atos Healthcare, as a company, ‘…have total immunity from all medical regulation.’

“There is no clinical supervision whatsoever.”

Get the picture? This situation has not changed in three years, despite the claims of Mr Hoban that he is “committed to ensuring that the Work Capability Assessment is as fair and accurate as possible”.

On Tuesday (August 13), New Statesman published details of several Atos claimants with mental health problems who – surprise, surprise – have been let down by the system.

One of these, who had previously attempted suicide, was driven to a further attempt to take her own life after receiving a string of 18 letters from a Work Programme Provider, all sent after it was advised to leave her alone for the good of her health.

“The DWP said it would not investigate the matter because [the Work Programme Provider] has its own internal complaints procedure,” the article stated, before going on to report on how that worked.

The company refuted the allegation and went on to say that it “takes its responsibilities to its customers and staff seriously. We have robust policies on safeguarding and data protection in place to ensure their privacy and safety is always maintained. With this in mind, it would be inappropriate for [us] to comment on individual any cases”.

It is clear that there is a culture of unaccountability running right through this system; the only people who bear the consequences of Work Capability assessors’ actions are the claimants themselves.

Perhaps that is why so many are dying that the DWP is now afraid to publish mortality figures for people going through the process. The suicidal person mentioned in the Statesman article would have been one more to add to the multitude, if they had succeeded in taking their own life.

This is what your votes support – a state-sponsored drive for sick or disabled people to kill themselves, rather than continue to be a burden on a Conservative-led government. Compassionate Conservatism – and this is at its most compassionate.

Let’s add in a few details. We know that the government recently lost a court battle in which it claimed that the current process was fair to people with mental health conditions. The Upper Tribunal disagreed and now the DWP is appealing against that decision – because ministers don’t want their underlings to have to consider medical information on anyone that hasn’t been gathered in the biased way ensured by the Atos Healthcare training system.

“We already request claimants supply any evidence they feel will be relevant to the assessment in the ESA50 questionnaire,” the department said in an email quoted by the Statesman.

But we already know from ‘Mrs S’ that this information is “totally overlooked”. It was in 2010 and we have no reason to believe the current situation is any different, judging from the treatment of claimants.

Now it seems claimants are finding it harder to get the expert medical evidence they need, because GPs are either refusing to hand it over, or are charging more money for it than claimants receive for their personal survival.

In southeast Wales, Bro Taf Local Medical Committee has come under fire for ordering GPs to stop providing support information to disability benefit claimants who were appealing against WCA decisions. The LMC has said its problem is not with the provision of evidence itself, but with the “increasing number of appeals [which] has resulted in more GP appointments being taken up to deal with such requests”.

Hoban said last month that he was bringing in “additional providers” to carry out assessments from summer 2014 and had already directed Atos to improve the quality of its written reports following assessments.

This will do nothing to improve matters, if the contract and the training given to the new providers is the same as that given to Atos.

And he has engaged a company to “provide independent advice in relation to strengthening quality assurance processes”. This company is PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mr Hoban’s former employer. The connection with the Minister implies an inappropriate relationship from the get-go.

Put it all together and you have an attempt to carry out business as usual, under the veil of a ham-fisted cover-up involving friends of the Minister. Anyone bothering to check the facts will see it as further evidence of the corruption that is rotting the institutions of British government with staggering rapidity under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat administration.

But there is a worse effect, which has a bearing on all politicians: Even those who accept such announcements at face value will consider this to be a failure by government. “They can’t get anything right” will be the chorus from the Great Uninterested – and the continuing furore as mistakes – and deaths – continue to take place will only reinforce the view that we should not give any politicians the time of day.

They would kill us all and call it “help”.