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
The whole report is pretty depressing but it was a comment on the allegations by the UK Border Agency's professional standards unit which made my jaw drop.
It said the alleged victim did not indicate to investigators that her sexual contact with guards was "anything other than consensual".
Anything other than consensual? How can sexual relations between an inmate under lock and key and her guard be 'consensual'?
SERCO even admit three of its Yarl's Wood guards have been dismissed after allegations of "sexually inappropriate behaviour" with inmates.
I suppose most people would regard rape as being a bit more than "sexually inapproriate behaviour."
But only dismissed? Why not prosecuted?
Clearly - under UK law - rape is considered to be consensual now if it's between an inmate and a SERCO employee.
The controversial firm which tells disabled people in the UK if they are fit
to work was unable to interview a Tyneside job applicant - because he was in a
wheelchair
Jamie Shield, 25, from Wallsend, applied for a
job at Atos in IT services, but was told he could not come to the interview as
the interview would take place on the sixth floor
The controversial firm which tells disabled people in the UK if they are fit
to work was unable to interview a Tyneside job applicant - because he was in a
wheelchair.
Jamie Shield, 25, applied for a position with Atos - paid millions of
taxpayers’ money by the Government to carry out employment tests - and was
invited for an interview.
But he was told he could not be seen after all because a lift only went to
the fifth floor of their Durham office - and they were on the sixth.
A “principal resource specialist” from the company added insult to injury
when she wrote to Jamie to apologise - with a spelling mistake.
She told him: “Please except (sic) our apologies but we have no facilities to
get a wheelchair to the sixth floor.
“The lift in the building only goes to the fifth floor and with the service
desk on the sixth floor we won’t be able to accommodate you.
“Thanks for all your efforts.”
Jamie was staggered at their admission - and the double standards of a firm
which promises not to discriminate ‘on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex,
age, disability or sexual orientation’.
They had also promised to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to the applications
process for people with disabilities.
Jamie, an applied computing graduate, said: “I have some experience of being
knocked back after writing applications where the grounds for not employing me
has been hidden or covered up.
“I knew the real reason - my disability - but it was never said.
“That’s why I found it strange that this company should be so open about
this.
“They are making decisions on people’s disabilities and benefits every day
but cannot interview me for a job because they have no lift.
“It shows real double standards.”
The firm did not offer to carry out the interview at another site, on another
floor or at ground level of their offices in Milburngate House, Durham.
Jamie, who graduated from Northumbria
University, had applied for a job working on their service desk, which
offers technical support to the BBC.
He is currently working in a similar role but on a short term contract, so
was disappointed not to be able to at least be interviewed.
Atos has since written to Jamie.
The company told him: “Please take some time to reflect and if you did wish
to pursue the offer of an interview with us, I would be delighted to
organise.”
But Jamie, of Wallsend, North
Tyneside, said: “I feel it would be morally wrong to work there now, unless
things drastically change.”
More than four in 10 jobless people with crippling life long illnesses are
told by Atos they will get better, and must seek work in Government tests,
according to shock figures released by UK charities this week.
Between 2008-11, 13,600 people with serious conditions such as cystic
fibrosis and Parkinson’s Disease applied for out of work benefit the Employment
Support Allowance.
But according to the research, 45 per cent were told they were able to
recover to the point where they could look for work.
Parkinson’s UK said the results of the Work Capability Assesments carried out
by Atos ‘defied belief’.
Jamie suffers from neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder which has left him
in a wheelchair due to tumours growing on nerve tissue.
An Atos spokeswoman said: “We apologise unreservedly to Mr Shield, and will
be writing to him directly with an explanation of what happened.”
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
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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).”
I never usually reveal my personal situation in
blog posts. I prefer to stay anonymous – not for legal reasons but I find it
prevents criticisms becoming too personal. However, I’m going to make an
exception in this case because I know this blog post is going to attract some
criticism from people I usually like to regard as allies.
There’s probably only one thing worse than being
disabled or sick. And that’s having a child who is disabled or sick.
And I have two.
That’s why it really bothers me to see the appalling
way the sick and the disabled are being treated in this country today.
Of course we all know that politicians and tabloid
journalists and even comedians like to scapegoat people – and it seems to be the
turn of the sick and the disabled at the moment to bear the brunt of their
prejudice.
But the worst thing for me is how so many sick and
disabled people are being sold out by the very people we should normally expect
to be on their side – the public figures, the charities, the spokespeople – the
so-called ‘leaders’.
I see leaders of charities like Scope, Mind and The
Papworth Trust – along with countless others – actually justifying using
disabled and sick people on mandatory workfare placements while at the same time
paying themselves huge
6-figure salaries and telling us how the privatisation of the NHS will
create fantastic business opportunities for the ‘charitable sector’.
I see disabled MPs – the very people who should be
speaking out in support of the disabled and the sick – standing up in parliament
labelling disability campaigners as ‘extremists’.
I see well-liked disability bloggers telling their followers not to share
damaging information about how this same MP
had claimed over 10 grand in expenses for things like soap, coasters and
biscuits. This was because it turned out there was a
meeting with the MP arranged by disability ‘leaders’ in the House of Commons
designed to ‘bring him onside’ as a future ally (an attempt which by the way
failed – he’s a Tory FFS)
I see barely any mainstream journalist willing to
tell the truth about the government’s attacks on the disabled and the sick apart
from one extremely dodgy one who occasionally works as the token lefty for the
Express (FFS) and the Mail (FFS) and David Icke (FFS).
Because I can tell you now, of all the many, many
problems facing the sick and the disabled in this country at the moment, 6-foot
lizards isn’t one of them.
Where are all the real journalists, charities,
spokespeople, leaders prepared to speak up for the disabled and the sick?
The bitter truth is, I see very few so-called
leaders who are really interested in the true welfare of the disabled and the
sick. Most have their own agendas – usually furthering their own careers in
politics, charities or journalism.
But then I look around and I see there is
real help for sick and disabled people. I see local groups, self-help groups on
social media like Facebook, a whole network of mostly small self-run groups
offering real practical advice and help and support for disabled and sick people
who are desperate to survive a worsening onslaught of attacks against them.
In a future post I would like to compile a list of
self-help groups which are valuable sources of help for the disabled and the
sick – so if you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comment section. Thanks.
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."
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
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?
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.
With complaints about the failed Atos work capability assessment flooding in, Alan White and Kate Belgrave look at some of them.
Atos. Photograph: Getty Images
Tony Lea, who runs the Cornish benefit advice charity Bufferzone, wants to tell us about Jane. She suffered abuse from the age of 13. She never went to school and she can’t read or write. She’s 33 years old and has tried to kill herself before.
In February this year, the outsourcing company Atos carried out her Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessment (WCA). She didn’t score any points on the mental health ability descriptors, and was placed in the ESA Work Related Activity Group – the group for claimants that the DWP considers to be capable of work at some point.
She was assigned a career adviser by a company called Prospects, which is contracted to find jobs for the unemployed under the Government’s Work Programme. Jane told this adviser that she had mental health problems. The adviser called her a liar and sanctioned her benefits. By June, Jane had got a job. She was in the job for three days before she tried to commit suicide by overdose.
On 2nd July, Tony told the Prospects career adviser not to contact her, and asked a mental health crisis team to carry out an immediate assessment. On the 29th of that month she tried to take an overdose again. Tony says this was because Prospects sent her a letter. She’d been receiving them for months, asking why she hadn’t been in contact with them. She can’t read and didn’t want them read it out to her, so she’d been storing them in a drawer: 18 of them in total. She recognised the company’s logo on the top, and that tipped her over the edge.
Tony made an official complaint. The DWP said it would not investigate the matter because Prospects has its own internal complaints procedure. On 5th August another Prospects worker phoned Jane. Tony believes “we’d have been looking at another suicide attempt,” had another mental health team not visited her.
When we contacted them, Prospects issued the following statement:
“Prospects strongly refutes the allegations made by Bufferzone which purportedly relate to one of our customers on the Work Programme in South West.
"Prospects 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 Prospects to comment on individual any cases.
"Prospects is currently helping more than 18,000 long term unemployed people in the South West to return to work through its innovative ASCENT model of delivery. Prospects works with customers to help them overcome barriers to employment through bespoke support and training to increase confidence and develop skills.”
***
You can see why there is such concern about the way that the WCA deals with people who have mental health conditions - and concern about the DWP’s commitment to a real overhaul. Here’s a reason to question that commitment: the Upper Tribunal recently ruled that the current WCA process is unreasonable to people with mental health conditions. That ruling came after an action against the DWP was brought by the Mental Health Resistance Network. Two claimants argued that Atos work capability assessments discriminated against people with mental health conditions. The courts agreed.
That decision would have put the onus on the DWP to source medical information for people with mental health conditions right at the start of their ESA applications. Unfortunately, the DWP is fighting that decision tooth and nail - and was recently granted leave to appeal it. "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. The fact that the change could improve the experience for people who must go through the appalling work capability process appears to be neither here nor there.
Neither is the fact that sourcing people’s medical information at the start of their WCAs might improve things as far as the public purse goes – people found eligible for ESA from the start would not need to take their case through the wildly oversubscribed and costly appeals process. You’d also think the fact that the minister for employment, Mark Hoban, has been forced to admit there are problems with the assessments and the written reports that Atos produces (“an unacceptable reduction in the quality”) would give the DWP reason to pause when looking to overturn decisions which could dramatically improve the information available to Atos assessors. (Hoban has also brought in his former employers, PricewaterhouseCoopers, “to provide independent advice in relation to strengthening quality assurance processes across all its health and disability assessments.” Ahem).
Which brings us to the growing problems that people have getting medical evidence. Tony tells us about Clive. Clive’s in his forties. His mother lives at his home and has palliative care provided by Clive and another carer. Tony managed to get him referred to a mental health team and then to an agency called Outlook South West following a suicide attempt. He’s got a tribunal to overturn his WCA next week. Outlook South West told him it would cost £70 for them to provide a letter outlining his mental health problems. But as Tony says: “People like Clive have to live on £71 a week. If they have to pay that, what do they live on? I feel so strongly about this. It has to be highlighted.”
And then Tony tells us about Claire. She has a history of depression and suicide attempts. The WCA said there was nothing to go on regarding her mental illness. But the mental health team and Tony told Atos and the DWP not to contact her because they strongly believed she had a paranoid schizophrenia condition.
When her case went to tribunal, Claire only had medical evidence that was over ten years old, because her GP refused to provide evidence. The DWP supplied no evidence to back up its case that she was in good mental health. The tribunal chair was deeply unimpressed with the stress to which she was being subjected, and demanded medical evidence from both the department and her GP. Now she faces another tribunal in six weeks’ time.
Tony will most likely win the tribunal. Last year he attended 104 tribunals with nine losses: a 93 per cent success rate. His overall rate of success is 98 per cent. As he says: “Atos are so bad they make my job easy.”
***
This whole scene is a catastrophe. The implosions are everywhere. A few weeks ago, disability benefit claimants and campaigners were shocked to read that GPs in south east Wales had been told by the Bro Taf local medical committee to stop providing support information for disability benefit claimants appealing “fit to work” decisions, because the work was an “abuse of resources”. We spoke to the Bro Taf LMC, which sent this statement (and they said they’d be issuing another one this week, so we’ll look out for that) to say that their problem was not with providing medical evidence for claims, but for the “increasing number of appeals [which] has resulted in more GP appointments being taken up to deal with such requests.”
None of which helps claimants and we’re looking for a legal view on that withholding of support information. Public Interest Lawyers’ Tessa Gregory says: "It can’t be right that claimants are left without vital medical evidence from their GPs to support them in their appeals against Atos assessments which are notoriously unfair. We are considering the position of both the DWP and the Local Medical Committee carefully to see whether a legal challenge can be brought to ensure that claimants get the assistance they require."
The WCA’s systemic failures are causing complete havoc.
Only a day before the Bro Taf story appeared, industry magazine Pulse reported that “GPs were struggling to cope with a 21 per cent rise in requests to verify work capability since January [2013]” – saying that figures obtained by Pulse “showed the number of requests to verify claimants’ ability to work have increased by over a fifth since the beginning of this year.”
Note the anger in the comments on that story, with people arguing that they're doing the extra work for social security “reform”, while Atos makes the profit - “ATOS collects the money. GPs do the work. Welcome to the Tory vision of privatisation.”
As far as charging for medical information is concerned: it's not new for GPs and consultants to charge (there's a list of some charges here) – but the problem in the case of disability benefits is that cost could be pricing people out of vital information they need to support their claims and leave them with absolutely nowhere to go. What happens then? Around the country, people are being asked to pay £20, £30, £50 and more for medical evidence (you can see in the comments here that even last year, people were being charged upwards of £100 for support information and saying they couldn’t afford to pay it).
The Citizens Advice Bureau saw all this a mile off: they raised the issue of cost back in their January 2012 investigation (called Right First Time) into the accuracy (or otherwise) of ESA reports. The CAB observed then that: "In many cases, NHS doctors will charge an average of £30 (we have evidence of consultants charging £200 an hour) for medical evidence and few people on low incomes can afford to pay this much out of an income of £67.50 ESA (assessment phase rate) per week." That was over 18 months ago. As the number of appeals skyrocketed, this problem could only grow.
And it’s grown into a right disaster. When the Bro Taf story broke, the disability campaigner Sue Marsh wrote about Mark Hoban’s attempts to shift responsibility for the ever-burgeoning appeal rate: as she said here, Hoban has implied that the high rate of ESA appeals is at least in part because people don’t have enough medical evidence:
“DWP ministers have blamed the staggering 43 per cent ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) appeal rate on claimants not requesting and submitting enough medical evidence. As Mark Hoban claimed, “What’s happening too often is people are suggesting to claimants ‘oh, just leave the medical evidence until the appeal’ – there’s a shared responsibility here.”
In theory, within the claim process, Atos is expected to request evidence from a claimant’s doctor when the claimant is likely to be placed in the Support Group. For the year up to October 2012, Atos only requested such evidence (as an ESA113 form) in 27.2 per cent of all ESA referrals; 23.8 per cent of these were not returned by GPs.” The DWP would have us believe that extra sourcing of information is a robust part of the WCA process: when we asked why it was trying to overturn the Upper Tribunal decision on mental health claimants, the department said: “Atos healthcare professionals will continue to seek further medical evidence in accordance with the Department’s guidelines.” Doesn’t sound like that’s going too well.
Sue Marsh tells us that Hoban needs to sort it out. “The ESA50 clearly suggests that a claimant sends in medical evidence from a consultant or GP that knows them best. If those medical professionals are now withholding that vital support and Mr Hoban insists that it is necessary for an accurate WCA decision, he MUST act immediately to make sure that medical professionals cannot refuse to provide this evidence and that they are not allowed to charge punitive fees for obtaining it."
All Bufferzone client names have been changed New Statesman
How could Atos class such a sick man as fit for work?
His family says the decision to pass him fit for work almost killed him – a
diabetic who could no longer afford to eat
Struggling: Zulfigar is sick after 30 years of
hard graft
Let’s say you work for Atos in one of its Assessment Centres in
Lancashire.
Your job is to assess people on disability benefits to see whether they are
fit for work.
A 58-year-old man, who’s done 30 years hard graft, comes in for a “Work
Capacity Assessment”.
He is suffering from diabetes with multiple complications and mental health
problems.
He is almost blind, with incurable damage to both his eyes.
He suffers from frequent hypoglycaemic attacks that often result in total
loss of consciousness and sometimes hospitalisation.
He is often incontinent. He suffers from depression.
He relies on friends, carers and family to shop for him and struggles to
cross a road unaided.
He has no feeling in his feet – another complication of his diabetes.
He has suffered with gangrene and over the winter he had badly burned his
feet on an electric heater.
On the day of his assessment, his feet are bandaged.
Say you had all that information in front of you. Would you write on your
piece of paper “Fit for work”?
When Zulfiqar Shah, from Blackburn, was assessed by Atos, his assessor gave
him zero points. He needed 13 to qualify for benefits.
His family says the decision almost killed him – a diabetic who could no
longer afford to eat.
“I told them I wasn’t afraid to work, but that at the moment I was not well
enough to,” Zulfiqar says, quietly. “But they didn’t listen.”
When his sister Zahida, 46, picked Zulfiqar up from the assessment centre he
was wearing only one shoe, not even realising he was walking with his bandaged,
burned foot on the pavement.
“Any human being seeing him for five minutes could see that my brother was
neither physically or mentally able to work,” Zahida says.
Ordeal: Zulfigar with his siter Zahida
As Atos comes under increasing pressure over its controversial welfare
assessments, Zulfiqar’s story is not just a tale of personal tragedy but of
public scandal.
A written House of Lords question last week revealed the company has so far
been paid £754million for its medical tests on people claiming benefits since
2005.
Of the 40% of people appealing their assessment, 38% – including Zulfiqar –
have been successful.
Despite this, the Government has already handed Atos the £400million contract
for assessing people for the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Now the
National Audit Office is threatening an investigation.
Zulfiqar came to Britain from Rawalpindi in Pakistan when he was 18. For 30
years he worked in the Lancashire weaving and textile industry.
But in 2003, his leg became ulcerated and doctors realised he had diabetes.
Complications meant he was unable to work and he started receiving disability
benefits.
Last July, he was reassessed, and on September 29, he received a letter from
the DWP saying that he was fit for work.
Both his Employment Support Allowance and his Housing Benefit were then
stopped immediately.
“He couldn’t even make a claim for Jobseeker’s Allowance because he couldn’t
leave the house without an ambulance,” says Zahida, a mother of five who works
in sales.
“If it hadn’t been for the support of his family, I genuinely believe he
would have died.”
With no income, Zulfiqar was unable to eat properly and stopped taking his
insulin for fear of a severe hypoglycaemic attack.
His sight deteriorated, his hands began to lose feeling and his feet became
worse.
“When my son visited Zulfiqar during this period he found he was sitting in a
pool of blood,” Zahida says.
“He had hit his foot on the kitchen cupboard, not felt it and not been able
to see he was bleeding. My son had to call an ambulance.”
His family lodged an appeal and he was put on to “Assessment Rate ESA”, a
minimal sum paid to those awaiting appeal, for the next five months.
The RNIB say Zulfiqar’s is one of the worst cases they have come across.
But they also say they are deeply concerned that Atos assessments “unfairly
discriminate against blind and partially sighted people”.
In evidence they will shortly submit to the fourth independent annual review
of WCA, they blame narrow criteria, “unsuitable” guidance for those carrying
out tests and say the process doesn’t reflect the fact that nine out of 10
employers rate blind and partially sighted people as either “difficult” or
“impossible” to employ.
New DWP figures show 56% of blind or partially sighted people had their “fit
for work” appeals upheld between October 2008 and May 2012.
Six months after his benefits were withdrawn, with support from Action For
Blind People and the RNIB, Zulfiqar successfully appealed.
His benefits were reinstated at the highest level without even a tribunal
hearing and he was also awarded Disability Living Allowance.
A spokeswoman for Atos said: “Our doctors, nurses and physiotherapists do all
they can to provide as much detailed information to the DWP as possible so that
they can make an appropriate decision on benefit entitlement.
“If a person’s condition changes they can ask the department for a
reconsideration and supply further medical evidence to support this. If we
receive a complaint about an assessment we will do a complete review of the
case.”
“We were determined to fight for Zulfiqar,” Zahida says. “But I dread to
think of all the people who just give up.”
Since he has had financial and care support back, Zulfiqar’s health is
finally improving.
“I am so proud of my brother,” Zahida says.
“Somehow throughout all that time, he always had a smile on his face.
"I tell him, there is something so beautiful about you. I thank God he is
such a fighter.”
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