UK govt refuses to accept responsibility for crimes against humanity

Originally posted on Vox Political:

A guest report by Mo Stewart ©Mo Stewart April 2014

Following the bogus Work Capability Assessment (WCA) conducted by Atos Healthcare, as contracted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the United Kingdom (UK) Government admitted that it was wrong to cut the disability benefits of Mark Wood, the vulnerable disabled man who starved to death following the removal of his benefits, in the 21st century UK, when weighing only 5st 8lbs.

Regardless of this tragedy, the UK Conservative led Coalition Government still refuses to accept any responsibility.

Despite the fact that the WCA was introduced by the Labour Government in 2008, it was originally designed by previous Conservative Governments, in consultation with the notorious American corporate giant now known as Unum Insurance, identified in 2008 by the American Association for Justice as the second most discredited insurance company in America.

Without a welfare state, sick and disabled people in…

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Govt hampering scrutiny of universal credit, say MPs

Just as soon as Maria Miller has resigned, another group of MPs are accusing a different government department of failing to show it respect.

In a damaging critique of Iain Duncan-Smith’s flagship Universal Credit project, the Work and Pensions Select Committee has today accused the government of “hampering” its inquiry into Universal Credit by “not providing accurate, timely and detailed information”.

The report notes that in September the National Audit Office had raised serious concerns about the ICT systems underpinning the Universal Credit. However the Select Committee has pointed out that ministers have known about such problems for the last 18 months but failed to inform parliament.

Noting that “it is regrettable that £40 million has been wasted on IT software for UC that now has no use”, the committee concludes:

“It is concerning that it took so long for the government to acknowledge openly that there were problems with Universal Credit IT.”

Upping the ante in its critique of the government, the committee continues:

“The government has hampered the committee’s scrutiny of UC implementation by not providing accurate, timely and detailed information. It is not acceptable for the government only to provide information about major policy changes when forced to do so by the imminent prospect of being held to account in a public evidence session. DWP should set out how it will improve the frankness, accuracy and timeliness of the information it provides to the committee on UC implementation.”

Noting that just 4,280 people were claiming Universal Credit at the end of last year out of 1.22 million jobseeker’s allowance claimants, the Committee chair Dame Anne Begg has accused the government of operating at snail’s pace. She expanded:

“Whilst it is right to ensure that the system works properly before extending it, there is a difference between cautious progress and a snail’s pace. Given the excruciatingly slow pace of roll-out to date, it is hard to see how the most recent implementation timetable can be met.”

Calling on the government to “get a grip” of this “crisis-hit policy”, shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves has responded to the report by declaring:

“The Work and Pensions select committee is right to raise serious concerns about Universal Credit which has suffered endless delays and waste. Ministers promised one million people would be on the scheme by April 2014 but the latest figures show under 4000 are. £131 million has been wasted already and on this programme which is so far costing an astonishing £161,905 per person. David Cameron must urgently get a grip of this crisis-hit policy before any more taxpayers money is wasted.”

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DWP Target Mental Health Claimants For ESA Sanctions

A staggering six out of ten employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants hit with a sanction are vulnerable people with a mental health condition or learning difficulty, according DWP figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. 

The proportion has rocketed from 35% of sanctioned claimants in 2009 to a massive 58% in 2013. The statistics prove that sanctions are now overwhelmingly aimed at the most vulnerable individuals by a government department which relies on a policy of institutional discrimination to cut benefits costs.

Sanctions of £71.70 a week are handed out when ESA claimants in the work-related activity group are forced onto the work programme and then fail to meet mandatory conditions imposed on them by private sector companies.

However, for a claimant to get into the work-related activity group on mental health grounds, they need to score a minimum of 15 points for problems with issues such as:

• planning new activities,
• changes in routine,
• going to new places,
• talking to new people,
• avoiding behaving aggressively or inappropriately when stressed.

So, almost by definition, many will struggle to cope with regular and punctual attendance at training courses and work-experience placements with strangers in unfamiliar places. Even if they manage to attend they may not succeed in participating to the satisfaction of those running the courses or placements.

A MIND spokesperson told Benefits and Work:

“Based on what we hear from people we represent, these sanctions are often the result of people not being able to engage in a mandated activity because of their mental health problems; people being asked by the DWP to engage in activities that they are not well enough to undertake; and a lack of understanding at the DWP about mental health problems meaning that it is not picked up when someone had 'good cause' to miss an appointment or activity.

“Most people with mental health problems want to work, and given the right support many could. We do not believe that an effective system of support for this group of people involves continually mandating them to undertake activities under the threat of being left with no money.”

Sanctions, particularly in relation to Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), have saved the government huge amounts of money and allowed them to claim that the number of people in receipt of benefits is falling because the economy is recovering.

The statistics above relate to ESA – where ‘only’ around 20,000 claimants a year are currently sanctioned - there are no similar ones for JSA where the numbers are much higher. But many people getting JSA are claimants with mental health conditions who scored just below the 15 point threshold – often because they were wrongly assessed by health professionals with no experience of mental health issues. And it seems exceedingly unlikely that decision making in relation to JSA sanctions is any less harsh than that for ESA.

The DWP, however, have fought hard to prevent any evidence about who is being sanctioned leaking out.
One member of the work and pensions select committee, Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, has been leading the calls for an inquiry into the issue of sanctions. She told Benefits and Work:

"As a member of the work and pensions select committee I've been very concerned about the growing evidence of inappropriate sanctioning and demanded that a second independent inquiry into the issue is established.

"When I made my demands face-to-face with Esther McVey at a Committee session back in November she agreed to set up an independent investigation into the ‘appropriateness of sanctions’ and her offer was welcomed by the Committee in their following report. But, in a deliberate snub to the Committee, the Government have now said they won't set one up.

“My question is this. If sanctions are currently being applied correctly, an independent review will testify to that, so just what are Ministers trying to hide?

“It’s just another example of how Iain Duncan Smith and Esther McVey are using smoke and mirrors to avoid any criticism about the mess and misery they are creating in the social security system.

“No-one is arguing with the fact that anyone who is on work related benefits should do all they can to find appropriate employment. But there is a growing body of evidence that the way the government is implementing sanctions means vulnerable people are being targeted disproportionately and suffering terribly as a result.

“The last thing Iain Duncan Smith and Esther McVey want is for that uncomfortable truth to be uncovered by a focussed and independent investigation.”

We asked the DWP Press Office to explain the dramatic rise in the proportion of vulnerable claimants who are subject to ESA sanctions.

After six days of claiming that they were “still looking into your query” and a very ill-tempered phone conversation due to our insistence that we wanted a reply in writing rather than the press office calling us at their convenience to ‘explain’ the issue, we finally got this response:

“It’s only right that people should do everything they can to move off benefits and into work if they are able. Sanctions are only used as a last resort and we have robust procedures in place to protect vulnerable people, with a number of safeguards built into the system.

“Everyone has the right to appeal a sanction decision if they disagree with it.”

So, no denial that the figures were correct and no explanation for this exponential rise in the targeting of claimants with mental health conditions, in spite of the ‘robust procedures’ in place.

Instead, just the same empty reassurances backed by no evidence whatsoever.

So, we’re asking Benefits and Work readers not to let them get away with it this time. The work and pensions committee and the public accounts committee have both expressed concern about sanctioning of benefits claimants.

If your MP is on one of those committees please draw their attention to this article or explain the issue yourself using Write To Them. A list of the committee members is given below, but please don’t contact them if they aren’t your MP – spamming MPs is not going to help at all.

However, even if your MP is not on one of this committees you can still contact them and ask them to ask a DWP minister why they are refusing to hold an inquiry into whether sanctions are being applied fairly in the face of strong evidence that the DWP is pursuing a policy of institutional discrimination.


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Just For The Record, The WCA Is Not Being Scrapped, Yet

The report in The Daily Record which claims that Atos style assessments for sickness and disability benefits are to be scrapped should sadly be treated with caution.

There is no doubt that the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is in chaos, after the announcement from Atos that they are pulling out of the contract to run the tests.  This has led to a predictable tantrum from Iain Duncan Smith, who is now running round telling everyone he was going to dump Atos anyway and is threatening them with huge fines.  This is the same Atos that he is dependent on to sort out the shabby assessments for Personal Independence Payments, which are currently also mired in chaos.  But there has been no announcement as yet that the WCA is to be scrapped, and the report the Daily Record’s story seems to be based on does not call for this.

The story refers to the recently published response by the Government to the review of the Work Capability Assessment carried out by Dr Paul Litchfield.  The Government have accepted all but one of the recommendations in this report, which includes agreeing to carry out an impact assessment into whether in some cases a decision could be made without a face to face assessment.

Litchfield recommends: “The Department carries out a full impact assessment on an alternative process whereby DWP Decision Makers triage cases” and that “where suitable and sufficient evidence is available on paper and a face-to-face assessment would provide no additional value, the Department should make a decision without referral to its HAP;”

The Government have responded: “DWP will carry out the recommended impact assessment to inform decisions about if and how triage of cases by Decision Makers might be implemented.”

So unless the Daily Record know something that no-one else does, and if they do urgent clarification is required, that unfortunately, appears to be it.  An impact assessment into whether in some cases a face to face assessment is not required – as in fact already happens in some cases – will be carried out.  A small step forward perhaps but a long way from the claim that assessments are set to be scrapped.  Atos still kills, for now at least.

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WCAs ‘Set To Be Scrapped’

UNPOPULAR face-to-face interviews are to be axed as part of a Government shake-up of their Work Capability Assessment following recommendations set out by a chief medical officer recruited to review WCA testing.

Dr. Paul Litchfield has branded the face-to-face interviews a waste of time

DEMEANING interviews designed to force sick and disabled people back to work are set to be scrapped after experts branded them a waste of time.

The unpopular face-to-face interviews will be sidelined in a shake-up of the Government’s ­controversial work capability assessment.

The move aims to streamline the application process, address a huge backlog of claims, reduce the number of appeals and cut taxpayers’ costs.

If the plan goes ahead, the system would mean less input from companies such as Atos, who last month pulled out of a £500million contract to carry out WCA tests. The new system would give a bigger role to civil servants who will gather written evidence from applicants and their doctors.

The plan follows recommendations made by Dr Paul Litchfield, chief medical officer at BT, who was asked by the Government to review the WCA process.

In his 100-page report, he blamed the face-to-face tests for delays in processing claims. The Department for Work and Pensions, said: “Expediting the process will reduce the uncertainty faced by claimants, improve outcomes for those not eligible for employment and support allowance and reduce the consequent burden on taxpayers.”

Four out of five applicants currently have to attend interviews in which they are asked intimate details in order to assess if they are fit to work.

Labour MP Tom Greatrex, a fierce critic of Atos, said he still has reservations about any new scheme.

He added: “The WCA process hasn’t worked for years and the Government have failed to address it.
“The experience is demeaning, causes anxiety and 40 per cent of the tests are overturned on appeal which demonstrates it’s not fair or accurate.”

Daily Record

DWP's impact assessment refusal exposed as a sham by EHRC and Treasury

The refusal of the Department for Work and Pensions to try to assess the impact on disabled people of all of its welfare reforms has been exposed as a sham after new research was announced by the equality watchdog.


The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is working with the Treasury and other "key" 
departments to develop a way of assessing the cumulative impact of government spending decisions.

In its work plan for 2014-15, published this week, the commission said the project would promote "equality 
and fair financial decision-making" in next year's spending review.

The project will build on EHRC's "formal assessment" of the 2010 spending review - which concluded, in May 2012, that the Treasury may have failed in its legal duty to consider how some cuts would impact on disabled people - with the aim of ensuring that "the potential of future spending decisions to exacerbate or 
close equality gaps is given proper consideration".

In February, members of the WOW petition forced MPs to debate the need for a cumulative impact assessment (CIA) of all of the government cuts and reforms affecting disabled people, after securing backing 
from more than 100,000 people.

The WOW petition welcomed the EHRC announcement and its "recognition that any assessment of the equality considerations flowing out of official spending reviews must consider the cumulative impact of these 
spending decisions on people sharing protected characteristics".

Ian Jones, a co-founder of the campaign, said today (4 April): "Yet another organisation has called for a CIA 
of the effects of welfare reform on ill and disabled people.

"This government appears to be blind to the impact that its welfare reforms are having on ill and disabled people and the WOW petition will not accept without challenge their reckless willingness to pass into law welfare reforms when they have very little idea of what the cumulative actual effects of these reforms will be 
on people that share protected characteristics."

John McDonnell, the Labour MP who led February's debate and has backed the WOW campaign, added: "Overwhelmingly, the evidence demonstrates the scale of suffering of disabled people as a result of the cuts 
to welfare budget.

"The government must now address the widespread concerns expressed by religious leaders, voluntary organisations and numerous experts in implementing a full cumulative impact assessment of the impact of 
changes in the welfare system on sick and disabled people."

The disabled Labour MP Dame Anne Begg, who chairs the work and pensions select committee, told that debate in February that a CIA was vital because "no one knows precisely the full force of everything that 
may be falling on individual families and individual households".

She added: "Unless we do that cumulative impact assessment, we will never know, and in the meantime those families and households are struggling to makes ends meet, falling into debt and having to make the 
choice between eating and heating."

She said that disabled people had been hardest hit by social care cuts, the bedroom tax, and changes to council tax relief and housing benefit, as well as employment and support allowance reforms, and cuts 
introduced through the new personal independence payment.

The commission's suggestion that a CIA can and should be carried out will be severely embarrassing to Conservative work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who has consistently refused to order such research

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Doctors and nurses unite in condemning WCA

Doctors and nurses have united in condemning the work capability assessment (WCA), saying that the test is "discriminatory and unfit for purpose" and that it "should be scrapped".  The comments from the Royal College of Nursing and the British Medical Association were made in written responses to the Work and Pensions Committee's inquiry into employment and support allowance (ESA) and the WCA.

Submissions to the inquiry from organisations as diverse as the RCN, charities such as Scope and Sense and campaigning groups including Black Triangle and DPAC were published online by the committee yesterday. 
The Royal College of Nursing, which provides expert welfare support services to its members, stated:

“At a meeting of the RCN Congress in April 2013, RCN members overwhelmingly voted in favour of a motion which labelled the current process of disability assessments as discriminatory and unfit for purpose. The motion was tabled by RCN members, and subsequently supported, as a result of personal and professional experiences of members of the inadequacy of the WCA. As a result of this motion, the RCN has since been campaigning for a change in the assessment process.”

The British Medical Association submitted:

“The BMA has had concerns about ESA and the WCA process since its introduction and has raised them both with our members and the Government. Our position remains that the process should be scrapped and replaced with a system that delivers the Government’s aim in helping those who can return to work to do so while avoiding harm to the weakest and most vulnerable in society. 

“The BMA is concerned that the current process does not adequately assess claimants in a fair and proper manner, and as a result causes unnecessary distress. We believe that the computer-based systems used make it very difficult for the health care professionals carrying out the assessments to exercise professional judgement. 

“We are concerned that these factors lead to some of the most vulnerable and weakest in our society not receiving the support that they need through the Employment Support Allowance.”

We have not yet had time to read through all the submissions ourselves, but if readers would like to share any specific extracts, please share them using the comments facility.

You can read the written submissions here.

Source

Benefits cuts slammed as ‘crime against humanity’ as charity claim sanctions are levelled at most vulnerable

BILL Scott of Inclusion Scotland told a Holyrood committee that people with mental health problems were particularly at risk, and some had killed themselves as a result.

AN ANGRY charity boss yesterday accused Westminster of committing a “crime against humanity” by imposing benefits sanctions on the most vulnerable.

Bill Scott of Inclusion Scotland hit out after it emerged 36,000 Scots had payments stopped or cut within eight months of new rules being brought in.

He said many people with mental health problems are being plunged into poverty because they don’t understand the system.

He said some committed suicide or starved to death as a result.

He added: “This is happening in a country which is one of the richest on the planet and we are allowing it to happen to our most vulnerable citizens.

“It is a crime against humanity, to be honest.

“People are having to prove they are innocent and a lot of people cannot play the system.”

Inclusion Scotland were one of several charities giving evidence to ­Holyrood’s welfare reform committee about the rules introduced in 2012.

Reasons for withdrawal of benefit include leaving a job voluntarily and failing to attend an interview.

Some can lose benefit for three years if they leave three jobs voluntarily.

John Downie of the SCVO said: “It’s disgusting that people are being treated so cruelly.”

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As gay people celebrate, treatment of the disabled just gets worse - Independant

With more spending cuts looming, are we content to leave one minority locked out of society as second-class citizens?

They were clearing up the confetti, nursing hangovers and disappearing on honeymoons yesterday after the first batch of gay marriages in Britain. It was a remarkable moment as  the contented couples celebrated their unions with the traditional kiss. Within my lifetime, homosexuality has been first legalised, then embraced into everyday normality. Even bishops have begun to welcome the reform.

The ceremonies mark a milestone in the bumpy march towards tolerance and equality. We should rejoice at the speed with which people who were once jailed, mocked and used as a political football have taken their correct place at the heart of society. Politicians of all hues deserve praise for displaying courage in confronting the misanthropes who sought to stop lesbian and gay people from enjoying rights that the rest take for granted.

Problems remain with homophobic bullying in schools and bigotry abroad. But the reform shows how quickly attitudes can change. It is less than three decades since two-thirds of people thought any same-sex relationship was wrong; now, the same proportion support gay marriage – the numbers rising fastest among young respondents. There are 24 openly gay MPs (and more on Tory benches than those of other parties combined).

We have seen a similar rapid shift in attitudes on gender and race, for all the hurdles that still exist for both women and ethnic minorities. Yet, amid all the discussion of diversity and self-congratulatory talk of tolerance, one minority remains stuck in the shadows of society. Indeed, many members would argue that their life is getting worse, with hostility growing.

These are people with disabilities, a group growing fast in our ageing society. A new study by the charity Scope reflects the changing attitudes over the 20 years since it changed its name from the Spastics Society and shows the scale of the problem. In 1994, just over a third of disabled people said they experienced verbal abuse, with a similar number refused a service in a public place. Today, half of disabled people report discrimination in shops and almost a third when using leisure facilities.

It gets worse. Not only are people with disabilities far less likely to be in work despite being the most loyal employees, but almost two-thirds of those who develop a disability have lost their job within two years. Jean’s story is typical: after working for more than a decade, she was ignored by job agencies and had interview offers withdrawn when she started using a wheelchair. After finally getting an interview, it had to be held in a café because the work-place was inaccessible.

Reported hate crime is rising, with stories of awful abuse commonplace, while other studies have found that almost half of disabled people say attitudes against them are hardening. You can multiply all these damning statistics – the terrible stories of routine harassment – for people with learning difficulties. Just imagine the rightful outcry if this was happening to people because of their gender, sexuality or skin colour.

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Iain Duncan Smith Should Be Put On Trial Over The Work Capability Assessment Deaths

Originally posted on the void:

 

 The tragic death of severely unwell Mark Wood, who died of malnutrition just five months after he was found ‘fit for work’ by Atos and the DWP, was not just ‘wrong’ as the Government have today admitted – it was grossly negligent.  Whether this negligence was criminal must be urgently investigated.
Morally, and almost certainly legally, the DWP have a duty of care when making decisions which can potentially devastate the lives of those called  ‘vulnerable adults’ by care professionals.  The Work Capability Assessment, which led to the death of Mark Wood, has already been found unfair for people with mental health conditions in the courts.  Instead of halting the assessments based on this judgement, Iain Duncan Smith has brushed it aside – convinced he knows better than the courts, the medical establishment and the thousands of sick and disabled people themselves driven to despair by the current system.

Mark…

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Mental Health watchdog calls for changes to fit-for-work tests after woman commits suicide following cut to benefits

AN investigation into the women's death, carried out by the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, found a lack of sensitivity to the impact benefit cuts could have on peoples' lives.

Atos test have caused misery for thousands

A HIGHLY critical report by a public watchdog has called for changes to the government’s fitness to work assessments after a woman killed herself following cuts to her benefits.

The findings of an investigation into the tragic case found important shortcomings in the tests and a lack of sensitivity to the impact they could have on peoples’ lives.

In the 39-page report, published yesterday the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, which carried out the investigation, made 13 recommendations it believed would improve the system.

They included a key measure that an applicant’s medical reports should be obtained to assess a claim for individuals with a mental illness or learning disability – a practice which is not currently routine.

Dr Donald Lyons, chief executive of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, said the findings of the investigation indicated the current assessment process was “flawed” and “unreliable”.

“I don’t think there is enough understanding of the momentous impact these assessments can have,” he said.

“There was nothing else going on in this woman’s life that we could identify [as to why she took her own life]. She was engaged, she was looking forward to getting married. The only thing that was going on was the benefit assessment.”

He added: “I think the DWP should reflect on this case and learn from it. It does suggest, that certainly, with regard to people with mental health problems, the assessment process is flawed and unreliable.”

The report will put further pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to review the assessment process which has been previously criticised for dealing harshly with the sick and disabled.

The commission’s report said the former officer worker and mother-of-one, referred to as Ms DE, lived in Scotland and was in her early fifties. She had suffered from depression for 20 years and was under the care of a consultant psychiatrist and a GP.

She was a regular church-goer and had worked for most of her life but had given up her job a few years earlier when her illness deteriorated.

Despite her condition, she had no history of self-harm and had not previously tried to commit suicide.

She was found dead on Hogmanay 2011 after taking an overdose fearing she would be unable to pay her mortgage because of a substantial drop in income following changes to her benefits.

The DWP’s work capability assessment – the test carried out to see if someone is fit to work –  found she was able to return to work and she was told she would move from £94.25 a week incapacity benefit to £67.50 jobseeker’s allowance. The face to face interview was carried out by the outsourcing company Atos Healthcare – which has been at the centre of criticism over the tests.

Ms DE’s best friend and doctors told the inquiry she had been highly distressed and was plunged into crisis when she received the letter informing her of the change.

Under the assessment process Atos was not required to seek further information from the woman’s GP or consultant – both of whom believed she was not well enough to return to work.

Dr Lyons said: “One of the most concerning aspects in the case was that the only information the decision maker had to go on was the work capability assessment and everything we found in this case points to this not being a reliable indication of someone’s ability to work.

“In this case there was no report from the patient herself, no letters from her GP or her psychiatrist.”

Politicians said last night the case demonstrated the work capability assessment should be scrapped and a “more humane” system introduced.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie, shadow social justice minister, said: “This case is heart-wrenching. It shows just how broken the benefits assessment system is under Tory reforms.

“It is imperative the Tory/Lib Dem government scrap these changes and ensure any replacement treats people with disabilities with dignity and respect.”

The SNP’s Linda Fabiani MSP, a member of Holyrood’s welfare reform committee, added: “This is an absolutely tragic case which unfortunately highlights the wider issues with the DWP’s attitude towards benefits claimants.

“The DWP’s work capability assessment process is simply not fit for purpose and must be immediately reformed.”

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BMA leadership ‘complicit' in disabled suicides

 

Edinburgh, Thursday 27th March 2014
By Alan Wylie 




Arguably the most hated company in Britain, Atos Healthcare is the multinational corporation that carries out the Tory Government’s ‘Work Capability Assessments’ (WCA) on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions. This computer-based, tick-box ‘functional assessment’ is supposed to determine if a sick and disabled person is ‘fit for work’ or if they meet the criteria for any sickness benefit.

The assessments are so inadequate that, according to the mental health charity Mind, in Oxford 90% of those who have been found ‘fit for work’ have had their decisions overturned when they have appealed with the help of an advocate. This figure is replicated throughout the UK. Even when unrepresented decisions are overturned in 40% of cases.

Protesters demonstrate in London in June 2012 against Atos’ role in benefit assessments

The DWP’s own statistics reveal that in 2011 alone 10,600 people died within six weeks of being found fit for work by Atos and another 2,200 died before their assessment was complete. 1300 of these were classified as having had limited capability for work and had been placed in the ‘Work Related Activity Group’ (WRAG).

The Government has since refused to publish statistics for 2012/13 having rejected a Freedom of Information request submitted by Mike Sivier of the Vox Political blog on the grounds that is was ‘vexatious‘.

Mr. Sivier has since lodged an appeal with the Information Commissioner with the help of a solicitor specialising in human rights: What we should be clear on is that this Government has a lot to hide.

Atos Healthcare’s reputation now stands in ruins. The company is completely discredited and it’s name now so toxic that earlier this month they rebranded themselves under the new name of “OHAssist”.

This reminds me of a phrase my mother used to say: “You can polish a turd but it will always be a turd.”

The company is now attempting to run away with its tail between its legs, confirming in February that it is seeking to end its contract to assess whether benefits claimants are fit to work, citing unsubstantiated ‘death threats‘ to its staff. They can run, they may rebrand – but their infamy will plague them for as long as our collective memories last in this country.

Cartoon by Martin Rowson for The Black Triangle Campaign

Perversely, the company was awarded the tender to act as assessors for the new Personal Independence Payment (the replacement of the now abolished Disability Living Allowance) under the OHAssist name and only last week they were directly accused by members of the Commons public accounts committee of lying in their bid to secure the contract.

Already it has been widely reported that terminally ill people are now going for months without the benefit they are entitled to owing to ‘delays’ in getting an assessment and the charity Scope estimates that up to 600,000 disabled people are set to lose their entitlement to disability living allowance, owing to the new, much harsher criteria.

The word “henchmen” is the word which immediately comes to mind when thinking about Atos, If you’ve ever wondered where Osborne’s “savings” are coming from, look no further: Atos cuts – disabled people bleed.

In June 2012 Britain’s Doctors overwhelmingly backed a motion at the BMA’s annual conference submitted by the Scottish-based Black Triangle Campaign through their Medical Advisor Dr Stephen Carty stating that Atos’s assessments were “inadequate” and had “little regard to the nature or complexity of the needs of long-term sick and disabled persons”. The motion went on to demand that the tests be ‘scrapped with immediate effect to be replaced by a rigorous and safe system that does not cause avoidable harm’ to sick and/or disabled people.

The vote was a huge victory for the Black Triangle Campaign’s activists and gave hope to hundreds of thousands of people at the brutal receiving end of this fascist-like disability assessment regime.

Regrettably since then, sick and/or disabled people have felt badly let down by the inaction of the BMA’s leadership who they say have in reality done little to give effect to the wishes of the union’s membership.
Granted, they have tussled with intransigent DWP ministers and officials who clearly have no intention of doing anything that might jeopardise their primary aim of kicking as many people off benefit and into destitution as necessary in order to “pay down the deficit” as sacrificial lambs on the altar of austerity, but nothing more.




Worse still, many Local Medical Committees (LMCs) – local associations of GPs – have appallingly mounted a ‘Just Say No‘ campaign instructing GP surgeries all over the UK to refuse patients further medical evidence in support of their benefit applications and appeals to the Tribunal Service.

The two main reasons given justify their unconscionable stance is that such work is outwith the duties doctors are required to perform as part of their contract with the DWP and that they are swamped with so many requests that they interfere with the core work of doctoring.

One of the functions of the doctors’ regulatory and disciplinary body, the General Medical Council (GMC), is to set the standards of professional and ethical conduct that all practising doctors in the UK must abide by. The chief guidance is contained in a document entitled ‘Good Medical Practice‘ which clearly states that :
‘… a doctor must (overriding duty or principle) take prompt action if he feels that patient safety is or may be seriously compromised by inadequate … policies or systems.’

Consistent with this and the fact that the WCA incontrovertibly compromises patient safety Black Triangle argues that doctors have an overriding duty in these cases to intervene to prevent catastrophic harm to their patients and to do so independently of any government interference or agreement, if required.

They have furthermore pioneered a simple and effective way for doctors to fulfil their duty of care which has been adopted by dozens of practices belonging to the Deprivation Interest Group in Scotland, the Lothian Area Health Board and the Glasgow Local Medical Committee district.

Dr Carty, who practises in Leith on the north side of Edinburgh has helped over thirty of his patients to gain exemption under the “exceptional circumstances” rule ESA regulations 29 and 35. In these cases, he has effectively informed the DWP that in his clinical judgment he believes that were his patient to be found ‘fit for work’ or to have ‘limited capability for work’ (i.e. placed in the WRAG) there would be a ‘substantial risk of harm to the physical or mental health of either the patient or to others around them’. He does this using one side of an A4 sheet of paper justifiying his declaration by stating clearly his clinical reasoning based on his patients’ diagnoses. He has said that in almost every case the DWP have not resisted his evidence and a great deal of suffering and tragedy has thereby been avoided.

The Black Triangle Campaign has one simple demand.

It isn’t the world that they are asking for.

They are not asking GPs to act as gatekeepers to the benefits system.

They stress that the judgment call as to whether or not to invoke these regulations must be left entirely at the professional discretion of the clinical practitioner.




They fully recognise that a GP may not feel qualified in every case to decide upon a person’s suitability for work as they are not trained Occupational Health experts.

Their simple demand is that the BMA issues an advisory to their members informing them of the existence of these regulations and how to apply them in cases where a GP has a grave concern for the safety and well-being of their patient facing the Atos assessment regime in order to prevent avoidable harm from the outset. They argue that in most cases where the regulations are invoked the clinical condition of the patient in question will be so severe that the judgment call will be an absolute ‘no-brainer’.

The method they have pioneered for making it takes up little more time for the doctor than it would to write out a prescription and in the end will result in fewer acute admissions to hospital and generally dealing with the adverse impact on the patient’s health with the fallout that inevitably follows as the knock-on effect of a wrongful decision by DWP-Atos.

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Atos assessment led to woman’s suicide says watchdog

The way a woman was assessed for benefits led to her suicide less than a month later, according to a mental health watchdog.

The woman had a history of depression and was on significant medication, but scored zero points in a Work Capability Assessment (WCA), carried out by Atos.

A Mental Welfare Commission report said it could see no other factor “in her decision to end her life”.

The Department for Work and Pensions said correct procedures were followed.

The woman, who is identified only as Miss DE, was in her early 50s and had been out of work for just under two years due to stress-related depression when she was assessed for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). ESA replaced incapacity benefit as part of changes to the benefits system, introduced by the UK government in 2007.

Miss DE did not receive a self-assessment questionnaire and no evidence was requested from her psychiatrist or GP.

The doctor who conducted the hour-long assessment for Atos, on behalf of the DWP, concluded that Miss DE showed “no evidence that she has a significant disability of mental health function” and she was notified by letter that she had scored zero points in the assessment on 9 December 2011.

When a welfare rights officer informed Miss DE that this would mean her £94.25 per week incapacity benefit would be reduced to a Jobseekers Allowance of £67.50 per week she became very upset and said she did not know how she was going to pay her mortgage.

She took an overdose on New Year’s Eve.

“This lady had a lot to look forward to,” said the chief executive of the MWC, Dr Donald Lyons. “She was getting married. She was being treated. She was undertaking voluntary work. She had a good social network. There wasn’t anything else which we could identify that would lead us to believe that there was any other factor in her life that resulted in her decision to end her life.”

When a DWP representative analysed the process, he told the MWC that the steps taken showed “nothing untoward.”

The MWC said a survey of psychiatrists conducted as part of its investigation found that 13% reported that at least one of their patients had attempted suicide as a result of the assessment process.

A total of 75% said they had not been asked by the DWP or Atos to take part in benefit assessments, although the majority said their patients had asked them to provide medical evidence. About 85% of the psychiatrists said that the benefits assessment had led to patients needing more frequent appointments.

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1000 Mothers March For Justice: Saturday 29th March

via DPAC

1000 Mothers March For Justice, with families, carers & supporters

11am Saturday 29th March 2014

Assemble at Bruce Castle Park,
Lordship Lane N17 8NU

Move off 11.30 – march down Tottenham High Road to Tottenham Green East, N15 4UR for a PUBLIC SPEAK-OUT

Follow up meeting: Haringey benefit claimants and supporters
11 am – 1 pm Saturday 12th April
North London Community House, 22 Moorefields Rd, N17 6PY


MOTHERS OF LONDON SAY:

MARCH TO DEMAND living incomes and decent, affordable homes to rent or buy for waged & unwaged.
MARCH TO REJECT bedroom tax, housing benefit caps, unfair taxes, hunger and cold homes – austerity hurts vulnerable people, the rich get richer.

The £500 overall benefit cap forcing families to pay rent out of the income they need for food, utilities, clothes and transport or be evicted and deported away from their extended families and vital support to anywhere in England or Wales; cap rents not benefits.

The bedroom tax hits disabled people who have one or two spare bedrooms. It also hits 50 to 60 year old adults who become unemployed and are expected to survive on £71.70 a week minus £24 pw bedroom tax and £5 pw council tax. People evicted are forced out of London – this is social and ethnic cleansing.

20% of the council tax has added to the misery of residents. Last year Haringey Council started court proceedings against 23,000 households adding £125 court costs and in over 9000 cases bailiffs’ fees, which have already been increased by 42% this year.

Sanctions imposed by jobcentres punish people for little or no reason leaving them penniless for up to three months.

Freezing increases in benefits at 1% a year while prices escalate inflict hunger and cold on thousands of households.

Food banks as an alternative to social security; the three days food does not end hunger for adults or children. Supply food by right, not by charity.

The activities of ATOS inflict poverty on disabled people with inappropriate fitness for work tests carelessly administered.

All African Women’s Group, Barnet Alliance for Public Services, Day-Mer Turkish & Kurdish Community Organisation, UCU at CONEL, Global Women’s Strike, Haringey Alliance for Public Services, Haringey Defend Council Housing, Haringey Federation of Residents Associations, Haringey Green Party, Haringey Housing Action Group, Haringey Solidarity Group, Haringey Trades Council, Haringey UNISON, Holy Cross United Reformed Church, Unite the Union/Community, London Region National Pensioners Convention, Single Mothers’ Self-Defence, Socialist Women’s Union, Socialist Workers Party, Somerford Grove Community Centre, St. Paul’s C-of-E Tottenham, WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), Women of Colour in the Global Women’s Strike.

Please share, tweet,blog and spread the word!

Your Policies KILL Disabled People! · Petition

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/ian-duncan-smith-david-cameron-your-policies-kill-disabled-people?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=supporter_message

ATOS Shame for ‘Complicit and Negligence’ British Medical Association

The Government's welfare reforms have been criticised from all across the political divide and if there is one name that encapsulates the ethos behind the Tory's reform is 'ATOS'.

Atos carries out the Tory Government's 'Work Capability Assessments'. These medical 'assessments' decide if a sick and disabled person is 'fit for work' or eligible for sickness benefit.

These assessments are so inadequate that 90% of those who have been found 'fit for work' has had this decision overturned when they have appealed with the help of an advocate.

In 2011 alone, official stats reveal that 10,600 people have died after being found fit to work by Atos and another 2,200 had died before their assessment was complete. The Government has since refused to publish stats for 2012/13

Atos reputation is now in ruin. The company is completely discredited. So much so that they have rebranded under the name of "OH Assist". This reminds me of a phrase my mother used to say: "you can polish a turd but it will always be a turd".



Atos is now attempting to run away with their tail between their legs from the chaos they helped create after confirming in February that it is seeking to end it's government contract to assess whether benefits claimants are fit to work. They may run, they may rebrand but their shame will follow them forever.


Perversely, they are the assessors for PIP under OHAssist name: Terminally ill people are now going for six months or more without the benefit they are entitled to owing to 'delays'.

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Atos: Why are victims being sidelined by MPs’ inquiry?

Originally posted on Vox Political:

Sidelined: People like this lady have campaigned across the UK against the unfair assessment system for sickness and disability benefits. Now that they are finally getting an inquiry into this corrupt system, are their views going to be ignored? [Image: Guardian]

Here’s a disturbing email from the Commons Work and Pensions committee:

“Thank you for your submission to Work and Pensions Committee’s inquiry into Employment and Support Allowance and Work Capability Assessments.

“The Committee has received a large number of written submissions from individuals who have claimed ESA and undergone WCA, setting out their personal experiences of the process.

“Your submission, along with other similar personal testimony submissions, will be circulated to the Members of the Committee as background information to the inquiry rather than published as formal evidence.

“I know that the Committee will find submissions such as yours very helpful in their inquiry and I would therefore like…

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Judge rules key Universal Credit reports should be published

Originally posted on Campaign4Change:

A freedom of information tribunal has ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions should disclose four internal documents on the Universal Credit programme.

The documents give an insight into some of the risks, problems and challenges faced by DWP directors and teams and on UC.

They could also provide evidence on whether the DWP misled Parliament and the public in announcements and press releases issued between 2011 and late 2013.

The DWP and ministers, including the secretary of  state Iain Duncan Smith, declared repeatedly that the UC scheme was on time and on budget at a time when independent internal reports – which the DWP has refused to publish – were highly critical of elements of management of the programme.

Some detail from the internal reports was revealed by the National Audit Office in its Universal Credit: early progress in September 2013.

The FOI tribunal, under judge…

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ESA, Broken Beyond Repair? A Suggested Framework for a Wholesale Overhaul

Originally posted on John D Turner:

I think the Labour Party needs to seriously ask itself how a social security reform that attracted widespread support at its inception has reached its current nadir.  My party needs to recognise that the process is broken beyond repair.  And that no tinkering with it will make it function both effectively and humanely.

I am not going to speak about the damage the current process has caused and is still causing.  There are many people better placed than I to describe the emotional and financial distress resulting out of the system as it is today.  My experience of it is, at most second hand.  I do, however, recognise that the system is failing some of the most vulnerable in our society.  It offers them neither hope nor social security.

My background is primarily in the area of support for those seeking work (and seeking to find workers) as well as…

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Mentally ill man left penniless by DWP is arrested at job centre for cracking a joke.

Originally posted on Benefit tales:

Many of us have had the experience of having no money arrive when it us due, or being sanctioned, when we are already barely surviving.

One of our members, Herbert, went in to the Job Centre last Wednesday to find out why his ESA had not been paid. He was promised it would be in his account that afternoon – that his allowance was being “amended”.

Between 2-5pm he checks and checks, and nothing. He goes in the next day, and has to make the call to Belfast again. This time, they decide they need to know his bank Sort Code which they have never asked for before, so he has to go and get it. During a heated argument on the phone where Herbert is told there is no emergency payment that can be made, security staff think it is their job to ask him to quiet down, Herbert…

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Fracking 'good for the UK', says David Cameron

‘Fracking will be “good for our country”, David Cameron said as he blamed a “lack of understanding” about the process for some of the opposition to shale gas.

The prime minister said that once wells are up and running later this year, there would be more public enthusiasm, and exploiting shale gas reserves could help Europe wean itself off reliance on exports from Russia.

The Ukraine crisis has increased the urgency of European efforts to find alternative sources of energy to reduce the leverage Russia’s oil and gas supplies give it across the continent.’

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'A policeman can shoot a blind man in the back and get away with it?' Fury of Taser attack victim as blundering officer who mistook his white stick for a samurai sword is let off with an order to APOLOGISE

‘A police officer who shot a blind man with a Taser when he mistook his white stick for a samurai sword will keep his job – and has only been asked to apologise to the man.

Colin Farmer, 64, was hit with the stun gun in Chorley, Lancashire, by PC Stuart Wright in 2012 as he walked to his local pub.

Mr Farmer, who thought he was suffering a stroke, was then handcuffed by the police constable – who was responding to reports of a man in the town centre with a sword.

Mr Farmer was not released until the arrival of another officer whom PC Wright told: ‘I think I’ve got the wrong person.’

Lancashire Constabulary held a two-day disciplinary hearing following a recommendation from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct.’

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Number Of Jobs Gained On Work Programme Plummets: Are Benefit Sanctions To Blame?

Originally posted on the void:

 

 The latest Work Programme statistics (PDF) show a shocking fall in the number of people gaining work and suggest that being sent on the scheme is now actively harming people’s chance of getting a job.

    The figures show that even after spending a year on the Work Programme, only 10.7% of people had gained a job which lasted at least six months.  This is a fall of almost a quarter since last year’s high in April when 14% of people on the programme for a year had found a long term job – figures which were regarded as a disaster at the time.  The Work Programme has been in steady decline ever since, with the percentage of people finding work overall – including those who have completed the full two years of the scheme – at a new low of just under 19%.  This is down from 22.5% just six…

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Tory Pressure on GPs to Find Patients Fit-For-Work

I always find it interesting when we see the private advice that this Government are giving to other organisations.

In this case, what we are seeing is the Govt’s advice to GPs in respect of ‘fit notes’.


The advice given to GPs is as follows:


Repeatedly reiterated that the fitness for work assessments that GPs carry out are NOT job specific.For example, if a delivery driver broke his leg, he would be found FIT TO WORK as another form of employment may not be impinged by his broken leg.

(QUOTE: Always consider if your patient could do work of some kind before advising that they are not fit for work.)

Tells the GP to ‘carefully consider’ their decision to find the patient unfit in case it “increases the long-term health risks of worklessness”

(QUOTE) Remember to consider carefully whether advising your patient that they are not fit for work increases the long-term health risks of worklessness.

States that there is evidence that shows being unfit for work hampers recovery and rehabilitation.

(QUOTE -Most importantly, the evidence is clear that patients benefit from being in some kind of regular work. This improves mental and physical health and can aid recovery.)


Tells GPs that patients do not have to be 100% fit for work to be found ‘fit’

(QUOTE- Work is generally good for physical and mental health and people do not have to be 100% fit in order to work in most cases.)

Informs GPs that finding patients unfit for work as being an health risk.

(QUOTE - Assessing that your patient is not fit for work... increases the long-term health risks of worklessness.)

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Disabled Benefit Claimants Live In Fear Of The Sound Of The Letterbox

I’m sat on the bottom of the stairs, shaking and looked at the brown envelope (marked DWP) on the mat – Helen Sims.

As I write this I am recovering from what we campaigners call ‘Brown Envelope Disorder’ – or ‘White Envelope Disorder’ (since it applies in equal measures now). It is what happens to a disabled or ill [benefit claimant] when a brown or white envelope appears on the doormat, particularly those marked ‘DWP’ –Department for Work and Pensions.

I was upstairs, waiting for my painkillers to kick in, when the letterbox went. For an ‘everyday’ person, it is normality. It is part of life. However, if you are disabled or an ill benefit claimant, living under the constant threat of an ATOS assessment or benefit sanction, [the sound of the letterbox] immediately causes the blood pressure to rise, and panic to kick in.

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Europe takes UK to court over benefits

Britain is being taken to court by the European Commission over its “right to reside” test

The European Commission is to take Britain to court over its attempts to limit benefits payments to migrants in a “politically explosive” case ahead of the European elections.

it was unclear whether the commission had planned to go ahead with the legal action, which centres on the “right to reside” test that European Union migrants must pass before they can claim benefits in this country.

However, The Sunday Telegraph has now been told that the lawsuit will be lodged “shortly” in the European Court of Justice.

With European elections held in Britain on May 22, the timing of the lawsuit, over such an emotive issue, threatens to be incendiary.

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Atos accused by MPs of lying in its tender document to win £184million benefits testing contract

‘Assessor Atos has been accused by MPs of lying in its tender document to win a £184million benefits testing contract.

Senior Vice President Lisa Coleman was savaged by MPs on the cross-party Commons Public Accounts committee.

The firm is being paid £184million to assess sick and disabled people for the new Personal Independence Payment in London and the South East.

But those looking to claim cash are facing long journeys and delays in receiving the payments.
More than 40% of people are travelling more than an hour to be tested.’

Read more …

IDS's election present for the Golden Oldies: Bye Bye bus pass and fuel payments

‘George Osborne has made a lot of noise about how pensioners with spare cash are going to get a fabulous deal under the Coalition – high interest pensioner bonds and the chance to spend, spend their pension pot.

All this is seen by political commentators as a brilliant move by the Chancellor to get the grey vote out for the Tories next year – with many of the measures timed for the election.

He also made it clear that pensions were going to be exempt from the new welfare cap – which will hit everyone else from lone parents, the disabled.and the working poor on housing benefit.

Sounds too good to be true for the elderly. And guess what, it is.’

Read more …

Lord Tebbit scorns food bank demand

‘The former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Tebbit has suggested that people who visit food banks are at the same time spending their money on junk food.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Tebbit said there was a “near infinite demand” for valuable goods given away free and asked ministers to “initiate research into junk food sales in areas where people are [relying] for basic food on the food banks”.

He made the comments moments after a Tory environment minister, Lord de Mauley, drew gasps from the chamber by saying food banks are not a scandal but a sign of Britain’s charity and ministers should not seek to “interfere” in their use.’

Read more: Lord Tebbit scorns food bank demand

ATOS And Mental Health

Originally posted on Same Difference:

Spotted on Facebook.

My sister developed severe depression and what seems like to be bipolar disorder and personality disorder.

We are waiting for Atos to assess her claim.

I called atos every week putting pressure on them. We were given a number to book an assessment and my sister got a call back from a nurse from atos.

I had requested a home visit but the nurse spoke directly to my sister and told her that she will have to come in to be assessed and when my sister insisted on a home visit the nurse asked how do you get to the GP’s … my sister said by car as it’s a 2 minute drive. The nurse said well if you go to your GP’S then we will pay for a cab for you to come in for an assessment.

My sister said ok as she would say that but it doesn’t mean anything because come the day of the assessment she would refuse to go to the DRs.

I called atos today and informed them that under no circumstances will I her carer share a cab with my sister due to her violent aggressive behaviour and the fact that she self harms and she may even have sharps on her.

The man at atos infomed me that they waive assessments on people who have such disorders and he filled in an online form with me and said that the DRs at atos will use the information i’ve goven to assess the claim.

Please share this with others who may have severe mental health needs or are carers for people with mental health problems.

Thank you.