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

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.

Zulfiqar Shah — *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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