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

Reblogged from Vox Political:

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is, of course, impossible.

All doctors know it is impossible.

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

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

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

Like Parkinson’s?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Irrational.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reblogged from Vox Political:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So nothing has been done, then.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A weakened Britain, that’s what.

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

One-legged man falsely accused of benefit fiddle after officials examined the wrong leg

A one-legged man was falsely accused of fiddling disability benefit after officials examined his wrong leg.

Robert Punter has undergone a nightmare year of anxiety after being taken to court by benefits officials who told him he was not disabled enough to claim the allowance even though he was having his leg amputated.

The mix up occurred because the 63-year-old ex trucker, whose left leg was shattered in a boyhood shotgun accident, also suffered a serious toe injury in his right foot.

He was prosecuted when officials found a letter in his medical file showing he had made a full recovery from this operation and accused him of lying about his condition.

He is angry that he has been treated as a dole fiddler despite battling to overcome his disability and working for 47 years, often in excruciating pain.

Robert, of Bushell Road, Newton Abbot, spent months waiting for his case to be heard at Exeter Crown Court before it was thrown out in less than five minutes.

He denied falsely claiming disability living allowance and Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, recorded not guilty verdicts after Miss Emily Pitts offered no evidence on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions.

He was wheeled into court by his wife Jean with a white bandage covering the stump of his left leg, which was amputated in January. The judge allowed him to remain in the well of the court because he could not get into the dock.

The case was dropped after defence solicitor Miss Ann Bellchambers obtained a statement from Torbay Hospital consultant Mr Patrick Loxdale confirming that Robert had always suffered from a disability which entitled him to benefit.

The consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Torbay Hospital who wrote to Exeter Crown Court about Robert Punter said the prosecution was ‘barking mad’.

From the Exeter Express and Echo, 20th August 2013. Read more: 

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/legged-man-falsely-accused-benefit-fiddle/story-19682500-detail/story.html#ixzz2cXE4C7EG

Atos 'nearly killed' diabetic who could not afford to eat

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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Freepost! Send #IDS your unwanted pants, a *call out* from Simon.. #SendIDSPants

Reblogged from Dawn Willis :

From Simon:

" I have an idea. I feel quite sorry for poor Iain Duncan-Smith, unable to afford to buy pants & having to put them on his expenses. If anyone has an old pair they no longer want, why don't they send them to him? "

Better than chucking them out?

Here's the address:


The Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP
Secretary of State
Department for Work and Pensions
Caxton House
Tothill Street
London SW1H 9DA

or you could send them freepost to: