Anyone been seen by atos and kept incapacity benefit/esa?

[HeadingNorth]

The ATOS doctor's employer in this case is ATOS, who then says that;

 

"the first duty of the assessor is to supply, with the consent of the claimant, honest advice to the DWP on the most likely correct numerical score for the statutory descriptors in the test."

 

The assessor's duty here is wrong because in ATOS The doctor's first duty is not to the DWP, but to ATOS

 

His duty to ATOS, is to do what ATOS want him to do; which is what you've quoted above.

[Tradescanthia]

His duty to ATOS, is to do what ATOS want him to do; which is what you've quoted above.

 

'Ere we go again..........:hihi:

[Plain Talker]

Thanks Brin56 for a very informative and well put post. I think we all underststand the purpose of ATOS exept one poster who argues just for the sake of it. I now know that IF I personally have to face ATOS again i shall refer to this thread and this post in particular. Forewarned is fore armed.

Thanks Brin56

 

It's a swining NIGHTMARE, Nimrod.

 

Some of the questions on the initial form that has to be sent back to ATOS to make your claim are ridiculous:-

 

"Can you pick up a £1 coin?" AH! Then you must be fit for work....

 

Of course there's plenty of well-paying and non-mind-numbing jobs out there which involve repeatedly picking up and moving only £1 coins

 

Can you pick up a pint bottle of milk? Oh, then you are fit to work. It doesn't matter that you may be in severe pain for hours after just lifting the bottle of milk, being able to do this once, naturally means you can do this over and over...!

 

Can you raise one of your hands over your head? "Yes, I can... have you got any jobs going as a stand-in for school pupils who want to answer the tutors' questions?"

 

What a flaming pantomime it is.

[Tradescanthia]

It's a swining NIGHTMARE, Nimrod.

 

Some of the questions on the initial form that has to be sent back to ATOS to make your claim are ridiculous:-

 

"Can you pick up a £1 coin?" AH! Then you must be fit for work....

 

Of course there's plenty of well-paying and non-mind-numbing jobs out there which involve repeatedly picking up and moving only £1 coins

 

Can you pick up a pint bottle of milk? Oh, then you are fit to work. It doesn't matter that you may be in severe pain for hours after just lifting the bottle of milk, being able to do this once, naturally means you can do this over and over...!

 

Can you raise one of your hands over your head? "Yes, I can... have you got any jobs going as a stand-in for school pupils who want to answer the tutors' questions?"

 

What a flaming pantomime it is.

 

 

None of the questions related to work at all, even the appeal judge admitted to that !! I went away angry, insulted and confused. I was, and still am on strong medication but decided to do enough work to cover the lost benefits and grin and bear it. Now my condition is deteriorating rapidly and, subject to consultants advice, I may have to stop work and fight these swines again. My GP leaves it up to me, he says "Only you yourself know what you are capable of". Funny how the PLONKER at ATOS knew everthing about me straight away.

Pure genius.....

[juniee]

good luck chocki

glad you got your money

best wishes

[Brin56]

Here's a rispote for all those who are peddling the myth about, " the 9 out of 10 on Incapacity Benefit who can work"; such as the Sun said in 27/07/11, as a universal and accepted truth.

 

It is devisive, pits one against the other and still I think some people do not ask themselves why; in this latest cyclical economic crisis, every time getting harder and harder to pull round again to boom, do they have their working and civil Rights, their work injuries, their illnesses, their lack of opportunities, their abilities to raise themselves to an acceptable evenly- sided standard of living weakened,? Who will and is now benefitting the most?

 

 

The statistics for Incapacity Benefit are being misrepresented. They are ignoring the numbers being found eligible for the work-related activity group of ESA and only looking at those being placed in the support group (where there is no attached work conditionality). Eligibility for both ESA groups means that claimants are found to have ‘limited capability for work’, with the work-related activity group (WRAG) aimed at those who are not ‘fit for work’, but rather need additional support and who may take considerable time to move into employment. Claimants need to be shown to have a significant functional impairment that creates serious barriers to work to be eligible for the WRAG. Further, the high level of successful appeals against ‘fit for work’ decisions is not acknowledged.

 

 

It is right that a Government tackles benefit fraud, ensuring those who have genuine need are supported. However, a recent DWP statistical report suggested a figure of only about 0.3% overpayment of Incapacity Benefit is due to fraud. Tax evasion is the biggest problem at £7bn a year, a figure that overshadows the £1.5bn of benefit and tax credits fraud. Private sector fraud is estimated to cost the UK economy £12bn a year, accounting for 31 per cent of the total loss (National Fraud Office 1/11)

 

According to a report by the organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) on 2003 procedures in the UK around reviewing entitlements for disability benefits are described as “much more rigorous or have been made much more stringent in recent years”. This was prior to the implementation of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) which has further tightened the criteria for eligibility. Its predecessor, the personal capability assessment (PCA) was described by the DWP as being one of the toughest in the world.

 

Rather than a claimant simply going to their GP and getting a medical certificate, the process for making a claim (beginning with the introduction of the Personal Capability Assessment in the early 1990s) is much more complex than that. The process includes completing in a detailed self-assessment questionnaire and attending a face-to-face assessment with a medical professional (employed by ATOS) - not an individual’s GP. A DWP decision maker considers the evidence before making a decision on an individual’s claim.

 

the work related activity group of ESA which is supposed to be about supporting those people who are not ‘work ready’, and require additional help and support to move towards and gain employment. It is inappropriate and unfair to penalise those people who may take longer than one year to move into work and does not reflect the original policy purpose of the work related activity group of ESA.

 

Additionally, the Government has stated that 94% of the people in the WRAG group will not be ready to return to work after one year. While the Government has stated that the change will help to encourage people to come off benefits, they have also stated that the proposal is aimed at making savings and not based on an estimate of what is a reasonable length of time to expect people with a disability or illness to be able to return to work.

 

Because the means-testing thresholds are so low the result will be that thousands of people will lose all their ESA if they have savings of more that £16,000 or their partner earns as little as £150 a week. The thresholds for income based ESA mean that you can be ineligible for this benefit despite already living below the poverty line.

 

The Limit period of 12 months makes people on contributory ESA in the WRAG, to face significant barriers due to their condition, impairment or disability, just six months more than those on Jobseeker’s Allowance to find a job. This ignores the reality that due to factors including discrimination and access, many disabled people can take significantly longer to move into work than non disabled people.

 

The Department for Work and Pensions has estimated that of those on contributory ESA and in the work related activity group 94% will take longer than a year to find work.

 

In addition, the 12 month period will include the total time spent in the Work Related Activity Group, regardless of whether or not this is continuous. This means that someone who moves in and out of the Support Group because their condition fluctuates risks being presented with a very short period of time in which to move into work or face the possibility of having their benefit cut.

 

Latest evidence based on all ESA claims received between October 2008 and November 2010, who leave ESA following a fit for work decision, shows that around 47% go on to make a JSA claim and a further 7% apply for other benefits.(DWP 17/10/11)

 

This whole process of neo-liberal reform – in the UK and around the developed world – has led to the development of what some now call the “precariat” – people who move constantly between paid work and the benefit system; are in both paid work and welfare at the same time; and/or are in low paid, part time, casual and/or temporary work.

 

For many in the precariat, it is only the benefit system,which allows them to survive. This is a massive taxpayer subsidy to employers, enabling them to keep wages much lower than they should be, and ensuring we are a nicely attractive proposition for foreign investment.…..at a time when there are five jobless people for each job vacancy in the UK, and Government has announced they are going to make 500,000 people redundant in the public sector.

[Tradescanthia]

Again a very good post Brin, in other words we are buggered before we start. I am affected by cancer and arthritis and have had a bellyfull of ATOS and co. I also keep in contact with others who have cancer, and they are now 'under the cosh'. People who are physically exhausted, mentally drained, several of them facing death are being tormented by the DWP in the name of efficiency. One lady I contacted today has to face ATOS, she has been disabled for 6 years, arthritic to the point of using wheelchairs and scooters and diagnosed terminal with liver /kidney probs and mets cropping up. No exact time has been put on the terminal part, so the DWP/ATOS have spotted an opportunity to 'turn the screw'. The lady is too weak and exhausted mentally to even appeal. In short she is bordering on being suicidal.

In the meantime the goverment 'Posh Boys' and their Etonian friends continue to rip off UK PLC by goverment approved tax evasion and downright unashamed theft.......................and the British public continues to believe we have a fair and just society......

[Brin56]

Thanks Nimrod, I too am gearing up my loins in anticipation for my own battle at the time when I will be reassessed. All these horror stories are being read, collated and being used to build up a consensus amongst many people that a change for the better will be a long hard haul. So we have to fight.

[juniee]

thanks for an interesting post

we all know in reality that these tests are just a cost cutting exercise but cannot see how in the long run it saves money due to all the appeals

was with my friend other day she bought the Sun newspaper not one i have read since the hillsborough disaster

what was the headline?

more benefit scroungers been left on ib for ten years no mention of how many decision are overturned on appeal. what i would call very unbalanced journalism

[Ms Macbeth]

thanks for an interesting post

we all know in reality that these tests are just a cost cutting exercise but cannot see how in the long run it saves money due to all the appeals

was with my friend other day she bought the Sun newspaper not one i have read since the hillsborough disaster

what was the headline?

more benefit scroungers been left on ib for ten years no mention of how many decision are overturned on appeal. what i would call very unbalanced journalism

 

No surprise really. Newspapers print what their readership wants to read. The Sun will present information very differnently to the Guardian whose article the other day was headed: DLA reform: coalition is exaggerating benefit fraud for its own benefit http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/14/disability-living-allowance-reform-analysis?INTCMP=SRCH