sheff1johnny Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 If they received the exact same amount as people on the rock n roll, there would no longer be the possibility of false claimants/scroungers. continued to receive it during her recent honeymoon in Mexico. She also receives 40£ a week from dla I think for cleaning her grandmas house. If anyone is worried about "passing" it I would suggest telling the ATOS employee that you intend to commit suicide should you be sent back to work. I think they'd think they'd accept that as a good result, less benefits to pay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheff1johnny Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 The controversial disability benefits contract between Paralympics sponsor Atos and the Government is too weak to ensure value for money for taxpayers, the spending watchdog has found. The National Audit Office criticised Iain Duncan Smith’s Department of Work and Pensions (DwP) for setting performance targets too low, failing to adequately fine Atos for poor performance and not properly checking the accuracy of performance data that Atos submitted. Atos Healthcare has a £110m-a-year contract with the DwP to assess whether disabled and sick people are entitled to claim the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or whether they are fit for work. The Work Capability Assessment, designed by the government but applied by Atos, has been subject to scathing attacks from claimants, doctors and charities who claim it is degrading and not fit for purpose. The NAO report comes after numerous thwarted attempts by MPs to find out more about the performance targets and financial penalties in place. The government has refused to answer these questions claiming the information is “commercially confidential”. The NAO said the DwP was failing to seek “adequate financial redress” for underperformance by Atos. “We do not consider that the current contractual targets are sufficiently challenging, and in our view this allows the contractor to deliver a significant number of assessments before financial penalties become due.” Only one out 10 breaches lead to penalties, or ‘service credits’ being enforced by the DwP. This was in part down to “inaccurate forecasting” of referrals which “undermined the Department’s negotiating position in discussions around performance and service credit application.” Tom Greatrex, Labour MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, asked the NAO to investigate after hitting the confidentiality brick wall. "This is a damning assessment of the failure of the Government to get value for money for the taxpayer or properly hold Atos to account for the chaos and confusion at the heart of the work capability assessment... The Government must reflect on this scathing report and bring forward serious proposals for reform." The WCA contract was awarded by Labour in 2005 but extended until 2015 by the Coalition. Government contracts with Atos have doubled in value in the past two years. Official figures show that 40 per cent of appeals against a decision not to award Employment and Support Allowance, largely based on the WCA, are upheld. The figure rises to a staggering 70 per cent if the claimant is accompanied by someone like a citizen’s advisor bureau officer. The tribunals cost the taxpayer £15m last year, but there is scant information about why so many appeals are upheld, though this has now been requested by the DwP. Two recent documentaries appeared to expose a target driven system in which inadequately trained health professionals carried out a tick box exercise, all of which Atos and the DwP deny. Despite the criticisms, Atos was recently awarded a £400m contract to conduct the medical assessments for two million people currently receiving disability living allowance. Atos Healthcare, who was not contacted by the NAO for the review, said: “We meet our obligations in delivering a complex and challenging contract. We have also been flexible with the Department and implemented all the changes and recommendations from the Harrington report.” A spokesperson for Iain Duncan Smith said: "The contract continues to evolve as we have it under constant review… we've substantially improved it [since 2010]. We are committed to making it a success to ensure it is both fair and accurate for the user and value for money for the taxpayer." Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of Scope, said: “The Government has a responsibility to ensure taxpayers get a fair deal from its contracts, but also to ensure its departments and contractors treat disabled people fairly and with a duty of care. “It is the Government that has designed this deeply flawed assessment and until it makes fundamental changes to the design of this test, it will continue to have a devastating effect on disabled people’s lives.” It makes me laugh that as remploy isn't value for money, factories are being closed down. Atos on the other and is rewarded with a £400 million pound contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Who actually owns these companies like Atos, Serco, Capita, et al? You might be able to find out who the CEO and directors are, and how much thay are paid (generally around £300,000 + massive bonuses and perks) but not who the major shareholders are. I'd like to confirm my suspicians that they are pals of Cameron with an old school tie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Who actually owns these companies like Atos, Serco, Capita, et al? You might be able to find out who the CEO and directors are, and how much thay are paid (generally around £300,000 + massive bonuses and perks) but not who the major shareholders are. I'd like to confirm my suspicians that they are pals of Cameron with an old school tie... I suspect the major shareholders will be pension companies..do you have one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheff1johnny Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 I believe its owned by a dodgy insurance company called UNUM who are based in the US. Unum are banned in 13 states. It's very hard to prove this link, as atos use the official secrets act like a bible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheff1johnny Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 It looks like people are starting to do something: Join The Atos Games! On your marks, get set… for a week of Paralympic fun and games against Atos! From Monday 27th to Friday 31st of August, join Disabled People Against Cuts for The Atos Games – five days of action against a company that’s sponsoring the Paralympics but wrecking disabled people’s lives. We are calling on disabled people, disabled activists, families, colleagues, friends and supporters to come together and fight back against Atos’s attacks. Atos represents as dangerous an opponent as any government, law or barrier the disability movement has faced in its long history. It’s not just welfare, but our very identity and our place within society that is under attack. And we are asking the whole of the anti-cuts movement to join us in our opposition to the company most responsible for driving through the government’s brutal cuts agenda. Let’s make it Games over for Atos! We’re not against the Paralympics or the people taking part in it. We’re highlighting the hypocrisy of Atos, a company that soon may be taking disability benefits from the people winning medals for Team GB. Ever since George Osborne announced he was slashing £18 billion from the welfare budget, the government has paid Atos £100 million a year to test 11,000sick and disabled people every week, then decide whether they’re ‘fit for work’. Atos uses an inhumane computer programme to do the testing, and trains its staff to push people off benefits. The government has admitted the tests are flawed, and the British Medical Association wants them to end immediately. But Atos continues to devastate people’s lives. Many have committed suicide because of its testing programme, and over 1,000 people have died of their illnesses soon after being found ‘fit for work’. We won’t let them get away with murder, so join in The Atos Games however you can – online, on the phone, or on the streets! · Monday 27th: We’ll hold a spoof Paralympic awards ceremony, hopefully with some very special guests… · Tuesday 28th: Pay a visit to your local Atos office – and maybe even take your protest inside! · Wednesday 29th: A coffin full of your messages about Atos will be delivered to its doorstep. · Thursday 30th: Phone jam! Let’s flood Atos with calls, and generate a Twitter-storm they can’t ignore! · Then on Friday 31st, join us in London where we’re teaming up with UK Uncut for the Grand Finale – an audacious, daring and disruptive action. Last time we shut down Oxford Circus, this time we will be performing miracles…! Over the next few weeks we’ll give more details about each day of action. We’ll make sure that DPAC members and disabled people who can’t travel will be able to take part in different and accessible ways. We’d really like YOU to make this week of action a great success! Let’s come together and show this monstrous company that we’re stronger than them. They’re the vulnerable ones and they know it. Atos has offices in most towns across the country, so start organising an action for August 28th at your local Atos now! Let the Atos Games begin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Hate crimes against disabled people have doubled since 2008 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hate-crimes-against-disabled-people-soar-to-a-record-level-7858841.html What kind of country is this turning into? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollwithit Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Hate crimes against disabled people have doubled since 2008 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hate-crimes-against-disabled-people-soar-to-a-record-level-7858841.html What kind of country is this turning into? Not a good example of a disabled hate crime. The person was assaulted as a retaliation for the things they said. The disability was a side line issue. I expect they would have still took a beating no matter what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollwithit Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 I can't see the issue with some disabled people being expected to work. But as usual, a sound policy is only being used to scape goat disabled people in a time of resession and mass unemployment. Rather than comming up with an assessment which matches an applicants capabilities to work types, and using it as a positive channel for empowering disabled people into the work place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Not a good example of a disabled hate crime. The person was assaulted as a retaliation for the things they said. The disability was a side line issue. I expect they would have still took a beating no matter what. I'm more concerned about the numbers of reported crimes, not the facts about a single case. Way to go with ignoring the main point of the article by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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